WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, NO & 4 AMPHIBIANS• DEC 2008 189 • 22(1):1–7 • MAR 2015 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES Notes. Chasing on Bullsnakes Reproduction (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: of the Cuban Lesser 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: Racer, CaraibaA Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................ andreae (Squamata:Robert W.Dipsadidae) Henderson 198 Tomás M.RESEARCH Rodríguez-Cabrera ARTICLES1, Alexander Arango Leyva2, Ernesto Morell Savall3, Javier Torres4, and Ruben Marrero5 . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 1Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, CP 59290, Cuba ([email protected]) . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida 2 .............................................Parque ZoológicoBrian Nacional J. Camposano, de Cuba, Kenneth La L.Habana, Krysko, Kevin CP 10800, M. Enge, Cuba Ellen M. ([email protected]) Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 3Área Protegida “Sabanas de Santa Clara,” Empresa Nacional para la Protección de la Flora y la Fauna, Villa Clara, CP 50100, Cuba ([email protected]) 4DepartamentoCONSERVATION de Biología Animal y Humana, ALERT Facultad de Biología, Universidad de La Habana, La Habana, CP 10400, Cuba ([email protected]) 5 División. World’s de Zoología Mammals de in CrisisVertebrados, ............................................................................................................................................................. Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, La Habana, CP 10800, Cuba ([email protected]) 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 HUSBANDRY Abstract.—The .reproductiveCaptive Care of the Central biology Netted ofDragon the ....................................................................................................... Cuban Lesser Racer (Caraiba andreae Shannon) is very Plummer poorly 226 known, despite the species beingPROFILE among the most common and widely distributed snakes in Cuba. Herein we provide data obtained mostly in captivity. Kraig on Adler: eggs A Lifetimeand hatchlings, Promoting Herpetology incubation ................................................................................................ time, hatching behavior, and courtship Michael L. Treglia behavior. 234 COMMENTARY he West Indian snake tribe Alsophiini (Dipsadidae) . The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238 Tcomprises 10 genera and 49 species (Hedges et al. 2009; Henderson and PowellBOOK 2009).REVIEW However, reliable data on . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, reproductive biology areR. available Berridge, P. Ramani, for only and B.E. 18 Young species .............................................................................................................. (37%), Robert Powell 243 and most of those are isolated observations of courtship, oviposition, and/or CONSERVATIONhatchlings (see RESEARCH Henderson REPORTS: and SummariesPowell of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 2009 for a review). NEWBRIEFSTen species ...................................................................................................................................................................................... of alsophines in three gen- 248 era (Arrhyton, Caraiba EDITORIAL, and Cubophis INFORMATION) occur ..................................................................................................................................................... in the Cuban 251 Archipelago, and the FOCUS only ONspecies CONSERVATION for which: extensive A Project You repro Can Support- ............................................................................................... 252 ductive data are available is the Cuban Racer, Cubophis can- therigerus (Garrido 1973; Petzold 1978; Novo and Arazoza 1986; Fong and Garcés 2002; Domínguez and Moreno Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern 2003, 2006; Arango 2008). The reproductiveTotat et velleseque biology audant mo of the Totat et velleseque audant mo remaining species is virtually unknown.estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil The endemic Cuban Lesser erspienimus,Racer, Caraiba quos accullabo. andreae Ilibus erspienimus,Fig. 1. Typical quos accullabo. adult Ilibus Cuban Lesser Racer (Caraiba a. andreae) from aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum Canasí,aut dolor apictonorthern invere coast pe dolum of Mayabeque Province, Cuba. Photograph by (Reinhardt and Lütken 1862) (Fig. fugiatis1) represents maionsequat a eumque monotypic Raimundofugiatis maionsequat López-Silvero. eumque genus (Hedges et al. 2009; Zaher etmoditia al. 2009). erere nonsedis This ma polytypic sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as species comprises six subspecies distributedaccullabo. across the main island, Isla de la Juventud and some adjacent keys at eleva- Materials and Methods tions from sea level to 1,293 m (Schwartz and Henderson We collected snakes in the wild between 2007 and 2014 and 1991; Henderson and Powell 2009; Rodríguez et al. 2010; kept them in glass terraria (85 x 30 x 35 cm). We fed adults Estrada 2012). Thomas and Garrido (1967) and Estrada once a week, providing anoles (Anolis homolechis, A. porcatus, (1994) reported mating in nature, but offered few details. A. sagrei) or frogs (Eleutherodactylus spp. or juvenile Osteopilus Grant (1957) mentioned that “most of the females” of C. septentrionalis). We monitored the growth of five hatchlings a. orientalis collected by him on 5–26 April 1956 at Banes, (Table 2: No. 3B) for four months, during which they were Holguín Province “contained four to six yolks 10 mm. long fed juvenile Eleutherodactylus frogs (0.2–0.7 g) every 4–7 days. by half that width” and briefly described hatchlings. Schwartz Water was provided ad libitum for all individuals. and Henderson (1991) and Fong (2004) described egg Eggs were incubated in Petri dishes (diameter 16 cm, clutches. Herein we provide data obtained mostly in captivity depth 3 cm) (Table 1: Nos. 3A, 3B, and 4), placed in a plastic for 44 eggs and 31 hatchlings from six clutches. We also pro- container (16 x 12 x 7 cm) (Table 1: No. 5), or left where vide information regarding incubation time, hatching behav- they were laid in the terraria (Table 1: Nos. 1 and 2). We used ior, hatchling growth and coloration, and courtship behavior. five types of substrate for incubation: (1) humus-magnesian Copyright © 2015. Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera. All rights reserved. 1 RODRÍGUEZ-CABRERA ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 22(1):1–7 • MAR 2015 Table 1. Measurements of female Cuban Lesser Racers (Caraiba andreae) and eggs from the literature and this paper. SVL = snout-vent length of females (mm), N = number of eggs per clutch, length and width (mm) given as mean and range (in parentheses), TCM = total clutch mass (g), x̅/E = mean mass (g) per egg. Totals listed as mean ± one standard deviation. Measurements of clutch No. 5 were taken just before hatching. Female Eggs Source No. SVL N Length Width TCM /E — 294 3 19.3 6.0 — — Schwartz and Henderson (1991) — 310 3 30.8 (30.1–31.2) 8.6 (8.1–9.2) — — Fong (2004) 1 420 7 22.1 (20.2–24.4) 9.3 (8.9–9.5) 7.6 1.1 This paper 2 460 9 22.4 (19.7–25.3) 9.1 (8.7–9.5) 9.4 1.0 This paper 3A 410 6 22.4 (20.5–24.2) 9.0 (7.3–9.5) 7.3 1.2 This paper 3B Ibid. 5 20.5 (15.2–25.7) 8.7 (8.2–9.3) 4.9 1.0 This paper 4 450 6 22.2 (20.5–24.2) 9.3 (9.1–9.5) 6.8 1.1 This paper 5 — 5 20.8 (19.9–22.0) 12.7 (12.5–12.9) — — This paper Total 44 22.4 ± 3.0 9.4 ± 1.4 sialitic and ferralitic soil (serpentine soil) (Table 1: Nos. 1 and On 13 September 2007, we collected a gravid female 2), (2) an equal mixture of ferralitic soil and vegetable mat- C. a. orientalis (460 mm SVL, 210 mm TL, 38 g) near ter (Table 1: No. 3A), (3) neutral sand (Table 1: No. 3B), “Pico Cristal,” Frank País, Holguín Province (20°32’35”N, (4) peat (Table 1: No. 4), and (5) soil (Table 1: No. 5). We -75°28’26”W; ca. 1,000 m). On 29 September (16 days maintained moisture by periodically (every two or three days) after collection), we found a clutch of nine eggs inside the spraying water with an atomizer to keep relative humidity at terrarium (Table 1: No. 2). Four hatchlings emerged on 3 85–90%. Incubation temperatures varied from 25–31 °C. December (65 days after oviposition) (Table 2: No. 2); the We measured eggs to the nearest 0.05 mm with a remaining