HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 27(3):476–478189 • DEC 2020
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATUREObservations ARTICLES of Himalayan Pitvipers, . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: GloydiusOn the Road tohimalayanus Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of(Günther the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...... 1864), Joshua M. Kapfer 190in the . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: DodaA Hypothetical District, Excursion ...... Jammu and Kashmir,Robert W. Henderson India198 RESEARCH ARTICLES . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ...... Amit Manhas Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida ...... Government CollegeBrian Suthaliya, J. Camposano, Rajgarh-465677, Kenneth L. Krysko, Madhya Kevin Pradesh, M. Enge, India Ellen ([email protected])M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212
CONSERVATION ALERT Photographs by the author. . World’s Mammals in Crisis ...... 220 . More Than Mammals ...... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ...... 225
he HimalayanHUSBANDRY Pitviper (Gloydius himalayanus), with a Trange extending. Captive from Care ofPakistan the Central Nettedto India, Dragon ...... Bhutan, and Shannon Plummer 226 Nepal (Whitaker 2006; Uetz et al. 2020), has been recorded from the IndianPROFILE states of Jammu and Kashmir (now a . Union Territory), HimachalKraig Adler: A Lifetime Pradesh, Promoting Punjab, Herpetology Uttarakhand, ...... Michael L. Treglia 234 Haryana, WestCOMMENTARY Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh (Whitaker 2006) at elevations as high. The asTurtles 4,900 Have Beenm Watchingasl (Wall Me ...... 1910). Gloydius Eric Gangloff 238 himalayanus hasBOOK been documented REVIEW in Jammu and Kashmir by Wall (1910), Murthy. Threatened and SharmaAmphibians (1976), of the World Sahi edited (1979), by S.N. Stuart, and M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, Manhas et al. (2018).R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young ...... Robert Powell 243 From March to August 2017, I conducted surveys at the following localities CONSERVATION in the Doda RESEARCH District REPORTS: of Jammu Summaries and of Published Conservation Research Reports ...... 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ...... 247 Kashmir, India (elevationalNEWBRIEFS ...... range 1,525–2,532 m asl): R1 ...... 248 = Village Zazinda, EDITORIAL R2 = Village INFORMATION Nai-Bhallara, ...... and R3 = ...... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ...... 252 Bhaderwah (Fig. 1). I photographed all amphibians and rep- Fig. 1. Google Earth© image depicting the localities in the Doda District tiles sighted (using a Sony DSC-HX300), took morphologi- of Jammu and Kashmir, India, where observations (R1, R2, R3) of Himalayan Pitvipers (Gloydius himalayanus) occurred. cal measurements when possible, and identified species using descriptions in Smith (1943), Sahi (1979), Khan and Tasnim (1986), Whitaker and Captain (2004),Front Cover. and Shannon Whitaker Plummer. (2006). BackSnakes Cover. were Michael primarily Kern nocturnal but sometimes basked Totat et velleseque audant mo Totat et velleseque audant mo I encountered a number of Himalayanestibus inveliquo Pitvipers velique rerchil (Figs. 2 duringestibus inveliquo the day velique in rerchilclose proximity to refugia in rock crevices & 3) and consider them commonerspienimus, in the region. quos accullabo. Variations Ilibus in erspienimus,and under quos rocks, accullabo. logs, Ilibus and other debris near streams, in open aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum autforests, dolor apicto and invereagricultural pe dolum fields. I observed snakes taking skinks color and pattern, meristic charactersfugiatis (Table maionsequat 1), and eumque body mea- fugiatis maionsequat eumque surements (Table 2) were comparablemoditia to ererethose nonsedis recorded ma sectiatur by Sahi moditiaand small erere nonsedis birds. ma Khan sectia- and Tasnim (1986) provided similar (1979), Khan and Tasnim (1986),ma and derrovitae Manhas voluptam, et al. as (2018).quos descriptionstur ma derrovitae of voluptam, habitat as use and diet. accullabo.
Fig. 2. Himalayan Pitvipers (Gloydius himalayanus) from the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The most frequently encountered color and pattern with no sign of separation between prefrontal and frontal scales (left), an unusually patterned snake with a small scale separating the prefrontal and frontal scales (center), and a darker individual (right).
Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 476 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. MANHAS REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):476–478 • DEC 2020
Fig. 3. Heads of Himalayan Pitvipers (Gloydius himalayanus) from the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India: frontal (left), lateral (center), and dorsal (right) views.
Generally lethargic, snakes responded to threats by snakes to lure prey (e.g., Allen 1949), tail vibrations usually attempting to flee or, if cornered, by coiling and sometimes serve a warning function that, while most frequently associ- shaking their tails. Although tail waving is used by some ated with rattlesnakes (e.g., Allf et al. 2016), is employed by a number of other species of snakes (e.g., Young 1997), includ- Table 1. Meristic characteristics of Himalayan Pitvipers (Gloydius ing viperids (e.g., Henry 1925). himalayanus) from the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Despite the abundance of these snakes, I am unaware of any local snakebite cases during the survey period. Local Dorsal scale rows (anterior, midbody, posterior) 21:23:17 people usually kill Himalayan Pitvipers on sight, even though Wall (1913, 1921) stated that a bite from this species results Supralabials 7/7 only in localized swelling and intense pain at the site of enven- Infralabials 11/11 omation and that these symptoms abate within two to three Supraoculars 2 days and have no long-lasting effects on victims. Parietals 2 Prefrontals 2 Literature Cited Temporals 2 + 3 Allen, E.R. 1949. Observations of the feeding habits of the juvenile cantil. Copeia 1949: 225–226. Frontals 1 Allf, B.C., P.A.P. Durst, and D.W. Pfennig. 2016. Behavioral plasticity and the Ventrals 147–160 origins of novelty: The evolution of the rattlesnake rattle. The American Naturalist 188: 475–483. Subcaudals 33–48 Henry, G.M. 1925. Notes on Ancistrodon hypnale, the hump-nosed viper. Ceylon Cloacal plate undivided Journal of Science, ser. B, 13: 257–258. Khan, M.S. and R. Tasnim. 1986. Notes on the Himalayan pit viper, Agkistrodon himalayanus (Günther). Litteratura Serpentium, ser. English edition, 6: 46–55. Manhas, A., R. Raina, and A. Wanganeo. 2018. Reptilian diversity and dis- Table 2. Comparisons of body measurements (in mm) of tributions in the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Reptiles & Himalayan Pitvipers (Gloydius himalayanus) from Jammu and Amphibians 25: 164–169. Kashmir, India. SVL = snout-vent length, TLL = tail Length, TL Murthy, T.S.N. and B.D. Sharma. 1976. A contribution to the herpetology of = total length. Jammu and Kashmir. British Journal of Herpetology 5: 533–538. Sahi, D.N. 1979. A contribution to the Herpetology of Jammu and Kashmir. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Jammu, Jammu, Jammu and Source SVL TLL TL Kashmir, India. Sahi (1979) 235–468 43–69 278–533 Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region, Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III-Serpentes. Khan and Tasnim (1986) 455 20 475 Taylor and Francis, London, United Kingdom. Manhas et al. (2018) 480–558 90–100 570–658 Uetz, P., P.Freed, and J. Hošek (eds.). 2020. The Reptile Database.
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of the Bombay Natural History Society 20: 65–79. Whitaker, R. 2006. Common Indian Snakes. A Field Guide. 2nd ed. Macmillan Publishers, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Wall, F. 1913. The Poisonous Terrestrial Snakes of our British Indian Dominions (including Ceylon) and How to Recognize Them, with Symptoms of Snake Whitaker, R. and A. Captain, A. 2004. Snakes of India: The Field Guide. Draco Books, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Poisoning and Treatment. Bombay Natural History, Bombay, India. Young, B.A. 1997. A. review of sound production and hearing in snakes, with a Wall, F. 1921. Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon. H.R. Cottle, discussion of intraspecific acoustic communication in snakes. Journal of the Government Printer, Colombo, Ceylon. Pennsylvania Academy of Science 71: 39–46.
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