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2 ASIHA Herp Bulletin Issue 1 - September 2020 MEET THE TEAM African Snakebite Institute Herpetological Association Ashley Kemp Chairperson [email protected] Become a member! Send an email to [email protected] Johan Marais to join the ASIHA. Vice Chairperson This will give you access to the [email protected] ASIHA Herp Bulletin a month before its public release. We can also assist members with keeping permits of reptiles in South Africa. Bianca Theron Treasurer [email protected] ASIHA Herp Bulletin Luke Kemp Editor and Designer [email protected] Rob Deans Submissions Assistant Editor We welcome editorial and photographic submissions to the newletter. If you have any interesting articles about African reptiles or amphibians, please Courtney Hundermark send the article to Assistant Editor [email protected] Background - dorsal view of the Geometric Tortoise (Psammobates geometricus) Issue 1 - September 2020 ASIHA Herp Bulletin 3 WELCOME predation records that were posted on of the HAA, please consider joining the Facebook page Predation Records – immediately. It is inexpensive and in Reptiles and Frogs (Sub-Saharan Africa) addition to the publications, the HAA over a four-year period. I would hate to also hosts a herpetological conference try and look up 1,900 predation reports every second year. For details please in the published literature! A variety of email the secretary, Dr. Melissa Petford interesting reptile and frog observations at [email protected]. ver the past ten years we regularly appear on various Facebook The ASIHA Herp Bulletin will Ohave been doing a lot of pages, attract some comments but happily accept any interesting field education about snakes and are then easily lost. This was part of observations, interesting photographs, interacting with members of the the motivation to start the ASIHA field notes and interesting field trips, public, from school children to Herp Bulletin – a publication where breeding and behavioural records as farmers, lawyers, scientists, and such observations by herpetological well as details of snake bites. We also medical doctors. In addition to enthusiasts can be published and in a welcome contributions from reptile our public and corporate courses bulletin that will be easily accessible in keepers provided it is on African reptiles we have also grown our social future. and amphibians. media platforms and now have Historically, most worthwhile Membership of the African Snakebite close on 400,000 people on our herpetological observations are Institute Herpetological Association is various Facebook pages while the published either in scientific journals open to anyone and we will be hosting ever-popular app, ASI Snakes, has or in newsletters attached to such bimonthly meetings in Gauteng during had well over 100,000 downloads. journals. These publications are vital which an invited speaker will share some The monthly ASI newsletter goes as the articles are peer reviewed and wisdom. The Association will also assist out to more than 30,000 people. accredited and are a good outlet for keepers, who keep indigenous reptiles My first newsletter was putscientists to publish their research. and frogs, with permit applications together in the 1980s with help There are many worthwhileand the association is accredited with from my good friend Prof. Graham observations, especially by amateur GDARD to sign off permit applications. Alexander. We started a Natal herpetologists and naturalists, that Foreigners are also welcome to join branch of the Herpetological do not meet the criteria of scientific the organisation as corresponding Association of Africa and used a publications and worthwhile members and will receive our ASIHA Redstone computer with 64 kb information is easily lost. Historically Herp Bulletin at no charge. memory to create our newsletters some of these observations were All of our bulletins will be placed on and our little local association published in magazines like African the African Snakebite Institute website grew rapidly. Some of our meetings Wildlife. a month after publication and will were attended by more than 50 The idea behind the ASIHA Herp then be available to anyone to read or people and we had the likes of Bulletin is not to compete with formal download. Dr. John Poynton, Prof. Eddie van associations and their publications and We look forward to the growth of Dijk and a bunch of local reptile here I am specifically referring to the this publication and strengthening enthusiasts eagerly listening to Herpetological Association of Africa. the knowledge and interest in Africa’s speakers sharing their knowledge The HAA produces two scientific amazing reptile and amphibian and experiences. journals a year as well as two editions diversity. It is easy to underestimate the of their newsletter – the African Herp power of social media. In a recent News. Both are excellent publications scientific paper by Dr. Bryanand I have been a proud member of the Maritz and Dr. Robin Maritz, HAA for more than 40 years. If you are Johan Marais they report on over 1,900 reptile a reptile enthusiast and not a member [email protected] 4 ASIHA Herp Bulletin Issue 1 - September 2020 Venda Bound Images and text by Ruan Stander n the 12th of June 2020, Willem van der Merwe and I with minimum temperatures of around 8°C, while the Oleft a cold and windy Polokwane at around 11:00am; coldest day was 24°C and the warmest a lovely 27°C! Destination: Venda, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Reptiles were located by actively searching; this included walking and observing any basking or moving reptiles, As we snaked through the bends of Wyllie’s inspecting rock crevices, looking under rocks and Poort and descended the northern slopes of the logs and in tree hollows, and conducting night walks. Soutpansberg, our world changed. We were now We spent one of the days in the eastern Limpopo well north of the Tropic of Capricorn; the sun was valley, joined by friend, Rofiwa Maravha. shining, and it was already five degrees warmer. This area was vastly different and much warmer. The area is dominated by Mopane trees (Colophospermum We would spend the next five days and four nights mopane) growing in basaltic soil with scattered in the tropics chasing down reptiles while most of drainage lines and a very homogenous landscape. South Africa was in the icy grip of an expansive cold front. Up in Venda however, even the Clicking Stream A total of 25 reptile and three amphibian species Frogs (Strongylopus grayii) were out and mating! were recorded between the two locations. Highlights Our base for the trip was on the sandstone ridges at the included Tiger Gecko (Pachydactylus tigrinus), Richard’s northeastern foothills of the Soutpansberg. The area is Legless Skink (Acontias richardi) and Slender Worm characterised by deep aeolian and Kalahari sands and Lizard (Monopeltis sphenorhynchus). The Acontias extensive sandstone outcrops in mixed dry bushveld, records were particularly exciting since only about as well as riparian vegetation along streams and rivers. 16 have ever been formally documented, including the three found on this trip. Other endemic, localised Generally, winter and reptiles are not closely associated, or notable species that were a pleasure to see were however this part of the country experiences more Pienaar’s Flat Gecko (Afroedura pienaari), Stevenson’s of a wet season and a dry season as opposed to Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus stevensoni), Limpopo a true summer and winter. Here winters, though Dwarf Burrowing Skink (Scelotes l. limpopoensis) and significantly cooler, are still warm enough for reptiles Dwarf Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus mababiensis). to go about life as normal. The first evening was cold Issue 1 - September 2020 ASIHA Herp Bulletin 5 Top left - Richard’s Legless Skink (Acontias richardii), top right - Tiger Gecko (Pachydactylus tigrinus). Bottom left - Campsite in sandstone ridges at the northeastern foothills of the Soutpansberg. Bottom right - Slender Worm Lizard (Monopeltis sphenorhynchus). Species Lists Reptiles 24. Peters’ Ground Agama (Agama armata) 1. Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis subtaeniatus) 25. Water Monitor (Varanus niloticus) 2. Black-headed Centipede-eater (Aparallactus capensis) 3. Speckled Gecko (Pachydactylus punctatus) Amphibians 4. Tiger Gecko (Pachydactylus tigrinus) 5. Turner’s Gecko (Chondrodactylus turneri) 1. Clicking Stream Frog (Strongylopus grayii) 6. Wahlberg’s Velvet Gecko (Homopholis wahlbergii) 2. Dwarf Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus mababiensis) 7. Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) 3. Müller’s Platanna (Xenopus muelleri) 8. Pienaar’s Flat Gecko (Afroedura pienaari) 9. Bradfield’s Dwarf Gecko Lygodactylus( bradfieldi) 10. Common Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus capensis) About the Author 11. Stevenson’s Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus stevensoni) 12. Zimbabwe Flat Lizard (Platysaurus intermedius rhodesianus) Ruan has had a keen interest in the 13. Bushveld Lizard (Heliobolus lugubris) natural world since childhood. He has 14. Common Rough-scaled Lizard (Meroles squamulosus) conducted herpetological surveys in 15. Holub’s Sandveld Lizard (Nucras holubi) Limpopo since 2015 and began working 16. Rainbow Skink (Trachylepis margaritifera) as a field guide in 2016. He has been a 17. Striped Skink (Trachylepis striata) member of the ADU Virtual Museum 18. Damara Variable Skink (Trachylepis damarana) ReptileMAP expert panel since 2016. 19. Richard’s Legless Skink (Acontias richardi) Ruan’s primary interests include 20. Sundevall’s