ABSTRACTS elaphe 1/2020

Dear DGHT members, We started to summarize some of the main ar- Cryptic Golden Tegu ticles of our elaphe journal in English, for our (Tupinambis cryp- non-German speaking members. These summaries have been compiled by Beate Pfau. tus) - the World’s First Captive Bree- Cover Story: Technical Ter- ding in Cologne Zoo? rarium Equipment for Kee- By Thomas Ziegler, Anna Rauhaus ping Large Lizards & Miguel Vences This is an extensive report on husbandry of the Cryptic gol- by Thilo Böck den tegu, which had been kept in the terraria of the zoolo- The main topic of this elaphe issue is practical advice gical garden in Cologne for more than ten years. The pair on keeping really large lizards like monitors (Varanus of these lizards came with the scientific name Tupinambis“ spp.). The first hint is on how to offer water. Monitors teguixin” which was common for all these similar looking are strong and playful , and they like to turn over tegus at that time. After Murphy et al. had published their any water bowl that is not really heavily weighted. Tipps paper on the Tupinambis teguixin group in 2016 (see refe- are also given on how to install the electric equipment in rence below) we tried to identify the of our lizards, those large and potentially moist terraria. It is not feasi- but that was a challenge. It is not possible to identify these ble to change the water in these terraria completely in cryptic species by morphology, but when analysing blood very short intervals, instead filtration and treatment of samples with genetic methods we could determine the the aquarium part is needed, and the different techni- species as Tupinambis cryptus with high probability, but ques, which have proven to work for large lizard water there are still not enough comparative data. In the future basins, are recommended and technically explained. it will be necessary to analyse the animals currently kept in Terraria for large lizards are necessarily heavyweight, zoos, and correctly determine the species to prevent unin- and the author gives tipps from his own experience on tentional breeding of hybrids. In 2018 the first five eggs of the critical constructional measures. Since most really our pair were laid, and two of these hatchlings grew well. large lizards need very good lighting and ventilation, the The photos show their coloration, and the text dis­cusses last part of this cover story deals with the technology to the characters of these animals and the nearest relative enhance the quality of life for them. species, T. matipu. Reference: Murphy, J.C., M.J. Jowers, R.M. Lehtinen, S.P. Charles, G.R. Colli, A.K. Peres Jr., C.R. Hendry & R.A. Pyron (2016): Cryptic, sympatric diversity in Tegu lizards of the Tupinambis teguixin group (Squamata, Sauria, Teiidae) and the description of three new species. – PLoS ONE 11: e0158542. ABSTRACTS elaphe 1/2020

Observations on the Repro- The Herpetology of Cu- ductive Behaviour of the rieuse Island, Seychelles Lace Monitor (Varanus va- by Sascha Pawlowski rius) The granitic island of Curieuse has a very special herpetofauna. The endemic species are: Frigate Is- by Sebastian Scholz land caecilian (Hypogeophis rostratus), Seychelles The large monitors have been in the focus of herpetological bronze gecko (Ailuronyx seychellensis), Seychelles research in Germany since Robert Mertens had published his famous monograph in 1942. Since then research has enhanced our knowledge on the many species of these fa- scinating lizards. This paper shortly summarizes the latest news on , and on the different aspects of their biology, like the poison glands, distribution, habitats and morphology. The lace monitor is one of the really charis- matic Varanus species, and in the detailed part the paper deals with their husbandry requirements. The highlight is captive bree- ding, and the paper discus- ses the clima- tic conditions and feeding to achieve reproduction in the ter- (small) day gecko (Phelsuma astriata semicarinata), rarium. The Seychelles giant day gecko (Phelsuma sundbergi photos show sundbergi), Seychelles sucker-tailed gecko (Urocotyle- the mating don inexpectata), Vesey-Fitzgerald's burrowing skink behaviour, (Janetaescincus veseyfitzgeraldi), Gardiner's burro- incubation wing skink (Pamelaescincus gardineri), Seychelles conditions skink (Trachylepis seychellensis), Hawksbill sea and growth. (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Seychelles yellow-bellied In the text mud turtle ( castanoides intergularis). These details of the species are portrayed and instructions are given on reproductive how to find and observe them. On Curieuse there biology are are also species to be found which may have been given, and introduced, like the Mascarene grass frog (Ptycha- the inheri- dena mascareniensis), or the Pacific gecko(Gehyra tance of the mutilata), or the Mud turtle (Pelusios subniger) or ”belli” colour the Brahminy blind snake (Indotyphlops braminus). form of the These species are also discussed. Curieuse Island is parental cou- well-known for the Aldabra Giant (Aldabra- ple is being chelys gigantea gigantea) which have been introdu- discussed. ced here as an ex-situ assurance colony from ABSTRACTS ABSTRACTS elaphe 1/2020 elaphe 1/2020

Aldabra, where the population had decreased for un- It was pos- known reasons. They live here as wild animals and sible to ob- their behaviour can be watched from the signposted serve many footwalks. Most Curieuse tourists with herpetological special interests come to this island especially for meeting behaviors these gentle giants in the wild and for visiting the bree- and the ding facility. knowledge on the na- Better than Nothing: Are tural history of these Cultivated Rainforests species has considerably Suitable Refugia for the improved. Freshwater of Bor- The results will be published in the near future in more detail. This re- neo? search has been partly funded by the Wilhelm-Peters-Fund of the DGHT. by Sami Asad and Mark-Oliver Rödel These two researchers and their field assistant Victor IMPRESSUM “Tiou“ Vitalis tried to find out whether cultivated rainfo- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde e. V. rests are better refugia for the chelonians of than the natural rainforests, where poaching and sel- Vertreten durch: ling them to the East Asian markets is common. The Präsidium (Vorstand i. S. d. § 26 BGB) cultivated forests are protected and many permits are now issued unter the condition that “Reduced Impact Präsident: Dr. Markus Monzel Vizepräsident: Matthias Jurczyk Logging“ (RIL) has to be implemented. The freshwater Vizepräsidentin: Dr. Claudia Koch turtle fauna of Borneo is diverse, and this research fo- Vizepräsident: Alexander Meurer cused mainly on three rare species of which the natu- Vizepräsident: Dr. Daniel Schön ral history is poorly known: The ( Schatzmeister: Marco Schulz spinosa), the Malayan flat-shelled turtle Notochelys( platynota) and the (Dogania Kontakt: subplana), and the areas under research were Dera- Telefon: +49-(0)5153-8038676 makot and Tangkulap Pinangah in the Malaysian part E-Mail: [email protected] of Borneo Island. The herpetofauna in these areas was Registereintrag: really rich, 49 amphibian and 59 reptilian species were Eintragung im Vereinsregister found. Besides the three chelonian species mentioned Registergericht: Amtsgericht Mannheim above the Amboina (Cuora amboinensis), the Registernummer: VR 700620 ( crassicollis), and the Asian Brown ( ) were found. Verantwortlich für den Inhalt It was quite an adventure to work there, and in the 18 nach § 55 Abs. 2 RStV: Dr. Axel Kwet months of field work the researchers had to deal with c/o DGHT e.V. lots of leeches and also with an elephant family which Vogelsang 27, blocked the access road to the camp for a whole D-31020 Salzhemmendorf month. Quite good chelonian populations have been found in these two forests, and in the mark-recapture Weitere Informationen finden Sie survey not many turtles were caught a second time. unter www.dght.de