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Chelydra Serpentina, Chelydridae WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, N O& 4 AMPHIBIANS • DEC 2008 189 • 20(1):1–6 • MAR 2013 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES Necrotized. Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis Facial catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: Deformities in an Urban 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: PopulationA Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................of Common SnappingRobert W. Henderson Turtles 198 RESEARCH(Chelydra ARTICLES serpentina, Chelydridae) . 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 .............................................fromBrian J. Camposano,Bronx, Kenneth L. Krysko, KevinNew M. Enge, Ellen M.York Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 ErikCONSERVATION Zeidler, New York ALERTWild! (www.ny-wild.com), Bronx, New York 10461 ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ......................................................................................................................................................................Photographs by the author except where indicated. 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 one pathologiesPROFILE have been well documented in turtles, viduals representing two sites (Table 1), showed pronounced Bbut most affect the. Kraig shell Adler: and A Lifetime originate Promoting during Herpetology embryonic ................................................................................................ necrotic facial conditions Michael (2.5% L. Treglia of the234 individuals captured). development or subsequentCOMMENTARY poor care in captivity (Bell et al. Four of these turtles were males and in the upper level of cara- 2006, McArthur et .al.The 2010). Turtles Have Facial Been Watching deformities Me ........................................................................................................................ have also pace length (and probably age)Eric Gangloff for the238 population. Although been documented, but most have been attributed to improper individuals M3 and M4 were noted as in the lower range of BOOK REVIEW captive care, particularly. Threatened when Amphibians the turtles of the were World editedjuveniles. by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann,BMI, all J.S. four Chanson, males N.A. wereCox, within population limits, as was the Bell et al. (2006) conductedR. Berridge, P. a Ramani, thorough and B.E. study Young .............................................................................................................. of the inci- sole female. Robert Powell 243 dences and probable causes of embryonic deformity in urban Turtles with these deformities lose soft tissue and bone (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) CONSERVATION populations RESEARCH of REPORTS:Painted TurtlesSummaries of Publishedfrom Conservation their faces, Research resulting Reports ................................. in apparently 245 permanent damage. NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 (Chrysemys picta) and NEWBRIEFS Common ...................................................................................................................................................................................... Snapping Turtles (Chelydra In severe cases (e.g., M1; Figs. 5a & b), 248 the entire front of the serpentina). Croteau EDITORIALet al. (2008) INFORMATION reviewed .....................................................................................................................................................the considerable face was deteriorated, the eyes were swollen 251 shut, and the nose FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 toxicological issues potentially affecting especially aquatic spe- was entirely missing. Large quantities of bone in the front of cies of herpetofauna in urban environments. the skull (including sections of the prefrontal, maxilla, fossa Although less thoroughly documented, bone and soft- nasalia, foramen praepalatinum, and the entire premaxilla and tissue pathologies in wild populationsFront Cover.of turtles Shannon are Plummer. a con- aperaturaBack Cover. narium Michael externa Kern ) were completely absent in some cern in chelonian conservation. JacobsonTotat et vellesequeet al. (2000) audant mo briefly individuals.Totat et velleseque In otheraudant mocases (Table 1; Figs. 6–9), the soft tissue reviewed mycotic diseases of reptiles;estibus I found inveliquo no velique similar rerchil over - estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus view of bacterial agents. 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- Methods ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as In 2009–2010, I conducted a fieldaccullabo. study of Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from the Bronx River and adjacent study sites in Bronx (New York City), New York (Fig. 1). I collected data from 285 specimens, all of which were greater than 102 mm in carapace length. Turtles smaller than that were captured occasionally but were not included at this stage of my study. All turtles captured were individually marked by notching marginal scutes (Cagle 1939). Results Females from the Bronx River population were significantly smaller than males (Figs. 2 & 3), although sexes did not dif- Fig. 1. The author with a 22.7-kg (50-lb) Common Snapping Turtle fer significantly in body-mass-index (BMI) expressed as kg/ (Chelydra serpentina) from Van Cortland Park in Bronx, New York. cm carapace length (Fig. 4). Of all turtles captured, five indi- Photograph by Rick Zeidler. Copyright © 2013. Eric Zeidler. All rights reserved. 1 ZEIDLER IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 20(1):1–6 • MAR 2013 Fig. 2. Female and male carapace lengths (cm) in adult Common Snapping Fig. 3. Female and male mass (kg) in Bronx River adult Common Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from the Bronx River. Female mean = 26.23 Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from the Bronx River. Female ± 4.03 cm; male mean = 33.09 ± 5.41 cm; Mann-Whitney U, Z (cor- mean = 4.0 ± 1.53 kg; male mean = 8.2 ± 3.67 kg; Mann-Whitney U, Z rected) = -4.79, p < 0.01. (corrected) = -4.76, p < 0.01. in the nose was deteriorated, leaving the turtles with a single facial aperture where their nostrils once were. Three turtles with facial necrosis (Table 1a) were found in the Bronx River, in the section running through the Bronx Zoo and the nearby New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG). Two were found within NYBG in a pond known as Twin Lakes, which is only about 90 m from the Bronx River. Of these five, two turtles, both with severe facial deformities, also exhibited other morphological abnormalities. One individual (M3) had a deformed front left foot, in which digits 1–3 were fused together. Digits 4 and 5 were barely recognizable and were fused together in a fleshy mass that grew separately from the rest of the foot (Fig. 10). Another individual with this condition (M4) also had damage to its shell, which was par- tially discolored and included necrotic areas. All five turtles were captured multiple times in 2009, and four of them were recaptured in 2010. The first observed case of extensive facial necrosis was an adult male captured on 30 June 2009 (M4). This turtle was Fig. 4. Female and male body-mass index (mass/cm-carapace-length) in adult Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from the Bronx found resting on a bank about 5 m from the water. It was very River. Female mean = 0.15 ± 0.04; male mean = 0.24 ± 0.08; p (0.95) = n.s. weak, and only two-thirds the weight of other turtles its size. It was listless and appeared to be moribund. The extent of facial tissue damage of a different individ- its face was gone. In 2010, more facial tissue had been lost, ual (M1) that was recaptured in 2010 worsened from the pre- and the area around the front of the face was swollen and vious year. When it was recaptured on 26 June 2010, it was in showed considerable inflammation; a peach-colored exudate very bad overall condition. It was found buried in mud about covered much of the area that formerly was the animal’s nose. 30 cm beneath the water’s surface with only its head exposed, The affected areas, which were once hard bone, were soft and about 1.6 km from where it was found initially. Both eyes rubbery. were swollen, with one entirely shut. It appeared
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