SWCHR BULLETIN Volume 5, Issue 3 Fall 2015 ISSN 2330-6025 Conservation – Preservation – Education – Public Information Research – Field Studies – Captive Propagation The SWCHR BULLETIN is published quarterly by the SOUTHWESTERN CENTER FOR HERPETOLOGICAL RESEARCH PO Box 624, Seguin TX 78156 www.southwesternherp.com email: [email protected] ISSN 2330-6025 OFFICERS 2015-2016 COMMITTEE CHAIRS PRESIDENT AWARDS AND GRANTS COMMITTEE Tim Cole Gerald Keown VICE PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS COMMITEE Gerry Salmon Gerald Keown EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS COMMITTEE Gerald Keown [Vacant] BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE Toby Brock D. Craig McIntyre Gerald Keown Benjamin Stupavsky Robert Twombley Bill White MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE [Vacant] BULLETIN EDITOR Chris McMartin CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Robert Twombley ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ben Stupavsky ABOUT SWCHR Originally founded by Gerald Keown in 2007, SWCHR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit association, governed by a board of directors and dedicated to promoting education of the Association’s members and the general public relating to the natural history, biology, taxonomy, conservation and preservation needs, field studies, and captive propagation of the herpetofauna indigenous to the American Southwest. THE SWCHR LOGO JOINING SWCHR There are several versions of the SWCHR logo, all featuring the For information on becoming a member please visit the Gray-Banded Kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna), a widely-recognized membership page of the SWCHR web site at reptile native to the Trans-Pecos region of Texas as well as http://www.southwesternherp.com/join.html. adjacent Mexico and New Mexico. ON THE COVER: Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake, Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus, Yuma County, AZ (Bill White). With this photograph, Bill won the SWCHR 2014 ©2015 Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research. The SWCHR H. F. Koenig Award for Excellence in Herpetological Photography. Bulletin may not be reproduced in whole or in part on any web site or in any other publication without the prior explicit written consent of the Southwestern Center BACKGROUND IMAGE: Elephant Tusk, Big Bend NP, TX (Chris McMartin) for Herpetological Research and of the respective author(s) and photographer(s). SWCHR Bulletin 25 Fall 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS A Message from the President, Tim Cole 26 Thoughts on the Southern Rubber Boa, Charina bottae umbratica (Serpentes: Boidae), Richard F. Hoyer 27 Predation on a Pocket Mouse (Perognathus sp.) by a Big Bend Patch-nosed Snake, Salvadora hexalepis deserticola (Serpentes: Colubridae), Diego Ortiz 38 An Unconventional Path into the World of Venom Production, Rob Clark 41 Predation on a Bat by a Western Coachwhip, Coluber flagellum testaceus (Serpentes: Colubridae), Bill Love 44 A CALL FOR PAPERS Are you a field herpetologist or a herpetoculturist working with species native to the American Southwest? Do you have a paper or an article you have written for which you would like to find a permanent repository? Want to be assured you will always be able to share it with the world? Submit it to the SWCHR Bulletin for possible publication. Submitted manuscripts from SWCHR members, as well as non- members, will be considered. There are NO page charges to have your articles appear in the SWCHR Bulletin, as some other publications are now requiring. To be accepted for publication, submissions must deal with herpetological species native to the American Southwest. Such topics as field notes, county checklists, range extensions, taxonomy, reproduction and breeding, diseases, snake bite and venom research, captive breeding and maintenance, conservation issues, legal issues, etc. are all acceptable. For assistance with formatting manuscripts, search ‘scientific journal article format’ on the internet and tailor the resultant guidance to suit. Previously published articles or papers are acceptable, provided you still hold the copyright to the work and have the right to re-publish it. If we accept your paper or article for publication, you will still continue to be the copyright holder. If your submission has been previously published, please provide the name of the publication in which it appeared along with the date of publication. All submissions should be manually proofed in addition to being spell checked and should be submitted by email as either Microsoft Word or text documents. Send submissions to [email protected]. SWCHR Bulletin 26 Fall 2015 A Message from the President I am honored to finish the term of President with Toby Brock changing his involvement with us, but not leaving us. Toby made a difficult decision to step down as President in order to focus on his educational and career goals. We wish him well and look forward to his continued involvement in SWCHR as a Board Member. I am looking forward to this issue of the SWCHR Bulletin, since I know all but one of the authors--and his reputation precedes him. Exciting times are ahead for our organization! I am working on arranging a Spring field trip. If anyone has access to an area that is good for herping please share this information with me. I am especially interested if it’s in an area is lacking substantial data. One of the things we could offer property owners is setting up an iNaturalist project for their property if they are interested. I understand some folks do not want agencies to know what animals may be present on their property, so this may not be of interest to those landowners, but the opportunity should still be presented. In addition to assuming the duties of SWCHR President, I am also a director on the board of the “Rattlesnake Preservation Trust,” which is also a non-profit organization putting on the inaugural “Lone Star Rattlesnake Days” in Texas April 30 and May 1, 2016. The motto for the event is “Changing the Way People Think about Rattlesnakes.” This two-day educational wildlife festival will feature live animal displays, speakers, and educational activities for the entire family in a safe, environmentally-friendly atmosphere. The no-kill event celebrates the magnificence of rattlesnakes and provides a sustainable alternative to the declining practice of the traditional rattlesnake roundup. The event is hosted by Rattlesnake Preservation Trust, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to share factual information and scientific data about rattlesnakes in order to promote conservation and respect for wildlife. SWCHR will have a table at this event. For more information, visit http://lonestarrattlesnakedays.org/ and join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/835373809870201/. Next, we have “Snake Days” in Sanderson, Texas June 3-5, 2016, where SWCHR provides barbeque and drinks for attendees. Not only is this a great way to show support for this event (which will be in its 5th year!), SWCHR usually generates new members during the cookout. Both of these events carry the same message as ours, with conservation and herping being a common denominator. Working together in the herp community seems to be a challenge lately. Refreshingly, SWCHR has been steadily professional, without the drama I’ve seen on most Facebook groups. I encourage you to visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SWCHR, and join in the discussion forums at our own website at http://www.southwesternherp.com/ which has a wealth of useful information. I rarely text-message or private-message; the best way to contact me is by phone at (512) 83-SNAKE or [email protected]. I look forward to serving as your SWCHR President. Tim Cole SWCHR Bulletin 27 Fall 2015 Thoughts on the Southern Rubber Boa, belonged was not known. In 1973, Dr. Glenn Stewart found one live and one dead-on-road (DOR) boa on Mount Pinos, Charina bottae umbratica (Serpentes: Boidae) thus confirming the species’ occurrence there. That same year, Glenn confirmed the species occurred in the Tehachapi by Richard F. Hoyer Mountains. [email protected] This article is an overview of the history of the Rubber Boa in southern California, with my personal take on the status of the subspecies from what evidence has become available. It is an adapted compilation of a series of posts appearing Summer 2015 on Field Herp Forum (www.fieldherpforum.com). Even though a great deal of what I mention is of an anecdotal nature and thus not valid from a purely scientific perspective, it nevertheless can provide some measure of understanding and insight along with how I view/interpret the existing evidence. Much of what I relate here is from memory although I did look up some of the details. Despite there being many professional herpetologists in the greater metropolitan area of southern California, no one ever attempted to undertake a life history study of either the Rubber Boa in general or Southern Rubber Boa. Except for a number of published scientific notes or shorter communications that mentioned aspects of the species’ life history, almost all other published accounts addressing C. bottae pertained to taxonomy. I suspect the reason for the apparent lack of interest was due to the assumption the species was rare, and thus trying to acquire a A 35mm slide showing a Southern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae umbratica) found at a scout camp in the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, decent sample on which to base research was considered to be California, on August 28 1970. Photo submitted by the author. too difficult. In 1962 I had success in maintaining two boas and by 1965, the In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Glenn had some of his male had reached mature status and was noted courting the adult graduate students conduct surveys for the boa, mainly on Mount female. At that point I made the decision to pursue research on Pinos and the San Bernardino Mountains, but they also the species as a serious hobby. I went to the Oregon State performed some searches in the San Jacinto Mountains and a University library and found little had been published on the couple of other mountains near Mount Pinos.