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Second Record of Walterinnesia Aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 from Southeastern Anatolia

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Second Record of Walterinnesia Aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 from Southeastern Anatolia ©Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie e.V., Wien, Austria, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 19 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juli 2006 SHORT NOTE 87 Second record of Walterinnesia I. BARAN, Y. KUMLUTAS, Ç. ILGAZ and A. aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 Avci. The site is approximately 64 km east of the first Turkish record. The snake was from southeastern Anatolia kept alive in a terrarium in the biology lab- oratories of the Faculty of Education, Do- The Desert Black Snake Walterinnesia kuz Eyliil University. A mouse {Mus mus- aegyptia LATASTE, 1887, is known from the culus) was offered upon arrival on 1 May northern part of Egypt (east of the river but was not eaten by the snake. After two Nile, southern Sinai included), southern Is- weeks during which food uptake was rael, western Jordan, Saudi Arabia (east of refused, the Walterinnesia specimen was the hill and mountain chains, north of the ar- fixed in 5% formaldehyde, preserved in Rub 'al-HälT desert), Kuwait, northern Iraq 70% ethanol according to BASOGLU & (region of Al-Mösul in the Tigris river val- BARAN (1980) and registered in the Zoology ley), western and southwestern Iran (Zagros Department of the Ege University collection Mountains in the Provinces of Khuzistan (ZDEU 108/2005). Color slides were taken and Fars) (CORKILL 1932; MARX 1953; REED from the live specimen. & MARX 1959; ANDERSON 1963; HARDING For general aspect, color and pattern & WELCH 1980; WELCH 1983; JOGER 1984; see figures 1 and 2. Observe the relatively GASPETETTI 1988; WERNER 1988; LATIFI short tail and its tip ending with a sharp 1991; LEVITON et al. 1992; GOLAY et al. thorn. The pholidosis characters are sum- 1993; Disi & BÖHME 1996; DAVID & INEICH marized and compared with those of the 1999). MINTON et al. (1970) mentioned W. §anhurfa specimen (UöURTAset al. 2001) in aegyptia from Syria without indicating any table 1. Head pholidosis is shown in figures precise locality. DISI & BÖHME (1996) added 3-5. Further details of head pholidosis: W aegyptia to the list of reptiles of Syria, Nostril surrounded by three nasals and one but the record was found to be doubtful by internasal; prefrontal as long as wide; length MARTENS (1997). However, a Syrian spe- of frontal 1.4 times its width; parietal 1.8 cimen has been reported by SERRA (2005) times as long as frontal. on a web page about the fauna of Syria in Dorsal scales smooth in the anterior which the snake is shown and a paper two thirds of the body, strongly keeled in the (SINDACO et al. in prep.) on its presence in posterior third and on the tail. Number of Syria is announced. The record of W. ventrals 182 (counted according to DOWLING aegyptia from Lebanon reported by HARD- 1951). Anal plate divided (fig. 6). Subcau- ING & WELCH (1980), WELCH (1983) and dals 43, the first divided in three parts, 2-5 GOLAY et al. (1993) is erroneous (JOGER entire, 6-28 divided, 29 entire, 30-43 divid- 1984; GASPERETTI 1988; LEVITON et al. ed. Regarding pholidosis characters, mor- 1992; DAVID & INEICH 1999). phometric measurements and color-pattern Recently, UöURTAset al. (2001) found features, the specimen collected from Vir- W. aegyptia, four km from the town of ançehir, vilayet of Çanhurfa is within the Çanhurfa (37°85'89"N, 38°45'145"E), in variation reported in the literature (GASPE- southern Anatolia, Turkey. The authors pro- RETTI 1988; JOGER 1984; DMI'EL et al. vided a detailed description of the female (1990), LEVITON et al. 1992; UöURTASet al. specimen (California Academy of Sciences, 2001). Department of Herpetology, San Francisco Although W. aegyptia is characterized CAS N220647) and discussed the distribu- by its nocturnal and fossorial mode of life tion and taxonomic status of the species. In (GASPERETTI 1988; UöURTAset al. 2001) our the follwing account the second Desert specimen was captured in the early after- Black Snake found in Turkey is presented noon (14:00) at a temperature of 26°C. The and compared with the individual reported sympatric reptile fauna comprised Ophisops byUGURTAsetal. (2001). elegans MÉNÉTRIES, 1832, Eumeces schnei- The new specimen of W. aegyptia is a den (DAUDIN, 1802), Leptotyphlops macro- male which was collected near Viran§ehir, rhynchus (JAN, 1862), Lacerta cappadocica vilayet of Çanhurfa (36°57'306"N, 39°20' F. WERNER, 1902, Eirenis coronella (SCHLE- 769"E) at 568 m a.s.l. on April 28, 2005 by GEL, 1837), Platyceps ventromaculatus (GRAY, ©Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie e.V., Wien, Austria, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at 88 SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 19 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juli 2006 SHORT NOTE ©Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie e.V., Wien, Austria, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 19 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juli 2006 SHORT NOTE 89 Table 1 : Pholidosis characters of the two speci- 1834), and Malpolon monspessulanus (HER- mens of Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 known MANN, 1804). from Turkey. CAS - California Academy of Sciences, Department of Herpetology, San Francisco, ZDEU - The present Walterinnesia specimen Zoology Department of the Ege University collection. was found among big calcareous rocks at the PO+PN - Preocular in contact with posterior nasal; POC edge of a cultivated area (fig. 7). The first - Postoculars; SO - Subocular; RW/RL - Rostral width / Turkish pecimen was caught on a semi- Rostral length; FL/RL - Frontal length / Rostral length; FL/IL - Frontal length / Internasal length; FL/PFL - desert plateau at 713 m a.s.l. in a drainage Frontal length / Prefrontal length; SPOL/SPOW - tube near the highway during night excur- Supraocular length / Supraocular width; PL/ PW - sion; the ambient karst massif was covered Parietal length / Parietal width; UAT+POC - Upper with sparse xerophytic vegetation and haw- Anterior Temporal in contact with Postocular; UAT+SO - Upper Anterior Temporal in contact with Subocular; thorn {Crataegus) grew along the edge of the LAT+SO - Lower Anterior Temporal in contact with canyons (UGURTAS et al. 2001). CORKILL Subocular; LAT+SRLs+6 - Lower Anterior Temporal in (1932) noted that Walterinnesia occurs in a contact with 5th and 6th Supralabials; LPT+SRL6+7 - variety of habitats, buildings, play grounds, Lower Posterior Temporal in contact with 6th and 7th Supralabials; E+SRL3+4 - Eye in contact with 3rd and cultivated fields and open desert included. 4th Supralabials; POC+SRL5 - Lower Postocular in con- LEVITON et al. (1992) mentioned that it tact with 5th Supralabial; SO+SRL5 - Subocular in con- avoids sandy desert and mountains and is tact with 5th Supralabial; SRL - Supralabails, SL - highly secretive, spending most of the time Sublabials, AIM/PIM - Anterior Inframaxillar length / Posterior Inframaxillar length, DS80-100 - Longitudinal in burrows of mammals or the large spiny- Dorsal Scale rows at mid-trunk (between ventrals no. tail lizard, Uromastyx. In some contrast to 80-100), V - Ventrals, SC - Subcaudals. the above and MENDELSSOHN'S (1963) obser- vations, ZINNER (1971) reported Walter- Character ZDEU 108/2005 CASN220647 innesia to spend almost all of its active time foraging on the surface (which is, however, Gender male female from about 21:00 to 03:00, at optimal tem- Loreal absent absent PO+PN Yes Yes peratures between 16-22 °C). In captivity Total Length [mm] 1090 880 the snake was observed to drink large (Snout-vent+Tail) (945+145) (767+113) amounts of water (MENDELSSOHN 1963) and POC (left/right) 2/3 2/2 to feed on reptiles of suitable size, frogs and SO 1 1 toads (ZINNER 1971). According to the latter RW/RL 1.6 1.4 FL/RL 1.5 1.3 author the Green Toad (Bufo viridis LAU- FL/IL 1.5 1.9 RENTI, 1768) is the natural staple food for FL/PFL 1.5 1.7 Walterinnesia in Israel. SPOL/SPOW 2.1 1.8 PL/PW 1.7 2.2 When disturbed, our specimen hissed Temporals 2+3 2+3 and stroke towards the aggressor, in general UAT+POC Yes Yes with its mouth closed as stated in LEVITON et UAT+SO No Yes al. (1992). When handling the live snake, LAT+SO No Yes UGURTAS LAT+SRL5+6 Yes Yes et al. (2001) observed defensive tail LPT+SRL6+7 Yes Yes stabbing which was displayed by our speci- E+SRL3+4 Yes Yes men as well. POC+SRL5 Yes Yes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This work forms SO+SRL5 Yes Yes part of a project (Project No: TBAG-2407 (104T017) SRL (left/right) 111 in supported by TUBÎTAK. (The Scientific and Technical SL (left/right) 9/9 9/10 Research Council of Turkey). AIM/PIM 1.2 1.3 REFERENCES: ANDERSON, S. C. (1963): Am- DS80-100 21 21 phibians and reptiles from Iran.- Proc. California Acad. V 182 186 Sci., San Francisco; (Ser. 4) 31 (16): 417-498. BASO- SC 43 43 ÓLU, M. & BARAN, 1. (1980): Türkiye Sürüngenleri Figs. 1 - 6 (opposite page): Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 from Viransehir, vilayet of Sanliurfa, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey (ZDEU 108/2005). 1 - Dorsal view; 2 - Ventral view.; 3 - Head from dorsal; 4 - Head from ventral; 5 - Head from lateral; 6 - Anal region. Fig. 7 (opposite page): Habitat of Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 (ZDEU 108/2005) at Viransehir, vilayet of Çanhurfa, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. ©Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie e.V., Wien, Austria, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at 90 SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 19 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juli 2006 SHORT NOTE Kisim II. Yilanlar.- Ege Üniv. Fen Fak. Kitaplar Serisi, KEY WORDS: Reptilia: Squamata: Ophidia: izmir, 76: 1-217. CORKILL, N. L. (1932): The snakes of Elapidae: Walterinnesia aegyptia, morphology, Pholi- Iraq.- J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, Bombay; 35: 550-572. dosis, distribution, second record in Turkey DAVID, P. & INEICH, I. (1999): Les serpents venimeux du SUBMITTED: July 25, 2005 monde: systématique et répartition.- Dumérilia, Paris; 3: 3-499.
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