HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 27(3):426–427189 • DEC 2020

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NocturnalFEATURE ARTICLES Emergence of Small Freshwater . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: TurtlesOn the Road toin Understanding Temple the Ecology and Conservation Ponds of the Midwest’s Giant in Serpent Assam, ...... Joshua M. Kapfer India: 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A StrategyA Hypothetical Excursion to ...... Avoid Aggression andRobert W. HendersonPredation 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES . The Texas Horned Lizard in Centralby and WesternLarge Texas ...... Softshells? Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Gaurav Barhadiya1, Gautam Singh3, Chirashree Ghosh1, and Shailendra Singh2 CONSERVATION ALERT 1Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi-110007, India ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals2Turtle inSurvival Crisis ...... Alliance-India, Wildlife Conservation Society-Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh-226021,...... India 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 3Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand-248007, India...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225

HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226 arge carnivorous soft-shelled turtles in the genus Nilssonia tered a total of 81 juvenile and hatchling turtles in the genera (average carapacePROFILE lengths of 70–90 cm) are known for Pangshura and Nilssonia that emerged from the water to rest L . their aggression andKraig predation Adler: A Lifetime of Promoting vulnerable Herpetology hatchling ...... and on logs or branches or completely Michael L. Treglia left 234the main pond (Fig. 1; juvenile turtles,COMMENTARY especially in confined bodies of water such Table 1). as artificial tanks .orThe earthen Turtles Have ponds Been Watching (Rao Meet al...... 1986; Ahmad We believe that the smaller Eric Gangloff turtles, 238 such as the Assam and Das 2010).BOOK The Nagshankar REVIEW Temple in the Biswanath Roofed Turtle (Pangshura sylhetensis) and the Indian Tent District, Assam, India. Threatened (26°43'29.3"N, Amphibians of the 92°59'39.8"E) World edited by S.N. has Stuart, two M. Hoffmann,Turtle J.S. (P. Chanson, tentoria N.A.), Cox, with carapace lengths of 6–12 cm, earthen ponds (each 4,675R. Berridge, m2 P.) Ramani,that house and B.E. over Young 250 ...... freshwater emerge from the water or leave Robert thePowell pond 243 to avoid aggression turtles received as donations. Species include large soft-shelled and possible predation by larger softshells. Turtles that leave turtles such as theCONSERVATION Indian Softshell RESEARCH (Nilssonia REPORTS: gangetica Summaries), the of Publishedthe Conservation pond spend Research the Reports night ...... in adjacent 245puddles before return-  NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 Indian Peacock SoftshellNEWBRIEFS (N...... hurum), and the Black Softshell ing to the pond...... in the morning. However, 248 we cannot rule (N. nigricans).  EDITORIAL INFORMATION ...... out the possibility that these...... forays might 251 involve feeding or  During a 37-nightFOCUS ONpilot CONSERVATION study from :20 A ProjectFebruary You Can to Support28 ...... extended thermoregulation in light of 252 the high densities and March 2019, we observed the nocturnal behavior and nest- competition for resources in the pond. Other than nesting ing activities of soft-shelled turtles from 1600 h to 0500 h adult female Black Softshells, we did not encounter any large each night. In the course of those observations, we encoun- turtles (carapace lengths >15 cm) emerging from the pond 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 juvenile Indian Tent Turtle (Pangshura tentoria) on a log near the main wetland at night (left); a juvenile Assam Roofed turtle (Pangshura sylhet- ensis) on a submerged branch at night (center), and a juvenile Black Softshell (Nilssonia nigricans) that emerged from the main pond during evening hours. Photographs by Gaurav Barhadiya.

Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 426 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. BARHADIYA ET AL. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):426–427 • DEC 2020

Table 1. Number and species of Turtles emerging at night from the main pond. Abbreviations: Nn: Nilssonia nigricans, Nh: Nilssonia hurum, Ng: Nilssonia gangetica, Ps: Pangshura sylhetensis, Pt: Pangshura tentoria.

Survey Dates (2019) Species Size (age) Total Number of Individuals 20–26 February Nn, Pt, Ps Juveniles 11 27 February–6 March Nh, Nh, Pt Juveniles 16 7–13 March Nn, Pt, Ps Hatchlings and Juveniles 12 14–20 March Ng, Pt, Ps Juveniles 24 21–28 March Nn, Pt, Ps Hatchlings and Juveniles 18 during the night. Since we did observe large softshells attack- 2018). We also thank Divisional Forest Officer Mr. Suhas ing smaller hatchlings and juveniles, the assumption that the Kadam and Dr. P.C. Ray, TSA Project Coordinator for smaller turtles leave the water or the pond to avoid predation North-east India. by aggressive and nocturnally active softshells is reasonable. Literature Cited Acknowledgements Ahmed, M.F. and A. Das. 2010. Tortoises and Turtles of Northeast India: Saving We thank the Turtle Survival Alliance and the Disney Them from Extinction. Draft Technical Report, Aaranyak, HRCP: 01/2010, Guwahati, India. Conservation Fund for supporting this study and the Wildlife Smith, M.A. 1931. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia Conservation Society India for providing logistical support. and Amphibia. Volume I.—Loricata, Testudines. Taylor and Francis, London, Rajeev Barua and Moti were extremely helpful during the England. study, which was conducted under PCCF (Wildlife) Assam Kundu, S. and V. Kumar. 2018. Environmental DNA (eDNA) testing for detection of freshwater turtles in Temple pond. Herpetology Notes 11: 369–371. Research Permit No. WL/FG.31/Pt/Technical commit- Rao, R.J. 1986. A note on cannibalism in freshwater softshelled turtle Trionyx gan- tee 2018 (19 May 2018) and Office Order No: 97 (16 July geticus (Cuvier). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 83: 224.

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