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WWW.IRCF.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES &IRCF AMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 189 27(2):220–221 • AUG 2020

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES First. Chasing Record Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer of sayi) in Wisconsin:the Critically Endangered On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The SharedThree-striped History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans Roofed on Grenada: Turtle, A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCHBatagur ARTICLES dhongoka (Gray 1834), . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida from ...... the YamunaBrian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko,River, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M.Delhi, Donlan, and Michael Granatosky India 212

CONSERVATIONGaurav ALERT Barhadiya1, Aisha Sultana2, and Mohammad Shah Hussain2 . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 1 Department. More Than of MammalsEnvironmental ...... Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi–110007, India...... ([email protected]) 223 2Biodiversity Parks Programme,. The “Dow Centre Jones Index”for Environmental of Biodiversity ...... Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), University of Delhi,...... New Delh225i, Delhi–110007, India

HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226

ndia is home to 29PROFILE species of freshwater turtles and tortoises striped Roofed Turtle (Batagur dhongoka) (carapace length of Ibelonging to four .differentKraig Adler: Afamilies Lifetime Promoting (Ahmed Herpetology et al...... 2009). 38 cm; Fig. 1) on the bank Michael of L.the Treglia Yamuna 234 River in the Alipur Of the three species in the genus Batagur (Bataguridae), Region of northwestern Delhi (28°47'58.1"N, 77°12'10.2"E) COMMENTARY Batagur dhongoka (formerly. The Turtles Kachuga Have Been Watchingdhongoka Me ...... ) is endemic to (Fig. 2). The area was sandy Eric with Gangloff scattered 238 grasses and shrubs. India, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Iverson 1992). In India, the We identified the turtle based on a description in Smith species is restricted BOOKto the northREVIEW (Smith 1931), where it occurs (1931), which was later confirmed by Dr. Shailendra Singh. . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, in the Ganga and ChambalR. Berridge, Rivers P. Ramani, and their and B.E. floodplains Young ...... (Moll Robert Powell 243 and Moll 2004; Sirsi et al. 2017). These turtles have been recorded from the states CONSERVATION of Uttar Pradesh, RESEARCH Rajasthan, REPORTS: Madhya Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 Pradesh, Bihar, West NEWBRIEFS Bengal, and...... Assam (Das et al. 2019; ...... 248 Bhupathy and Mathur EDITORIAL 2013) INFORMATIONbut not from ...... Delhi (Husain ...... 251 1997).  FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... 252 Delhi once supported robust populations of several aquatic reptiles, including the Mugger Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), and two species Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern of soft-shelled turtles (Husain 1997).Totat However, et velleseque audantdue tomo rapid Totat et velleseque audant mo urbanization and habitat fragmentation,estibus inveliquoriverine velique biodiversity rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil has declined considerably. erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum Fig.aut dolor 2. Distribution apicto invere pe ofdolum the Three-striped Roofed Turtle (Batagur dhon- At 1737 h on 1 February 2019,fugiatis in maionsequatthe course eumque of a bio- gokafugiatis). The maionsequat red dot indicated eumque by an arrow marks the locality in the Yamuna moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur River,moditia Dehli,erere nonsedis India. ma Modified sectia- from Das et al. (2019). diversity assessment in Delhi, we encounteredma derrovitae voluptam, a live as quosThree- tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as accullabo.

Fig. 1. A Three-striped Roofed Turtle (Batagur dhongoka) on the bank of the Yamuna River, Delhi, India. Photographs by Gaurav Barhadiya.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of a Bhupathy, S. and R. Mathur. 2013. Chelonian status and conservation in Rajasthan, pp. 277–286. In: B. Sharma, S. Kulshreshtha, and A. Rahmani Three-striped Roofed Turtle from the Yamuna River and the (eds.), Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India. Springer, New York, New York. state of Delhi. Choudhury, B.C., S. Bhupathy, and F. Hanfee. 2000. Status information on The closest historical record of Batagur dhongoka is in the tortoises and freshwater turtles of India, pp. 86–94. In: P.P. van Dijk, B.L. Stuart, and A.G.J. Rhodin (eds.), Asian Turtle Trade: Proceedings of a the Hindon River at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh (Moll 1986, Workshop on Conservation and Trade of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises in 1987). Subsequently, few turtle surveys have been conducted Asia. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 2. Chelonian Research Foundation, in the Delhi National Capital Region (Husain 1997). Das Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Das, I. 1991. Colour Guide to the Turtles and Tortoises of the Indian Subcontinent. (1991) stated that Batagur dhongoka was once fairly common R&A Publishing Ltd., Portishead, Avon, England. in the Ganga River and its floodplain. However, the popula- Das, I., B.C. Choudhury, P. Praschag, M.F. Ahmed, and S. Singh. 2019. Three- tion declined rapidly due to various threats that include over- striped Roofed Turtle. Batagur dhongoka (errata version published in 2019). harvesting, sand mining, and pollution from urban, indus- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T10953A499894. Husain, A. 1997. Reptilia, pp. 665–698. In: J.R.B. Alfred (ed.), Fauna of Delhi. trial, and agricultural sources (Chaudhury et al. 2000; Sirsi Zoological Survey of India, Dehradun, India. et al. 2017; Das et al. 2019). Although this species is listed Iverson, J.B. 1992. A Revised Checklist with Distribution Maps of the Turtles of the as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Das et al. World. Privately published, Richmond, Indiana. 2019), it lacks any legal protection in India, where it is still Moll, D. and E.O. Moll. 2004. The Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation of River Turtles. Oxford University Press, New York, New York. not listed under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Moll, E.O. 1986. Survey of the freshwater turtles of India. Part I: The genus Kachuga. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 83: 538–552 + plate I. Moll, E.O. 1987. Survey of the freshwater turtles of India. Part II: the genus Acknowledgements Kachuga. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 84: 7–25 + plates II– We are extremely thankful to Dr. Shailendra Singh, Director, III. Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) India, for confirming the Sirsi, S., S. Singh, A. Tripathi, S.F. McCracken, M.R. Forstner, and B.D. Horne. 2017. Variation in reproductive output of the Red-crowned Roofed Turtle identity of the turtle. (Batagur kachuga) and the Three-striped Roofed Turtle (Batagur dhongoka) in the Chambal River of north India. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 16: 203–214. Literature Cited Smith, M.A. 1931. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including Ahmed, M.F., A. Das, and S.K. Dutta. 2009. Amphibians and Reptiles of Northeast the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. I.— India: A Photographic Guide. Aaranyak, Guwahati, India. Testudines. Taylor & Francis, London, England.

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