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Buteogallus Anthracinus) Consuming an Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia Osae) Near the Beach in San Pedrillo, Corcovado National Park

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Buteogallus Anthracinus) Consuming an Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia Osae) Near the Beach in San Pedrillo, Corcovado National Park HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 27(3):491–493189 • DEC 2020 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATUREThe ARTICLES Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia osae): . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: NewOn the Road to UnderstandingLocalities, the Ecology and Conservation Elevational of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Record, Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: and APredation Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................ by a Common Black-HawkRobert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES . The Texas Horned Lizard(Buteogallus in Central and Western Texas ....................... anthracinus Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey,) and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida .............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Raby Nuñez Escalante1 and Henry Sandi Amador2 CONSERVATION ALERT Sierpe de Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...............................................................................................................................San Vito de Coto Brus, Puntarenas, Costa Rica ([email protected]) .............................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 HUSBANDRY he family Caecilidae. Captive Care contains of the Central 43 Nettedmostly Dragon South ....................................................................................................... American At 1520 h on 30 September Shannon Plummer 2016, 226 R. Nuñez encountered Tspecies in two genera (Caecilia and Oscaecilia), both of a 15-cm long Osa Caecilian (Fig. 1) at Sierpe (8°50'44.2"N, which occur inPROFILE Costa Rica (Leenders 2016; Kubicki 2017). 83°28'37.7"W) at an elevation of 46 m asl (Fig. 2). At 1530 h . The principal distributionKraig Adler: of A Lifetime the genus Promoting Oscaecilia Herpetology is ................................................................................................ in north- on 6 September 2020, H. Michael Sandi L. encountered Treglia 234 a 45-cm long Osa western South America,COMMENTARY with only three of the nine currently Caecilian at Llano Bonito (8°73'43.68"N, 83°06'67.04"W) at recognized species. The occurring Turtles Have inBeen southern Watching Me Central ........................................................................................................................ America an elevation of 500 m asl (Fig. Eric Gangloff 3). These 238 observations repre- (Köhler 2011).BOOK REVIEW sent the second and third localities outside the Península de The Osa Caecilian. Threatened (Oscaecilia Amphibians of osaethe World) (Fig. edited 1) by S.N.was Stuart, first M. Hoffmann,Osa, the J.S. northernmostChanson, N.A. Cox, record for the species, and extend the discovered in a floodedR. Berridge, grassy P. Ramani, airstrip and B.E.at theYoung Sirena .............................................................................................................. Ranger elevational range of the species Robert to Powell 500 243m asl. Station in Corcovado National Park in 1984 but was not The inner layer of skin of caecilians contains poison glands, formally described CONSERVATION until 1992 (Lahanas RESEARCH and REPORTS: Savage Summaries 1992). of Publishedthe Conservation secretions Research of which Reports .................................can be toxic to245 predators, including NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 The species was knownNEWBRIEFS only ............................................................................................................................... from the Península de Osa in humans (Wake....................................................... 1986). Consequently, few 248 predators are known southwestern Costa EDITORIAL Rica at INFORMATIONelevations of 3–40 ............................................................................................................................... m asl (Savage to feed on caecilians, although...................... Taylor 251 (1968) indicated that 2002; Bolaños et FOCUSal. 2008) ON CONSERVATIONuntil Huber (2010): A Project provided You Can Supportthe ...............................................................................................snakes and carnivorous birds undoubtedly 252 do so. Neotropical first report from outside the Península de Osa at the Tropical coralsnakes (Micrurus spp.) are the most frequently docu- Research Station La Gamba (Fig. 2) and documented the first mented snakes that include caecilians in their diet (Gower et al. known predator of the species, the Arrow-headed Coralsnake 2004). Eleven species of coralsnakes have been reported to feed (Micrurus alleni). Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. on caecilians,Back Cover. Michaelincluding Kern two species of Oscaecilia (Roze 1996; 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. An Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia osae) from Sierpe, the northernmost locality known for the species. Photographs by Raby Nuñez Escalante. Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 491 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. NUÑEZ AND SANDI REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):491–493 • DEC 2020 Fig. 2. Map of Costa Rica showing the known localities for Osa Caecilians Fig. 3. An Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia osae) from Llano Bonito. At 500 m (Oscaecilia osae). Previously recorded localities are indicated by black dots, asl, this is the highest elevation recorded for the species. Photograph by the two new mainland records are marked by red dots. Henry Sandi Amador. Fig. 4. A Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) consuming an Osa Caecilian (Oscaecilia osae) near the beach in San Pedrillo, Corcovado National Park. Photographs by Raby Nuñez Escalante. Campbell and Lamar 2004; Huertas and Solórzano 2014). and Barrio-Amorós (2014) recorded predation by a White- Herein, I report a new locality for O. osae outside the Península nosed Coati (Nasua narica). de Osa and predation by a Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus Common Black Hawks are closely tied to bodies of water anthracinus). This is the first record of this predator on this spe- and their diet varies seasonally and throughout the species’ cies and of this prey in the hawk’s diet. range and generally reflects the availability of prey (Thiollay At 1145 h on 28 November 2017 near the beach in 1994). Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico, 86% of the diet San Pedrillo, Corcovado National Park, I photographed a is comprised of fish (Thiollay 1994), whereas in Costa Rica, Common Black-Hawk capturing an Osa Caecilian on the Common Black Hawks feed mainly on crabs (Stiles and ground, flying to a nearby tree, and consuming it (Fig. 4). Skutch 1989). That this opportunistic predator (e.g., Herrera This is the third known predator of O. osae. In addition to the and González 2017; Solórzano and Sasa 2017) would capture Arrow-headed Coralsnake (Huber 2010), Nuñez Escalante and consume a caecilian is not surprising. 492 NUÑEZ AND SANDI REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):491–493 • DEC 2020 Literature Cited de Osa of Costa Rica. Copeia 1992: 703–708. Bolaños, F., M. Wake, M. Wilkinson, and G. Chaves. 2008. Oscaecilia osae. The Leenders, T. 2016. Amphibians of Costa Rica: A Field Guide. Zona Tropical IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T59584A11954247. <https:// Publications, Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T59584A11954247.en>. Ithaca, New York, USA. doi:10.7591/j.ctvrf89s6. Campbell, J.A. and W.W. Lamar. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Nuñez Escalante, R. and C. Barrio-Amorós. 2014. Oscaecilia osae. Predation and Hemisphere. 2 Volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University habitat. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 283–284. Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. Roze, J.A. 1996. Coral Snakes of the Americas: Biology, Identification, and Venoms. Gower, D.J., J.B. Rasmussen, S.P. Loader, and M. Wilkinson. 2004. The caeci- Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida, USA. lian amphibian Scolecomorphus kirkii Boulenger as prey of the burrowing asp Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Atractaspis aterrima Günther: trophic relationships of fossorial vertebrates. African Journal of Ecology 42: 83–87. between Two Continents, between Two
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