WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, &NO AMPHIBIANS 4 • DEC 2008 189 • 26(1):58–61 • APR 2019
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE ARTICLES First. Chasing BullsnakesRecords (Pituophis catenifer sayi) inof Wisconsin: the Common Leopard On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Gecko,. The Shared Eublepharis History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humansmacularius on Grenada: (Blyth 1854) A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES(Eublepharidae), in Nepal . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 .YamThe Knight Bahadur Anole ( AnolisRawat equestris1, Kul) in Florida Bahadur Thapa2, Santosh Bhattarai3, and Karan Bahadur Shah2 ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 1Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Shuklaphanta National Park, Kanchanpur, Nepal CONSERVATION ALERT2Himalayan Nature, POB- 10918, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal 3National Trust for. World’s Nature Mammals Conservation-Biodiversity in Crisis ...... Conservation Center, Ratnanagar-06, Chitwan-44204, ...... Nepal (santosh.bhattarai 220 @hotmail.com) . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225
HUSBANDRY yelid Geckos (Eublepharidae). Captive Care of the areCentral represented Netted Dragon ...... globally by At 1625 h on 30 December Shannon Plummer 2016, 226 we encountered two six genera and 38 species (Uetz et al. 2018) that have a male Common Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius; E PROFILE collective pan-tropical/subtropical. Kraig Adler: A Lifetime distribution Promoting Herpetology across ...... North Fig. 1) hibernating 1.5 Michaelm above L. Treglia the 234 ground under the bark and Central America, western and eastern Africa, the Middle of a dead standing Asna Tree (Terminalia tomentosa) in a East, and southern,COMMENTARY southeastern, and far eastern Asia (Ota et Sal (Shorea robusta) mixed deciduous forest in the Kamdi . The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ...... Eric Gangloff 238 al. 1999). The earliest records for the genus Eublepharis are Biological Corridor, Banke District, State No. 5, Nepal. Both from Afghanistan, Bangladesh,BOOK REVIEW India, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and individuals were captured, weighed and measured (Table 1), . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, Turkmenistan. The CommonR. Berridge, LeopardP. Ramani, and Gecko B.E. Young ( Eublepharis...... and released at the original Robertsite Powellof capture. 243 macularius) is a secretive, ground-dwelling, nocturnally active The habitat (Fig. 2) appears to be more mesic and densely gecko that has been CONSERVATION reported to occurRESEARCH in REPORTS:arid habitats Summaries of of Publishedvegetated Conservation than Research that Reports at ...... other localities 245 where this species is Afghanistan, northwestern NATURAL India, HISTORY and RESEARCH Pakistan REPORTS (Bonke: et Summaries al. of Publishedknown Reports to occur.on Natural However,History ...... the mixed 247 hardwood forests in NEWBRIEFS ...... 248 2011). Herein we reportEDITORIAL the first INFORMATION Nepalese ...... country records the lower Sivalik Hills within...... the corridor 251 are drained only by for this species, genus, FOCUS and ONfamily, CONSERVATION which is :the A Projecteleventh You Can spe Support- ...... intermittent streams and represent the 252 driest mountain eco- cies of gecko known to occur in Nepal. system in Nepal. Nocturnal December temperatures in the
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. Adult male Common Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) recorded in the Kamdi Biological Corridor, Banke District, Nepal. Photograph by Kul Bahadur Thapa.
Copyright © 2019. Yam Bahadur Rawat. All rights reserved. 58 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 RAWAT ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):58–61 • APR 2019
Table 1. Morphometric and meristic data for two male Common Specimen Specimen Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) from the Kamdi Biological Character No. 1 No. 2 Corridor, Banke District, Nepal. All measurements are in millime- ters (mm) except body weight, which is in grams (g). Note that Weight 27 26 specimen No. 1 had an intact tail, whereas specimen No. 2 had SVL 119 109 a regenerated tail. We measured weight using a digital scale and TL 87 57 morphometric measurements using a Vernier caliper (to the nearest TW 9 11 0.1 mm). Morphometric and meristic data were according to Mirza et al. (2014): snout-vent length (SVL; from tip of snout to vent), HL 32 33 tail length (TL; from vent to tip of tail), tail width (TW; maximum HW 22 21 width of tail), interorbital distance (IOD; distance between the ED 6 7 eyes), eye diameter (ED; greatest eye diameter), head height (HH; IOD 10 10 maximum head height from occiput to underside of the jaws), head length (HL; posterior end of jaws to tip of snout), supralabials (SL), NE 7 7 infralabials (IL), tympanum diameter (TD), pre-cloacal pores (PP), SEL 8 8 number of rows of granular dorsal tubercles at midbody (DTR), IN 5 5 forelimb length from the axilla to tip of the fourth finger (FLL), EE 9 8 hindlimb length from the groin to the tip of the fourth toe (HLL). SL 10 9 IL 10 9 HH 12 11 TD 4 4 PP 15 15 FLL 15 + 19 12 + 14 HLL 19 + 19 18 + 18
Kamdi Corridor, which connects the Banke National Park of We subsequently received photographic evidence of this Nepal and the Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, species (Fig. 3) from Amar Darai (pers. comm.), who photo- India, are as low as 5 °C. graphed two geckos on 18 April 2017 that were injured when
Fig. 2. Habitat of the Common Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius) in the Kamdi Biological Corridor, Banke District, Nepal. Photograph by Kul Bahadur Thapa.
59 RAWAT ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):58–61 • APR 2019
Fig. 3. Photographic vouchers of the Common Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius) in Nepal from Gurvakot, Surkhet (left; photograph by Rup Saud) and from Sunwal, Parasi (center and right; photographs by Amar Darai). excavated from under rocks in a dry river bed during gravel larius by the presence of tuberculated subdigital lamellae and extraction near the village of Tilkana in Sunwal, Nawalparasi circular dorsal scales (absent in E. satpuraensis and E. fuscus), District, State No. 5, and from Rup Saud (pers. comm.), who the lack of a nuchal loop extending anteriorly to the eyes and found another gecko at 1700 h on 10 June 2018 on school along supralabials to the tip of the snout (present in E. satpu- grounds in Gurvakot, Surkhet District, Karnali State. These raensis), and the presence of dorsal dark and pale bands with localities are ca. 180 and 80 km (aerial distance) from the reticulations or spots (present in E. hardwickii) that do not Kamdi Biological Corridor, respectively (Fig. 4). correspond to our photographic vouchers (Mirza et al. 2014). Because three other species of Eublepharis occur in India, Eublepharis macularius has been recorded from we confirmed the identities of observed lizards as E. macu- Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India. The nearest
Fig. 4. Records of the Common Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius) in Nepal.
60 RAWAT ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):58–61 • APR 2019 previously documented locality is Delhi, India (Sultana and excavation in Sunwal are observed threats to the species. We Hussain 2010). These new records extend the species’ global strongly recommend a detailed inventory of E. macularius in range approximately 500 km eastward. Common Leopard Nepal, concentrating on its distribution, conservation, and Geckos remained undetected in Nepal until now. This could phylogenetic relationships among its apparently disjunct pop- be attributable to the secretive nocturnal nature of the species ulations. or the limited research on the herpetofauna in western Nepal (most herpetofaunal studies in Nepal have been concentrated Acknowledgements in central and eastern parts of the country; Bhattarai et al. We thank the Department of Forests, Ministry of Forests 2017). These new records from three different localities indi- and Environment, Himalayan Nature and National Trust for cate that the species is likely to have much wider distribution Nature Conservation for support in the field. Sharad Singh in Nepal, including Banke National Park, which lies between (Himalayan Nature) and Hem Sagar Baral (ZSL Nepal) the sites of these observations. Wildlife conservation in the provided encouragement. Sujan Khanal contributed to map Kamdi Biological Corridor dates only to the declaration of preparation. Mark O’Shea and Peter Uetz provided valuable Banke National Park in 2010. The presence of E. macularius comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. from the newly declared corridor reinforces its significance not only for the conservation of charismatic mammalian spe- Literature Cited cies but also for the cryptic and lower-priority herpetofauna Bhattarai, S., C.P. Pokheral, B.R. Lamichhane, and N. Subedi. 2017. Herpetofauna of a Ramsar Site: Beeshazar and associated lakes, Chitwan National Park, of Nepal. Nepal. Reptiles & Amphibians 24: 17–29. Eublepharis macularius has not been assessed for the Bonke, R., W. Böhme, K. Opiela, and D. Rödder. 2011. A remarkable case of can- IUCN Red List (IUCN 2018). These geckos are very popu- nibalism in juvenile Leopard Geckos, Eublepharis macularius (Blyth, 1854) lar in both the legal and illegal pet trade (Mirza et al. 2014). (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Herpetology Notes 4: 211–212. IUCN. 2018. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018- Frequent confiscations of geckos by customs officials at the 1.
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