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Chironius Fuscus WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES &IRCF AMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 189 26(2):111–112 • AUG 2019 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES A Failed. Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis Predation catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: Attempt on a Rusty On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Treefrog,. The Shared History Hypsiboas of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humansboans on Grenada: (Anura: Hylidae), A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198 byRESEARCH an Olive ARTICLES Whipsnake, Chironius fuscus . 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: ............................................. Colubridae),Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin in M. Enge, Southeastern Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Peru CONSERVATION ALERT Cristina Arrivillaga and Anik Levac . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . MoreCrees Than Foundation, Mammals ............................................................................................................................... Urbanización Mariscal Gamarra B-5, Zona 1, Cusco, Perú ([email protected])....................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 he Olive Whipsnake, Chironius fuscus (Linnaeus 1578), is widely distributed throughout South America (La Marca is a diurnally active,PROFILE semi-arboreal colubrid with a broad et al. 2010). Previous reports have documented anti-preda- T . Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234 distribution in primary and secondary forests throughout tory behaviors in this genus that include distress calls (Bogert most of the AmazonCOMMENTARY Basin and the northern half of South 1960, 2014; Hödl and Gollmann 1986; Lima 2005; Rocha America (Barlett and. BarlettThe Turtles 2003).Have Been WatchingThe diet Me ........................................................................................................................ of this species and Lopez-Baucells 2014), Eric lung Gangloff inflation 238 (Azevedo-Ramos consists of a wide varietyBOOK of REVIEW vertebrate prey, a large proportion 1995), thanatosis or death feigning, odor production, and of which are terrestrial. Threatenedanurans Amphibians in the familyof the World Leptodactylidae edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann,open-arm J.S. Chanson, displays N.A. (Angulo Cox, et al. 2007). Herein we report a with only a few reports R.of Berridge, it predating P. Ramani, and arboreal B.E. Young treefrogs.............................................................................................................. in predation attempt on H. boans Robert Powell by C.243 fuscus, with additional the family Hylidae (PastanaCONSERVATION et al. 2013). RESEARCH The REPORTS: Rusty Treefrog, Summaries of Publishedinformation Conservation Researchon defensive Reports ................................. behavior of 245 H. boans. Hypsiboas boans (Linnaeus NATURAL 1758), HISTORY is a RESEARCHvery large REPORTS (SVL to: 12.5Summaries of Published At Reports 1100 on Naturalh on History 5 April ................................. 2019, we 247 encountered an adult NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 cm; Barlett and Barlett, EDITORIAL 2003) INFORMATION nocturnally ............................................................................................................................... active frog that Chironius fuscus attempting...................... to consume 251 an adult Hypsiboas FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern 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 Olive Whipsnake (Chironius fuscus) attempting to consume an adult Rusty Treefrog (Hypsiboas boans). Note that the size of the frog is larger than normal due to inflating its lungs in an effort to avoid predation. Photograph by Anik Levac. Copyright © 2019. Cristina Arrivillaga. All rights reserved. 111 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 ARRIVILLAGA IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(2):111–112 • AUG 2019 boans (estimated SVL = 110 mm) (Fig. 1). A distress call louder the call. Although vocalization likely is useful against emitted by the frog enabled us to locate the event. The snake predators with developed hearing, snakes are unlikely to be had the anterior half of the frog in its mouth, with the lat- affected as they are believed to be unable to hear a distress ter appearing to inflate its body. This behavior has been call (Toledo and Haddad 2009). However, distress calls are reported in several anurans, including one species in the genus known to attract mammalian and avian predators (Högstedt Hypsiboas (Azevedo-Ramos 1995) but had not been reported 1983), which might attempt predation on either the scream- previously for this species (Toledo et al. 2011). When ing victim, the initial predator, or both, thereby interrupting encountered, the frog was jumping while emitting the distress the predation attempt and providing an opportunity for the call and inflating its body. After 1 min 40 sec of observation, prey to flee (Höld and Gollmann 1986). The simultaneous the frog managed to escape. The snake immediately fled into use of several defensive strategies appears to increase the likeli- surrounding vegetation while the frog jumped 3 m away into hood of a frog escaping from a predator (Toledo et al. 2011). a ditch. Further inspection revealed that the frog had severe This was evident in both this instance and in the observation lacerations on its anterior ventral region and torn skin on its reported by Azevedo-Ramos (1995). left forearm (Fig. 2). This observation suggests that the wide array of defen- Acknowledgements sive strategies of H. boans can be effective against predators. We thank Juvenal Huari Castilla, the Manu Learning Center Rocha and López-Baucells (2014) reported a Rusty Treefrog lodge manager, who first found the individuals and brought escaping a predation attempt by a Brown-banded Watersnake this predation attempt to our attention, and The Crees (Helicops angulatus), during which the frog also employed sev- Foundation for providing the opportunity to conduct herpe- eral antipredatory behaviors that included distress calls and tological surveys at the Manu Learning Centre. leaping. Inflation might be particularly effective in this spe- cies due to its already large size, rendering it much more dif- Literature Cited ficult for many predators to subdue it. Large size also appears Angulo, A., A.R. Acosta, and J.V. Rueda-Almonacid. 2007. Diversity and frequency to be related to its ability to emit distress calls. Toledo and of visual defensive behaviours in a population of Hypsiboas geographicus. Herpetological Journal 17: 138–140. Hadded (2009) noted that defensive calls are usually emitted Azevedo-Ramos, C. 1995. Defense behaviors of the Neotropical treefrog Hyla geo- only by larger frogs and that the larger the individual, the graphica (Anura, Hylidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia 55: 45–47. Barlett, R.D. and P. Barlett. 2003. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon: An Ecotourist’s Guide. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Bogert, C.M. 1960. The influence of sound on the behavior of amphibians and rep- tiles, pp. 137–320. In: W.E. Lanyon and J.W. Tavolga (eds.), Animal Sounds and Communication. American Institute of Biological Sciences Publication No. 7. Intelligencer Printing Company, Washington, D.C. Hödl, W. and G. Gollmann. 1986. Distress calls in Neotropical frogs. Amphibia- Reptilia 7: 11–21. Hogstedt, G. 1983. Adaptation unto death: Function of fear screams. The American Naturalist 121: 562–570. La Marca, E., C. Azevedo-Ramos, L.A. Coloma, F. Solís, R. Ibáñez, C. Jaramillo, Q. Fuenmayor, S. Ron, and J. Hardy. 2010. Hypsiboas boans. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T55415A11304871. <http://dx.doi. org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-2.RLTS.T55415A11304871.en>.
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