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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL 15,& NAMPHIBIANSO 4 • DEC 2008 •189 26(3):241–242 • JAN 2020 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES First. Chasing BullsnakesRecord (Pituophis catenifer sayiof) in Wisconsin: Body-bending Behavior On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 from Asia. The Shared Historyin of Treeboasthe (Corallus Arrow-Headed grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: Trinket Snake, A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCHCoelognathus ARTICLES helena nigriangularis . 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 .............................................(Squamata:Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Colubridae) Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 CONSERVATION ALERTDinesh Khate1 and Rahul V. Deshmukh2 . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 1 . MoreWildLife Than Mammals Conservation ............................................................................................................................... Trust, Bhagyachakrya, Nagpur, Maharashtra-440025, India ([email protected])....................................... 223 2Teacher. The Colony,“Dow Jones Ghire Index” Lay-out, of Biodiversity Kalmeshwar-Brahmani, ............................................................................................................................... Nagpur, Maharashtra-441501, India ([email protected])............ 225 HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 nakes display aPROFILE wide variety of antipredator tactics that Arrow-Headed Trinket Snakes are known to occur Sinclude cryptic coloration,. Kraig Adler: A Lifetimeimmobility, Promoting Herpetologystruggling, ................................................................................................ cloa- in eastern Maharashtra, Michael eastern L. Treglia Madhya 234 Pradesh, Andhra cal discharge, sound production, S-coil posture, tail vibra- Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh, and COMMENTARY tions, actively breaking the tail, exuding blood from the West Bengal (Lampe 1902; Edake 2011; Srivastava et al. The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238 eyes, feigning death, biting, and spitting venom (e.g., Greene 2013; Kantimahanti et al. 2015; Mohapatra et al. 2016; 1997). Body-bendingBOOK behavior REVIEW was described as “a cryp- Chowdhury et al. 2018; Uetz et al. 2019). Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, tic defensive behavior inR. arborealBerridge, P. Ramani, snakes” and B.E. by Young Marques .............................................................................................................. et al. At 1024 h on 17 December Robert Powell 2017,243 the senior author (2006) and was described for the first time by Beebee (1946). encountered an adult Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake (Fig. 1A) Subsequently, this behaviorCONSERVATION has been RESEARCH recorded REPORTS: in various Summaries of Publishedalong Conservation a blacktop Research road Reports in ................................. the Melghat 245 Tiger Reserve near the NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 species from the Western NEWBRIEFS Hemisphere ............................................................................................................................... by Abuys (1986), Belkund Rest House,....................................................... Koha (21.333932 248 °N, -77.138479°E) Marques et al. (2006), EDITORIAL Doherty-Bone INFORMATION (2009), ............................................................................................................................... Maddock et at an elevation of 731 m. The...................... unsexed 251 snake (~1,400 mm al. (2011), Pinheiro FOCUSMiranda ON CONSERVATION et al. (2012),: RibeiroA Project You Duarte Can Support ...............................................................................................in total length) was basking. Upon 252 closer observation, we (2012), and Torres et al. (2015). Herein, we report the first noticed multiple, regular bends in its body, causing it to observed occurrence of this behavior in the Arrow-Headed resemble a piece of bamboo (Figs. 1B & 1C). We observed Trinket Snake (Coelognathus helena nigriangularis) from the the snake for 40 min, during which it exhibited body-bend- Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern Indian Subcontinent. Totat et velleseque audant mo ingTotat behavior et velleseque with audant its mo head slightly elevated for 15 min. 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. (A) An adult Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake (Coelognathus helena nigriangularis) observed near the Belkund Rest House in the Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India. (B & C) The snake exhibiting body-bending behavior with a slightly elevated head. Photographs by Dinesh Khate. Copyright © 2020. Dinesh Khate. All rights reserved. 241 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 KHATE AND DESHMUKH IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(3):241–242 • JAN 2020 Marques et al. (2006) suggested that body-bending behaviour. Herpetological Bulletin 109: 38–39. behavior served primarily as a cryptic function in arboreal Edake, S. 2011. Serpents of Bandhavgarh. Trustees of the Corbett Foundation Newsletter, October-December 2010 & January-March 2011: 1–8. snakes as the transition from a stretched position to a bent Greene, H.W. 1997. Snakes. The Evolution of Mystery in Nature. University of posture removed the visual cues (i.e., an elongate search California Press, Berkeley, California. image) perceived by a predator. Maddock et al. (2011) indi- Kantimahanti, M., K.D. Schulz, and V. Sharma. 2015. New locality record of cated that such behavior could be more widespread than pre- Coelognathus helena cf. monticollaris (Schulz, 1992) from Andhra Pradesh, India. Sauria 37(4): 71–74. viously thought and that the adaptive value of this behavior Lampe, E. (mit Bemerkungen von W.A. Lindholm). 1902. Katalog der could extend beyond an arboreal lifestyle. Ribeiro Duarte Reptilien- und Amphibien Sammling (Schlangen; Frosch-, Schwanz- und (2012) suggested that it might serve as a signal to a preda- Schleichenlurche) des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Wiesbaden. Jahrbücher tor that the latter had been detected and that the snake was des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde 55: 1–66. Maddock, S., B. Tolhurst, M. Brown, M. Peck, E. Villacis Pérez, and J. Noe prepared to flee or strike. Regardless of its primary purpose, Morales. 2011. Body bending behavior: more widespread than previ- body-bending appears to be an effective anti-predator behav- ously thought? New report from two snake species of northwest Ecuador. ior, and the diversity of species employing this strategy may Herpetology Notes 4: 79–81. Marques, O.A.V., M.G. Rodrigues, and I. Sazima. 2006. Body bending: a cryptic be regarded as an instance of behavioral convergence. behavior in arboreal snakes. Herpetological Bulletin 97: 2–4. Mohapatra, P.P., K.D. Schulz, N. Helfenberger, S. Hofmann, and S.K. Dutta. Acknowledgements 2016. A contribution to the Indian Trinket Snake, Coelognathus helena We are very grateful to Vishal Bansode, Ashish Choudhari (Daudin, 1803), with the description of a new subspecies. Russian Journal of Herpetology 23: 115–144. (Pilot), Munna Sheikh, Kiran Bawaskar, Sagar Deshmukh, Pinheiro Miranda, J., J.C. Lopes Costa, C.F.D. Rocha. 2012. Body-bending behav- Swapnil Badhekar, and Shubham Katgube for helping in vari- iour: a new instance in a terrestrial snake from Brazil. Herpetological Bulletin ous ways. 122: 35–37. Ribeiro Duarte, M. 2012. The intriguing “Liana-mimicry” or “Body-bending” behav- ior in snakes: cryptic or signaling behaviour? Herpetology Notes 5: 303–304. Literature Cited Srivastava, D.S., P.S. Easa, and J.B. Jauhar. 2013. Integrated Wildlife Management Abuys, A. 1986. The snakes of Surinam, part XIII: Subfamily Xenodontinae (genera Plan for Singhbhum, Jharkhand. Unpublished report submitted to the Pseudoeryx, Pseustes and Rhadinaea). Litteratura Serpentium 6: 19–30. Department of Forest and Environment, Government of Jharkhand, India. Beebee, W. 1946. Field notes on the snakes of Kartabo, British Guiana and Torres, J., O. Torres, R. Berazaín, and T.M. Rodríguez-Cabrera. 2015. Body- Caripito, Venezuela. Zoolologica 31: 11–52. bending behavior in the Cuban Racer, Cubophis cantherigerus (Squamata, Chowdhury, S., R. Sengupta, S. Mitra, and A. Chaudhuri. 2018. Extension of the Dipsadidae): Possible mimicry with the Monkey Ladder Vine, Bauhinia gla- known range of the Trinket Snake, Coelognathus helena nigriangularis (Reptilia: bra (Caesalpinaceae). Reptiles & Amphibians 22: 27–28. Squamata: Colubridae), in India. Reptiles & Amphibians 25: 129–131. Uetz, P., P. Freed, and J. Hošek (eds.). 2019. The Reptile Database. <http://www. Doherty-Bone, T.M. 2009. Elaphe obsoleta spilodes (Grey Rat Snake): body-bending reptile-database.org>. 242.