Cfreptiles & Amphibians

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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & IRCFAMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL 15,& NAMPHIBIANSO 4 • DEC 2008 •189 25(3):180–181 • DEC 2018

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES The Defense. Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis Mechanism catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: of Kuhl’s Creek Frog On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of( TreeboasLimnonectes (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: cf. kuhlii) A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 1 2 RESEARCH ARTICLES Steven J.R. Allain and Mark J. Goodman . The Texas Horned Lizard111 in TrafalgarCentral and Way, Western Braintree, Texas ...... Essex, CM7 Emily 9UX Henry, ([email protected]) Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis269 Norfolk equestris) inStreet, Florida Cambridge, CB1 2LD ([email protected]) ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

CONSERVATION ALERT . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 e encountered. More a Thannumber Mammals of ...... Kuhl’s Creek Frogs ...... 223 . W(Limnonectes cf.The kuhlii “Dow Jones; Fig. Index” 1) of during Biodiversity amphibian ...... sur- ...... 225 veys on Mount Kinabalu,HUSBANDRY Sabah, Malaysia in September– November 2016. Limnonectes. Captive Care kuhlii of the Central (Tschudi Netted Dragon 1838) ...... was orig- Shannon Plummer 226 inally described onPROFILE Java; however, apparently closely related unnamed species occur. Kraig throughout Adler: A Lifetime tropical Promoting southeasternHerpetology ...... Asia Michael L. Treglia 234

(Frost 2018 and referencesCOMMENTARY therein), including Borneo, where they inhabit primary. andThe Turtles secondary Have Been Watchingforests Me in ...... hilly country Eric Gangloff 238 from near sea level to 1,600 m asl (Inger and Stuebing 1997). This was an abundantBOOK anuran REVIEW species at the lower elevations . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, of Mount Kinabalu NationalR. Berridge, Park, P. Ramani, second and B.E. in Young frequencies ...... of Robert Powell 243 encounters only to the Mountain Litter Frog (Leptobrachium montanum). We found CONSERVATION these frogs RESEARCH most frequently REPORTS: Summaries along of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 streams and in ditches NEWBRIEFS and roadside ...... drains. They can reach ...... 248 74 mm in length andEDITORIAL have wide INFORMATION heads and ...... short muscular ...... 251  FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... 252 limbs (Malkmus et al. 2002).

Fig. 2. A wound inflicted by an adult Kuhl’s Creek Frog (Limnonectes cf. kuhlii) (highlighted in red) showing the area where the process pierced the Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. skin. PhotographBack Cover. Michael by Steven Kern J.R. Allain. 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 dolorWhen apicto weinvere observed pe dolum frogs during our night-time visual fugiatis maionsequat eumque encounterfugiatis maionsequat surveys, eumque we photographed them before taking bio- moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos metrictur ma derrovitaemeasurements. voluptam, as For some of the smaller species, this accullabo. could be done in-situ as they were less likely to flee when mea- sured with a ruler. In most cases, we had to capture individu- als of L. cf. kuhlii in order to get an accurate measurement of snout-to-vent length (SVL). While attempting to restrain the frogs, we encountered some unexpected and unusual behav- ior. At the end of the third toe, these frogs possess a hardened process, which can be used in defense by swinging the hind- leg around in a lateral motion (Malkmus et al. 1999). This process is sharp enough to pierce skin and draw blood, which happened on a small number of occasions (Fig. 2). This move- ment can be used to deter predators and field biologists alike. Fig. 1. An adult Kuhl’s Creek Frog (Limnonectes cf. kuhlii) in-situ on the bank of a river in Mount Kinabalu National Park, Sabah, Malaysia. From our experience, a bony process also may be located on Photograph by Steven J.R. Allain. the second digit, attached to the distal phalanges.

As described by Malkmus et al. (1999), this defense mech- Literature Cited anism appears to be present only in larger and mature frogs, Frost, D.R. 2018. Limnonectes kuhlii. Amphibian Species of the World: An Online and at what stage in the life history it develops is not known. Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York (http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/ It is not present in subadults, which did not seem to be too Dicroglossidae/Dicroglossinae/Limnonectes/Limnonectes-kuhlii). stressed by short durations of handling. How this structure Inger, R.F. and R.B. Stuebing. 1997. A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo. Natural evolved is unclear, but it might be linked to the fact that these History Publications, Sabah, Borneo. frogs often bask on banks or in ditches (Malkmus et al. 2002) Malkmus, R., C. Brühl, and T. Eltz. 1999. Amfibieën en reptielen van Deramakot and are likely to be snatched from the front by predators. This (Sabah, Maleisië). Lacerta 57(6): 191–198. Malkmus, R., U. Manthey, G. Vogel, P. Hoffmann, and J. Kosuch. 2002. defensive mechanism can be used to encourage predators to Amphibians & Reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). ARG Gantner release the frogs due to the infliction of both pain and shock. Verlag, Ruggell, Liechtenstein.

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