WWW.IRCF.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF &IRCF AMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 189 27(2):231–232 • AUG 2020

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES Defensive. Chasing Bullsnakes (Tail-curlingPituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: and Head-mimicking On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Behavior. The Shared History of Treeboas ( Corallusin grenadensis a ) Variableand Humans on Grenada: Coralsnake, A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 MicrurusRESEARCH ARTICLES diastema (: ) . 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 in ...... CusucoBrian National J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin Park, M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

CONSERVATIONTom ALERTW. Brown1,2, Mitchell B. Barazowski1, and George Lonsdale1 . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 1 . More Than MammalsOperation ...... Wallacea, Hope House, Old Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire PE23...... 4EX, UK 223 . The2Kanahau “Dow Jones Utila Index” Research of Biodiversity and Conservation ...... Facility, Isla de Utila, IB 34201, Honduras ([email protected])...... 225

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

he Variable Coralsnake,PROFILE diastema (Dumeril, In combination with aposematism, widely used defen- TBibron, and Dumeril. Kraig Adler: 1854),A Lifetime Promoting is distributed Herpetology ...... widely sive strategies in both Micrurus Michael L. Tregliaand their234 mimics include non- throughout Mesoamerica (Reyes-Velasco et al. 2020). The locomotory thrash-and-flash displays (Moore et al. 2020) and COMMENTARY highly venomous New. The TurtlesWorld Have Beencoralsnakes Watching Me ...... in the genus tail-display behaviors (Green Eric Gangloff1973). 238 In the genus Micrurus, Micrurus signal their lethal neurotoxicity with bright apose- many possess similarly patterned heads and tails to con- matic coloration andBOOK various REVIEW warning displays, and the study fuse predators (Jowers et al. 2019), and when attacked, often . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, of such behaviors has greatlyR. Berridge, advanced P. Ramani, andour B.E. understanding Young ...... of place their heads beneath the Robert coils Powell of243 their bodies while rais- relationships between aposematism and predator avoidance ing and flattening their tail to imitate the head (Green 1973). (Brodie 1993; Brodie CONSERVATION and Janzen 1995), RESEARCH as well REPORTS: as the Summaries evolu- of PublishedTail-flattening Conservation Research behavior, Reports ...... a form of 245self-mimicry called the  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 tion of mimicry (Davis NEWBRIEFS Rabosky ...... et al. 2016). At least nine Protean effect (Gelbach...... 1972), was previously 248 reported in M. generally non-lethal butEDITORIAL technically INFORMATION venomous ...... mimic diastema from Honduras (Talley...... et al. 251 2013). In other species  M. diastema across itsFOCUS range ON (Torre-Loranca CONSERVATION :et A al.Project 2006), You Can and Support ...... of Micrurus, reported tail-display behaviors 252 (following strong a further 150 or so species in the Western Hemisphere dis- stimulation) include mock-strikes, hooding, and hemipenial play a red-and-black coralsnake-like coloration (Savage and inversion (Serafin and Duarte 2008). Herein we describe an Slowinski 1992; Davis Robosky et al. 2016). observation of tail-curling and Protean mimicry in M. diastema. Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern Totat et velleseque audant mo Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as accullabo.

Fig. 1. A Variable Coralsnake (Micrurus diastema) restrained with tongs in Cusuco National Park (CNP), Santo Tomas, Cortes, Honduras, flattens its body posteriorly and curls its tail into a head-like shape (left). The tail is elevated and curled and executes mock strikes and imitates head-like movements (right). Photographs © Tom W. Brown.

Copyright © 2020. Tom W. Brown. All rights reserved. 231 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 BROWN ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(2):231–232 • AUG 2020

At 1815 h on 15 July 2016, while conducting fieldwork Literature Cited in the lowland buffer region of Cusuco National Park (CNP), Brodie, E.D. III. 1993. Differential avoidance of coral banded patterns by Santo Tomas, Cortes, Honduras, we encountered an adult M. free-ranging avian predators in Costa Rica. Evolution 47: 227–235. Brodie, E.D. III and F.J. Janzen. 1995. Experimental studies of mim- diastema on a dirt path crossing a pasture close to a rural commu- icry: Generalized avoidance of ringed snake patterns by free-ranging avian nity. In order to relocate the snake a safe distance from human predators. Functional Ecology 9: 186–190. habitation, a snake tong was used to safely capture it. When we Davis Rabosky, A.R., C.L. Cox, D.L. Rabosky, P.O. Title, I.A. Holmes, A. Feldman, and J.A. McGuire. 2016. Coral snakes predict the evolution of grasped the snake firmly at midbody, it immediately and repeat- mimicry across New World snakes. Nature Communications 7: 11484. edly struck at the tong before thrashing vigorously and writhing Gehlbach, F.R. 1972. Coral snake mimicry reconsidered: the strategy of self-mim- to expose its brightly colored venter. Unable to get free, the snake icry. Forma et Functio 5: 311–320. then curled its tail into a head-like shape, flattened its body dor- Greene, H.W. 1973. Defensive tail display by snakes and amphisbaenians. Journal of Herpetology 7: 143–161. soventrally, and elevated its tail (Fig. 1). It then used its tail to Jowers, M.J., J.L. Garcia Mudarra, S.P. Charles, and J.C. Murphy. 2019. execute a series of mock strikes, while the actual head remained Phylogeography of West Indies coral snakes (Micrurus): Island colonisation motionless in a strike position. In curling and raising the tail, and banding patterns. Zoologica Scripta 48: 263–276. the reciprocal yellow-black banding rendered it difficult to dis- Moore, T.Y., S.M. Danforth, J.G. Larson, and A.R. Davis Rabosky. 2020. A quantitative analysis of Micrurus coral snakes reveals unexpected variation tinguish from the head, and its emulating movement further sug- in stereotyped anti-predator displays within a mimicry system. Integrative gested head mimicry. After photographing this defensive behav- Organismal Biology 2: obaa006. ior for about five minutes, we relocated the snake approximately Reyes-Velasco, J., R.H. Adams, S. Boissinot, C.L. Parkinson, J.A. Campbell, T.A. Castoe, and E.N. Smith. 2020. Genome-wide SNPs clarify lineage diver- 150 m to the edge of a nearby patch of forest. sity confused by coloration in coralsnakes of the Micrurus diastema species complex (Serpentes: Elapidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 147: 106770. Acknowledgements Savage J.M. and J.B. Slowinski. 1992. The coloration of the venomous coral snakes We thank Operation Wallacea (UK) and the field guides and (family Elapidae) and their mimics (families Aniliidae and Colubridae). staff for enabling research expeditions to Cusuco National Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 45: 235–254. Park, Honduras, and Dr. Tom Martin for reviews of this Serafim, H. and M.R. Duarte. 2008. Tail mock-strike and hemipenis display in the Coral snakes, genus Micrurus (Elapidae): Epiphenomenon or deimatic note. This observation was made under permit number behaviour? Herpetological Bulletin 104: 7–8. ICF-DVS-104-2016; ICF-193-2016, issued to Operation Talley, B.L., L.D. Wilson, and J.H. Townsend. 2013. Micrurus diastema (Variable Wallacea by the Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Coralsnake). Defensive behavior. Herpetological Review 44: 693–694. Torre-Loranca, M.A., G. Aguirre-León, and M.A. López-Luna. 2006. Coralillos Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre (ICF), verdaderos (Serpentes: Elapidae) y coralillos falsos (Serpentes: Colubridae) de Tegucicalpa, Honduras. Veracruz, México. Acta Zoologica Mexicana 22: 11–22.

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