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Herpetological Review 52(1), 2021
164 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
MANOLEPIS PUTNAMI (Thin-scaled Snake). DIET. Manolepis
putnami is a diurnal and terrestrial species endemic to Mexico.
It feeds primarily on lizards, with Sceloporus and Aspidoscelis
being the only genera registered (Ramírez-Bautista 1994. Man-
ual de Claves Ilustradas de los Anfibios y Reptiles de la Región
de Chamela, Jalisco, México. UNAM, Mexico. 127 pp.; Sánchez-
de la Vega et al. 2012. Herpetol. Rev. 43:346; Bello-Sánchez and
González-Christen 2016. Herpetol. Rev. 47:149). Here we report
the first case of predation by M. putnami on Urosaurus bicari-
natus (Tropical Tree Lizard), an arboreal and saxicolous lizard
endemic to Mexico.
At 1200 h on 20 March 2020, an M. putnami was observed
consuming an adult U. bicarinatus (Fig. 1) in tropical deciduous
forest in Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, Mexico (16.33000°N,
98.01277°W; WGS 84; 67 m elev.). The lizard had already been
captured by the snake when it was observed, and both were on
the ground. The snake proceeded to swallow the lizard in ca. 5
min.
I thank Sandra Jocelyn Garrido Mijangos and Javier Martínez
Toledo for their help in translation and writing of this note.
LUIS FRANCISCO NIETO-TOSCANO, Departamento de Biología,
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael Atlixco
186, Col. Vicentina, Iztapalapa, CP: 09340, Ciudad de México, Mexico; e-
mail: luisnietotoscano913@gmail.com.
MASTICOPHIS FLAGELLUM TESTACEUS (Western Coach-
whip). DIET. Masticophis flagellum testaceus is an active diur-
nal colubrid that ranges from northeastern Mexico and south-
ern New Mexico northward to the American Midwest (Powell
et al. 2016. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of
Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
Boston, Massachusetts. 494 pp.). Known prey items of M. flagel-
lum testaceus include Opheodrys aestivus, Phrynosoma cornu-
tum, Uta stansburiana, Aspidoscelis spp., Lepus californicus,
Sylvilagus sp., and species from the orthopteran family Acridi-
dae (McKinney and Ballinger 1966. Southwest Nat. 11:410–412;
Mueller and Whiting 1989. Herpetol. Rev. 20:72–73; Whiting et
al. 1992. Snake 24:157–160). Herein, we supplement the list of
known prey items for M. flagellum testaceus with the orthop-
teran species Pediodectes haldemanii (Haldeman’s Shieldback).
On 6 June 2020 at 1135 h, one of us (LGB) found a road-
killed M. flagellum testaceus (ca. 122 cm SVL) in Val Verde
County, Texas, USA (30.12498°N, 101.31140°W; WGS 84; 637
m elev.). Scavenging vultures had opened several holes in the
ventromedial portion of the body which exposed the snake’s
digestive tract and revealed a partially digested P. haldemanii
(Fig. 1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published
report of predation on P. haldemanii by M. flagellum testaceus.
LAWRENCE G. BASSETT (e-mail: lawrencebassett@gmail.com) and
MICHAEL R. J. FORSTNER, Department of Biology, Texas State Univer-
sity, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA.
MUSSURANA BICOLOR (Mussurana). DIET. Mussurana bi-
color occurs in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul,
Paraná, and Santa Catarina, Brazil (Costa and Bernils 2018.
Herpetol. Bras. 1:57). On 25 October 2019, at 2230 h, we ob-
served an M. bicolor (ca. 70 cm total length) next to one of the
Fig. 1. Partially digested Pediodectes haldemanii in the body cavity of
a road killed Masticophis flagellum testaceus from Texas, USA.
Fig. 1. Mussurana bicolor preying on a chiropteran.
PHOTO BY VINICIUS CARVALHO SILVA
Fig. 1. Manolepis putnami consuming an adult Urosaurus bicarina-
tus in Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, Mexico.
PHOTO BY LUIS FRANCISCO NIETO TOSCANO