NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 AHN

AFRICAN HERP NEWS

NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 1 Herpetological HAA Association of www.africanherpetology.org

FOUNDED 1965 The HAA is dedicated to the study and con- COMMITTEE OF THE HAA servation of African and amphib- CHAIRPERSON ians. Membership is open to anyone with Krystal Tolley, South African National Biodi- an interest in the African herpetofauna. versity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Members receive the Association’s journal, Cape Town, . Email: [email protected] African Journal of Herpetology (which publishes review papers, research articles, SECRETARY and short communications – subject to Buyi Makhubo, Department of Herpetology, peer review) and African Herp News, the National Museum, P. O. Box 266, Bloemfontein Newsletter (which includes short com- 9300, South Africa. munications, natural history notes, book E-mail: [email protected] reviews, bibliographies, husbandry hints, TREASURER announcements and news items). Jens Reissig, P.O.Box 62, Kelvin, Sandton 2054, South Africa NEWSLETTER EDITOR’S NOTE Email: [email protected] Articles shall be considered for publication provided that they are original and have JOURNAL EDITOR not been published elsewhere. Articles will Ché Weldon, Unit for Environmental Sciences and be submitted for peer review at the Edi- Management, North-West University, Potchefst- room 2522, South Africa. tor’s discretion. Authors are requested to Email: [email protected] submit manuscripts by e-mail in MS Word ‘.doc’ or ‘.docx’ format. NEWSLETTER EDITOR Jessica da Silva, South African National Biodi- COPYRIGHT: Articles published in versity Institute. Kirstenbosch Research Centre, the Newsletter are copyright of the Herpe- Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected] tological Association of Africa and may not be reproduced without permission of the WEBPAGE/SOCIAL MEDIA Editor. The views and opinions expressed Bryan Maritz, Department of Biodiversity and in articles are not necessarily those of the Conservation at the University of the Western Cape. Editor. E-mail: [email protected]

Committee of the haa STUDENT SUPPORT COVER PHOTOGRAPH Hanlie Engelbrecht, School of , Plant : and Environmental Sciences, University of the Hyperolius pickersgilli Witwatersrand, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected] Photograph by: Nick Evans

2 NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 5 EDITORIAL 7 CHAIRPERSON’S ADDRESS 9 OBITUARY FOR WILLIAM R. BRANCH

ANNOUCEMENTS 9 STUDENT AWARDS 11 STUDENT AND EARLY-CAREER RESEARCHER DEVELOPMENT

CORRECTIONS 13 CORRECTION TO ISSUE 67, PAGE 12

HERPS MAKING HEADLINES 14 J. TARRANT. A frog first: The reintroduction of the endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog, Hyperolius pickersgilli, back into the wild

TOMORROW’S HERPETOLOGISTS TODAY 18 A. EVANS. Habitat selection of Madagascar’s Dry Forest

ARTICLES 20 L. VERBURGT, G. K. NICOLAU & M. VILJOEN. The Kalahari Purple-glossed (Ambylodipsas ventrimaculata; Roux, 1907). A poorly known and overlooked species in South Africa. 26 L. VERBURGT, T. BODBIJL & J. MARAIS. Elapsoidea sundevalli longicauda (Smith, 1848). Long-tailed Garter Snake 31 R. C. BOYCOTT. Further observations on the Natal Purple-glossed Snake Ambylodipsas concolor (Serpentes: ) in with an assessment of its regional status

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 37 V. T. LOEHR. Chersobius boulengeri (Duerden, 1906). REPRODUCTION NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 3 39 P. R. JORDAAN, P. U. ELS & A. B. WOOLCOCK. Chameleo dilepis (Leach, 1819). TOPOR REFUGIA 41 M. PETFORD, R. VAN HUYSSTEEN & G. K. NICOLAU. Bitis arietans arietans (Merrem, FORAGING1820). STRATEGY 44 R. C. BOYCOTT. brevirostris (Peters, 1881). DIET 47 N. EVANS. Naja mossambica (Peters, 1854). MAXIMUM SIZE 48 B. MARITZ. Philothamnus (A. Smith, 1847). PREDATION

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTIONS 50 A .D. REBELO, P. R. JORDAAN & W. CONRADIE. Ptenopus garrulus maculatus (Gray, 1866) 52 M. F. BATES. Trachylepis homalocephala (Wiegmann, 1828) 53 A .D. REBELO, Z. ZHAO, A. JORDAAN, P. R. JORDAAN & W. CONRADIE. Scelotes caffer. Peters, 1961 56 D. J. OOSTHUIZEN Bitis arietans arietans (Merrem, 1820) 59 P. S. RABIEGA. Lycodonomorphus laevissimus (Günther, 1862).

62 INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS

65 HAA MEMBERSHIP FEES

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THE KALAHARI It is essential to document the PURPLE-GLOSSED presence of all known species in a country SNAKE (AMBLYODIPSAS when compiling a national atlas as any VENTRIMACULATA; ROUX, omission has potential implications such as exclusion from national conservation 1907), A POORLY KNOWN assessments (e.g. IUCN) and/or national AND OVERLOOKED SPECIES biodiversity conservation plans. This note IN SOUTH AFRICA therefore collates all known observations of this species in South Africa for future L. VERBURGT, G. K. NICOLAU inclusion in a national reptile atlas update, & M. VILJOEN and more immediate evaluation of its local conservation status following the The Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake International Union for the Conservation (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata) is a fossorial of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and species that was thought to favour loose soil Criteria V3.1 (IUCN 2012). in the moist regions of the Kalahari outside of Details of all seven known observations South African borders. Observation records of A. ventrimaculata in South Africa are of this species exist from , , provided in Table 1. Photographs of all , and (Branch individuals (except that of Egan, 2006) are 1998; Broadley & Blaylock 2013; Conradie provided in Fig. 1. The extent of occurrence et al. 2017; Uetz et al. 2018). However, it (EOO) in South Africa, as calculated from has also been observed in South Africa the minimum convex hull of all know near Vaalwater, Limpopo Province by Egan observation locations (IUCN 2012), is 840 (2006). This record was overlooked during km2 (Fig. 2). The geographic distribution of the compilation of the South African Reptile a fossorial species is likely to be strongly Atlas (Bates et al. 2014) and the species was influenced by the geographic distribution therefore inadvertently excluded from this and connectivity of suitable soil types, publication. Since Egan’s (2006) report, an and therefore all observation locations additional five observations of this species of A. ventrimaculata in South Africa were have been made in South Africa. In addition, mapped (Fig. 2) in relation to dominant the original observation by Egan (2006) soil types (Dijkshoorn et al. 2008). Habitat actually involved two individuals, although photographs of two localities are provided only one was collected and reported on in Fig. 3. Five of the seven observations (Egan, pers. comm.), resulting in a total of occurred on arenosols (sandy soils featuring seven known observations for South Africa. very weak or no soil development; FAO 20 NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 ARTICLES>>>>>>>>

Figure 1. Kalahari Purple-glossed (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata) observed in South Africa, with Virtual Museum (VM) record numbers. The venter of specimen VM 161824 is also shown.

2009) and two observations were made on observed (Fig. 3). lixisols (soils with subsurface accumulation It is clear from Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 that of low activity clays and high base saturation; A. ventrimaculata favours loose sandy FAO 2009). The low resolution soil map used soils (as predicted for a fossorial species) and the definition of lixisols (FAO 2009) and it is almost certainly the intrusion of does not adequately describe the nature of these soils into the Waterberg range near the extensive patches of loose, sandy red Vaalwater that allows this species to occur soils that exist in the vicinity of the locality in this area that is otherwise surrounded at which VM 160171 and VM 162581 were by unsuitable rocky habitat. The four

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observations near Vaalwater were made these soils may be too hard and compacted in the Central Sandy Bushveld vegetation due to the high clay content to provide type (SVcb12), while the three observations suitable habitat (L. Verburgt pers. obs). near Lephalale were made in the Limpopo Consequently, the predicted geographic Sweet Bushveld vegetation type (SVcb19; distribution for this species in South Mucina & Rutherford 2006). It remains to Africa consists of the main arenosol body be determined whether this species occurs extending from Vaalwater westwards, further north of Lephalale near Groblersbrug and includes the Lephalale lixisol body, and north of Swartwater where other representing a total area of 6,4612 km suitable arenosols occur within the Central (Fig. 2), approximately 0.75 % of its global Sandy Bushveld vegetation type. Similarly, distribution of 858,772 km2 (Broadley & Egan it is unknown whether the lixisols north 2010). The predicted geographic distribution of Thabazimbi provide suitable habitat for intersects with Marakele National Park (109 A. ventrimaculata, but it is suggested that km2), Mokolo Nature Reserve (a provincial

Figure 2. Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata) observation locations (white dots) in South Africa within the context of major soil types and landscape elevation. The virtual museum (VM) record numbers and/or museum accession numbers (PEM) are provided for each observation location where possible. Inset map shows the major towns (black triangles) of the mapped area (red highlight) in the national context.

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Figure 3. Habitat photographs taken for two of the Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata) localities. The relevant Virtual Museum (VM) record numbers are provided for each photograph.

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Table 1. Details for all known observations of the Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata) in South Africa.

Specimen or Virtual Collector/ Date Locus Museum* Observer Latitude Longitude Observation notes (VM) number 2004/11/24 V. T. Egan 2428AA -24.106111° 28.000833° PEM R17142 Crossing road at night 2004/11/24 V. T. Egan 2428AA -24.140700° 28.044900° - Crossing road at night 2014/11/14 G. K. Nicolau 2428AA -24.117480° 28.013935° VM 156324 Crossing road at night 2015/01/21 G. K. Nicolau 2427BB -24.059520° 27.985471° VM 156495 Crossing road at night Observed inside house 2015/02/06 M. Viljoen 2327DA -23.628932° 27.748948° VM 162581 during the day Observed on garden 2016/11/22 M. Viljoen 2327DA -23.628932° 27.748948° VM 160171 lawn at night, after rains Trapped in pitfall buck- et, during EIA study (15 MSR, 183 Ventrals, 28 2017/04/22 L. Verburgt 2327CB -23.571379° 27.432470° VM 161824 subcaudals [excluding terminal spine], 7 subcaudals single, 21 subcaudals paired)

* Animal Demography Unit (ADU) Virtual Museum (VM) (http://vmus.adu.org.za) reserve; 3 km2) and 21 other private nature herpetofauna observations have recently reserves (532 km2), suggesting a relatively been made, including observations of good level of protection in South Africa Gerrhosaurus auritus (Bates et al. 2014; (~10 %), albeit largely through informally Verburgt et al. 2015), Pyxicephalus proclaimed protected areas. Tissue of VM adspersus (Yetman et al. 2015) and Xenopus 156497 was compared with other samples muelleri (Verburgt & Coetzer 2015). of this species from Angola and showed no distinct clustering (F. Portillo, unpub. data). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Uncorrected p-distance between the two samples of A. ventrimaculata was low in the Vincent Egan is thanked for helpful mitochondrial gene 16S (0.3%) (F. Portillo, discussions on his observations of this unpub. data) and therefore it is considered species; Frank Portillo kindly provided unlikely that the South African specimens preliminary results of the genetic analysis represent a distinct lineage. of this species; Werner Conradie provided helpful comments on an early draft of the The most recent observation of A. manuscript. We thank Tyrone James Ping, ventrimaculata further highlights the lack Aloise van der Merwe and Delport Botma of sampling in the Lephalale region of South for permission to use their photographs of Africa, from which several noteworthy 24 NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 ARTICLES>>>>>>>> specimens VM 156324, VM 162581 and VM FAO Food( and Agriculture Organization 156495 respectively. of United Nations). 2009.Harmonized Wor- ld Soil Database. http://www.fao.org/geo- network/srv/en/metadata.show?id=37140 REFERENCES (accessed 12 Aug 2013). Bates, M.F., Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M., IUCN International ( Union for the Con- Burger, M., Marais, J., Alexander, G.J. & servation of Nature). 2012.IUCN Red List De Villiers, M.S. (eds). 2014. Atlas and Red Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. Second List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho edition. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African Na- UK. tional Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Mucina, L. & Rutherford, M.C. (Eds.) 2006. Branch, W.R. 1998. Field Guide to the The vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern. Africa Swaziland. Strelizia 19. South African Natio- Struik, Cape Town. nal Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Broadley, D.G. & Blaylock, R. 2013. The Uetz, P., Freed, P. & Hošek, J. 2018. The Rep- Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Edition tile Database, http://reptile-database.rep- Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main. tarium.cz/species?=Amblyodipsas&- Broadley, D.G. & Egan, V.T. 2010.Amblyodip - species=ventrimaculata, accessed [16 June sas ventrimaculata.The IUCN Red List of Thre - 2018] atened Species 2010: e.T176274A7208481. Verburgt, L. & Coetzer, A. 2015. Geo- http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4. graphic Distribution. Xenopus muelleri Pe- RLTS.T176274A7208481.en. Downloaded on ters, 1844, Tropical platanna. African Herp 19 December 2017. News 63: 21-23. Conradie WC, Bills R, Baptista N, Ver - Verburgt, L., Verburgt, U.K. & Bates, M.F. burgt L, Harvey, J & Branch WR. 2017. Oral 2015. Geographic Distribution. Gerrhosau- presentation (abstract). Across river basins: rus auritus Boettger, 1887, Kalahari Plated Exploring the unknown southeastern Ango - Lizard. African Herp News 62: 48-49. la. African Herp News 66: 14-15. Yetman, C.A., Verburgt, L. & Laurence, S.D. Dijkshoorn, J.A., van Engelen, V.W.P. & Hu - 2015. Geographic Distribution.Pyxicephalus ting, J.R.M. 2008. Soil and landform proper- adspersus Tschudi, 1838, Giant Bullfrog. Af- ties for LADA partner countries (Argentina, China, Cuba, and , South rican Herp News 62: 50-53. Africa and Tunisia). ISRIC report 2008/06 SUBMITTED BY: and GLADA report 2008/03, ISRIC – World Soil Information and FAO, Wageningen. LUKE VERBURGT, Enviro-Insight CC, Preto- ria, South Africa. Egan, V.T. 2006. Geographical Distribution.E-mail: [email protected] Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata Roux, 1907, Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake. African Herp GARY KYLE NICOLAU, African Herpetolog- News 41: 26. ical and Biodiversity Institute. NUMBER 68 | OCTOBER 2018 25