www.ircf.org/repTABLEtilesanda OF CONTENTSmphibiansjournal IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF Rept • VOLiles15, N &O 4Amph • DEC i2008bia ns189 • 21(3):96–97 • Sep 2014

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES Two. Chasing Bullsnakes Xanthic (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin:Spotted Brown Tropes, On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: TropidophisA Hypothetical Excursion ...... pardalis (Squamata,Robert W. Henderson 198 Tropidophiidae),RESEARCH ARTICLES in Havana, Western Cuba . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris1 ) in Florida 2 1 3 ...... Javier Torres , RubenBrian J. Camposano, Marrero Kenneth, Orlando L. Krysko, KevinJ. Torres M. Enge,, Ellen and M. Víctor Donlan, andM. Michael Ramírez Granatosky 212 1Departamento de Biología Animal y Humana, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de la Habana, CP 10400, La Habana, Cuba ([email protected]) CONSERVATION ALERT 2División de Zoología de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, Calabazar, Boyeros, La Habana, CP 11900, Cuba . World’s Mammals3Facultad in Crisis de ...... Biología (student), Universidad de la Habana, CP 10400, La Habana, Cuba 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225

HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226 he Spotted Brown Trope (Tropidophis pardalis) is one Cuba (Schwartz and Henderson 1991, Rodríguez et al. 2013). PROFILE of 16 Cuban species of Tropidophis; all are endemic It is a small, relatively common, nocturnally active, ground- T . Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ...... Michael L. Treglia 234 (Henderson and Powell 2009). It has a wide, albeit discon- dwelling snake found in a wide variety of habitats (Schwartz tinuous, distributionCOMMENTARY and is most frequently found in western and Henderson 1991). Its secretive behavior is enhanced by . The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ...... Eric Gangloff 238

BOOK REVIEW . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young ...... Robert Powell 243

 CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247  NEWBRIEFS ...... 248  EDITORIAL INFORMATION ...... 251  FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... 252

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.

Figure 1. Tropidophis pardalis: (A) Typical morph (adult in light phase); insert showing ventral pattern. (B) Typical morph (immature in dark phase). (C) Cinnamon morph (adult in transition phase). (D) Xanthic morph (adult); insert showing ventral pattern. Photographs by Javier Torres (A–B) and Ruben Marrero (C–D). Copyright © 2014. Javier Torres. All rights reserved. 96 Torres et al. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians • 21(3):96–97 • Sep 2014

Table 1. Comparison of xanthic and non-xanthic Tropidophis pardalis morphs. All characters refer to color traits except when specified. Most of these traits are evident in Fig. 1. The order in which elements appear in multi-state cases is not indicative of frequency. N = number of specimens examined. Character Xanthic Morphs Non-xanthic Morphs N = 2 N = 28 Tongue (except tip) red brown to black Tongue tip rosy white Post-nasal band reddish brown Iris gray gray, brown Pupil red black Presence of ocular bar no yes Presence of occipital spots or neck band no yes, no Dorsal ground color whitish to yellowish gray to brown, reddish Longitudinal stripes reddish orange, reddish Dorsolateral spots yellow brown to black Ventral spots pale brown dark brown, black Tail orange light brown, yellow, orange Contrast between body and tail slight high

cryptic dorsal coloration, which is characterized by irregular Conspicuous coloration patterns generally are unfavor- black spots sometimes combining to form crossbands on a able for concealment, although nocturnal activity may have cinnamon to dark brown background. The venter has two contributed to the survival of these individuals. The close rows of spots on a white to beige background. The tail tip can proximity of the two xanthic snakes and their very similar be yellow, orange, or light brown (Fig. 1A–C). sizes suggest that they were siblings, especially since xanthism Herein we report the discovery of two xanthic individu- appears to be very rare in T. pardalis. als. On 5 October 2012 at 1030 h, we found an adult female T. pardalis (MFP 125031) under a flat stone in a residential Acknowledgements backyard (23.07755°N, -82.44001°W; datum: NAD27) We thank colleagues and students who help in the acquisition of at Marianao, La Habana, Cuba. Nine months later (7 June photographs: Javier Usatorres, Lázaro Cuellar, Raimundo López- 2013 at 1530 h), we found another xanthic adult (Fig. 1D) at Silvero, Roberto Alonso and Tomás M. Rodríguez (in alphabeti- the same locality, also under a rock, but approximately 10 m cal order). We also thank Elier Fonseca for reviewing the manu- from the first snake. We compared xanthic and non-xanthic script and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. morphs (Table 1) using photographs of 30 live snakes from Literature Cited La Habana (23 + 2 xanthic), Artemisa (2), Pinar del Río (1), Hedges, S.B. 2002. Morphological variation and the definition of species in the Cienfuegos (1), and Sancti Spiritus (1). snake genus Tropidophis (Serpentes, Tropidophiidae). Bulletin of the Natural Like other tropidophiids that change cyclically from light History Museum of London (Zoology) 68:83–90. to dark phases (Rehak 1987, Hedges et al. 1989), T. pardalis Hedges, S.B., C.A. Hass, and T.K. Maugel. 1989. Physiological color change in snakes. Journal of Herpetology 23:450–455. exhibits a physiological circadian pattern (Fig. 1). However, nei- Henderson, R.W. and R. Powell. 2009. Natural History of West Indian Reptiles and ther xanthic individual exhibited different color phases, prob- Amphibians. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. ably attributable to the near absence of melanin (Fig. 1D), the Rehak, I. 1987. Color change in the snake Tropidophis feicki (Reptilia: Squamata: pigment responsible for the dark phase (Hedges et al. 1989). Tropidophiidae). Vestník Ceskoslovenské Spolecnosti Zoologické 51:300–303. Rodríguez, L., C.A. Mancina, and V. Rivalta. 2013. Reptiles of Cuba: Checklist and geographic distributions. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service 144:1–96. Schwartz, A. and R.W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West 1 MFP is the acronym for the Museum of Natural History “Felipe Poey” at the Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. University of Florida Faculty of Biology, University of Havana, Cuba. Press, Gainesville.

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