Climbing Behavior in a Checkered Keelback

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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, &NO AMPHIBIANS 4 • DEC 2008 189 • 25(1):46–47 • APR 2018

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES Climbing. Chasing Bullsnakes Behavior (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: in a Checkered Keelback, On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Xenochrophis. The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus piscatorgrenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: (Schneider 1799), A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES in Central India . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight AnoleRahul (Anolis equestrisV. Deshmukh) in Florida 1, Sagar A. Deshmukh2, Swapnil A. Badhekar3 ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 1H. No. 26, Teacher colony, Brahmani – Kalmeshwar, Nagpur, M.S. – 441501 (rahul30.snake@gmail.com) CONSERVATION2Behind Potdar ALERT Nursing Home, Kalmeshwar, Nagpur, M.S. – 441501 ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals3Tiwaskarwadi, in Crisis ...... Raipur, Hingana, Nagpur, M.S. – 441110 ([email protected])...... 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... Photographs by Sagar A. Deshmukh...... 225 HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226

he CheckeredPROFILE Keelback or Asiatic Watersnake T(Xenochrophis piscator. Kraig Adler:) is A Lifetimeperhaps Promoting the Herpetology most plentiful...... Michael L. Treglia 234 snake in India (Whitaker and Captain 2005), and is par- COMMENTARY ticularly abundant in. Thecentral Turtles HaveIndia Been (Nande Watching Me and ...... Deshmukh Eric Gangloff 238 2007; Deshmukh et al. 2015). This snake can be found in and around bodiesBOOK of fresh REVIEW water, including rivers, ponds, . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, impoundments, and paddyR. Berridge, fields. P. Ramani, Xenochrophis and B.E. Young piscator...... is a Robert Powell 243 strong swimmer and diver and is capable of jumping off the ground (Daniel 2002). CONSERVATION It feeds on RESEARCH frog eggs, REPORTS: tadpoles, Summaries and of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 adults, and occasionally NEWBRIEFS fish, rodents, ...... and birds (Whitaker ...... 248 and Captain 2005). EDITORIAL Herein INFORMATIONwe record unusual ...... climbing ...... 251  behavior in an aquaticFOCUS snake. ON CONSERVATION Phansalkar: Aand Project Gowande You Can Support ...... 252 (2017) documented a Checkered Keelback climbing a tree in a semi-evergreen forest in the northern Western Ghats, but climbing is an unusual and unexpectedFront Cover. Shannonbehavior Plummer. for an Back Cover. Michael Kern aquatic snake. 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. 2. The red rectangle indicates the location of the Checkered Keelback (Xenochrophis piscator) about 4 m above the ground in an Indian Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica).

At 0720 hours on 15 October 2017 near Khadak Nala, Kalmeshwar, Nagpur, Maharashtra, in central India (21°14’58”N, 78°53’67”E; elev. 333.1 m), we found an unsexed adult Xenochrophis piscator (total length ~1,100 mm) Fig. 1. An adult Checkered Keelback (Xenochrophis piscator) in an Indian perched about 7 m above the ground in an Indian Neem tree Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica). (Azadirachta indica; Figs. 1 & 2). Although two Oriental

Garden Lizards (Calotes versicolor complex) we saw in the Deshmukh, Ankush Kukde, Lalit Nehare, Swapnil Bhondawe, same tree might have been potential prey, these snakes are Tushar Thakur, Subham Katgube, and Akash Deshmukh. not known to hunt lizards. Ample cover and suitable basking sites were available in the vicinity, so we are unable to explain Literature Cited why this snake or that observed by Phansalkar and Gowande Daniel, J.C. 2002. The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. Bombay Natural (2017) climbed a tree. History Society, Mumbai. Deshmukh, R.V., A. S.A. Deshmukh, and S.A. Badhekar. 2015. Rescued records of snakes from Nagpur District, Maharashtra with data on unrecorded species. Acknowledgments Reptile Rap 17: 34–46. We are very grateful to Dr. Pratyush Mohopatra, Museum-in- Nande R. and R. Deshmukh. 2007. Snakes of Amaravati District including Melghat, Maharashtra, with important records of the Indian Egg-eater, Montane Trinket Charge, ZSI, Central Zone Regional Centre, Jabalpur; Rahul snake and Indian Smooth snake. Zoos’ Print Journal 22: 2920–2924. Khot, Curator- Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, Phansalkar, P.U. and G.G. Gowande. 2017. Climbing behavior in the Checkered Maharashtra; Vithoba Hegde (BNHS, Mumbai); and Dr. B. Keelback or Asiatic Water Snake Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799) V. Jadhav (HoD Zoology Dept. B. D. Collage, Patan, Satara). (Colubridae: Nitricinae) in the Western Ghats, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology 1: 69–72. We also thank Sarang Hadke, Dinesh Khate, Manish Buche, Whitaker, R. and A. Captain. 2004. Snakes of India: The Field Guide. Draco Books, Sunil Kanchane, Sushil Pillewan, Mahesh Thawkar, Ajit Chennai, India.