Cfreptiles & Amphibians
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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, N &O 4AMPHIBIANS • DEC 2008 189 • 24(1):1–16 • APR 2017 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES Field. ChasingObservations Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: on Neotropical Treeboas 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: of theA HypotheticalGenus Excursion ............................................................................................................................ Corallus (Squamata:Robert W. Henderson Boidae) 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES César L. Barrio-Amorós . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 Fundación AndígenA, Apartado Postal 210, Mérida, Venezuela ([email protected]) . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida .............................................(CurrentBrian address:J. Camposano, Doc Kenneth Frog Expeditions, L. Krysko, Kevin Uvita M. Enge, de EllenOsa, M. Costa Donlan, Rica) and Michael Granatosky 212 CONSERVATION ALERTPhotographs by the author except where indicated. World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 s a wildlife guide,HUSBANDRY I have had many opportunities to Corallus blombergii Aobserve Neotropical. Captive treeboas Care of the ofCentral the Netted genus Dragon Corallus ........................................................................................................ Such Blomberg’s Shannon Plummer Treeboa 226 opportunities arose especially during my tours and explo- While herping with companions from Tropical Herping at PROFILE rations in Venezuela (1994–2011), but also in Costa Rica the San Lorenzo Lodge, Provincia Esmeraldas, Ecuador, we . Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234 (2011–present), Ecuador (June–July 2014), and Peru (April– observed three C. blombergii on a single night (29 May 2014). June 2004). The COMMENTARYmajority of my observations (three of C. One was on an old wooden gate about 1.6 m high. Another . caninus, 12 of C. hortulanusThe Turtles Haveand Been 167 Watching of C. Me ruschenbergerii ........................................................................................................................) (Fig. 2), encountered along Eric a rainforestGangloff 238 stream, was collected were concentrated BOOKfrom 2000 REVIEW to 2011, when I was most active exploring different areas. Threatened of Venezuela Amphibians andof the Worldwent edited frequently by S.N. Stuart, to M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243 the Llanos and the Maracaibo Basin leading nature tours. In each account that follows CONSERVATION I provide RESEARCH ecological, REPORTS: distributional, Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 and anecdotal information NATURAL about HISTORY these RESEARCH treeboas, REPORTS highlighting: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 some novel observations EDITORIAL not reported INFORMATION by Henderson ............................................................................................................................... (2015). ...................... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 Corallus annulatus Annulated or Ringed Treeboa My only experience with this species consists of three encoun- ters, all in Caribbean Costa Rica. OneFront was Cover. adjacent Shannon Plummer. to a shal- Back Cover. Michael Kern Totat et velleseque audant mo Totat et velleseque audant mo low stream at Pandora, Limón, whereestibus a inveliquo large individualvelique rerchil was estibus inveliquo velique rerchil foraging actively on a slender stemerspienimus, about 2 quosm highaccullabo. (Fig. Ilibus 1). erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum The second was along another streamfugiatis at maionsequat Reserva eumque Privada La fugiatis maionsequat eumque Ceiba, Manzanillo, where a very thinmoditia subadult erere nonsedis of ma about sectiatur 80 moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as cm slithered about 4 m above theaccullabo. water. The third was an adult discovered during the day on the roof of a house at for- est edge in Matina, Limón. Corallus batesii Amazon Basin Emerald Treeboa During a stay of several days at km 34 on the road from Tarapoto to Yurimaguas, Peru, at Rainer Schulte’s concession (INIBICO), I saw one very thin and apparently sick C. batesii about 100 cm long on a dirt road very early in the morning. We collected it to take photos and observe it for a while, but it died after two days. During those last days, it remained motionless. I was unable to dissect the specimen to determine Fig. 1. An Annulated Treeboa (Corallus annulatus) on a branch hanging the cause of its death. over a stream in Pandora, Limón Province, Costa Rica. Copyright © 2017. César L. Barrio-Amorós. All rights reserved. 1 BARRIO-AMORÓS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 24(1):1–16 • APR 2017 Fig. 2. A Blomberg’s Treeboa (Corallus blombergii) from San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, Ecuador. for photographs and then released. It escaped by climbing the panion Freddy Mendoza, also at Triunfo. It was also at one vertical trunk of a young tree in a concertina fashion. The end of the airstrip at night at around 1.50 m high in a bush third was about 8 m high in rainforest along a stream. These in a forest-edge situation. My last personal observation was observations contradict the statement that C. blombergii is a at night in evergreen rainforest on the trail close to El Paují rare species (Henderson 2015). As with almost all species, it heading to Santa Elena de Uairén in Estado Bolivar. I spent can be common in appropriate conditions (the only excep- 10 days exploring the area, and on one of the nights, search- tion in the genus Corallus appears to be Cropani’s Treeboa ing the canopy (around 20 m high) with my headlamp, I saw (C. cropanii). the eyeshine of a moving snake. It was not easy to follow as it disappeared intermittently, probably due to its height in the Corallus caninus canopy and that it was heading into the denser forest. I took a Emerald Treeboa photograph with a 400-mm telephoto lens and a potent flash, I personally have found only three Corallus caninus. Two but the distance made it difficult to focus sharply. However, of them were at Triunfo, a lowland site in the northeastern the green dorsum and yellow belly of the snake were clear. versant of Sierra de Lema (Barrio-Amorós et al. 2011). On People from Bolivar state know it as “zarzillo,” which means 29 March 1997, after two months of fieldwork, I found one earring, for the way it can be coiled. They also refer in the female C. caninus about 1.20 m in length on the ground at same way to the Green Jararaca (Bothrops bilineatus), a green the airstrip at about 1800 h. The forest edge was just a few venomous viperid snake. meters away. That was not an isolated case, as my colleague Curiously, I had been living in Puerto Ayacucho (north- Daniel Calcaño found several dead individuals on the road western Amazonas state) for a year in 1998, and even though north of Sierra de Lema. Another was found by my com- it is the northern edge of the Amazon-Orinoco rainforest, I 2 BARRIO-AMORÓS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 24(1):1–16 • APR 2017 did not see or hear anyone confirm the presence of C. caninus. Some friends, like the brothers Renato and Roberto Mattei, long-time butterfly collectors interested in snakes and who knew the area, never saw or heard of C. caninus. The clos- est report in Amazonas state is at the southernmost edge of Venezuela at the Neblina base camp (McDiarmid and Paolillo 1988; Henderson 2015). I suffered a bite on my left hand from a captive individual (1.45 m in length). The large teeth of these snakes are capable of penetrating to the bones of the hand, and they did. The pain was so intense when the teeth reached the metacarpals that I felt as if I was going to black out. The lacerations were deep and I bled for at least an hour. I used a handkerchief for pressure until I arrived at the emergency entrance of a private clinic in Caracas. Fortunately,