Hydrophis Cyanocinctus

WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, &NO AMPHIBIANS 4 • DEC 2008 189 • 26(1):56–57 • APR 2019

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES First. Chasing RecordBullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayiof) in Wisconsin: an Annulated Seasnake, On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... Joshua M. Kapfer 190 Hydrophis. The Shared History of Treeboas cyanocinctus(Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: (Daudin 1803), A Hypothetical Excursion ...... Robert W. Henderson 198 fromRESEARCH the Surat ARTICLES District, South Gujarat, India . 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 Dikansh S. Parmar ...... Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Department of Biosciences, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, India ([email protected]) CONSERVATION ALERT . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225 he Annulated Seasnake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) is a washed ashore at Sulatanabad on Dumas Beach of the Surat venomous viviparousHUSBANDRY snake that occurs along the entire District, South Gujarat, India (21°04’45”N 72°42’55”E). T . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ...... Shannon Plummer 226 coast of India (Fig. 1) within a broader distribution along This is the first record of this species from South Gujarat and coastal regions fromPROFILE the Persian Gulf to Japan and the Indo- only the second record from Gujarat State; the first record Australian Archipelago. Kraig (Whitaker Adler: A Lifetime and Promoting Captain Herpetology 2008; ...... Rezaie- was from the Jamnagar MichaelDistrict L. Treglia in the234 Saurashtra Region of Atagholipour et al.COMMENTARY 2016). Hydrophis cyanocinctus generally Gujarat (Chandrasekar et al. 2018), which is in northwestern inhabits shallow coastal. The Turtleswaters, Have Beenwhere Watching it Meis ...... often acciden- Gujarat >500 km from the EricSurat Gangloff District. 238 tally caught by prawnBOOK trawlers REVIEW (Das 2006). Unlike many sea The adult female measured 1,264.5 mm SVL and tail snakes, H. cyanocinctus. Threatened can crawl Amphibians slowly of the on World land edited (Whitaker by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann,length 118.1J.S. Chanson, mm. N.A. Dorsal Cox, scales were in 30:41:39 rows behind and Captain 2008). R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young ...... the head, at midbody, and Robertanterior Powell to243 the vent, respectively. During a field survey at 1322 h on 22 December 2018, Ventrals numbered 353 and subcaudals 53.  CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245 we found a dead butNATURAL intact HISTORY Annulated RESEARCH Seasnake REPORTS (Fig.: Summaries 2) of Published Daniel Reports on (2002) Natural History stated ...... that no information 247 on the diet  NEWBRIEFS ...... of this species ...... existed. However, snakes 248 kept at the Madras  EDITORIAL INFORMATION ...... 251  FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... (now Chennai) Aquarium are fed chopped 252 fish. Whitaker and Captain (2008) indicated that these snakes feed on fish and eels. According to a more recent study in the Iranian Hara (Mangrove) Protected Area (Rezaie-Atagholipour et al. Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. 2013),Back 27 Cover. of 35 Michael prey Kern items consumed by 19 of 34 snakes con- Totat et velleseque audant mo tainingTotat et intact velleseque or audant partially mo digested prey included four species estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus,of gobiid quos fish, accullabo. with Ilibus all but one fish a mudskipper (subfamily aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum Oxudercinae).aut dolor apicto invere The pe dolum snake that we found had two freshly con- fugiatis maionsequat eumque fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur sumedmoditia erere mudskippers nonsedis ma sectia in- its stomach. ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur Whitakerma derrovitae voluptam, and Captain as (2008) stated that this species accullabo. is uncommon in Indian coastal regions; however, Desai (2017) listed it as a widely distributed common species along the coastline in Gujarat. Although I have seen 40–50 seasnakes caught in nets or trawls, all were Common Seasnakes (Hydrophis schistosus) and none were H. cyanocinctus. This species is listed as being of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (Rasmussen et al. 2010) despite the threat posed by trawl fisheries. However, marine life along the Surat coast also is seriously threatened by pollution generated by major coastal industries and toxic wastes released into estuaries Fig 1. Distribution of the Annulated Sea Snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) in (e.g., Parmar 2018), suggesting that the long-term sustainability India showing the new locality in Dumas, Surat District, Gujarat. of seasnake populations in this region is anything but assured.

Fig 2. A dead but intact Annulated Seasnake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) washed ashore at Sulatanabad on Dumas Beach of the Surat District, South Gujarat, India. Photograph by the author.

Acknowledgements Das, I. 2006. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Borneo. Ralph I thank Mahamad Jahid A. Patel, Moksh H. Patel, Hardik V. Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, Florida. Desai, A. 2017. Sarp Sandarbh. Gujarat na saap vishay ni Mahiti [= Regarding Prajapati, and Piyush Kumar P for logistic support and help Snakes. Information about Snakes of Gujarat]. 6th ed. Prakruti Mitra during field surveys. A special thanks to Divyesh G. Gamit for Mandal, Dahod, Gujarat (in Gujarati). helping in specimen preservation. I also thank Dr. Shantilal Parmar, D. 2018. First record of a Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis platurus K. Tank, H.O.D. of the Department of Biosciences for his (Linnaeus 1766), from Gujarat, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 25: 137–138. support and interest in our findings. I thank Vrajesh D. Patel Rasmussen, A., K. Sanders, and A. Lobo. 2010. Hydrophis cyanocinctus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T176726A7291386. for helping with the map. Rezaie-Atagholipour, M., A. Riyahi-Bakhtiari, and M. Sajjadi. 2013. Feeding hab- its of the Annulated Sea Snake, Hydrophis cyanocinctus, in the Persian Gulf. Literature Cited Journal of Herpetology 47: 328–330. Chandrasekar, K., S. Balakrishnan, G. Arun, C. Satyanarayana, and K. Rezaie-Atagholipour, M., P. Ghezellou, M.A. Hesni, S.M.H Dakhteh, H. Venkataraman. 2018. New observation of intertwined Annulated Sea Snake Ahmadian, and N. Vidal. 2016. Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their Hydrophis cyanocinctus (Reptilia: Elaphidae: Hydrophiinae) from Pirotan westernmost extent: An updated and illustrated checklist and key to the spe- Island, Gulf of Kutch. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences 47: 2465–2468. cies in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. ZooKeys 622: 129–164. Daniel, J.C. 2002. The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. Bombay Natural Whitaker, R. and A. Captain. 2008. Snakes of India, The Field Guide. First reprint History Society, Bombay, India. edition. Draco Books, Chennai, India.