Kansas Herpetology
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ISSN 1540-773X JOURNAL OF KANSAS HERPETOLOGY NUMBER 38 JULY 2011 Published by the Kansas Herpetological Society http://www.cnah.org/khs EDItoRIAL BOARD KHS OFFICERS (2011) Associate Editors President – DEREK A. SCHMIDT JOSEPH T. COLLINS 7741 SE 101st Street Kansas Biological Survey Overbrook, Kansas 66524 785.224.7549 TRAVIS W. TAGGART [email protected] Sternberg Museum of Natural History President-Elect – TRAVIS W. TAGGART Copy Editor Sternberg Museum of Natural History DANIEL G. MURROW 3000 Sternberg Drive Hutchinson, Kansas Hays, Kansas 67601-2006 Article Editors 785.650.2445 EVA HORNE [email protected] Kansas State University Past-President – KathY ELLIS GEORGE R. PISANI 10025 SW Jordan Road Kansas Biological Survey Wakarusa, Kansas 66546 LYNNEttE SIEVERT 785.383.2788 Emporia State University [email protected] WILLIAM StaRK Fort Hays State University Treasurer – DAVID OLDHAM JAMES TRIPLEtt 716 Michigan Street Pittsburg State University Oswego, Kansas 316.795.2293 [email protected] LIAISON REPRESEntatIVES Secretary – EVA A. HORNE Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Division of Biology KEN BRUNSON Kansas State University 620.672-5911 Manhattan, Kansas 66506 785.532.5929 Kansas Nongame Wildlife Advisory Council [email protected] TRAVIS W. TAGGART 785.650.2445 Historian – SUZANNE L. COLLINS The Center for North American Herpetology Kansas Chapter – Wildlife Society 1502 Medinah Circle CURTIS J. SCHMIDT Lawrence, Kansas 66047 785.650.2447 785.393.2392 [email protected] DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS Editor – CURTIS J. SCHMIDT ROBERT F. CLARKE Sternberg Museum of Natural History Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas 3000 Sternberg Drive (1919–2008) Hays, Kansas 67601-2006 785.650.2447 JOSEPH T. COLLINS [email protected] Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas HENRY S. FITCH StandING COMMIttEE CHAIRPERSONS The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas (1909–2009) Field Trips - DANIEL G. MURROW 8129 Perry #37 EUGENE D. FLEHARTY Overland Park, Kansas 66204 Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas 913.652.6971 HowaRD K. GLOYD [email protected] The University of Arizona, Tucson Nominating – DAN CARPENTER (1902–1978) 13321 Flatland Trail LARRY L. MILLER Derby, Kansas 67037 Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas 316-776-1221 [email protected] GEORGE R. PIsanI Kansas Biological Survey, Lawrence, Kansas Media & Publicity – ROBIN OLDHAM 716 Michigan Street DWIGHT R. PLatt Oswego, Kansas Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas 316.795.2293 HOBART M. SMITH [email protected] The University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado Awards – DANIEL D. FOGELL EdwaRD H. TAYLOR Dan Fogell The University of Kansas, Lawrence Southeast Community College (1889–1978) 8800 -O- Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68520 402.437.2870 Front Cover: An Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys [email protected] temminckii). Illustration by Marty Capron, Oxford. www.cnah.org/khs/ ISSN 1540-773X Journal of Kansas Herpetology NUMBER 38 — JULY 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS KHS BUSINESS Results of the KHS Spring Field Trip to Chautauqua County ...............................................................................................2 KHS to Conduct Summer Field Trip to Western Kansas ......................................................................................................5 KHS 2011 Contributions .......................................................................................................................................................6 KHS 2011 Fall Field Trip .......................................................................................................................................................6 Pay Your 2011 KHS Dues .....................................................................................................................................................6 KHS Annual Meeting Call for Papers....................................................................................................................................7 KHS Scholarship and Grant Deadline ..................................................................................................................................7 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Lampropeltis triangulum (Milk Snake) Kansas Matt Nordgren and Chad Whitney ...................................................................................................................................7 Heterodon platirhinos (Eastern Hognose Snake) Kansas Daniel G. Murrow .............................................................................................................................................................7 Sistrurus catenatus (Massasauga) Oklahoma Matt Nordgren and Curtis J. Schmidt...............................................................................................................................7 Submit Your field Reports .....................................................................................................................................................7 IN MEMORIAM Daryl R. Karns (1949–2011) by Joseph T. Collins .........................................................................................................................................................8 NOTES Longevity and Growth in the Shorthead Garter Snake, Thamnophis brachystoma by Brian S. Gray ..............................................................................................................................................................9 Clutch Characteristics of the Spring Peeper, Pseudacris crucifer (Wied-Neuwied, 1838), in Natchitoches, Louisiana by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr. and Samuel D. Marshall ......................................................................................................11 Aspects of a Breeding Aggregation of Hurter’s Spadefoot (Scaphiopus hurteri Strecker, 1910) in Natchitoches, Louisiana by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr., Samuel D. Marshall, Millard O. Mangrum, and Thomas E. Hardaway .............................. 12 ARTICLES Seasonal Activity and Natural History Observations of Five Snake Species from the Central Lowland Province of Erie County, Pennsylvania by Brian S. Gray ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Journal of Kansas Herpetology 2011: (38) 1 Official Publication of the Kansas Herpetological Society KHS BUSINESS Results of the KHS Spring Field Trip to Chautauqua County One hundred and twenty-four Kansas herp- group was given the opportunity to check the enthusiasts converged on Sedan City Lake traps, seine the river, and spend the rest of (New) on 8-10 April 2011 for the annual KHS the afternoon cooling off from the 90° F tem- spring field trip. The unseasonably warm (yet peratures. dry) weather exhibited during the field trip A Common Musk Turtle was collected in a tur- yielded 44 species and 944 individual amphib- tle trap and represented the first record from ians, reptiles and turtles. the county. Other turtles caught in the trap in- Field trip participants traveled from Kansas, cluded the Ouachita Map Turtle, Slider, Spiny Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska. Uni- Softshell, and Common Snapping Turtle. versities represented from Kansas included Saturday night was spent road-cruising Fort Hays State University, Friends University, around the campsite and within Chautauqua Pittsburg State University, University of Kan- County. Several thunderstorms in the area just sas, and Emporia State University; and Mis- missed the campsite, but got the herps mov- souri: Missouri State University and Lincoln ing. University. Sunday morning those participants that stuck Participants began arriving around the camp- around were kindly provided access to the site late Friday afternoon and spent the eve- Sproul Ranch. Twenty-five species and 224 in- ning looking for herps locally as well as road dividuals herps were recorded. cruising around Chautauqua County. Overall, conditions were a little dry and that Saturday morning the group caravaned across hindered the discovery of many of the smaller US KS 99 to the Butcher Falls area of the Red herp species in greater numbers. Buffalo Ranch. The group fanned out along Many specimens were graciously donated to creek beds and rocky hillsides to look for frogs museum collections. Those specimens not only and snakes. By noon, 450 individual herps had help to unequivocally document what exists been recorded representing 27 species (Table where and when; but the tissues taken from 1). The group was able to document fifteen of the specimens allow researchers from all over the secretive Rough Earth Snakes. the country to better define and delineate the Early Saturday afternoon the group met at herpetofaunal diversity of Kansas. the public access area of the Caney River just west of Elgin. Several turtle traps (hoop nets) Travis W. Taggart and Dan Murrow, had been set up the previous day and the Field Trip Co-Chairpersons 2 Journal of Kansas Herpetology 2011: (38) www.cnah.org/khs/ Table 1. Results of the KHS Spring 2011 Field Trip in Chautauqua County by species and time period/location. Fri (Other) = road cruising; Sat (AM) = Red Buffalo Ranch; Sat (PM) = Caney River/Elgin; Sat (Other) = road cruising; Sun (AM) = Sproul Ranch. Species Fri (Other) Sat (AM) Sat (PM) Sat (Other) Sun (AM) Total American Toad ..............................25 ............. 2 ............ 1 .............. 10 ............34 ...... 72 Bullfrog ........................................