WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES &IRCF AMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 189 24(3):193–196 • DEC 2017

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES New. ChasingDistribution Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: Record and Intergeneric On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: AmplexusA Hypothetical Excursion ...... in the Malabar TreeRobert W. Toad,Henderson 198 PedostibesRESEARCH ARTICLES tuberculosus Günther 1875 . 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 ...... (Amphibia:Brian J. Camposano, KennethAnura: L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge,Bufonidae) Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

CONSERVATION ALERT Amit Sayyed and Abhijit Nale . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 . MoreWildlife Than Protection Mammals ...... and Research Society, India ([email protected] & [email protected])...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225 Photographs by the senior author. HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226

PROFILE he Malabar Tree. KraigToad Adler: (Pedostibes A Lifetime Promoting tuberculosus Herpetology ) ...... was ini- almost entirely webbed, Michaeland tipsL. Treglia of both234 fingers and toes are Ttially described by Günther in 1875 from Kerala, India. dilated into broad, truncated disks that are smaller on the COMMENTARY The body is slender, the head of moderate size, snout pointed, toes, and the tubercle near the joint is small, with two small, . The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ...... Eric Gangloff 238 lores vertical, fingers moderate, depressed, and webbed at the flat metatarsal tubercles. Coloration in life is brownish above, base, the first fingerBOOK is half REVIEW the length of the second, toes are sides are dark with white bands running from below the eyes . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young ...... Robert Powell 243

 CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247  NEWBRIEFS ...... 248  EDITORIAL INFORMATION ...... 251  FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... 252

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. Malabar Tree Toad (Pedostibes tuberculosus) at the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Satara District, Maharashtra, India (elevation 921.5 m).

Copyright © 2017. Amit Sayyed. All rights reserved. 193 SAYYED AND NALE IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 24(3):193–196 • DEC 2017 to the axilla, an additional white, longitudinal band in the Radhanagari, and in parts of Amboli and the Tilari region of lumbar region, and a dark-spotted venter. Maharashtra. Pedostibes tuberculosus is endemic to the Western Ghats Rainfall was continuous during the survey. At 1930 h of India. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List males were calling from the trees, on the ground, and from the (Biju et al. 2004). The species had not been reported from edges of a pond; we recorded calls with a PCM recorder 44 at any part of its known range for a span of more than 100 100 Hz. The small population was restricted to the immediate years since its description until it was rediscovered in 1980 by vicinity of the small natural pond near a stream, which was S.K. Bhattacharya in the Silent Valley National Park (Pillai surrounded with large trees in dense forest. We observed a few 1986). It subsequently has been reported from various loca- amplecting pairs (Fig. 2), eggs laid at the edges of the pond tions in the southern Western Ghats: Palakkad, Ponmudi, (Fig. 3), and noted the presence of three other anuran species: Thiruvananthapuram, Vannathimala, Wayanad, the Aralam Ghate’s Shrub Frogs (Raorchestes ghatei) and widely distributed Wildlife Sanctuary, and Kannur in Kerala; the Cotegao Common Indian Treefrogs (Polypedates maculatus) and Asian Wildlife Sanctuary, Mollem Goa, Kalakkad, Tirunelveli Common Toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus). Tamil Nadu, and at Jakkanagadde, the Sharavathi River During that same survey, we noticed intergeneric basin, Shimoga, and Kudremukh National Park in Karnataka amplexus of P. tuberculosus and D. melanostictus. In the first (Dahanukar et al. 2004; Gururaja and Ramachandra 2006; instance, a male P. tuberculosus was in amplexus with a female Dinesh and Radhakrishnan 2008). D. melanostictus (Fig. 4). A second sighting involved two male On 18 August 2016, we encountered Pedostibes tuber- P. tuberculosus attempting to mate with a single female D. culosus (Fig. 1) during an amphibian survey at the Koyna melanostictus (Fig. 5). Sayyed (2013) had reported intergeneric Wildlife Sanctuary, Satara District, Maharashtra at an eleva- amplexus when a male Malabar Gliding Frog (Rhacophorus tion of 921.5 m. This is the first report of the species from malabaricus) attempted to mate with a female Polypedates mac- Maharashtra. Extensive field surveys are needed to better ulatus. A photograph on social media shows a male Kalakkad understand the distribution of these toads in the north- Treefrog (Rhacophorus calcadensis) in amplexus with a female ern Western Ghats; they also are likely to occur within the R. malabaricus (P. Manoj, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/ Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, as well as Chandoli National Park, photo.php?fbid=1159696284047865&set=a.7305917736

Fig. 2. Amplecting pairs of Malabar Tree Toads (Pedostibes tuberculosus) at the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Satara District, Maharashtra, India.

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Fig. 3. Eggs of the Malabar Tree Toad (Pedostibes tuberculosus) laid at the edge of a pond in the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Satara District, Maharashtra, India.

Fig. 4. Intergeneric amplexus between a male Malabar Tree Toad (Pedostibes tuberculosus) and a female Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus).

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Fig. 5. Attempted intergeneric amplexus of two male Malabar Tree Toads (Pedostibes tuberculosus) and a female Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus).

24987.1073741847.100000225146691&type=3&permP Literature Cited age=1). Such observations suggest that attempted interspecific Biju, S.D., S. Dutta, R. Inger and V.A. Gour-Broome. 2004. Pedostibes tuberculosus. amplexus between congeners and even confamilial species is a The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T16470A5918772. relatively common event. Contributing factors could be stress Dahanukar, N., A.D. Padhye, G.P. Salelkar, and H.V. Ghate. 2004. Aktueller Beleg für die Malabar Baumkröte, Pedostibes tuberculosus Gunther, 1876, in triggered by competition for breeding sites or even a dispro- Indien. Sauria 26(3): 17–20. portionate number of females at some locations. However, Dinesh, K.P. and C. Radhakrishnan. 2008. New site records of the Malabar Tree males of many anuran species often are indiscriminant when Toad, Pedostibes tuberculosus Gunther (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae), in Western Ghats, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 108: 13–15. mating (e.g., Engeler and Reyer 2001), and these records Engeler, B. and H.-U. Reyer. 2001. Choosy females and indiscriminate males: Mate might merely illustrate that lack of selectivity and should not choice in mixed populations of sexual and hybridogenetic water frogs (Rana be construed as hybridization between the species involved. lessonae, Rana esculenta). Behavioral Ecology 12: 600–606. Gururaja, K.V. and T.V. Ramachandra. 2006. Pedostibes tuberculosus (Malabar Tree Acknowledgments Toad). Advertisement call and distribution. Herpetological Review 37: 75–76. Sayyed, A. 2013. Note on the natural crossbreeding in Family Rhacophoridae, We thank Dr. K.V. Gururaja for helpful suggestions, and Anura, Amphibia. Ela Journal 2(3): 7–9. Devendra Bhosle and Ashitosh Suryavanshi, members of the Pillai, R.S. 1986. Amphibian fauna of Silent Valley, Kerala, S. India. Records of the Wildlife Protection and Research Society, for help with fieldwork. Zoological Survey of India 84: 229–242.

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