Content uploaded by Julia Riley
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Julia Riley on Feb 13, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
!
!
!
Officers and Editors for 2013-2014
President
ROBERT D. ALDRIDGE
Department of Biology
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
President-Elect
AARON BAUER
Department of Biology
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Secretary
MARION PREEST
Joint Science Department
The Claremont Colleges
Claremont, CA 91711, USA
Treasurer
ANN PATERSON
Department of Natural Science
Williams Baptist College
Walnut Ridge, AR 72476, USA
Publications Secretary
BRECK BARTHOLOMEW
P.O. Box 58517
Salt Lake City, UT 84158, USA
Immediate Past-President
JOSEPH R. MENDELSON III
Zoo Atlanta
Atlanta, GA 30315, USA
Directors (Class and Category)
FRANK BURBRINK (2016 R)
College of Staten Island, USA
ALISON CREE (2016 Non-US)
University of Otago, NEW ZEALAND
TIFFANY DOAN (2014 R)
Central Connecticut State Univ., USA
LISA HAZARD (2016 R)
Montclair State University, USA
TRAVIS LADUC (2014 Mem. at-Large)
University of Texas, USA
JENNIFER PRAMUK (2014 Cons)
Woodland Park Zoo, USA
CAROL SPENCER (2014 R)
University of California, Berkeley, USA
GREGORY WATKINS-COLWELL
(2016 R)
Yale Peabody Mus. of Nat. Hist., USA
Trustee
GEORGE PISANI
University of Kansas, USA
Journal of Herpetology
ERIN MUTHS, Co-Editor
U.S. Geological Survey
Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
GAD PERRY, Co-Editor
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
Herpetological Review
ROBERT W. HANSEN, Editor
16333 Deer Path Lane
Clovis, CA 93619, USA
Contributions to Herpetology
KRAIG ADLER, Editor
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2702, USA
Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology
AARON BAUER, Editor
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Catalogue of American Amphibians
and Reptiles
CHRISTOPHER BELL, Co-Editor
University of Texas, Austin
Austin, TX 78712, USA
TRAVIS LADUC, Co-Editor
University of Texas, Austin
Austin, TX 78758, USA
Herpetological Circulars
JOHN J. MORIARTY, Editor
Three Rivers Park District!
Plymouth, MN 55441, USA
Herpetological Conservation
JOSEPH C. MITCHELL, Editor
Mitchell Ecol. Res. Service
P.O. Box 5638
Gainesville, FL 32627-5638, USA
Publisher of Journal of Herpetology, Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, Herpetological Review,
Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, Herpetological Circulars,
Contributions to Herpetology, and Herpetological Conservation
!
Dear Author,
Attached please find a gratis pdf file of your article/note
published in Herpetological Review. You are receiving this pdf
at no charge as a benefit of SSAR membership, and it is for
your personal use only (see copyright notice below).
Sincerely,
SSAR Publications Office
Notice warning concerning copyright restrictions: The copyright law of
the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material such as PDFs. One of
these specific conditions is that the copy or reproduction is not to be "used
for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user
makes, or later uses, a PDF, copy, or reproduction for purposes in excess of
"fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. The Society
for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) holds the copyright to
this PDF. SSAR authorizes the author to use this PDF to fill reprint
requests for private study, scholarship and research purposes. It is a
violation of SSAR's copyright to distribute this PDF via mass emails, or
by posting this pdf on any website for download — Except the author's
own personal (not business) website / webpage.
Herpetological Review 44(4), 2013
680 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
of first being observed. The raven flew off with the tail piece. I
could not confirm whether the raven(s) consumed the tails.
Tail breakage induced or caused by ravens appeared to be de-
liberate, rather than a failed attempt at predation. It seems likely
that the ravens consumed the tails (or the muscle component).
Corvids are known for their problem solving abilities (e.g., Weir
et al. 2002. Science 297:981), and ravens may be responsible for
previous observations of incomplete tails in Australian Water
Dragon populations. Thompson (1993. Wildl. Res. 20:613–619)
speculated that the 41–47% rate of tail breakage/regeneration in
adult water dragons in another population was due to predators,
rather than intraspecific fighting. My observations partially sup-
port this idea, but also suggest deliberate “mutilation” by ravens.
Further observations of the proportion of tail loss in a popula-
tion, along with confirmation of ravens consuming the tails (or
parts of them), are needed to determine both the cognitive un-
derpinning of tail removal by ravens and its importance to Aus-
tralian Water Dragon populations.
J. SEAN DOODY, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of Tennessee, 569 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-
1610, USA; e-mail: jseandoody@gmail.com.
PLESTIODON FASCIATUS (Five-lined Skink). ARTIFICAL HAB-
ITAT USE. In central Ontario, Canada, from 1 May to 31 August
2012, systematic surveys were conducted to examine the im-
pacts of roads on reptiles. Surveys were conducted along 13 km
of Highway 69/400 in Parry Sound District and 6 km of Highway
529 in Magnetawan First Nation. Of the 28 Plestiodon fasciatus
found on or within 3 m of a road, 3 (11%) were dead, while the
remaining 25 (89%) were alive and interacting with the road. In-
teractions were categorized as either crossing the road (3 indi-
viduals; 12%) or hiding under cover alongside the roadside (22
individuals; 88%; Fig. 1). Only 2 individuals (9%) were found un-
der natural cover objects (rock, grass thicket), while 20 individu-
als (91%) were found under anthropogenic debris (garbage, tires,
sections of retread and cardboard). During haphazard surveys of
non-road sites, 7 individuals were observed, 2 (29%) of which
were under natural cover and 3 (43%) were under artificial cover
(habitat was not recorded for 2 skinks).
Interestingly, only 6% of all of the skinks found on Magne-
tawan First Nation (both road and non-road sites; Fig. 1) were
found under natural cover, suggesting that artificial cover may
be preferred habitat within this population. If this is the case, the
high level of refuse found along the roadside may attract skinks
to areas that subject them to an increased likelihood of road
mortality. Road mortality is a known threat to P. fasciatus popu-
lations in Ontario (COSEWIC 2007. COSEWIC assessment and
update status report on the Five-lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus,
in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in
Canada. Ottawa. vii + 50 pp.), and elsewhere across the species’
range (Illinois; COSEWIC 2007, op. cit., and Florida; Aresco 2003.
J. Wildl. Manage. 69:549–560).
It has been previously documented that P. fasciatus only oc-
casionally uses artificial cover objects in some populations (e.g.,
Hecnar 1994. Can. J. Zool. 72:1510–1516). In central Ontario, P.
fasciatus is thought to select habitat based on specific microhab-
itat characteristics; specifically, rocks averaging 55 cm in length
that provide thermal conditions that vary by no more than
1.99°C (Quirt et al. 2006. J. Herpetol. 40:335–342) and that pro-
vide an optimum cover temperature range of 28°C to 36°C (Fitch
1954. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 8:1–156). The specificity
of this species’ habitat preference is so strong that degradation
or alteration of microhabitat has been linked to population de-
clines (COSEWIC 2007, op. cit.). In our observations, tempera-
ture underneath artificial cover averaged 23.5°C (N = 16), which
is 4.5°C cooler than the previously reported selected minimum
optimum cover temperature (28°C) for this species. So, why
would P. fasciatus be selecting these artificial cover objects? One
possible explanation may be that factors other than tempera-
ture, such as an increase in potential prey, are contributing to
the increased skink abundance around roadways.
During the course of our road surveys, insects were collected
to examine insect road mortality, with an estimated total of 12,900
dead insects collected after colliding with vehicles (Baxter-Gilbert
et al., unpubl. data). Insects are known to be a major food source
for P. fasciatus (COSEWIC 2007, op. cit.), and a fecal sample from
one of the live Five-lined Skinks on Magnetawan First Nation was
comprised mostly of beetle elytra. It might be that the abundance
of P. fasiciatus around roadways is correlated with the increased
availability of immobilized prey items. Our observations demon-
strate a need to study the relationship between lizard ecology and
roadways to determine if anthropogenically-created resources,
such as roadside refuse and road-killed insects, are attracting
these reptiles to a known population threat.
We thank Jenn Baxter-Gilbert, Sean Boyle, Damien Buttin-
eau, Ron Maleau, and Chris Neufeld for their field assistance.
Financial support for this research was provided by Magnetawan
First Nation, Laurentian University, the Ontario Ministry of Nat-
ural Resources, and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. All
research was conducted under an approved Laurentian Univer-
sity Animal Care Committee protocol, and authorized by Mag-
netawan First Nation’s Chief and Band Council and the Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources.
JAMES BAXTER-GILBERT (e-mail: jx_baxtergilbert@laurentian.ca),
JULIA L. RILEY (e-mail: jx_riley@laurentian.ca), and JACQUELINE D.
Fig. 1. Distribution of Plestiodon fasciatus on Magnetawan First Na-
tion in Central Ontario differentially labeled by living (black circles)
or deceased (red crosses) individuals. Most skinks were found in
close proximity to human development, including roads and rail
lines (grey lines) and buildings (brown squares).
Herpetological Review 44(4), 2013
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 681
LITZGUS, Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario,
P3E 2C6, Canada (e-mail: jlitzgus@laurentian.ca).
PLESTIODON GILBERTI (Gilbert’s Skink). PREDATION. Ples-
tiodon gilberti typically occur in open grassy areas where bur-
rows or rocks provide quick cover. They also occupy woodlands,
streams, and other wetland areas (Behler and King 1979. The
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rep-
tiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, New York. 744
pp.; Stebbins and McGinnis 2012. Field Guide to Amphibians
and Reptiles of California. Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 538
pp.). Their association with wetland areas increases their risk of
predation by wading birds, including Great Egrets (Ardea alba),
which are opportunistic predators that take a variety of prey,
such as crustaceans, insects, frogs, tadpoles, lizards, snakes, and
small mammals. Great Egrets have been observed in the Florida
Keys searching for Anolis lizards (McCrimmon et al. 2011. In A.
Poole [ed.], The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of
Ornithology, Ithaca, New York; doi: 10.2173/bna.570).
On 19 April 2013, while hiking along a trail approximately
675 m E of the San Joaquin River in Fresno Co., California, USA
(36.8765°N, 119.7796°W; 90 m elev.), we observed a Great Egret
in an upland area struggling with something in its beak. Upon
initial observation the item appeared to be a snake but after
further examination of photographs taken of the egret, the prey
was identified as an adult P. gilberti. The skink was whipping its
tail back and forth, forcing the bird to attempt a better grip. The
bird tossed the lizard into the air and recaptured it with its beak,
swallowing the skink whole in less than 30 sec. Although likely a
common occurrence based on the similar habitat associations
of these two species, this observation, to our knowledge, is the
first to be reported.
HOWARD O. CLARK, JR. (e-mail: hclark@harveyecology.com) and
SUSAN I. HAGEN, H. T. Harvey & Associates, 7815 N Palm Ave., Suite 310,
Fresno, California 93711-5511, USA.
PSEUDOTRAPELUS SINAITUS (Sinai Agama). ENDOPARA-
SITES. Pseudotrapelus sinaitus is widely distributed in the Mid-
dle East where it inhabits rocky desert habitats (Bar and Haimov-
itch 2011. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel.
Pazbar Ltd, Herzliya, Israel. 245 pp.). To our knowledge there are
no reports of endoparasites from this species. The purpose of
this note is to establish the initial parasite list for P. sinaitus.
The body cavity of one female (SVL = 83 mm) P. sinaitus col-
lected 23 April 1952 in Israel, Northern Negev Region and depos-
ited in the Tel Aviv University Museum (TAUM), Israel as TAUM
688 was examined for endoparasites. A mid-ventral incision
was made and the coelomic contents were examined under a
dissecting microscope. Two nematodes were found. The stom-
ach wall was punctured in preservation and some contents had
spilled into the body cavity. Thus it is likely the infection site for
the nematodes was the stomach. The nematodes were cleared
on a glass slide in a drop of lactophenol, cover slipped, examined
under a compound microscope, and identified as two immature
ascarid nematodes. Voucher nematodes were deposited in the
United States National Parasite Collection (USNPC), Beltsville,
Maryland as USNPC 106981.
Ascaridoids commonly utilize vertebrates as intermediate
hosts; development to the adult nematode occurs when the in-
termediate host (in this case a lizard) containing infective larvae
is eaten by the definitive host (Anderson 2000. Nematode Para-
sites of Vertebrates, Their Development and Transmission, CABI
Publishing, Oxon, UK. 650 pp.). Pseudotrapelus sinaitus repre-
sents a new host record for larval ascarid nematodes.
We thank Shai Meiri (TAUM) for permission to examine P.
sinaitus, Erez Maza for facilitating the loan, and the National
Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University for providing
the P. sinaitus for this study.
STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department of Biol-
ogy, Whittier, California 90608, USA (e-mail: sgoldberg@whittier.edu);
CHARLES R. BURSEY, Pennsylvania University, Department of Biology,
Shenango Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail: cxb13@psu.
edu).
PSEUDOTRAPELUS SINAITUS (Sinai Agama). REPRODUC-
TION. Pseudotrapelus sinaitus is widely distributed in the Mid-
dle East and is known from Libya, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria,
Saudi Arabia, Arabian Peninsula, U.A.E., Oman, Sudan, Ethio-
pia, and Eritrea where it inhabits rocky desert habitats (Bar and
Haimovitch 2011. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of
Israel. Pazbar Ltd, Herzliya, Israel. 245 pp.). There is anecdotal
information on its reproduction found in Bar and Haimovitch
(op. cit.; Disi et al. 2001. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Hash-
emite Kingdom of Jordan, An Atlas and Field Guide. Edition
Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 408 pp.; Schleich et al.
1996. Amphibians and Reptiles of North Africa. Koeltz Scien-
tific Publications, Koenigstein, Germany. 630 pp.), indicating a
spring-summer breeding season with clutches of 5–9 eggs pro-
duced. In this note I provide additional information on P. sinai-
tus reproduction from a histological examination of gonads
from museum specimens.
A sample of 24 P. sinaitus deposited in the Zoological Muse-
um of the Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University (TAUM),
Tel Aviv, Israel, was examined. The sample consisted of 13 males
(mean SVL = 78.2 mm ± 4.3 SD, range = 71–83 mm), 10 females
(mean SVL = 75.3 mm ± 5.1 SD, range = 68–73 mm), and one
juvenile female (SVL = 54 mm) collected 1941–1958 in Israel
(32.01587°N, 34.78740°E). Vouchers utilized in this study include:
Fig. 1. Great Egret (Ardea alba) predating a Gilbert’s Skink (Plestiodon
gilberti) in Fresno Co., California