Content uploaded by James T. Stroud
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by James T. Stroud on Sep 17, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
Herpetological Review 51(3), 2020
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 631
suggest that the snake observed here was experiencing the sub-
lethal effects of TTX and that the impairment eventually subsided,
and the snake fully recovered. We cannot speculate on the dura-
tion of the snake’s immobility and thus exposure to predators (or
the elements), but lab studies show that recovery in T. sirtalis gen-
erally occurs within 1 to 3 h (Williams et al. 2003. Herpetologica
59:155–163), though some snakes remain impaired for over 7 h
(Brodie and Brodie 1990, op. cit.). This observation is noteworthy
because it is the first to document predation by T. elegans on meta-
morphosed Taricha in the wild and suggests yet a fourth snake
species may be engaged in the complex arms-race with newts.
CHRIS R. FELDMAN, Department of Biology, University of Nevada
Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA (e-mail: ophis@unr.edu); ROBERT W. HAN-
SEN, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Cali-
fornia 94720, USA, and 16333 Deer Path Lane, Clovis, California 93619, USA
(e-mail: hansenranch2@gmail.com); RYAN SIKOLA, Oceano, California, USA.
VIPERA ASPIS HUGYI (Southern Italian Asp). COLORATION.
Vipera aspis is a polytypic species for which four subspecies are
currently recognized: V. a. aspis, V. a. francisciredi, V. a. hugyi,
and V. a. zinnikeri (Golay et al. 2008. Amphibia-Reptilia 29:71–
83; Di Nicola et al. 2019. Anfibi & Rettili d’Italia. Edizioni Belve-
dere, Latina, Italy. 568 pp.). The polymorphism level is high in all
subspecies, with dorsal ground hues usually varying from light
grey to brown or reddish. The most common dorsal pattern is
the blotched morph and varies in the different subspecies with
more or less separated blotches of variable size (V. a. aspis and
V. a. francisciredi), variably thick zig-zag band (V. a. aspis and V.
a. zinnikeri) or elliptical, roundish or quadrangular shapes (V.
a. hugyi; Zwahlen et al. 2012. 7th World Congress of Herpetol-
ogy, Vancouver, Canada. 739 pp.; Di Nicola et al. 2019, op. cit.).
Melanistic individuals are known for all V. aspis subspecies (Bruno
1976. Atti Soc. Ital. nat. Museo civ. Stor. nat. Milano. 117:165–194;
Bruno 1985. Le vipere d’Italia e d’Europa. Edagricole, Milan, Italy.
278 pp.; Brodmann 1986. Die giftschlanger Europas und die gat-
tung Vipera in Afrika und Asien. Kümmerly + Frey, Bern, Switzer-
land. 148 pp.), even though they are only rarely reported for V. a .
hugyi (Di Nicola and Meier 2013. Herpetol. Rev. 44:698). A rarer
condition is the patternless or concolor morph (showing no or
greatly reduced dorsal pattern), which is well known for the nom-
inate subspecies (Mebert et al. 2011. Elaphe 1:9–13; Tessa 2016.
Atti XI Congresso Nazionale della Societas Herpetologica Italica,
Trento 2016) and poorly reported for V. a . zinnikeri (De Smedt
2006. The Vipers of Europe. – Eigenverlag, Halblech, Germany. 340
pp.; K. Mebert, pers. comm.). This color morph was also observed
on a putative hybrid between the latter subspecies and V. latastei
(Zuazo et al. 2019. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 30:35–41) and was re-
ported in a generic way for V. a. francisciredi (De Smedt. 2006, op.
cit.). The adaptive function of the concolor morph still requires
further investigation (Zwahlen et al. 2012, op. cit.; Tessa 2016, op.
cit.) although several hypotheses have already been proposed (see
Dubey et al. 2015. BMC Evol Biol 15:99).
Vipera aspis hugyi is endemic to southern Italy, being distrib-
uted in central and southern Campania, Apulia and Basilicata
(excluding the northernmost portions), Calabria, Sicily and on
Montecristo Island (where it was introduced in historical times;
Masseti and Zuffi 2011. Br. Herpetol. Bull. 117:1–9; Di Nicola et
al. 2019, op. cit.). On 29 May 2019, at 1129 h, an adult pattern-
less V. a. hugyi was observed in the territory of Noto, Province of
Siracusa, Sicily, Italy (36.96°N, 14.93°E; 520 m asl), by some for-
est workers who photographed (Fig. 1), filmed, and then let the
snake go. The individual had a totally uniform light brown dorsal
color; unfortunately, no detailed images of the head and belly are
available. The snake was found moving in a small grassy clearing,
located on the edge between a pine reforestation and a garrigue
with scattered bushes and rocky outcrops. The authors did not
have the opportunity to personally examine the snake, but the
morphological evaluation of the animal habitus and the finding
point leave no doubts about the reliability of the observation and
the subspecific identity of the individual. This report constitutes
the first observation of patternless morph in V. a. hugyi. Further
field investigation will be useful to check if it is an isolated case or
if this morph can be locally widespread, as happens in other asp
populations (Mebert et al. 2011, op. cit.)
We are gratefull to Nunzia Bennardo and Vincenzo Lombar-
do for providing us photographs and information about the viper
observation, Sebastian Colnaghi for putting us in contact with the
forest workers, and Salvatore Russotto for his communications.
MATTEO R. DI NICOLA, Via Bobbio, 20144 – Milano, Italy (e-mail: mat-
teodinicola86@libero.it); FRANCESCO P. FARAONE, Viale Regione Siciliana
S.E., Palermo, Italy.
XENOCHROPHIS TRIANGULIGERUS (Triangle Keelback). DIET
and FEEDING BEHAVIOR. The diet of Xenochrophis trianguliger-
us, a widespread aquatic natricine, has been reported to include
frogs, including frogspawn and tadpoles (e.g., Stuebing and In-
ger 1999. A Field Guide to the Snakes of Borneo. Natural History
Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. 262 pp.), and fish
(Das 2010. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of South-East Asia. New
FIg. 1. Adult patternless Vipera aspis hugyi individual from Noto ter-
ritory, Siracusa, Sicily.
PHOTO BY VINCENZO LOMBARDO
Herpetological Review 51(3), 2020
632 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
Holland Publishers, London, UK. 376 pp.). However, the diet of X.
trianguligerus east of Wallace’s Line, in Sulawesi and the Moluc-
cas, remains poorly documented (de Lang and Vogel 2005. The
Snakes of Sulawesi. Edition Chimaira Publishing, Frankfurt, Ger-
many. 312 pp.). Here, we report observations of this species pre-
dating and consuming fanged frogs (Limnonectes sp.) in Sulawesi.
One observation was made on 4 July 2008 within Lambusan-
go Forest Reserve, Buton Island, southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia
(5.35187°S, 122.90182°E; WGS 84). Both the snake and frog were
observed on sandy soil ca. 10 m from the bank of a small river,
between the buttresses of a small tree. The snake initially seized
the frog by its left rear leg and then maneuvered itself into a posi-
tion where it could consume it, rear first (Fig. 1). A similar observa-
tion was made by one of the authors (GG) in Bako National Park,
North Sulawesi, in August 2013. These observations demonstrate
that components of the diet of X. trianguligerus in Sulawesi is
similar to that of the species elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and also
highlights this snake as a predator of poorly-known Limnonectes
frogs. Images of this predation event have been deposited in the
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Herpetological Image Collection (USNM Herp Image 2901, 2902).
The fieldwork which documented this observation was cov-
ered by RISTEK permit 1261/FRP/SM/VI/08.
THOMAS E. MARTIN, Operation Wallacea, Old Bolingbroke, Lincoln-
shire, PE234EX, United Kingdom (e-mail: tom_martin_2010@yahoo.co.uk);
GRAEME R. GILLESPIE, Flora and Fauna Division, Department of Environ-
ment and Natural Resources, Northern Territory Government, Berrimah, NT
0828 e-mail: graeme.gillespie@nt.gov.au); MIRZA D. KUSRINI, Departemen
Konservasi Sumberdaya Hutan dan Ekowisata, Fakultas Kehutanan, Institut
Pertanian Bogor, Kampus Darmaga, PO Box 168, Bogor 1600, Indonesia (e-
mail: mirza_kusrini@yahoo.com); JAMES T. STROUD, Washington Universi-
ty, CB 1137, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, Missouri 63130-4899, USA (e-mail:
jameststroud@gmail.com).
XENOPELTIS UNICOLOR (Sunbeam Snake). PARASITES. Xeno-
peltis unicolor is known from southeast Asia and the East Indies
(Wallach et al. 2014. Snakes of the World A Catalogue of Living
and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. 1201 pp.).
There are two published records of helminths from X. unicolor:
the cestode Macrobothriotaenia ficta (Scholz et al. 2013. Zoo-
taxa 3640:485–499) and the nematode Meteterakis longispiculata
(Schmidt and Kuntz 1972. Trans. Amer. Micros. Soc. 91:63–66). In
this note we add to the helminth list of X. unicolor.
One adult female X. unicolor (540 mm SVL, 60 mm tail length)
collected in 2014 from Sumatra, Indonesia (0.5897°S, 101.3431°E;
WGS 84), was obtained from Bushmaster Reptiles, Boulder,
Colorado, USA. It was deposited in the University of Northern
Colorado Museum of Natural History Herpetology Collection
(UNC-MNH 6074), sacrificed, and the body cavity was opened
and searched for helminths utilizing a dissecting microscope.
The small intestines contained an assortment of helminths. They
were cleared in a drop of lactophenol, examined under a com-
pound microscope and identified as two Cestoda (Macrobothri-
otaenia ficta), five Nematoda (Meteterakis longispiculata), and 30
Acanthocephala (Sphaerechinorhynchus serpenticola). We identi-
fied M. ficta by comparison to Scholz et al. (2013, op. cit.) and M.
longispiculata from the key provided by Zhang and Zhang (2011.
Zootaxa 2869:63–88). Sphaerechinorhynchus serpenticola (Fig. 1)
was identified by comparison to the original description (Schmidt
and Kuntz 1966. J. Parasitol. 52:913–916). Sphaerechinorhynchus
serpenticola is previously known from Naja naja from Borneo
(Schmidt and Kuntz 1966, op. cit.) and Ophiophagus hannah from
Thailand (Kiel and Schmidt 1984. Avian/Exotic Practice 1:26–30).
A list of species of Meteterakis and their helminths was provided
by Junker et al. (2015. Syst. Parasitol. 92:131–139) and X. unicolor
is the only known host of Macrobothriotaenia ficta (Scholz et al.
2013, op. cit.). Voucher helminths were deposited in the Harold
W. Manter Parasitology Laboratory (HWML), The University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA as Macrobothriotaenia ficta
(HWML 111563), Meteterakis longispiculata (HWML 111564),
Sphaerechinorhynchus serpenticola (HWML 111565). Sphaerechi-
norhynchus serpenticola in X. unicolor is a new host record.
We thank Kamuran Tepetelan (Bushmaster Reptiles) for the
donation of X. unicolor and Chad Wangeline (UNC) for assistance
with SEM preparation.
STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department of Biology,
Whittier, California 90608, USA (e-mail: sgoldberg@whittier.edu); CHARLES
R. BURSEY, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Biology, Shenan-
go Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail: cxb123@psu.edu);
STEPHEN P. MACKESSY, University of Northern Colorado, School of Bio-
logical Sciences, Greeley, Colorado 80639, USA (e-mail: stephen.mackessy @
unco.edu).
FIg. 1. Xenochrophis trianguligerus consuming a fanged frog (Lim-
nonectes sp.) in Lambusango Forest Reserve, Buton Island, southeast
Sulawesi, Indonesia.
FIg. 1. a) Xenopeltis unicolor from Sumatra, Indonesia; b) seM image
of the anterior end of the acanthocephalan parasite, Sphaerechino-
rhynchus serpenticola removed from the intestine of X. unicolor.