Oxybelis Aeneus

WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & IRCFAMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL 15,& NAMPHIBIANSO 4 • DEC 2008 •189 27(1):101–102 • APR 2020

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES Predation. Chasing Bullsnakes ( Pituophisby catenifer a sayi Brown) in Wisconsin: Vinesnake, Oxybelis On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 aeneus. The Shared History (Colubridae), of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada:on a Black-bellied A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 Racerunner,RESEARCH ARTICLES Aspidoscelis deppii (Teiidae) . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The KnightVictor Anole A. (AnolisRamirez-Ramirez, equestris) in Florida Matias Martinez-Coronel, and Jorge Ramirez-Ramirez ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, México ([email protected]) CONSERVATION ALERT . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225 he Brown Vinesnake (Oxybelis aeneus) ranges from south- prey based on movement (Henderson and Nickerson 1976; ern Arizona southHUSBANDRY into Brazil (Keiser 1982; Köhler 2008; Franzini et al. 2018) and, in the case of terrestrial prey, it will T . Grant and Lewis 2010).Captive This Care snake of the Central is both Netted diurnal Dragon ...... and arbo- search and strike from arboreal Shannon Plummer perches 226 (Mesquita et al. 2012). real (Franzen 1996;PROFILE Mesquita et al. 2012) and is a common The Black-bellied Racerunner (Aspidoscelis deppii) is an inhabitant of humid. andKraig Adler: dry A tropicalLifetime Promoting forests, Herpetology tropical ...... arid actively foraging terrestrial Michael lizard L. Treglia that 234 ranges from much of environments, andCOMMENTARY modified ecosystems derived from those Mexico through most of Central America (Köhler 2008). It environments (Henderson. The Turtles 1974; Have FranzenBeen Watching 1996; Me ...... Keiser 1982; is most active from morning Eric into Gangloff the 238 early afternoon (Köhler

Köhler 2008). Its elevationalBOOK REVIEW range extends from sea level to 2008; Vitt et al. 1993), which corresponds to the activity pat- ~2,500 m (Keiser 1982;. Threatened Quintero-Díaz Amphibians ofand the World Carbajal-Márquez edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann,tern of J.S.O. Chanson, aeneus N.A. (Mesquita Cox, et al. 2012), suggesting that the 2017). Its diet is based mainlyR. Berridge, P.on Ramani, small and vertebrates,B.E. Young ...... such as activity of a predator is largely Robert determined Powell 243 by that of its prey. rodents, amphibians, birds, fishes (Hetherington 2006), and At 1330 h on 10 January 2019 (temperature 35 °C, rela-  CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245 especially lizards (Campbell NATURAL 1998; HISTORY Köhler RESEARCH 2008; REPORTS Mesquita: Summaries et of Publishedtive humidity Reports on Natural 41%), History during ...... a survey 247 for reptiles on “Cerro al. 2012; Da Silva etNEWBRIEFS al. 2015; López-de...... la Cruz et al. 2016; Amasquitillo” ...... in Jiménez, Municipality 248 of San Marcos,  EDITORIAL INFORMATION ...... 251 Sosa-Bartuano and DiFOCUS Trani ON CONSERVATION 2016; Franzini: A Projectet al. You 2018). Can Support ...... Guerrero, Mexico (16.8390°N, -99.4366°E; 252 WSG 84; elev. Oxybelis aeneus is a “sit and wait” predator that detects its 165 m asl), we observed an adult O. aeneus (SVL = 120 mm)

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. A Brown Vinesnake (Oxybelis aeneus) holding a juvenile Black-bellied Racerunner (Aspidoscelis deppii) by the head. Photograph by Jorge Ramirez-Ramirez.

is known to descend to the ground to capture terrestrial Rainbow Ameivas (Holcosus undulatus; Smith et al. 2018).

Acknowledgements We thank SEMARNAT for granting the collection per- mit SGPA/DGVS/011185/18 with which the San Marcos Herpetofauna Project is implemented.

Literature Cited Campbell, J.A. 1998. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Northern Guatemala, the Yucatan, and Belize. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. Da Silva, F.C., E.P. De Alcantara, O. Herivelto, A.M. Soares de Oliveira, and Á. Robson. 2015. Oxybelis aeneus (Brown Vinesnake). Diet. Herpetological Review 46: 648. Franzen, M. 1996. Ökologische und morphologische Aspekte einer costaricanischen Population von Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler, 1824) (Serpentes: Colubridae). Notes on ecological and morphological features of a Costa Rican population of Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler, 1824) (Serpentes: Colubridae). Herpetozoa 9: 121–131. Franzini, L.D., C.K. Pedro, L.B.Q. Cavalcanti, and D.O. Mesquita. 2018. Predation of Hemidactylus mabouia (Sauria: Gekkonidae) by a vine snake Oxybelis aeneus (Serpentes: Colubridae) in an Atlantic Forest fragment, north- eastern Brazil. Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza 2: 67–70. Grant, P.B.C. and T.R. Lewis. 2010. Predation attempt by Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler) (Mexican Vinesnake) on Basiliscus plumifrons (Cope). Acta Herpetologica 5: 19–22. Fig. 2. A Brown Vinesnake (Oxybelis aeneus) ingesting a juvenile Black- Henderson, R.W. 1974. Aspects of the ecology of the Neotropical vine snake, bellied Racerunner (Aspidoscelis deppii) while on the ground and being held Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler). Herpetologica 30: 19–24. by its tail. Photograph by Jorge Ramirez-Ramirez. Henderson R.W. and M.A. Nickerson 1976. Observations on the behavioral ecology of three species of Imantodes (Serpentes: Colubridae). Journal of Herpetology 10: 205–210. Hetherington, T.E. 2006. Oxybelis aeneus (Brown Vinesnake). Diet. Herpetological moving on the ground in a pasture. In response to our pres- Review 37: 94–95. Keiser, E.D., Jr. 1982. Oxybelis aeneus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and ence, the snake moved quickly into adjacent deciduous low Reptiles 305: 1–4. forest, where it climbed about 1.5 m above the ground in Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd ed. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, an Acacia. When we subsequently grabbed it by the tail, Germany. we noticed that it was holding a juvenile Black-bellied López-de la Cruz, J.J., C.S. Burnett-Pérez, and A.H. Escobedo-Galván. 2016. Oxybelis aeneus (Brown Vinesnake). Diet. Herpetological Review 47: 314. Racerunner (estimated SVL = 20 mm) by its head (Fig. 1). Mesquita, P.C.M.D., D.M. Borjes-Nojosa, D.C. Passos, and C.H. Bezerra. 2012. When we placed the snake on the ground, it took 4 min to Activity patterns of the Brown Vine snake Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler, 1824) ingest the lizard to the base of the tail (Fig. 2) and three more (Serpentes, Colubridae) in the Brazilian semiarid. Animal Biology 62: 286–299. minutes to complete ingestion. We released the snake into the Quintero-Díaz, G.E. and R.A. Carbajal-Márquez. 2017. Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler, 1824). Maximum elevation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 181–182. tree where it was captured. Smith, R.H., C. Lopez, and J.A.L. Barão-Nóbrega. 2018. Oxybelis fulgidus (Green Our observation coincide with those of Mesquita et al. Vinesnake). Diet. Herpetological Review 49: 759–760. (2012), who noted that these snakes use thorny trees for pro- Sosa-Bartuano, A. and J. Di Trani. 2016. Gonatodes albogularis. Predation by a tection. Also, the likelihood that this snake descended to the Brown Vinesnake (Oxybelis aeneus). Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 721–723. Vitt, L.J., P. Zani, P.J. Caldwell, and R.D. Durtsche. 1993. Ecology of the whiptail ground to capture a terrestrial lizard is similar to the hunt- lizard Cnemidophorus deppii on a tropical beach. Canadian Journal of Zoology ing behavior of the Green Vinesnake (O. fulgidus), which 71: 2391–2400.

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