Enulius Flavitorques
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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, &NO AMPHIBIANS 4 • DEC 2008 189 • 25(1):31–34 • APR 2018 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES Arboreality. Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis and catenifer sayi) in DietWisconsin: in Pacific Long-tailed On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Snakes,. The Shared History ofEnulius Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis ) flavitorquesand Humans on Grenada: (Squamata: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198 Dipsadidae),RESEARCH ARTICLES and a Potential Adaptive . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida Hypothesis ............................................. forBrian EggJ. Camposano, Kenneth Attendance L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, andin Michael Honduran Granatosky 212 Leaf-toedCONSERVATION Geckos,ALERT Phyllodactylus palmeus . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 . The “Dow(Squamata: Jones Index” of Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................... Phyllodactylidae)............ 225 HUSBANDRY 1 2 1, 3 1 .TomCaptive W. Care Brown of the Central, Matthijs Netted Dragon P. van ....................................................................................................... den Burg , Daisy. F. Maryon , and Cristina Shannon ArrivillagaPlummer 226 1Kanahau Utila Research and Conservation Facility, Isla de Utila, Honduras ([email protected]) PROFILE 2University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands . Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting3University Herpetology of ................................................................................................South Wales, Pontypridd, United Kingdom Michael L. Treglia 234 COMMENTARY Photographs by the senior author. 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, he Pacific Long-tailedR. Berridge, Snake, P. Ramani, andEnulius B.E. Young flavitorques .............................................................................................................. in their analysis. A study further Robert Powell addressing 243 the origins and T(Cope 1868), is a wide-ranging species currently listed routes from which these island populations stemmed, while by Chaves et al. (2016) CONSERVATION as being ofRESEARCH Least ConcernREPORTS: Summarieson the of Publisheddetermining Conservation Research the rateReports of ................................. speciation and245 morphological and NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 IUCN Red List. The NEWBRIEFS species is distributed............................................................................................................................... on the Pacific ver- genetic divergence....................................................... would be most 248informative and could sant from Jalisco, Mexico,EDITORIAL to INFORMATIONPanama, and ............................................................................................................................... on the Atlantic reveal a new endemic species...................... of Enulius 251 on Utila. As the spe- FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 versant in Chiapas, Mexico, Honduras, and from Costa Rica cies from the neighboring Bay islands are currently listed on and central Panama to Colombia and toward northwestern the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered (E. biofoeatus; Venezuela at elevations of 0–1,300 m asl (Solórzano 2004; Wilson et al. 2014) and Endangered (E. roatanensis; Wilson Köhler 2008). In Honduras, the speciesFront Cover. has Shannon been Plummer. reported et al.Back 2013), Cover. Michaelif a new Kern endemic population occurs on Utila, from numerous localities (McCranieTotat 2011; et velleseque Solis audantet al. mo 2014), weTotat expect et velleseque that, audantbased mo largely on its restricted distribution, it including Isla de Utila. The island estibusof Utila inveliquo is locatedvelique rerchil in the wouldestibus inveliquoqualify velique for Criticallyrerchil Endangered status. erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus Honduran Department of Islas deaut la dolor Bahía apicto invere(Bay pe Islands), dolum aut dolorKöhler apicto invere(2008) pe dolum described the diet of E. flavitorques as where it is the westernmost islandfugiatis of the maionsequat three eumquemajor Bay consistingfugiatis maionsequat predominantly eumque of termites and ants, whereas moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- Islands (Utila, Roatan, Guanaja)ma and derrovitae part voluptam, of the as quosCayos Scotttur ma (1983) derrovitae andvoluptam, de asQueiroz and Rodríguez-Robles (2006) Cochinos Archipelago (McCranie etaccullabo. al. 2005). provided evidence that these snakes specialize in feeding on Three species in the genus Enulius have been recorded reptilian eggs. The latter contention is further supported by from Honduras; all are little-studied and typically regarded morphological studies that suggest that the enlarged rear teeth as secretive, nocturnal, and semi-fossorial species. They occur of E. flavitorques are used to perforate the shells of reptilian in a range of habitat types that include wet forest, dry forest, eggs (Solórzano 2004). On Utila, McCranie et al. (2005) coastal vegetation, and wet meadow/grassland (Köhler 2008). reported an individual that was found 35 cm deep in sand McCranie and Orellana (2014) reported a single indi- next to a clutch of eggs of a Central American Rainbow Lizard vidual of E. flavitorques from Utila, using a photographic (Cnemidophorus ruatanus), which it might have intended to voucher to confirm its presence on the island. The popula- eat (McCranie 2011). More recently, in Costa Rica, Solórzano tions of this species on Utila could be interesting from an and Mora (2017) observed E. flavitorques perforating and feed- evolutionary perspective, considering that McCranie and ing on captive Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) eggs, providing Köhler (1999) described two endemic species (E. bifoveatus definitive photographic evidence that these small snakes are and E. roatanensis) from the neighboring islands of Guanaja able to consume reptilian eggs of considerable size, and also and Roatan without including a genetic sample from Utila suggesting this species might consume eggs of marine turtles, Copyright © 2018. Tom W. Brown. All rights reserved. 31 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 BROWN ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 25(1):31–34 • APR 2018 other lizards, and snakes. On Utila alone, the diet of E. fla- 15 m from the Pumpkin Hill beachfront (a locality known vitorques could include the eggs of nearly 30 reptilian species for nesting marine turtles and iguanas). Two of those indi- that have been reported from the island (e.g., Powell 2003). viduals were captured and measured to provide basic mor- phometric data (though one individual was missing part of its Arboreality and Diet of Enulius flavitorques tail), having snout–vent lengths (SVL) of 250 and 260 mm, At 2045 h on 1 May 2017 adjacent to the Kanahau (KURCF) tail lengths of 69 and 15 mm, total length of 319 and 275 facility (16.119383°N, 86.884989°W; WGS84), we observed mm, and weights of 3.6 and 6 g. These fall well within the an adult E. flavitorques at 2.3–2.8 m above the ground enter- maximum total length of 495 mm known for E. flavitorques, ing a termite nest in the fork of a large broadleaf tree (Fig. but seem more consistent with those of 321 mm and 346 1). Further investigation revealed a communal egg clutch of mm listed for the island populations of E. bifoveatus and E. the Honduran Leaf-toed Gecko (Phyllodactylus palmeus) in a roatanensis, respectively (Köhler 2008). crevice between the bark and the termite nest. We saw one Our observations are interesting in that E. flavitorques was adult gecko (which escaped) and counted 26 small eggs (ca. thought to be a terrestrial and predominantly detritus dwell- 11 mm in length) and shell remains, suggesting that this was ing, semi-fossorial or burrowing species (e.g., McCranie et al. a frequently used multi-maternal nesting site for this endemic 2005). Facultative use of arboreal habitats while foraging has species of gecko. been described for other terrestrial and presumably fossorial From April to August 2017, we observed six other E. fla- snakes (e.g., Keller and Heske 2000). Additionally,