Dendrelaphis schokari (Schokar's bronzeback). Predation

7/25/2019 Dendrelaphis schokari (Schokar's bronzeback). Predation

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Herpetological Review 46(4), 2015

624 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

4.5 km through the wet and dry seasons (Hutton 1989. Am. Zool.29:10331049). Long distance movements of alligators were re-corded for sizes ranging from 28 cm to 361 cm in a coastal refugein Louisiana, where the distance traveled ranged from 0.3 kmto 90.2 km. The data showed that the smaller alligators movedgreater distance than larger ones (Lance et al. 2011. Southeast.Nat. 10:389398).

An ongoing 30-year mark and recapture study for Crocodylus

acutusin Florida allowed us to look at long distance movement(> 30 km) of juveniles (< 1.25 m). Of the 446 individual juvenilecrocodiles recaptured, only seven animals demonstrated anexceptional movement (> 30 km). Initial and most recentcaptures as a juvenile were used to analyze distances moved (Fig.1). These distances were measured linearly between capturelocations. Maximum linear distances of 76.3 km and 69.6 kmwere recorded for animals 4838 and 6662. All crocodiles movedfrom nesting habitat through potentially optimal nursery habitatprior to reaching their recapture locations. These juvenile longdistance movements could be due to larger crocodiles facilitatingtheir dispersal from the nest location (Lance et al. 2011, op. cit.).These data (Table 1) support that there is exchange of individualsamong the nesting colonies and our ongoing efforts to monitor

this threatened species allow us to make observations of howjuvenile crocodiles are moving throughout the landscape in anecosystem currently undergoing restoration.

RAFAEL G. CRESPO, JEFFREY S. BEAUCHAMP e-mail: jbeach@ufl.

edu), and FRANK J. MAZZOTTI, Department Wildlie Ecology and Con-

servation, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University o

Florida, 3205 College Avenue, Davie, Florida 33314, USA (e-mail:fma@ufl.

edu); MICHAEL S. CHERKISS,U.S. Geological Survey, Southeast Ecological

Science Center, 3205 College Avenue, Davie, Florida 33314, USA (e-mail:

[email protected]). Deceased.

SQUAMATA LIZARDS

BASILISCUS BASILISCUS (Common Basilisk). PREDATION.

Basiliscusbasiliscusare very common in streams, rivers, or lakesof Neotropical lowlands and are important in trophic interac-tions, as prey or predators. They are subject to predation by a widearray of vertebrates such as birds, large fishes, some mammals,and other reptiles. Rarely, invertebrates such as large crustaceansalso predate basilisks (Savage 2002. The Amphibians and Reptilesof Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, betweenTwo Seas. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 934 pp.;Flaherty and Friers 2014. Southeast. Nat. 13:N57N58). Here wedescribe a predation event on a young Basiliscus basiliscus (SVLca. 7 cm) by an invertebrate, a sub-adult female scorpion, Opist-hacantus elatus (Scorpiones: Hemiscorpiidae). The event was at

1025 h on 26 August 2014, on the shore of Perresnico River, Es-tacin Rancho Fro in Parque Nacional Darin, Darin, Panam(8.0198907N, 77.730486W, WGS 84; 111 m elev.).The scorpionwas 200 cm above the ground and positioned horizontally insidean interstice of a fallen branch, but with the anterior carapaceregion and the right pedipalp outside and holding with the chelathe posterior left leg of the lizard. The lizard made occasionalmovements forward to escape but the scorpion held strong. We

pulled the lizard with herpetological tongs and the scorpion heldstronger. Opisthacantus elatus has a considerable mechanicalstrength to trap and manipulate large prey and is found morefrequently under rocks or fallen trunks (lvarez et al. 2013. Rev.Col. Entomol. 39:301304). We think that the scorpion climbedup the fallen branch to hide and hunt. However, we did not seethe scorpion eat the lizard. We captured both animals; the scor-pion was deposited in Museo de Invertebrados de la Universidadde Panam (MIUP) with collection data, but the lizard escapedafter capture. Other lizards in the genera Homonota, Podarcis, Li-olaemus, and some geckos have been preyed upon by scorpions(Fulvio and Minoli 2014. Cuad. Herpetol. 28:12). This is the firstobservation of a large scorpion trapping young B. basiliscus, pre-sumably for predation, and gives insights to consider O. elatusas

ecological pressure for young basilisks.We thank Fondo Darin for financial support, Ministerio de

Ambiente de Panam for logistical facilities in Parque NacionalDarin, and Diomedes Quintero from MIUP for identification ofthe scorpion and determination of the sex.

LUIS ELIZONDO, Programa de Maestra en Ciencias Biolgicas, Vicerec-

tora de Investigacin y Postgrado, Universidad de Panam, Avenida Simn

Bolvar (Carretera Transstmica), Ciudad de Panam, Panam;Apartado 3366

Panam 4, Panam (e-mail: [email protected]); MAYKELL MORALES

and SEAN ROMAA, Escuela de Biologa, Universidad de Panam, Avenida

Simn Bolvar (Carretera Transstmica), Ciudad de Panam.

BRASILISCINCUS HEATHI (Brazilian Mabuya). TAIL BIFUR-

CATION.Tail bifurcation has been commonly reported for sev-

eral lizard families worldwide such as Agamidae (Ananjeva andDanov 1991. Amphibia-Reptilia 12:343356), Diploglossidae(Cozendey et al. 2013. Herpetol. Rev. 44:145146), Scincidae (e.g.,McKelvy and Stark 2012. Herpetol. Rev. 43:138; Mitchell et al.2012. Herpetol. Rev. 43:650), Teidae (Gogliath et al. 2012. Herpe-tol. Rev. 43:129), and Tropiduridae (Martins et al. 2013. Herpetol.Notes. 41: 369:371), including bizarre cases of species exhibitingfrom three to six regenerated tails (Koleska and Jablonski 2015.Ecol. Mont. 3: 2628; Pelegrin and Leo 2015. Cuad. Herpetol.30:13). Most tail bifurcation observations were reported for asingle individual and usually found at low rates within popula-tions (Vrcibradic and Niemeyer 2013. Herpetol. Rev. 44:510511).

TABLE1. Initial capture and recapture total length (TL), days, and distance traveled for Crocodylus acutusin Florida.

Clip# Initial / Initial Capture Final Capture Days Between Total distance DistanceRecapture TL (cm) Location Location Captures traveled (km) traveled (m/day)

809 34.2 /102.0 Chapman Field N.E. Florida Bay 1646 54.3 30

1361 25.8 / 82.6 Flamingo Turkey Point 900 59.0 70

2499 23.9 / 96.1 Flamingo N.E. Florida Bay 1327 34.4 30

3910 26.6 / 40.4 N.E. Florida Bay Turkey Point 295 34.2 1204838 25.6 / 101.7 East Cape Turkey Point 1001 76.3 80

6421 26.9 / 65.2 Flamingo N.E. Florida Bay 569 36.2 60

6662 26.1 / 93.0 East Cape Key Largo 584 69.6 120


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NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 625

Herein, we report the first case of tail bifurcation in multiple in-dividuals within a population of the Neotropical skink Brasilis-

cincus heathi.During a field survey at Serra das Confuses, Piau State,

Brazil (9.1410S, 43.5619W, WSG84; 510 m elev.) in October2014 we collected two adult Brasiliscincus heathi with tailbifurcation from an area of rock outcrops. The first individual,a male (AAGARDA 11131; SVL = 69.8 mm, Fig. 1A) had 22.5 mmof original tail followed by a regenerated portion extending to47.8 mm before bifurcating into a smaller (8.6 mm) lateral and alarger (15.9 mm) axial branch. The second individual, a pregnantfemale (AAGARDA 11129; SVL = 64.7 mm, Fig. 1B) had an original(non-regenerated) portion of tail 41 mm long, followed by aregenerated portion extending 29 mm before bifurcating into asmaller lateral (6 mm) and a larger (12 mm) axial branch. Alongwith these two individuals, we collected 12 more specimens from

which 8 exhibited a regenerated tail (not including the specimenswith bifid tails). In this case, the frequency of bifurcated tail as aconsequence of tail regeneration can be estimated as 20% (2/10).

Vrcibradic and Niemeyer (2013,op. cit.) provided an estimationof tail bifurcation for populations of Notomabuya frenata andPsychosaura macrorhyncha(1.7% and 1.2%, respectively). Suchestimations were made through the examination of severalindividuals (more than 100 specimens) from each species.Although we examined fewer individuals, the elevated frequencyfound by us (20%) might indicate that this abnormality occursat a high rate within our studied population or such estimationmay be biased due to an insufficient sampling. Nevertheless, thisabnormality does not seem to affect the fitness or survival rateof the individuals as a pregnant female was found exhibiting a

bifid tail.We are grateful to Adrian Antonio Garda for suggestions.

Collections were made under permit (SISBIO # 46129-1).FELIPE M. MAGALHES, Laboratrio de Anbios e Rpteis, Depar-

tamento de Botnica, Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio

Grande do Norte, Campus Universitrio, Lagoa Nova, 59078900, Natal, Rio

Grande do Norte, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]); FELIPE CAM

URUGI, RICARDO R. SILVEIRAFILHO, and SARAH MNGIA, Departa-

mento de Sistemtica e Ecologia, Centro de Cincias Exatas e da Natureza,

Universidade Federal da Paraba, 58051-900, Joo Pessoa, Paraba, Brazil;

BRENO MOURA DA CONCEIO,Programa de Ps-Graduao em Eco-

logia e Conservao, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Cidade Universitria

Pro. Jos Alosio de Campos, So Cristvo, 49100-000, Aracaju, Sergipe,

Brasil.

CALOTES VERSICOLOR (Oriental Garden Lizard).DIET.Calotesversicolor is among the most geographically widespread mem-bers of the genus (Uetz and Hoek 2014. The Reptile Database.http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz, accessed 29 Apr 2014) nat-urally occurring in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia,

India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Peninsu-lar Malaysia, South East Iran, Singapore, South China, Sri Lanka,Thailand, and Vietnam, and additional introduced populationsin Sulawesi, Malaysian Borneo, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman,Seychelles, and USA (Florida) (Enge and Krysko 2004. FloridaSci. 67:226230; Matyot 2004. Phelsuma 12:3547; Radder 2006.Curr. Sci. 91:13541363). It is a very adaptable, prolific speciesand is commonly found in human-altered environments includ-ing highly urbanized areas (Erdelen 1988. J. Herpetol.22:4252).Although it is generally considered an insectivore, field recordssuggest that it is more an opportunistic omnivore with a widerange of prey. However, such records are often scattered in grayliterature and in this review we collate published records and ob-servations of our own and those of our colleagues, and subse-

quently discuss the possible reasons for dietary breadth.Our review revealed records of Calotes versicolor feeding

on members of nine broad faunal groups (annelids, mollusks,insects, myriapods, arachnids, crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles,birds, and mammals) as well as plant matter (Table 1). Insectscomprise most of the diet of C. versicolor. One of us (HS) observedan adult lizard feeding on a swarm of ants on the ground at arate of one ant in every five to six seconds for ca. 30 seconds. Sit-and-wait foraging patterns have also been used to catch waspsvisiting a puddle of water (Supun Wellappuliarachchi, pers.comm.). Calotes versicoloreven preys upon large species like theAtlas Moth (Attacus taprobanis) (HS, pers. obs.). Additionally,orthopterans, mantodeans, dipterans, odonates, blattodeans,hemipterans, and dermapterans constitute a lesser content in the

diet (Rao 1975. Brit. J. Herpetol. 5:467470; Indurkar and Sabnis1976. Comp. Physiol. Ecol. 1: 912; Sharma and Vazirani 1977.Rec. Zool. Surv. India 73:7793; Chandra 1983. Plant ProtectionBulletin 35:35; Qiu et al. 2001. Zool. Res. 22:367374). Annelidsare a constituent of the diet of C. versicolor, but are representedin a low volume in gut contents (Rao 1975, op. cit.) which couldbe due to high digestion rate of soft-bodied prey (Verheyen 1991.Funct. Ecol. 5:507517; Qu et al. 2011. Curr. Zool. 57: 684700). RSobserved an adult male feeding on a small annelid, Megascolexcoeruleus, that emerged on the surface soon after a rain. Thislizard generally forages on the surface (tree trunks or on ground),but can opportunistically unearth fossorial prey like annelids(Sharma 2002. Cobra 48:1415). RS observed a sub-adult lizardpreying on an asparassid Heteropoda venatoria and a failed

attempt of an adult female to catch a sub-adult theraphosidPoecilotheria pedersoni(before it escaped to a tree hollow) in SriLanka.

Several groups of herpetofauna, including amphibians,agamids, geckos, skinks, and snakes are known prey items ofC. versicolor. Records of feeding on juveniles of other agamidsare common. S. Wellappuliarachchi (pers. comm.) observedan adult C. versicolor preying upon an injured C. calotes (SVLca. 80100 mm) after the latter was attacked by a cat. Holdingits prey by the belly, the lizard hit the C. calotes on a brick wallvigorously several times and then carried it onto the top of acoconut tree. Senanayake (1980. Tiger Paper 7:2628) reported

FIG. 1. A) Adult male (AAGARDA 11131), and B) pregnant female (AA-GARDA 11129) Brasiliscincus heathi exhibiting tail bifurcation. Scale= 10 mm.


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TABLE

1.Continued.

Preytaxon

Location

Habitat

Evidence

Citations

Notes

MYRIAPODS

Millipedesandcentipedes

1Amarvati,India;2Orissa,India

1N/A;2AH

1SC;2SC

1IndurkarandSabnis1976;2Rao1975

Scolopendrasp.(centipede)

Assam,India

AH

DO

Kalita2000

Rhysidasp.(centipede)

WestBengal,India

N/A

SC

Ahmed1984

Proterosperphormagesp.(millipede)

WestBengal,India

N/A

SC

Ahmed1984

Siphonophorids

Tongshi,China

N/A

SC

Qiu,etal.2001

ARACHNIDS

Spiders

1India;2Orissa,India;3Tongshi,China

1AH;2AH;3N/A

1SC;2SC;3SC

1SharmaandVazirani1977;2Rao1975;

3Qiuetal.2001

Heteropodavenatoria

Kandy,SriLanka

Homegarden

DO

Somaweera,pers.o

bs.

sizeofprey:ca.3

0mm;

SVLoflizard:ca.7

0mm

Poecilotheriapedersoni

Bundala,SriLanka

Dryscrubland

DO

Somaweera,pers.o

bs.

sizeofprey:ca.7

0mm;

SVLoflizard:>300mm

CRUSTACEANS

Isopods

Tongshi,China

N/A

SC

Qiuetal.2001

AMPHIBIANS

Frogs

India

N/A

N/A

Daniel1983

REPTILES

Sub-adultCalotesversicolor

Jaipur,India

Forestryarboretum

DO

Sharma1992

TotLoflizard:ca.3

30mm

JuvenileCalotesversicolor

Singapore

Urbanpark

SC

Diong1994

sizeofprey:35&45mm;

SVLoflizard:104&110

mm

Calotescalotes(GreenGardenLizard)

Matara,SriLanka

AH

DO

S.Wellappuliarachchi,pers.comm.

sizeofprey:ca.8

0100mm;

SVLoflizard:>150mm

JuvenileCeratophorastoddarti

SriLanka

N/A

DO

Senanayake1980

(RhinoHornedLizard)

Sitanaponticeriana(Fan-throatedLizard)

SriLanka

N/A

DO

deSilva2006

HatchlingsofDracovolans(Flyingdragon

s)

Singapore

N/A

SC

Diongetal.1994

Lizard(unidentified)

Orissa,India

AH

SC

Rao1975

sizeofprey:21mm;SVLof

lizard:92mm

Hemidactylusbrooki(BrooksHouseGeck

o)

Jaipur,India

Forestryarboretum

DO

Sharma1992

Hemidactylussp.(possiblyH.frenatus)

Mihintale,SriLanka

AH

DO


sizeofprey:100mm(TotL);

SVLoflizard:150mm

Hemidactylusleschenaultii(BarkGecko)

Naula,SriLanka

Homegarden(onashedwall)DO

Somaweera,pers.o

bs.

sizeofprey:120mm(TotL);

TotLoflizard:ca.350mm


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TABLE

1.Continued.

Preytaxon

Location

Habitat

Evidence

Citations

Notes

Lankascincusfallax(CommonLankaSkink)

Mihintale,SriLanka

AH

DO


sizeofprey:80100mmTotL);

SVLoflizard:ca.140mm

Xenochropispiscator(CheckeredKeelback)

Pune,India

Abandonedquarry

DO

ThiteandNerlekar2012

sizeofprey:ca.8

0200mm

(TotL);SVLoflizard:120mm

Amphiesmastolatum

ChennaiSnakePark,India

wild

DO

KalaiarasanandRajarathinam2005

sizeofprey:130170mm(TotL)

Lycodonaulicus(CommonWolfSnake)

Rajasthan,India

Forestnursery

DO

Sharma1998

sizeofprey:250mm(TotL)

BIRDS

EggsofPloceusphillipinus(BayaWeaver)

Punjab,India

AH

DO

DhindsaandToor1983

P.benghalensis(BlackThroatedWeaver)

P.manyar(StreakedWeaver)

Passerdomesticus(Housesparrow)

Bombay,India

N/A

DO

Paralkar1995

Smallbirds,nestlings

India

N/A

N/A

Daniel1983

MAMMALS

Mussp.(

FieldMouse)

Sigiriya,Srilanka

AH

DO


sizeofprey:4050mm

(headandbody)

ANIMALEXCRETA

ExcretaofIguanaiguana(GreenIguana)

India

AH

Captivity

RajarathinamandKalaiarasan1999

PLANTMATTER

budsofTabarnaemontanasp.

Bombay,India

NationalPark

DO

Sekar1987

PlantmatterofDalbergiasissoo,Rosaindica

,

HansiandBulandshar,India

N/A

SC

Bhattiet.al.1988

Gossypiumsp.,Saccharumonunjo,Sorghum

,

Morusalba,Cyanadonsp.,Kochiasp.,Acaciasp.,

Sestrumnocturnion,Sestrumalba,and

flowerpartsofCalotrophisprocera,

Solanumnigrum,Solanummelanogena,

Rosaindica,Althearosea,Malvestrumsp.

fallendryleafofMagniferaindica

Deolaforestrange,India

Forestnursery

DO

Sharma1998

fallenflowersofMorindatinctoriaandflowers

Chennaisnakepark,India

AH

DO

Aengals2000

ofCassiamarginata

GerminatingseedsofFeronialimonia

Rajasthan,India

Forestnursery

DO

Sharma1993

ShootsofVignasinensis(Cowpea)

Calicut,India

AH

DO

DevasahayamandDevasahayam1989

Grass,leaves,twigs

Amarvati,India

N/A

SC

IndurkarandSabnis1976

Grasses,leaves,seeds,twigs

Orissa,India

AH

SC

Rao1975

Stones

1Amarvati,India;2Orissa,India

1N/A;AH

1SC;SC

1IndurkarandSabnis1976;2Rao1975


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the Sri Lankan montane agamid Ceratophora stoddarti as aprey item of C. versicolor. However, currently Ceratophorastoddarti and C. versicolor are largely allopatric and thus thisreport seems questionable. Several species of geckos includingHemidactylus frenatus (S. Wellappuliarachchi, pers. comm.)and H. leschenaultii (RS, pers. obs.) are also taken. Severalincidents of these lizards taking small snakes as prey are knownfrom India (Sharma 1998. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 96:146147;

Kalaiarasan and Rajarathinam 2005. Cobra 61:1620; Thite andNerlekar 2012. Herpetol. Notes 5:518518). Endotherms arearguably rare in the diet of C. versicolor, but they do feed onbird eggs, nestlings, and adult birds (Daniel 1983. The Bookof Indian Reptiles. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay,India; Dhindsa and Toor 1983. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.80:221222; Paralkar 1995. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 92:426). S.Wellappuliarachchi (pers. comm.) observed an adult lizard (totallength ca. 180200 mm) feeding on a Mus sp. (Field Mouse) inSri Lanka, taking more than 20 minutes to completely swallowit, during which the lizard frequently squashed the mouse byhitting it on a rock. However, it is uncertain whether the lizardactively caught the live mouse or if the mouse was scavenged.

Plant material is also a known component of the diet. The

reason for feeding on plant matter is not clear, but could be forobtaining moisture (Devasahayam and Devasahayam 1989. J.Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 86:253) as well as nutrients (Indukar andSabnis 1976, op. cit.), or could reflect secondary or accidentalingestion (Rao 1975, op. cit.; Bhatti et al. 1988. J. Bombay Nat.Hist. Soc. 84:692693). However, active feeding on plant matterhas been observed (Sekar 1987. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 85:199;Devasahayam and Devasahayam 1989, op. cit.; Sharma 1994. J.Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91:150; Sharma 1998. Cobra 34:2122;Aengals 2000. Cobra 40:18).

Several factors may influence the wide spectrum of foodhabits known for this species. 1) Calotes versicolor is amongthe most widespread non-gekkonid lizards in the world (Engeand Krysko 2004, op. cit.; Matyot 2004, op. cit.; Radder 2006,

op. cit.), thus would encounter and hence could potentiallyprey on a large range of prey items within its range. 2) It is arelatively large lizard where males may attain 140 mm (SVL)and a total length over 450 mm (Radder et al. 2001. J. Herpetol.35:156160). Adults also have large heads with a relatively widegape. Body size is known to greatly influence many aspects ofthe morphology, physiology, and ecology of organisms (Meiri2008. Global Ecol. Biogeog. 17:724734.), thus prey size as wellprey spectrum could vary linearly with the size of the predatorallowing them to consume a larger range of prey items.Arguably, this could help them displace populations of smallercompetitors (e.g., Bronchocela cristatella in Singapore: Dionget al. 1994. Nature Malaysiana 19:4654). 3)Calotes versicoloris commonly observed in anthropogenic habitats including

home gardens, parks, plantations, and cities (Somaweera andSomaweera 2009. Lizards of Sri Lanka: A Colour Guide withField Keys. Chimaira Buchhandelsgesellschaft mbH, Frankfurtam Main. 304 pp.). Individuals often forage on ground, foliage,and on man-made structures, and males often display fromfences and other conspicuous perches. Hence the species ismore commonly seen, increasing the likelihood of observingforaging behavior. This explains why most feeding observationsare anecdotal and opportunistic in man-made environments.

Diet breadth and foraging success are of great importance inunderstanding the distribution of a predator and to understandits population dynamics and inter-specific interactions (Pitt and

Ritchie 2002. Oikos 96:157163). Coupled with its wide thermaltolerance limits (Qiu et al. 2009. Acta Ecol. Sinica 29:17381744)and habitat generalism (Radder 2006, op. cit.), a broad diet mayhave assisted the colonizing success of this species.

We thank I. Agarwal, T. Amarasinghe, B. Dayananda, M.Elphick, S. R. Ganesh, M. Greenlees, M. Gunawardena, S. Ka-runarathna, B. Kekulandala, K. Maduwage, U. Manthey, ChandraMouli, N. Perera, G. Vogel, and S. Wellappuliarachchi for provid-

ing literature and personal observations.HIRANYA SUDASINGHE, Department o Zoology, University o Perad-eniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (e-mail: [email protected]); RUCHIRA

SOMAWEERA, CSIRO Land and Water Flagship, Floreat, WA, Australia (e-

mail: [email protected]).

CHAMAELEO ZEYLANICUS (Indian Chameleon). CLUTCH

SIZE.Reported clutch size of Chamaeleo zeylanicus ranges from1033 (Daniel 2002. The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphib-ians. Bombay Natural History Society and Oxford UniversityPress, Mumbai. viii + 238 pp.; Das 2002. A Photographic Guideto Snakes and other Reptiles of India. New Holland Publishers[UK] Ltd, London. 144 pp.). One female Chamaeleo zeylanicus(357 mm total length) was confiscated at Kolkata, West Bengal,

India by authorities on 1 November 2014 and was housed in theWildlife Rescue Centre, Kolkata. On 3 November 2014 at ca. 1030h we found a clutch containing 65 eggs in the enclosure. The eggswere laid in a water bowl and a few eggs were drowned and rottenat the time of collection. Egg diameter ranged from 2021.2 mmin length (mean: 20.54 mm) and 14.915.6 mm in width (mean:15.32 mm). The top of the eggs were marked with a non-toxicmarker during collection to avoid turning of eggs and 60 healthylooking eggs were kept in a plastic container (25 cm 30 cm 15 cm) with vermiculite as an artificial substrate for incubation.Small holes were made in the lid for circulation of air. The con-tainer was kept inside a wooden cupboard. To maintain temper-ature, external heat source of a 100-watt bulb was used. The bulbwas kept on during the night to keep the ambient temperature

between 2730C. The eggs were sprayed lightly with water whenthey looked dry.

By February 2015, 31 eggs were rotten. The rotten eggs wereremoved when found. On 29 May 2015 at ca. 1130 h, after 207 daysof incubation, the first hatchling was observed to put its headout from one of the eggs. When it failed to get out by itself afteranother two hours, it was manually pushed out of the eggshell.

FIG. 1. Clockwise from upper left: Eggs, emergence, healthy hatch-lings, and care of weak hatchling of Chamaeleo zeylanicus.


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The hatchling started moving within a minute and then openedits eyes. It was shifted to a bigger container (25 cm 36 cm 27cm) and was given twigs to climb on. In the next seven days, 18more eggs hatched at varying times of the day. On 12 June 2015 ca.2150 h, after 222 days from the date of laying the final hatchlingemerged. Smith (1935. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon andBurma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II.Sauria. Taylor and Francis,London. 440 pp.) noted the clutch size to be 31 and the egg size to

be 13 mm 7 mm. He also mentioned another clutch containing13 eggs that measured 19 mm 12 mm. Another study noted thespecies has an incubation period of eight months and a clutchsize of 3240 with the range of size and weight of the eggs to be1522.5 mm 912 mm and 12 g (Singh et al. 1984. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 81[1]:8692). Our present report documents thelargest clutch size recorded for the species.

The snoutvent length of the hatchlings ranged from 2332mm (mean = 27.6 mm) and the tail length ranged from 3138mm(mean = 34 mm). Singh et al. (1984, op. cit.) reported the sizeof four hatchlings: total length 7072.5 mm, SVL 3034.5. Theweight of the hatchlings ranged from 0.931.8 g (mean = 1.3 g).The weak embryos which still had good amount of yolk insidetheir umbellica were carefully transferred to disinfected banana

leaves to cushion them and were kept in a separate plasticcontainer at room temperature (ca. 31C). They recovered within2436 h. Some eggs showed pipping but they failed to emerge.These eggs were carefully slit with a scalpel to assist emergence.The remaining nine eggs were kept under observation foranother seven days. Then they were cut open. Five of those eggshad fully formed dead embryos. The remaining eggs did not formany embryos and yolk was in liquid state. Twenty eggs were thussuccessfully hatched.

We thank Singaram Kulandaivel (Divisional Forest Officer,Wildlife Headquarter, West Bengal), Shankar Dutta (Ranger),Michele Smith, Arjan Basu Roy, Somnath Majhi,

ANIRBAN CHAUDHURI, Jodhupur Park, Kolkata 700068, West Ben-

gal, India (e-mail: [email protected]); ARPITA DUTTA, Jodhupur

Park, Kolkata 700068, West Bengal, India (e-mail: [email protected]);JAYADITYA PURKAYASTHA , Help Earth, Guwahati 781007, Assam, India

(e-mail: [email protected]).

COLEODACTYLUS MERIDIONALIS (Meridian Gecko). PRE-

DATION. The lizards of the genus Coleodactylus (Sphaerodac-tylidae) are widely distributed in northeastern South Amer-ica (Kluge 1995. Amer. Mus. Novit. 3139:123). This genus iscomposed of a complex of small diurnal species that inhabit leaflitter (vila-Pires 1995. Zoologische Verhandelingen 299:1706;Vanzolini 1968. Arq. Zool. 17:184). Coleodactylus meridionalisis a litter-dweller distributed in the Caatinga and Atlantic Rain-forest of northeastern Brazil (Ribeiro et al. 2013. Herpetol. Notes6:2327). Here we report a predation event on an individual of C.

meridionalis (SVL = 26.18 mm; tail length = 20.84 mm; 0.3 g) byBrasiliscincus heathi (SVL = 65.96 mm; tail length = 77.8 mm; 6.1g).On 18 November 2014 at 1611 h, in Serra Grande (6.503499S,35.933579W; WGS 84) municipality of Cuit, Paraba State,northeastern Brazil, during an active search in leaf litter for rep-tiles, we observed a C. meridionalis being preyed upon by a B.heathi(Fig. 1). The observation lasted at least five minutes, afterwhich the lizards were collected and subsequently euthanized,fixed with 10% formalin, and deposited at the Coleo Herpe-tolgica da Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA-H 10.176 and10.164, respectively). Although C. meridionalis has been reportedin the diet of Tropidurus hygomii (Vargens et al. 2005. Herpetol.

Rev. 36:173174), to our knowledge this is the first record of pre-dation of C. meridionalisby B. heathi.

We thank Fundao Cearense de Apoio ao DesenvolvimentoCientfico e Tecnolgico (FUNCAP) for a research fellowship toRWA (process BPI-0067-000060100/12) and for master fellowshipto DBO and EPA. And Coordenao de Aperfeioamento dePessoal de Nvel Superior (CAPES) for a master fellowship toCFS.

EDNA PAULINO DE ALCANTARA(e-mail: [email protected]),

DEIVID BATISTA DE OLIVEIRA, CRISTIANA FERREIRA DA SILVA, TATI

ANA FEITOSA QUIRINO, and ROBSON WALDEMAR VILA, Laboratrio

de Herpetologia, Departamento de Cincias Biolgicas, Universidade Re-

gional do Cariri - URCA, Campus do Pimenta, Rua Cel. Antnio Luiz, 1161,

Bairro do Pimenta, CEP 63105-100, Crato, Cear, Brazil. Programa de Ps-

Graduao em Bioprospeco Molecular. DRAUSIO HONORIO MORAIS,Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Biocincias, UNESP, Distrito de

Rubio Jr., s/n, CEP 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.

CTENOSAURA OAXACANA (Oaxacan Spiny-Tailed Iguana).

PREDATION. Ctenosaura oaxacana is a critically endangeredspecies distributed in tropical dry forest along the Pacific coastof the Mexican state of Oaxaca (Khler 2004. IUCN 2013; Khlerand Hasbn 2001. Senckenberg Biol. 81:257267). As part of anongoing project to examine C. oaxacanahabitat use, we radio-tracked C. oaxacana outfitted with Holohil Ltd. PD-2 transmit-ters affixed externally at the dorsal base of the tail with the an-tenna extending anteriorly. On 25 May 2014 and 30 May 2014 inSan Pedro Huamelula Municipality, we found one adult female

and one adult male radio tagged iguanas (13.5 cm SVL, 20.5 cmtail length, 84 g, and 15.4 cm SVL, 17.5 cm tail length, 107 g, re-spectively) each ingested by adult female Western Lyre Snakes(Trimorphodon biscutatus) (99.8 cm SVL; 18.4 cm tail length; 215g, and 104.5 cm SVL, 20.5 cm tail length, 292 g, respectively). TheT. biscutatuswere maintained at ambient temperature for 5 and10 days, respectively, until the transmitter and string attached toiguana scales were defecated (snake mass post-defecation = 175g and 225 g, respectively). The iguanas represented 48.0% and47.6% of the snake body mass, and 28.8% and 26.3%, of the totallength of the snakes respectively, considering 4 g mass of receiverand glue.

FIG. 1. Predation of Coleodactylus meridionalis by a Brasiliscincusheathi, Paraba, Brazil.


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Trimorphodon biscutatusis a mostly terrestrial, nocturnal,active forager known to predate snakes, mammals, and diurnallizards including Ctenosaura (Scott and Norman 1984. Cat.Amer. Amph. Rept. 353.1353.3). In Costa Rica, T. biscutatusis one of the main predators of C. similis (Savage 2002. TheAmphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna betweenTwo Continents, between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press,Chicago, Illinois. 934 pp.). A juvenile C. pectinata (30 cm SVL; 46

cm tail length; 405 g) predated by a T. biscutatus (150 cm SVL; 25cm tail length; 1183 g, representing 34.2% of body mass of thesnake) proved fatal within 20 minutes of ingestion (Ramrez-Bautista 1992. Herpetol. Rev. 23[3]:82) despite the C. pectinatabeing relatively smaller in size than the C. oaxacana predationinstances we present here. These observations represent thefirst reports of C. oaxacana being predated by T. biscutatus andestablish that adults are susceptible to predation by relativelysmall snakes while in refugia.Our observations also add to theunderstanding of relative meal size in T. biscutatus.

We thank Emigdio Orozco Sanchez and Fernando Valencia.Permit: Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales(Mxico) SGPA/DGVS/04235/13 to VHR.

JEFFREY P. CORNEIL (e-mail: [email protected]), CHAD E.

MONTGOMERY , Department o Biology, Truman State University, 100 E.Normal St., Kirksville, Missouri 63501, USA; VCTOR HUGO REYNOSO,

Departamento de Zoologa, Instituto de Biologa, Universidad Nacional

Autnoma de Mxico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Mxico D.F.

C.P. 04510, Mexico.

LIOLAEMUS TENUIS TENUIS(Slender Jewel Lizard).NOCTUR-

NAL ACTIVITY. The highly speciose genus Liolaemus is wide-spread in southern South America but only a few species havebeen described as human commensals in the way that they sur-vive, proliferate, and colonize urban or suburban areas (Vidal andLabra 2008 [eds.], Herpetologa de Chile. Science Verlag Ed., San-tiago, Chile. 600 pp.). Despite a remarkable diversity of ecologicaland biological traits, all species are diurnal. This note documents

a case of nocturnal activity in Liolaemus tenuis tenuis, a smalllizard with a wide distribution in central Chile, but in Argentinais only found in a small area covered with Andean-Patagonianforest, in Neuqun Province (Christie and Sage 2002. Cuad. Her-petol. 16:8082). The present observation occurred after 2200 hon a wall facing northeast on the main building hallway of Hos-teria Piedra Pintada (39.1177S, 71.0967W, WGS 84; 1046 m elev.)at Provincial Road 11 (km marker 50), on the southern coast ofPulmari Lake, Alumine Department, Neuqun Province. On 24January 2013, several lizards (45) were observed around an il-luminated electric wall lantern, situated ~ 2.50 m above groundand surrounded by branches of an ornamental rose vine. Appar-ently, they were feeding on insects but when we approached toless than 5 m all but one adult female ran away in different di-

rections. This individual was photographed with a digital camera(Fig. 1) and remained in the same position for ~ 2 minutes untilshe started moving around the lantern and between vegetationto finally disappear from our view after two or three minutes.Three other smaller individuals were later observed moving nearthe lamp over the next 1520 minutes but vine foliage densityobscured clear spotting and accurate identification. Our obser-vation occurred on an unusually warm night (> 20C) and after ahot day that probably warmed the building walls allowing lizardsto maintain nocturnal activity. This observation is apparentlythe first report of nocturnal activity in L. tenuis tenuisand prob-ably for the entire genus. Other species of Liolaemusmay remain

active for a brief period after nightfall via thigmothermy on warmsubstrates but this has only observed in desert species (e.g., L.

darwinii, L. olongasta, L. koslowskyi) in the Monte biogeographicregion but never in colder regions such as the Andean Patago-nian forest.

LUCIANO JAVIER AVILA (e-mail: [email protected]) and MARI

ANA MORANDO, IPEEC, CENPAT-CONICET, Boul. Alte. Brown 2915,

U9120ACD, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina (e-mail: morandocnp@

gmail.com).

MENETIA GREYII (Greys Skink).DIET.Despite widespread in-sectivory there are remarkably few records of the species iden-tity of insect dietary items of any Australian lizard species, andlittle is known of the biology of the minute terrestrial lygosomineskinks of the genus Menetia. On 29 October 1990, 1400 h, MPdetected a mature adult (SVL 32 mm) Menetia greyiiGray, 1845,

with complete original tail eating an adult (total length ca. 25mm) damselfly,Austrolestes io(Selys, 1862) (Odonata: Zygoptera:Lestidae), on brick pavers in the brick wall-enclosed backyard(ca. 7 3 m) of Unit 1/12 Hannibal Street, Palmyra, metropolitanPerth, Western Australia, Australia (32.038056S, 115.780278E,WGS 84; 20 m elev.). When first observed, the M. greyiihad al-ready swallowed most of the A. io, head-first and including allfour wings, and it was only detected by ca. 3 mm of the abdomenprotruding from the mouth. The M. greyiieventually regurgitatedtheA. ioafter 56 minutes, perhaps because of perceived threatdue to close proximity and movements of the photographer anddisturbance from the camera flash, but more likely due to theA. iobeing too long for the M. greyiito swallow completely, as itspent 23 minutes attempting to swallow the rest of the abdo-

men even after we had stopped taking photos. Neither subjectwas retained. Observations were made on a sunny mid-springday with no cloud cover or perceptible wind; temperature wasnot recorded. The M. greyiiwas one of 45 adults resident in theyard, which was void of vegetation except for two exotic succu-lents 2030 cm high situated at the base of a wall; small popula-tions of two arboreal species, the larger skink Cryptoblepharusbuchananiand the gecko Christinus marmoratus, were presenton brick walls of the building by day and night, respectively.

Austrolestes iowould therefore appear to be just beyond theupper size-limit of single prey items for adult Menetia greyii, al-though whether there were other prey items in the gut that may

FIG. 1. A) Adult female of Liolaemus tenuis tenuis. B) Lantern andwall where nocturnal activity was observed, white arrow marks exactplace were female was photographed.


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have impeded full swallowing was undetermined; lizards mayoccasionally attempt to swallow single prey items beyond theirgustatory capacity, and then regurgitate the swallowed portion(e.g., the eublepharid gecko Coleonyx variegatus with a largeroad-killed centipede, Gardner and Mendelson 1999. Herpe-tol. Rev. 30[4]:227), as likely the case in the above observations.Other lizard species have been occasionally reported to deal withrelatively large arthropod prey items by disarticulation and then

consumption of the portions (e.g., the polychrotidAnolis unifor-miswith large Alate Diptera, Eifler 1995. Herpetol. Rev. 26[4]:204;the teiid Ameiva ameivawith large cerambycid beetles, Morato2012. Herpetol. Rev. 43[3]:328), however this did not occur in theabove case. How this strictly terrestrial species was able to securetheA. ioin the above interaction is unknown (not observed); thismay have been by active predation, or opportunistic salvage ofan individual killed or injured by another predator such as a birdor spider.

There is a report of Menetia greyiihunting insects in a lumpof dry branches in Fromes Creek, 2 km W of Banncannia water-hole, Sturt NP, New South Wales (NSW), arid east Australia, butidentities of the potential prey were not provided (Henle 1996.Herpetofauna 26[1]:1225). Gut content analysis of vouchers

from two semi-arid localities in southern Australia (N = 85; mostfrom Erskine Park, Salter Springs, 85 km N of Adelaide; 13 kmfrom coastal Port Gawler, 30 km N of Adelaide) revealed 128 iden-tifiable remains of various small Arthropoda (most Insecta) asdietary items of 44 M. greyii, 45% termites (Isoptera), 13% bugs(Hemiptera), 10% ants (Hymenoptera: Apocrita: Formicidae), 9%beetles (Coleoptera), 8% spiders (Arachnida: Aranea), 7% moths(Lepidoptera), and a few flies (Diptera), cockroaches (Blatto-dea), nymphal grasshoppers (Orthoptera), and pseudoscorpions(Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) (Smyth and Smith 1974. J. Her-petol. 8[4]:32935). More recently, gut content analysis of a largersample (N = 448) of Menetia greyi [sic] from sites in the GreatVictoria Desert in arid west Australia (some collected by the pres-ent first author) found 468 dietary items in 146 vouchers, com-

prising (by conversion of proportions of numbers to percentag-es) 33.1% spiders (Aranea), 22.2% silverfish (Thysanura), 17.7%bugs (Hemiptera), 3.4% beetles (Coleoptera), 3.4% termites(Isoptera), 2.6% ants (Formicidae), 3.0% mites (Arachnida: Aca-rina), 2.4% grasshoppers (Orthoptera), 1.5% flies (Diptera), 0.9%(proportion given as .004, in error) wasps (Hymenoptera: Ap-ocrita), 0.9% pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones), 0.6% cock-roaches (Blattodea), 0.2% moths (Lepidoptera), 0.2% centipedes(Myriopoda: Chilopoda), 2.1% other Insecta, 4.7% eggs and 1.3%larvae (presumably Insecta), 0.2% unidentified plant remains,and 0.1% unidentified (Pianka 2011. West. Austral. Nat. 28[1]:1217). Other than ants (resolvable to family), no identities of preyitems to species, genus, or family were given in these papers.Both studies found diets comprised of small arthropods, but the

range of arthropod orders taken and proportions in diets differedmarkedly. Most striking, Isoptera were the dominant item in di-ets in the southern Australia sample, but comprised a low pro-portion of items in the west Australia sample which instead wasdominated by Aranea and Thysanura with the latter dominantby volume (35.3%) but absent in the southern Australia sample;discrepancy in the results of gut content analyses illustrates howdiets in the same species may vary between different regions andhabitats, and perhaps with year and season. A notable feature inboth studies was the apparent absence of prey items in a largeproportion of vouchers (ca. 67.41% and 48.24%, respectively).All prey items in both studies were of small size, relative to their

predators, however our above record indicates that the range ofprey-size taken by M. greyiiis much greater than previously re-ported, and may include items of roughly equivalent body lengthto themselves in diets; although protagonists were not weighed,the mass of the single item would have constituted a major pro-portion of unfed total body mass of the predator in this interac-tion. Our record is also notable as the first report of predation byM. greyiion Odonata.

Menetia greyii is distributed over most of the Australianmainland except much of Victoria, the southeast coast, the east-ern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, and Cape York (Cog-ger 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia [7thed.]. CSIROPublishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. xxx + 1033 pp.),with apparently isolated populations in the northern AustralianCapital Territory (ACT) (Jenkins and Bartell 1980. A Field Guideto Reptiles of the Australian High Country. Inkata Press Propri-etary Limited, Melbourne. 2 pp. [unpaginated] + 278 pp.) and theNorthern Tablelands of NSW (DCM, unpubl. data); as currentlyconceived M. greyii includes both sexual and parthenogeneticpopulations. Austrolestes io is a disjunctly distributed southernAustralian species, present in Tasmania, Victoria, southern ACT,and in the southwest of Western Australia where it is relatively

common, but is infrequently encountered and therefore likelysparsely distributed in southeastern Australia (MP, unpubl. data).The current known distributions of the predator and prey speciesin the above interaction only overlap in southwest Australia withthe isolated population of the latter, although known localities ofthe two species approach in the highlands of the ACT.

We thank Brenda Coulson for assistance in observations.MAGNUS PETERSON, Unit 5/33 Point Walter Rd., Bicton, WA, Australia

6157; DEAN C. METCALFE, PO Box 4056, Werrington, NSW, Australia 2747


MICROLOPHUS BIVITTATUS (Lava Lizard).PREDATION.On 13January 2015 at 1138 h we observed an Ardea alba(Great Egret)stalk, capture, and consume an adult female Microlophus bivit-

tatusin Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristbal, Galpagos, Ec-uador (0.90336S, 89.6105W). The setting was an urban vacantlot with scattered building material and low plants. M. bivittatuswere conspicuously common in the town, and appeared to bethe only available food there forA. alba; the close flight distanceofA. albain the Galpagos probably contributed to its ability toforage in a busy urban area.Ardea albanormally forage in near-shore habitats and are native to San Cristbal (Fitter et al 2000.Wildlife of the Galpagos, Princeton University Press, Princeton,New Jersey. 254 pp.). The capture and consumption took approx-imately 20 seconds.

RUSSELL L BURKE (e-mail: [email protected]) and MIRANDA

FIGUERAS, Department o Biology, Hostra University, Hempstead, New

York 11549, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); PAUL P. CALLE,

Wildlie Conservation Society, Zoological Health Program, 2300 SouthernBlvd., Bronx, New York 10460, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).

OPLURUS CUVIERI CUVIERI (Madagascan Spiny-tailed Igua-

na).DIET.Several studies have shown that Oplurus cuvieri cuvi-erimainly prey on invertebrates, with a high proportion of thosebeing ants, and also occasionally feeds on plant materials (Del-heusy and Bels 1992. J. Exp. Biol. 170:155186; Randriamahazoand Mori 2012. Curr. Herpetol. 31:813). In addition, two reportssuggest active predation on nestling birds by O. c. cuvieri. Egu-chi (2005. InYamagishi [ed.], Social Organization of the RufousVanga, pp. 83104. Kyoto Univ. Press, Kyoto, Japan) observed that


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an adult Schetba rufa (Rufous Vanga) intensively attacked an in-dividual of O. c. cuvierithat came close to a nest of the S. rufa,and he inferred that O. c. cuvierifeeds on nestlings of S. rufa. Ito(2013. Herpetol. Rev. 44:678) reported a predation event of O. c.cuvierion a fledgling of Hypsipetes madagascariensis(Madagas-car Bulbul) that had fallen from its nest. Here, we report a case ofactive predation on an adult bird byO. c. cuvieri.

In Ampijoroa forest of Ankarafantsika National Park,Madagascar, at approximately 1150 h on 2 December 2012,we found a pair of Cinnyris sovimanga (Souimanga Sunbird)perching on a branch of a tree approximately 4 m high. An adultmale Oplurus cuvieri cuvieri (SVL ca. 170 mm) approachedthe base of the tree and started to climb the trunk. The lizardintermittently climbed up to an approximately 3-m high branchin several minutes. At the branch, the lizard turned toward thebirds and slowly came close to them. Then the lizard stepped onanother branch and remained motionless for approximately 10seconds at this position 20 cm behind the birds. At 1205 h, thelizard sprang at the male C. sovimangafrom the branch and held

the bird with its mouth. Although they fell down to the groundtogether from the branch, the lizard was still holding the bird withits mouth. Immediately after the landing, the lizard ran away toanother tree approximately 5 m away and quickly climbed thetree while holding the bird (Fig. 1). Finally, the lizard began to eatthe bird on a branch 4 m high. This is the first report on activehunting of adult birds by O. c. cuvieri.

This study was financially supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for

Scientific Research (B: no. 24405008). We thank Akira Mori for hisvaluable suggestions and staff of Madagascar National Park fortheir assistance in the field study.

MAKOTO MAC ITOH, Department o Zoology, Graduate School o Sci-

ence, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8502 Japan (e-mail: mac_itoh@

yahoo.co.jp); RYO ITO, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, In-

uyama, Aichi, 484-8506 Japan.

PHRYNOSOMA CORNUTUM (Texas Horned Lizard). HABITAT

USE.The combination of high temperatures and low humidityfrom lack of precipitation, as has happened frequently over thelast few years in Oklahoma, USA, can create desiccation cracks indry, bare clay soil (Morris et al. 1992. Can. Geotech. J. 29:263277;Peron et al. 2009. Can. Geotech. J. 46:11771201; Burmeier et al.

2010. Plant and Soil 333:351364). This phenomenon occurred onCore Reserve Area 3 (CRA3), a preserved area of tallgrass prairieand woodland on Tinker Air Force Base on the outskirts of Okla-homa City. One of the few remnant populations of Phrynosomacornutum in central Oklahoma occurs on CRA3 (35.415780N,97.410975W; WGS 84), and this population has been studied in-tensively with visual surveys and radio telemetry (Endriss et al.2007. Herpetologica 63:320331; Bogosian et al. 2012. Ecol. Mod-el. 237/238:6373; Wolf et al. 2013. Herpetologica 69:265281).We directly observed 10 telemetered P. cornutum taking refugein these drought-induced cracks on multiple occasions duringthe summer and autumn between 2010 and 2014 (Fig. 1). Severaladditional P. cornutumwere suspected of being in cracks basedon telemetry signals, but could not be visually confirmed. Vari-

ous ages of P. cornutumwere observed using these cracks, includ-ing hatchlings (SVL 2326 mm) and adults of both sexes (SVL5272 mm). Cracks were generally only a few centimeters wideat ground level, and the width of the cracks decreased with in-creasing depth. P. cornutumwere observed up to 150 mm belowground level. Individuals of all ages were also observed partially

FIG. 1. Oplurus cuvieri cuvieri climbed the tree while holding adultCinnyris sovimanga.

FIG. 1. Phrynosoma cornutum utilizing an ephemeral desiccationcrack as a refuge.


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in or adjacent to cracks, and would seek refuge deeper in cracksupon approach by researchers. Pianka and Parker (1975. Copeia1975:141162) suggested that Phrynosoma engage in bimodaldaily activity patterns during June, July, and August to avoid theheat of the day, which can often exceed 32C at CRA3. Crack usemay represent an escape from heat during summer. However, P.cornutumhave also been observed using cracks in the autumnduring temperatures of 1621C suggesting that cracks may also

provide refuge from predators, as is indicated by P. cornutumseeking shelter in cracks when approached by researchers. To ourknowledge, use of desiccation cracks in substrate has not beendocumented in the literature for Phrynosoma, but these refugiaseem to represent a valuable, though ephemeral, microhabitat.Such cracks may be especially valuable, given that refugia pro-vided by vegetative cover may be reduced during and soon aftertimes of extreme high heat and low humidity.

ALEXANDER J. WOLF (e-mail: [email protected]), JENNIE

MOOK (e-mail: [email protected]), and MIRANDA VESY (e-mail: mnvesy@

gmail.com), Cooperative Wildlie Research Lab, Southern Illinois University,

Carbondale, Illinois 62901-6504, USA; RAYMOND W. MOODY(e-mail: ray-

[email protected]) and DONNA NOLAN, 7701 Arnold St. Suite 109,

US Air Force, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma 73145-9100 USA (e-mail:

[email protected]).

PSEUDOGEKKO DITOY (Leyte Diminutive False Gecko).MOR-

PHOLOGY.Pseudogekko ditoy is a recently described, secretivespecies of gecko known only from the islands of Leyte and Samarin east-central Philippines. Few specimens of this species havebeen encountered or collected, and as such, researchers havehad limited ability to detect morphological variation among in-dividuals. The examination of secondary sexual characteristicshas been an important tool used to determine the sex of indi-viduals in this genus. Many secondary sexual characteristics ex-ist among lizards, but a widespread diagnostic character usedto differentiate sexes is the presence of enlarged, precloacal orfemoral pores. Typically, these pores are used to identify males of

a species; however, the presence of precloacal pores in femaleshas been documented in several families, including Lacertidae(Khanoon et al. 2013. Zool. Sci. 30:110117), Liolaemidae (Valde-cantos et al. 2014. Acta Herpetol. 9:147158), and Gekkonidae.Within the family Gekkonidae, females with precloacal poreshave been reported for multiple genera, including Cyrtodactylus(Bauer et al. 2010. Zootaxa 2570:4150; Pauwels et al., 2014. Zoo-taxa 3755:584594), Hemiphyllodactylus (Zug 2010. Smithson.Contr. Zool. 631:170), Hoplodactylus (Jewell 2006. IdentifyingGeckos in Otago. Science & Technical Publishing, Department ofConservation. Wellington, New Zealand. 60 pp.), and Naultinus(Jewell 2006, op cit.). Herein, we report on the first record of pre-cloacal pores in female Pseudogekko.

During a recent biodiversity survey from 1 June to 9 July

2014 on Samar Island in the eastern Philippines, we collectedtwo adult P. ditoy on leaf litter near stream systems: a single,gravid, adult female (KU 338507) in Municipality of San Josede Buan, Western Samar Province, Samar Island, Philippines(12.05262N, 125.03429E, WGS 84; 209 m elev.), and a singleadult male (KU 338508) in Barangay San Rafael, Municipalityof Taft, Eastern Samar Province, Samar Island, Philippines(11.80255N, 125.29276E, WGS 84; 140 m elev.). The specimenshave 18 (female) and 17 (male) small pores in continuous,precloacal series, which are moderately arched anteromedially.The posterior half of the body on the male specimen is damaged;however, comparisons with the pore series of a previously

collected adult male (KU 326438, paratype) shows female poresto be smaller in size than male pores (Fig. 1). Recognizing thatthis character has been used to determine sex in systematicstudies of this genus, with the presence of pores recognized tooccur in males only (Siler et al. 2014. Herpetol. Monogr. 28:110139), caution must be taken in future studies concerning the useof this character to determine sex, and gonadal inspection maybe necessary for proper validation. Fieldwork was supported

by NSF DEB 0743491 and EF-0334952 to RMB, and NSF DEB0804115 and IOS 1353683 to CDS.

DREW R. DAVIS, Department o Biology, University o South Dakota,

414 East Clark St., Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA (e-mail: drew.da-

[email protected]); MARITES B. SANGUILA,Father Saturnino Urios University,

San Francisco St., Butuan City 8600, Agusan del Norte, Philippines (e-mail:

[email protected]); JOSEPH C. BROWN, Herpetology Depart-

ment, San Diego Zoo, San Diego, Caliornia 92101, USA (e-mail: jbrown@

sandiegozoo.org);RAFE M. BROWN (e-mail: [email protected]) and KERRY A.

COBB, Biodiversity Institute, University o Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd, Law-

rence, Kansas 66045, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); PHILIP BERGMANN

(e-mail: [email protected]) and GEN MORINAGA, Department o

FIG. 1. Photographs of precloacal pore series in preserved specimensof Pseudogekko ditoy from the Philippines. A) Adult female (KU338507; SVL = 49.7 mm) from northern Samar Island. B) Adult male(KU 326438; SVL = 49.4 mm) from southern Leyte Island. Scale bars= 2 mm.

PHOTOSBYJESSAL.W

ATTERS


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Biology, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610,

USA (e-mail: [email protected]); NICHOLAS A. HURON (e-mail: na-

[email protected]), JESSA L. WATTERS (e-mail: [email protected]), and CAM

ERON D. SILER, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum o Natural History, Univer-

sity o Oklahoma, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, Oklahoma 73072, USA


SPHAERODACTYLUS BROMELIARUM. SIZE RECORD. On 30

January 2005, Ariel Rodrguez and Roberto Alonso collected anadult female and two juveniles of Sphaerodactylus bromeliaruminside a bromeliad from Yunque de Baracoa, Baracoa Municipal-ity, Guantnamo Province. The adult female (CZACC 4.5657, Her-petological Collection of the Instituto de Ecologa y Sistemtica,Havana Province, Cuba) measures 28.1 mm snoutvent length(SVL), and has 41 dorsal and 36 ventral scales between axillaand groin, respectively; 54 scales around midbody and 12 fourthtoe lamellae. The previously reported maximum length for thisspecies is 24.0 mm SVL, also in another adult female (Peters andSchwartz 1977. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 48:393399).

MANUEL ITURRIAGA and ADONIS GONZLEZ, Divisin de Colec-

ciones Zoolgicas, Instituto de Ecologa y Sistemtica, Carretera de Varona

km 3 , Capdevila, Boyeros, AP 8029, CP 10800, La Habana, Cuba (e-mail:

[email protected]).

SPHENOMORPHUS SABANUS (Sabah Slender Skink).REPRO-

DUCTION. Sphenomorphus sabanus is endemic to Borneo,Southeast Asia, where it is found from lowlands to submontaneforests (Das 2010. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of South-EastAsia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, PeninsularMalaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali. New HollandPublishers, UK. 376 pp). It is oviparous and produces clutches of23 eggs (Das 2010, op. cit.). In this note I add information on thereproductive biology of S. sabanus from a histological examina-tion of gonadal material from the herpetology collection of theField Museum of Natural History (FMNH), Chicago, Illinois.

A sample of 53 Sphenomorphus sabanus from Sabah,

(5.2500N, 117.0000E) Borneo, Malaysia collected 1986 to 1991,consisting of 31 males (mean SVL = 51.1 mm 2.7 SD, range = 4455 mm), 21 females (mean SVL = 51.3 mm 2.3 SD, range = 4755 mm) and one subadult female (SVL = 44 mm) was examinedfrom the following localities: Lahad Datu District FMNH 230137,230139, 230141, 230143, 230144, 230150, 230153, 235176, 235180,235183, 246352; Kota Marudu District FMNH 239790, 239791239794, 239796, 239798, 239799, 239801, 239803, 239804; TenomDistrict FMNH 239805, 239806, 239808, 239810, 239811, 239813,239815239817, 239819, 239821, 239829, 243830, 243832; LahadDatu District FMNH 240575, 240577, 240578, 240581, 240584,240586, 240587, 240589; FMNH 243829, 246338, 246343, 246346,246348, 246351, 246355; Tawu District FMNH 248517, 248519.

A cut was made in the lower abdominal cavity and the left

testis or ovary was removed, embedded in paraffin, cut into 5 msections and stained with Harris hematoxylin followed by eosincounterstain. Enlarged follicles (> 3 mm) or oviductal eggs werecounted. Histology slides were deposited in FMNH.

The only stage present in the testicular cycle wasspermiogenesis in which the lumina of the seminiferous tubuleswere lined by sperm or clusters of metamorphosing spermatids.The following monthly samples of males were examined: June(N = 4); July (N = 4); August (N = 1); September (N = 2); October(N = 2); November (N = 10); December (N = 8). The smallestreproductively active male (spermiogenesis) measured 44 mmSVL (FMNH 230153) and was collected in December.

Three stages were present in the ovarian cycle (Table 1): (1)quiescent, no yolk deposition; (2) enlarged follicles > 3 mm; (3)oviductal eggs. Three females with oviductal eggs, one each fromJuly (FMNH 239821), October (FMNH 239794) and December(FMNH 240586) contained concurrent vitellogenic follicles

indicating Sphenomorphus sabanus can produce multipleclutches in the same year. Mean clutch size (N = 19) was 1.9 0.32 SD, range = 12. The smallest reproductively active female(one enlarged follicle > 3 mm) measured 47 mm SVL and wascollected in June. One smaller female with quiescent ovaries(FMNH 239794) measured 44 mm SVL and was considered to bea subadult.

Because both males and females ( Table 1) were reproductivelyactive at opposite ends of the year (June versus December),it is apparent Sphenomorphus sabanus exhibits an extendedreproductive cycle. Whether S. sabanus reproduces throughoutthe year will require examination of additional specimens.

I thank Alan Resetar (FMNH) for permission to examineS. sabanus and L Lee Grismer (LaSierra University, Riverside,

California) for taxonomic verification.STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department o Biology,

Whittier, Caliornia 90608, USA; e-mail: [email protected].

TARENTOLA MAURITANICA (Moorish Gecko). EYE DISEASE.

Of approximately 150 specimens of Tarentola mauritanicathatwe examined in Cdiz Province, Spain, between 1969 and 1971,only one was found to exhibit an eye disease. It was collected 15August 1970, 13.3 km ESE (bearing 95; 36.137876N, 5.555630W,WGS 84; ~305 m elev.) from Facinas in an area currently withinthe Parque Natural de Los Alcornocales.

Lymphoreticular cells, derived from bone marrow by stemcell multiplication, circulate through the body as monocytes,and differentiate into histiocytes (tissue macrophages) to be-

come part of the bodys mononuclear phagocytic system. Scle-ritis, an inflammatory disease affecting the sclera, and keratitis,a condition in which the cornea becomes inflamed, often resultsin perforation of the cornea and complete loss of the eye. Hys-tiocytic and lymphoplasmacytic scleritis and keratitis, coupledwith possible secondary glaucoma, were determined to be re-sponsible for the malady evident in the specimen illustrated (Fig.1; Histology Report 87059/A, 30 July 2014; Department of Patho-logy, Necropsy and Forensic Medicine, University of AgriculturalSciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania).

Anomalies and eye diseases of captive reptiles have been re-viewed in the literature of veterinary medicine (Millichamp et al.

TABLE1. Monthly stages in the ovarian cycle of 21 adult Sphenomor-phus sabanusfrom Sabah, Malaysia; * indicates one oviductal femaleeach from July, October, and December were also undergoing con-current yolk deposition for a subsequent egg clutch.

Month N Quiescent Enlarged follicles Oviductal> 3 mm

eggs

June 1 0 1 0July 3 0 1 2*

August 1 1 0 0

October 5 0 2 3*

November 5 0 1 4

December 6 1 1 4*


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1983. J. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc. 183:12051212; Sabater and Prez2013. Vet. Ophthalmol. 16:4755) but no information regardingoccurrences in natural environments is readily available. Thiscondition was not addressed within either review and, to ourknowledge, has not been recorded previously.

We are indebted to Christy McCain and Emily Braker at theMuseum of Natural History, University of Colorado, for the loanof the specimen, permission to excise and examine the eye, andfor placing several photographs showing different views of thiscondition in the museums collections. Liz Bradford (OXHIPStudio, Raleigh) prepared Fig. 1.

STEPHEN D. BUSACK, Research and Collections, North Carolina StateMuseum o Natural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601, USA; (e-mail:

[email protected]); GABRIEL M. BORZA, Department o Pathology,

Faculty o Veterinary Medicine, University o Agricultural Sciences and Vet-

erinary Medicine o Cluj-Napoca, Calea Manastur 3-5, Cluj-Napoca 400372,

Romania (e-mail: [email protected]); ANDREI D. MIHALCA, Faculty

o Veterinary Medicine, University o Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary

Medicine o Cluj-Napoca, Calea Manastur 3-5, Cluj-Napoca 400372, Roma-

nia (e-mail: [email protected]).

SQUAMATA SNAKES

AGKISTRODON CONTORTRIX (Copperhead). DIET.Agkistro-don contortrix is a medium-sized pit-viper found in the eastern

United States (Ernst and Ernst 2002. Snakes of the United Statesand Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 661pp.) that feeds on a variety of prey, including mammals, birds,reptiles, amphibians, and a variety of invertebrates (Fitch 1960.Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 13:85288; Gloyd and Conant1990. Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex: A Monographic Re-view. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford,Ohio. 614 pp.). The only species of whiptail (genus Aspidoscelis)explicitlyreported in the diet ofA. contortrixisA. sexlineatus(Six-lined Racerunner).Here we report an unusual predation eventand a novel prey item (Aspidoscelis gularis; Common SpottedWhiptail) in the diet.

At 1600 h on 27 May 2015, we were walking on a nature trailbehind the westbound I-10 Guadalupe County Rest Area inGuadalupe Co., Texas, USA (29.616486N, 97.805625W; WGS 84).As we walked, we startled severalAspidoscelis gularis, which ranoff the trail. One small whiptail ran directly towards a coiled A.

contortrix, which struck at it. This happened very quickly andwe had not noticed the snake beforehand, so we did not have anopportunity to observe the interaction in detail, but the snakemust have made contact with the lizards tail, which autotomized.The lizard immediately ran off at a ~90 angle to the snake, awayfrom the path, and we lost track of it. The snakes mouth hadclosed over both the lizards tail, which thrashed vigorously, andthe nearby leaves of a small herbaceous plant. Momentarily, thesnake was able to partially open its mouth and withdraw its jawsfrom the plant leaves without dropping the still-moving tail,which it then jaw-walked and, eventually, swallowed.

Consumption of autotomized lizard tails has been documentedin snakes, particularly from the stomachs of preserved museumspecimens (Greene 1983. Am. Zool. 23:431441). Medel et al.

(1988. Oikos 53:321324) suggested that tail autotomy representedinefficient predation by snakes and other predators, but whenautotomized tails are consumed (as in this case) predators doobtain some nutrition from even a botched predation event.Unpublished data being collected by G. Salmon and H. W. Greenealso documentA.gularisin the diet ofA. contortrixin central Texas.

ANDREW M. DURSO (e-mail: [email protected]) and KENDAL

YNN A. MORRIS, Department o Biology, Utah State University, Logan,

Utah 84322, USA.

AGKISTRODON PISCIVORUS CONANTI (Florida Cotton-

mouth). DIET.Agkistrodon piscivorus is a dietary generalist,

FIG. 1. Agkistrodon contortrix holding both leaves and the autoto-mized tail of anAspidoscelis gularisin its mouth.

FIG. 1. a) Hystiocytic and lymphoplasmacytic scleritis and keratitisin left eye of a Tarentola mauritanica(UCM 44970); b) enlarged ven-tral view; c) thickened corneal tissue (elongated arrow) with inflam-matory cells (encircled arrows) present in the sclera and choroid; d)keratitis with presence of inflammatory cells (arrows).

PHOTOSA&BBYS.D

.BUSACK;PHOTOSC&DBYG.

M.B

ORZA


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having been documented eating a diverse array of taxa (Ernstand Ernst 2011. Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada,and Northern Mexico, Vol. 1. Johns Hopkins University Press,Baltimore, Maryland. 352 pp.). In peninsular Florida,A. p. conan-tilives in sympatry with many nonnative species, some of whichhave the potential to be included in its wide diet.

On 11 May 2014, at approximately 1100 h, anA. p. conanti (totallength ca. 38 cm) was observed actively foraging in a shallow pool

at the base of a culvert in the Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade Co., Florida, USA (25.519900N, 80.567023W; WGS 84). Thesnake proceeded to capture and swallow headfirst a small (ca.15 cm) Clarias batrachus(Walking Catfish). After swallowing thefish, the snake remained immobile for approximately 15 min.and then left the pool.

This is the first documented instance ofA. p. conanti feedingupon the nonnative C. batrachus. With up to 60 species ofnonnative fish species documented in the greater Evergladesdrainage (Nico and Fuller 1999. Fisheries 24:1627), it is likelythat resident A. p. conanti frequentlyutilize nonnative fish as afood resource. Clarias batrachuscan potentially be a difficult preyspecies to subdue, having stinging dorsal and pectoral spines (Ngand Kottelat 2008. Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 153:725-732). Krysko et al.

(2010. Herpetol. Rev. 41:348349) captured an unusually lethargicCaiman crocodilus, and attributed the atypical behavior to theC. batrachus later found to be lodged in its throat. Being that A.p. conanti is a well-known predator of native ictalurid catfisheswith similar dorsal and pectoral spines (Ernst and Ernst, op. cit.),it is possible that A. p. conanti is not susceptible to these anti-predatory morphological traits.

JOSH FRIERS, United States Department o Agriculture Wildlie Ser-

vices, Homestead, Florida 33030, USA (e-mail: [email protected]);

JAMES P. FLAHERTY, Center o Excellence or Field Biology/Department

o Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee 37040,

USA.

BOTHROPS LEUCURUS (Whitetail Lancehead).DIET.Bothrops

leucurus is a medium-sized, terrestrial, viperid snake of the B.atroxgroup that is found in the Atlantic Forest of northeasternand eastern Brazil (Campbell and Lamar 2004. The VenomousReptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca,New York. 870 pp.). The diet of this species consists of small ver-tebrates with an ontogenetic shift from frog and lizard prey asjuveniles to rodents as adults (Lira-da-Silva 2009. Gaz. Med. Ba-hia 79:5665).

On 14 June 2012, an adult female B. leucuruswas collectedin Trilha Ecolgica do Clube Granjeiro (7.165166S, 39.261562W,WGS 84; 708 m elev.), located in the foothills of the Chapadado Araripe, municipality of Crato, Cear, northeastern Brazil.The snake (SVL = 844 mm; tail length = 126 mm; 325 g) waseuthanized and during the fixing process expelled an adult male

Atractus ronnie(Fig. 1; SVL = 212 mm; Tail length = 28 mm; 6.2g). Both the B. leucurus and the A. ronnie were deposited inthe Coleo Herpetolgica da Universidade Regional do Cariri(URCA-H 3478, 6204, respectively).

Atractus ronnieis a small snake distributed in areas of Atlanticforest in the semiarid Caatinga in Serra de Baturit, Planalto daIbiapaba and Chapada do Araripe, state of Cear, Brazil (Passoset al. 2007. Copeia 2007:788797; Loebmann et al. 2009. Biotemas22:169173), and is listed as Endangered by the IUCN the WorldConservation Union (IUCN 2015. IUCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies. Version 2015.1. 09 June 2015).Ophiophagy is rare in B. leucurus, with only one snake, Micrurus

corallinus, recorded as prey (Fagundes et al. 2009. Bol. Mus. Biol.Mello Leito 25:6771).

We thank Fundao Cearense de Apoio ao DesenvolvimentoCientfico e Tecnolgico (FUNCAP) for a research fellowshipto RWA (process BPI-0067-000060100/12) and for a Masterfellowship to EPA; Coordenao de Aperfeioamento de Pessoalde Nvel Superior (CAPES) for a Master fellowship to CFS; andConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico e Tecnolgico(CNPq) for a fellowship to HFO and CSLM.

CRISTIANA FERREIRA DA SILVA (e-mail: cristianasilva006@gmail.

com), EDNA PAULINO DE ALCANTARA, HERIVELTO FAUSTINO DE

OLIVEIRA, CICERA SILVILENE LEITE MATIAS and ROBSON WALDE

MAR VILA, Programa de Ps-Graduao em Bioprospeco Molecular,

Laboratrio de Herpetologia, Departamento de Cincias Biolgicas, Uni-

versidade Regional do Cariri - URCA, Campus do Pimenta, Rua Cel. Antnio

Luiz, 1161, Bairro do Pimenta, CEP 63105-100, Crato, Cear, Brazil.

BOTHROPS JARARACA (Jararaca).PREDATION.The genus Bo-throps comprises ca. 40 species that use cryptic coloration andpotent venom as defenses against predators (Sasa et al. 2009.Toxicon 54:904922). Therefore, we know little about naturalpredators of free-living Bothrops. Occasional records of predatorsinclude birds, snakes, and mammals (Sazima 1992. InCampbelland Brodie [eds.], Biology of Pitvipers, pp. 199216. Selva, Tyler,Texas; Sasa et al., op. cit.).

Here we report a case of predation on Bothrops jararaca inParque Estadual da Ilha Grande (23.1781S, 44.1860W, WGS84; 23 m elev.), an island of Atlantic forest southeast of Rio deJaneiro, Brazil. On 29 September 2014, at 0900 h, LMV observeda Buteogallus lacernulatus(White-necked Hawk) hunting in the

litter of secondary forest. The hawk then flew up with a snake inits talons and perched on a branch ca. 3 m high above the ground(Fig. 1). The hawk held the snake by its neck and after ca. 5 min.flew away with the snake in its talons. The snake was identifiedas B. jararacaby the spot coloration pattern typical of the species(Sazima 1988. Mem. Inst. Butantan 50:8389). Considering thatthe tarsus of B. lacernulatusis ca. 80 mm in length (M.A.S. Alves,unpubl. data), we estimate that the snake was an adult of at least60 cm in total length.

There are records of predation on B. jararaca by Cleliaplumbea(Mussurana; Pinto and Lema 2002. Iheringia, Zool. 92:919) and Didelphis albiventris (White-eared Opossum; Oliveira

FIG. 1.Atractus ronniepreyed upon by a Bothrops leucuruscollectedat Trilha do Granjeiro municipality of Crato, Cear, Brazil.

PHOTOBYH.

F.OLIVEIRA


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and Santori 1999. Stud Neotrop. Fauna E 34:7275), but the onlyknown avian predators are Rupornis magnirostris (RoadsideHawk; Sazima 1992, op. cit.), Buteogallus urubitinga (GreatBlack Hawk; Carvalho 2006. Rev. Bras. Ornitol. 14:445448), andGeranoaetus albicaudatus(White-tailed Hawk; Motta et al. 2010.Biota Neotrop. 10:355159). The diet of B. lacernulatusis not wellknown, but is thought to be variable. Although arthropods maypredominate, there are reports of consumption of snakes andother vertebrates by this hawk (Thiollay 1994. Indel Hoyo et al.[eds.], Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 2, pp. 52205. LynxEditions, Barcelona). However, our record is the first to identify a

snake preyed upon by B. lacernulatusto species level.We are grateful to C. F. D. Rocha, D. Vrcibradic, J. A. L. Pontes, G.

R. Wink, and D. C Passos for the snakes identification, and UERJfor logistical help. We thank Lulu Stader for the English review. ToConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico e Tecnolgico(CNPq) for the scholarship to LMV (process 190594/2013-6)and grant to MASA (process 305798/2014-6). We also thank toFundao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo Pesquisa do Estadodo Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) for the scholarship to EAR, and grantto MASA (E-26/102837/2012).

LUIS MARTIN VALLEJOS (e-mail: [email protected]), ED

VANDRO ABREU RIBEIRO, Programa de Ps-Graduao em Ecologia

e Evoluo, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Pavilho Haroldo

Lisboa da Cunha, Sala 224, Rua So Francisco Xavier, 524, Maracan, 20550-

013, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil; MAURCIO B. VECCHI and MARIA ALICES. ALVES, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de

Janeiro, Pavilho Haroldo Lisboa da Cunha, Sala 224, Rua So Francisco

Xavier, 524, Maracan, 20550-013, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil (e-mail: masaal@

globo.com).

CLELIA SCYTALINA (Mexican Snake-eater) DIET. Clelia scyta-

linais known to consume snakes, frogs, and lizards (Garca andCeballos 1994. Gua de Campo de los Reptiles y Anfibios de laCosta de Jalisco, Mxico. Fundacin Ecolgica de Cuixmala AC,Instituto de Biologa, UNAM, Mxico. 184 pp.; Prez-Higareda etal. 2007. Serpientes de la Regin de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mxico.

Gua de Identificacin Ilustrada. UNAM, Mxico. 189 pp.). Here-in we report the first account of a C. scytalina consuming Pero-myscus maniculatus(North American Deermouse)from the mu-nicipality of Cuauhtemoc, Colima, Mexico.

On 07 August 2014, a juvenile C. scytalina was found deadon the CuauhtemocBuenavista freeway in the municipality

of Cuauhtemoc, Colima, Mexico (19.292922N, 103.595868W,WGS 84; elev. 790 m). While the snake was being preserved, fourpartly-digested young P. maniculatus(identified by the shape ofthe skull and the feet in the most intact individual) were foundin the stomach (Fig. 1). The freeway where the snake was foundis surrounded by patches of tropical deciduous forest and sugarcane and rice fields.

JESS MAURICIO RODRGUEZCANSECO (e-mail: jmrc2603@ho-

tmail.com), KRYSTAL LUCA GONZLEZESTUPIN, ERIKA SUGEY

GARCAMATA, JOS VILLARREALMNDEZ, Centro Universitario de

Ciencias Biolgicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Zapopan,

Jalisco, 45110, Mxico; ANDREA BOMBELA CRUZ, Universidad Veracru-

zana, Xalapa, Veracruz, 91090, Mxico.

COLUBER CONSTRICTOR (North American Racer).FORAGINGBEHAVIOR.Observations of non-marine snakes foraging in in-tertidal areas are rare. On 10 May 2015, at 1330 h, a Coluber con-strictorwas observed actively foraging within the intertidal zone(Fig. 1) at the north end of Christy Beach on the west end of SantaCruz Island, California, USA. This is the only documented recordof C. constrictorforaging within the intertidal zone. Coluber con-strictoris found throughout much of California, but is recordedfrom only one California IslandSanta Cruz (Schoenherr et al.1999. Natural History of the Islands of California. Univ. CaliforniaPress, Berkeley. 491 pp.). Observations of C. constrictorare rela-tively rare even in upland regions of the island, and conferring

FIG. 1. An adult Bothrops jararacaheld in the talons of Buteogalluslacernulatus (White-necked Hawk).

PHOTOBYL.

M.V

ALLEJOS

FIG. 1. Juvenile Clelia scytalinawith four partially digested Peromys-cus maniculatus (North American Deer Mice).


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with island biologists who have worked on the island for over30 years, C. constrictorhas never been observed in the intertidalregion. Four years of record drought and increased competi-tion with other wildlife such as the recovering population (N =

1200) of the Federally Endangered Urocyon littoralis santacruzae(Santa Cruz Island Fox) are suspected of driving C. constrictortoforage within the more productive intertidal habitats along thecoast of the island due to the lack of prey in terrestrial habitats.This individual was observed tracking Tegulasp. (turban snails)and Pachygrapsus crassipes (Rock Shore Crab) as they movedacross pools within the intertidal; however, no feeding was ob-served.

JOHN J. KNAPP, The Nature Conservancy, 532 East Main Street, Suite

200, Ventura, Caliornia 93001, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); JUDY FEN

ERTY, Caliornia Native Plant Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter, 3921 East

Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, Caliornia 94303, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).

COLUBER FLAGELLUM [= MASTICOPHIS FLAGELLUM]

(Coachwhip).ULTRAVIOLET (UVB) EXPOSURE.Coluber flagel-lum is an active diurnal snake that thermoregulates to maintaina relatively stable body temperature (32C) when active (Ham-merson 1989. J. Therm. Biol. 14:219224; Secor and Nagy 1994.Ecology 75:16001614). In spring and autumn C. flagellumbasks

in the sun upon emergence in the morning to raise its body tem-perature and then maintains its body temperature at a steadylevel throughout the day by moving among thermal microen-vironments. During the summer months in more open deserthabitats C. flagellumretreats underground during the middle ofthe day (Jones and Whitford 1989. Southwest. Nat. 34:460467).Although the thermal environment and thermoregulation hasbeen investigated for this species, its exposure to solar ultravi-

olet-B (UVB) to our knowledge remains unreported in the litera-ture. While basking in the sun is an important source of heat formany diurnal lizards and snakes during thermoregulation, it alsoexposes them to UVB radiation. The effects of UVB exposure canbe both detrimental, causing tissue damage (Chang and Zheng2003. J. Photochem. Photobiol. B 72:7985), and beneficial, fa-cilitating vitamin D production (Ferguson et al. 2005. Physiol.Biochem. Zool. 78:193200; Acierno et al. 2008. Am. J. Vet. Res.69:294297). Knowledge of the natural UVB environment is im-portant from the point of view of conservation and captive man-agement of amphibians and reptiles (Antwis and Browne 2009.Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A 154:184190; Ferguson et al. 2010.Zoo Biol. 29:317334).

During field studies in West Texas and New Mexico from 2008

through 2012, we recorded the UVB exposure and environmentaltemperatures of ten C. flagellumduring the day (Table 1). UVBirradiance was measured using two hand-held broad-band UVBmeters, the Solarmeter 6.2 (displays W / cm2), and Solarmeter6.5 (displays ultraviolet index [UVI]) (Solartech, Inc. HarrisonTownship, Michigan). These meters are sensitive to irradiancewithin the UV range (280400 nm) and respond most strongly towave lengths in the UVB range below 320 nm. We took readingsby placing the base of the unit on the substrate and orienting theflat sensor disk on the top of the unit (10.8 cm from the base)toward the sun or to the adjacent open sky. We obtained substratetemperature (T

s) holding a digital infrared thermometer (Raytek

PM-30 Santa Cruz, California) within 5-cm of the substrate andair temperatures (T

a), holding a cloacal thermometer (Miller

and Weber, Inc., Ridgewood, New York), with bulb shaded, 5-cmabove the substrate. The cloacal thermometer was also used torecord cloacal body temperature (T

b; for one snake only).

The average UV index of exposure during the day was 4.69with a median of 3.15 (Table 1). This is the highest voluntary

FIG. 1. Coluber constrictor hunting within the intertidal zone on WestSanta Cruz Island, California, USA.

PHOTOBYJ.FENERTY

TABLE1. Temperature and ultraviolet light exposure of ten Coluber flagellumencountered in Texas and New Mexico. Ts= substrate tempera-ture (C); Ta= air temperature (C); Tb= body temperature (C). All data were recorded at the exact site of discovery of each snake. All snakeswere immobile when first sighted except the last one.

Date Time Location Ts T

a UVB (W cm-2) UVI Notes

14 Aug 2008 0930 h Brisco Co. TX 32.8 120.00 1.90 hatchling on tarmac

14 Aug 2008 0940 h Brisco Co. TX 31.2 148.00 2.30 hatchling on tarmac

18 June 2009 1151 h Cottle Co., TX 43.0 34.0 310.00 7.70 adult on gravel clay road26 May 2010 1644 h Cottle Co., TX 33.4 26.7 110.00 2.00 small adult on dirt road; cloud covering sun

26 May 2010 1700 h Cottle Co., TX 32.2 23.9 122.00 1.90 juvenile on dirt road; cloud covering sun

17 June 2010 1830 h Cottle Co., TX 41.8 35.7 82.00 1.20 adult on dirt road

29 April 2012 1143 h Chavez Co., NM 34.4 27.2 321.00 7.10 juvenile on dirt road

29 April 2012 1208 h Chavez Co., NM 34.6 27.8 354.00 8.20 adult on dirt road

30 April 2012 1315 h Chavez Co., NM 31.0 414.00 10.60 juvenile on plant; Tb= 36.2C

5 May 2012 1025 h Cottle Co., TX 38.0 32.5 225.00 4.00 adult slowly crossing dirt road

Mean 35.7 29.9 220.60 4.69

SD 4.3 4.1 120.11 3.39


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exposure yet recorded for a diurnally active snake and themedian value qualifies it as a UVB zone-4 species (see Fergusonet al. 2010, op. cit. for definition of the four UVB zones, zone-4being the highest).

We thank Chip Ruthven, other officials of the Matador WildlifeManagement Area, Lee Fitzgerald, and Dan Leavitt for help withresearch projects that made these observations possible. Partialfunding for the research was provided by three Faculty Emeritus

Research grants from Texas Christian University to GWF.GARY W. FERGUSON (e-mail: [email protected]), ANDREW M.BRINKER, WILLIAM H. GEHRMANN, Department o Biology, P.O. Box

298930, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129, USA.

COLUBER TAENIATUS [= MASTICOPHIS TAENIATUS](Striped

Whipsnake). RAIN-HARVESTING. Rain-harvesting behaviorthe collection and consumption of water (rain or condensationfrom fog) on the body or from environmental surfaceshas beenreported in lizards (e.g., Schwenk and Greene 1987. J. Herpetol.21:134139; Sherbrooke 1990. J. Herpetol. 24:302308; Sher-brooke 1993. J. Herpetol. 27:270275; Peterson 1998. Southwest.Nat. 43:391394; Vesel and Modr 2002. J. Herpetol. 36:311314;Sherbrooke 2004. Amphibia-Reptilia 25:2939), several species

of viperid snakes (Robinson and Hughes 1978. Ann. TransvaalMus. 31:189193; Aird and Aird 1990. Bull. Chicago Herpetol.Soc. 25:217; Ashton and Johnson 1998. Herpetol. Rev. 29:170;Andrade and Abe 2000. Amphibia-Reptilia 21:485492; Cardwell2006. Herpetol. Rev. 37:142144; Rorabaugh 2007. Sonoran Her-petol. 20[12]:128129; Repp and Schuett 2008. Southwest. Nat.53[1]:108114; Glaudas 2009. Southwest. Nat. 54[4]:518521;Mata-Silva et al. 2014. Southwest. Nat. 59[2]:303304; Murrayand Irish 2015. Herpetol. Rev. 46[2]:266), and one natricid snake(Miller 1985. Herpetol. Rev. 16:71). Nearly all of these reportswere for species occurring in xeric environments.

On 10 September 2011, at 2130 h during a thunderstorm, RPencountered an adult (Total length 1 m) Masticophis taeniatuson a paved road ca. 21 km ENE of Big Pine on the xeric western

slopes of the White Mountains, Inyo Co., California, USA. Thesnake had not been on the road 30 min earlier when RP passedthis location. The snake was observed with its head directedupward and mouth agape. It appeared to be capturing largeraindrops, which were then swallowed. Masticophis taeniatusis a diurnal species, whose nocturnal activity was presumablytriggered by this rare late-summer rainfall event. To ourknowledge, previous reports of rain-harvesting in snakes havemostly involved viperids that drank water that had accumulatedin the depressions formed by a tightly coiled body.

RICHARD PORTER, 700 Gibson Drive, Apt. 304, Roseville, Caliornia

95678, USA; ROBERT W. HANSEN, 16333 Deer Path Lane, Clovis, Caliornia

93619-9735, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).

CROTALUS DURISSUS (South American Rattlesnake). SWIM-MING BEHAVIOR TO CROSS GEOGRAPHICAL BARRIER.Cro-talus durissus is the only rattlesnake found in South America(Wster et al. 2005. Mol. Ecol. 14:10951108). Divided into fivesubspecies in Brazil (SBH 2015. Sociedade Brasileira de Herpe-tologia), this savannah-associated species is invading disturbedareas of other biomes, including the Atlantic Forest (Bastos et al.2005. Rev. Bras. Zool. 22:812815). Rivers are strong geographi-cal barriers for many species (Ribas et al. 2011. Proc. R. Soc.B. 1729:681689). However, phylogenetic inferences showedthat this species has low genetic divergence between popula-tions across its wide distribution (Wster et al. 2005. Mol. Ecol.

14:10951108). On 4 April 2015 at 1207 h we observed a C. dur-risus crossing the Rio Grande (49.258578W, 20.256825S; WGS

84), municipality of Fronteira, state of Minas Gerais, southeast-ern Brazil, which is 310 m wide at that point. Although rattle-snakes are known to be adept swimmers, this snakes willingnessto cross such a large expanse of open water provides direct evi-dence for these features not being a strong geographical barrierfor this species.

LUCAS FERRANTE, Instituto Boitat Etnobiologia e Conservao da

Fauna, 74265-310 Goinia, GO, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]);

RAFAEL MENEGUCCI, Universidade Federal de Alenas (Unial), 37130-

000 Alenas, MG, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]); IBERE

FARINA MACHADO, Instituto Boitat Etnobiologia e Conservao da

Fauna, 74265-310 Goinia, GO, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]).

CROTALUS HORRIDUS (Timber Rattlesnake). DIET. The diet

of the predominantly terrestrial Crotalus horridus is composedmostly of small mammals; birds make up only a small percentageof known prey items (Clark 2002. J. Herpetol. 36:494499, Ernstand Ernst 2003. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smith-sonian Books, Washington D.C. 668 pp.). Herein, we report thefirst documented instances of C. horriduspredation on two birdspecies, Molothrus ater (Brown-headed Cowbird) and Cardinaliscardinalis (Northern Cardinal). Both observations occurred 8.3km NNW of Pembroke, Bulloch Co., Georgia, USA (32.210084N,

FIG. 1. Observation point of Crotalus durissus in Rio Grande River,state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

MAPBYLUCASFERRANTE;PHOTOBYRAFAELMENEGUCCI

FIG. 1. AdultCrotalus horri

Dendrelaphis schokari (Schokar's bronzeback). Predation

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