WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSIRCF REPTILES • VOL15, NO & 4 AMPHIBIANS• DEC 2008 189 • 23(1):1–9 • APR 2016 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES The. Chasing Valley Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer of sayi ) inFour Wisconsin: Viper Species and a 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: HighlandA Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................ of Dwarfs: FieldworkRobert W. Henderson on 198 ThreatenedRESEARCH ARTICLES Vipers in Northeastern Turkey . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis1 equestris) in Florida 2 2 ˙ 3 1 Konrad ............................................. Mebert , BayramBrian J. Camposano,Göçmen Kenneth, Mert L. Krysko, Karıs¸ Kevin, Nas¸it M. Enge, I g˘Ellenci ,M. and Donlan, Sylvain and Michael Ursenbacher Granatosky 212 1Department of Environmental Sciences, Section of Conservation Biology, University of Basel, CONSERVATION ALERT St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056 Basel, Switzerland ([email protected]) . 2World’sDepartment Mammals of Biology,in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. Zoology Section, Ege University, Faculty of Science, TR 35100 Bornova-Izmir, Turkey 220 . More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 3Nevs¸ehir Hacı Bektas¸ Veli University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, 50300, Nevs¸ehir, Turkey . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 HUSBANDRY . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 urkey is well PROFILEknown for its high diversity of Palearctic Although Turkish authorities have established strict conserva� Tviper species, which. Kraig Adler: include A Lifetime vipers Promoting originatingHerpetology ................................................................................................ from tion laws to protect these Michael species L. Treglia against 234 illegal collection for Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. In the northeastern part the pet trade, chaotic and unresolved systematics and a short� COMMENTARY of the country, at least. The eight Turtles species Have Been Watchingoccur Mewithin ........................................................................................................................ a radius of age of ecological information Eric Ganglofffor most 238 species render current 200 km from the point where the three provinces of Erzurum, conservation efforts ineffective. Consequently, identifying Artvin, and ArdahanBOOK meet REVIEW (Nilson and Andren 1986; Joger et key environmental factors relevant to habitats and elucidat� . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, al. 1997, 2005, 2007; AvciR. Berridge, et al. P. 2010;Ramani, and pers. B.E. Youngdata). .............................................................................................................. Although ing which taxa actually represent Robert Powell independent 243 evolutionary these vipers occasionally gain positive public attention, due to lineages that deserve intensive conservation efforts are para� the potential medical CONSERVATION applications of RESEARCH their venom REPORTS: and theSummaries role of Publishedmount. Conservation These Research goals Reports can ................................. best be achieved 245 by studying habitat NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 they serve in ������������������������������������������������preventing NEWBRIEFS overpopulation ...................................................................................................................................................................................... by mice carrying infec� selection in the field as well as the genetics 248 and morphology tious diseases, we have EDITORIAL only minimal INFORMATION ecological ..................................................................................................................................................... knowledge with of populations in contact zones of two 251 or more species. For which to safeguard theirFOCUS existence ON CONSERVATION in nature.: AUnfortunately, Project You Can Support ...............................................................................................this reason, we have initiated a long-term 252 project to study vipers usually have a negative reputation in our society and geographic and genetic species delimitations of as many as are becoming increasingly threatened by anthropogenic actions eight taxa of the genera Vipera, Montivipera, and Macrovipera that include habitat degradation and intentional or accidental in northeastern Turkey. We began by identifying characteris� Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern killing. For example, in northeasternTotat Turkey, et velleseque increasing audant mo devel � ticsTotat of ethabitats velleseque inaudant contact mo zones between closely related species opment of monocultures, such as forestibus tea inveliquo and hazelnutvelique rerchil plan � withestibus the inveliquo intent velique of rerchilproviding relevant biological information erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus tations along the Black Sea versant autand dolor intensive apicto invere agricultural pe dolum necessaryaut dolor apicto for invere the pe conservation dolum of rare and threatened vipers in practices in vast semi�arid Central fugiatisAnatolia, maionsequat have eumque drastically northeasternfugiatis maionsequat Turkey. eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- decreased the natural habitat and thema associated derrovitae voluptam, microstructure as quos tur ma Results derrovitae from voluptam, expeditions as in 2013 and 2014 have been so important for the survival of vipers.accullabo. The construction of published (Göçmen et al. 2014; Mebert et al. 2015). Herein dams and massive livestock herding (sheep, goats, and cattle) we focus on results gathered during the 2015 expedition, have also dramatically and negatively altered the availability of which concentrated on two contact zones and involved four living space for small animals such as vipers. Hence, viper spe� species listed here with their current IUCN Red List status: cies often are characterized by declining populations and are (1) Montivipera wagneri (Wagner’s Mountain Viper): listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with a con� Critically Endangered; a Turkish endemic known from only servation status either requiring action or in need of evaluation seven areas and highly sought in the pet trade (Baran and (Aghasyan et al. 2009; Behrooz et al. 2015; Ettling et al. 2015; Atatür 1998); (2) Montivipera raddei (Radde’s Mountain IUCN 2015; Mebert et al. 2015). Viper): Near Threatened; known from at least 13 areas in Historically, interest in Turkish vipers has focused on Turkey alone and a few more in Armenia, but overexploited distributional data in a biogeographic context or exploitation in the pet trade in both countries (Nilson et al. 2009; Ettling for the illegal international pet trade, for which many of these et al. 2015); (3) Vipera darevskii (Darevsky’s Viper): rather attractively colored vipers are highly sought (e.g., Baran Critically Endangered; known from approximately 20 wild and Atatür 1998; Baran et al. 2004; Nilson et al. 2009). adult specimens, with an extent of occurrence probably less Copyright © 2016. Konrad Mebert. All rights reserved. 1 MEBERT ET AL. IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 23(1):1–9 • APR 2016 Fig. 1. Interviewing local residents about the occurrence, threat, and biology of vipers inhabiting an area using a questionnaire with images of regional species. than 100 km2 and habitat of <10 km2 in Armenia alone, with the vipers present in their area by showing them photos of a similar situation in Turkey (Aghasyan et al. 2009; Tuniyev regional species (Fig. 1) from which they correctly identified et al. 2009a; Mebert et al. 2015); (4) Vipera eriwanensis approximately 90% of local species. (Armenian Steppe Viper): Vulnerable; known from approxi� For each viper observed, we recorded the exact locality mately 14 areas in Turkey and a few more in Georgia and with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and noted Armenia (e.g., Tuniyev et al. 2009b; Mebert et al. 2015). macro- and microhabitat structures within 25 m and 5.5 m, respectively, of where the viper was discovered. We deter� Applied Field Methods mined the sex of each snake and photographed every indi� The expeditions in 2013 and 2014 included searches for