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Herpetological Review 54(2), 2023
238 HERPETOCULTURE
and Mysis shrimp. Salamanders are fed twice weekly, and the
salamanders had been fed about three hours before the time
of this observation. However, it is not known how long the
cannibal had been in the process of consuming its prey and
whether it had begun ingesting it prior to the scheduled feeding.
Previous accounts of cannibalism among E. rathbuni adults
(Lee et al. 2021, op. cit.) reported a disparity in size between the
cannibal and its prey. Moreover, all previously reported events
have described a “headfirst” approach by the cannibal. Herein,
we report a cannibalism event of two similarly sized adult E.
rathbuni individuals with a “tail first” approach by the cannibal.
Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive
purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S.
Government. The findings and conclusions in this article are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
BRITTANY A. DOBBINS, Department of Biology, Texas State University,
601 University Drive, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA (e-mail: bd1217@txstate.
edu); DESIREE M. MOORE, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Marcos Aquatic
Resources Center, 500 E McCarty Ln, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA (e-mail:
desiree_moore@fws.gov); RUBEN U. TOVAR, Department of Integrative
Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2415 Speedway, Austin, Texas 78712,
USA; DANA M. GARCÍA, Department of Biology, Texas State University, 601
University Drive, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA.
SQUAMATA — LIZARDS
HOLBROOKIA LACERATA (Plateau Spot-tailed Earless Lizard).
MATING. Holbrookia lacerata is phrynosomatid lizard that was
recently elevated from subspecies status (Holbrookia lacerata
lacerata) and is now recognized as a full species (Hibbitts et al.
2019. Zootaxa 4619:139–154). Following this split, H. lacerata is
found in central Texas, USA, north of the Balcones Escarpment
(Hibbitts et al. 2019, op. cit.). Few studies have been conducted
on this species; therefore, little is known of their basic natural
history, life history, and general ecology (Hibbitts et al. 2021, op.
cit.). Due to the recent attention on assessing the conservation
status of this species, data such as these are necessary and im-
perative.
On 11 June 2021, we captured 5 adult H. lacerata (1 male: 61
mm SVL; 4 females: 59.5 mm mean SVL, range: 51–65 mm) from
near San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas (31.381°N, 100.160°W;
WGS 84; 563 m elev.). Upon returning to a laboratory at Texas
A&M University-Kingsville, we individually housed the lizards
in 38-L aquaria equipped with heat lamps, UV lights, and a
substrate of 10 cm deep sandy loam soil. The five aquaria were
positioned side-by-side along the 51 cm length side and we
placed a visual barrier of construction paper along half (ca. 25
cm) of the aquaria length, which allowed each lizard the option
of viewing its neighbor or positioning themselves out of line of
sight of the other lizards.
Within minutes of being placed in its aquaria, the male H.
lacerata noticed the female in the adjacent aquarium and began
a series of rapid head-bobs, then sprinted towards her until he
was pressed against the aquaria glass. The male used its front
legs to kick away soil in what appeared to be an attempt to dig
its way to the female. When first checked on the following day,
12 June 2021, the male had completely kicked away the soil
substrate along the aquaria edge abutting the female’s aquaria
by continually running against the glass in what appeared to
be futile attempts to get to her. At this point, we introduced the
male into the female’s aquarium, and he immediately ran to the
female, climbed on her back, bit the skin on the back of her neck,
and grasped her sides with his forelimbs. The female attempted
to escape the male's grip with slow, jerky forward movements
for ca. 20 s, however, the male continued to hold on to her. At
this point the female ceased trying to escape and the male
positioned himself to allow for cloacal apposition and inserted
his hemipenes and rhythmically flexed his tail for 15–20 sec
(Fig. 1). The male then partially retracted his hemipenes, which
were removed from the female’s cloaca; however, hemipenes
remained partially exposed for 3 s. The male remained latched
onto the female for another 30 s, laying completely motionless
with his eyes closed as she began to slowly move around the
aquarium dragging the male. After 75 sec from the initial grab
by the male, the male released his grasp of the female, separated
completely from the female, and laid motionless, which ended
the interaction.
Figɪɪ. 2. DiceCT scan of the prey animal’s head, 3D rendered in Dragonfly ORS: A) many abrasions can be seen along the dorsal surface of the
salamander’s snout and head, possibly indicating past altercations; B) a digital, sagittal section shows multiple rows of teeth. Scale bar = 1 mm.
Herpetological Review 54(2), 2023
HERPETOCULTURE 239
We left the male H. lacerata in the female’s aquarium for the
next 8 h to determine if they would continue to mate throughout
the day but no additional copulatory behaviors were observed.
We then returned the male to his own aquarium. To our
knowledge this is the first descriptive report of copulation in H.
lacerata.
Funding was provided by the Office of the Texas Comptroller
of Public Accounts. Collection of specimens and research
was conducted in compliance with Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department Scientific Collection Permit SPR-0620-085 and
received approval from the Texas A&M University-Kingsville
IACUC (#2021-03-08/1469).
E. DRAKE RANGEL (e-mail: evan.rangel@students.tamuk.edu),
SCOTT E. HENKE (e-mail: scott.henke@tamuk.edu), CHRISTIN MOELLER
(e-mail: christin.moeller@students.tamuk.edu), LUKE WILLARD (e-mail:
luke.willard@students.tamuk.edu), Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research
Institute, MSC 218, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas,
78363, USA; CORD B. EVERSOLE, Arthur Temple College of Forestry and
Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas 75965,
USA (e-mail: cord.eversole@gmail.com); RUBY AYALA, Department of
Biology and Chemistry, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas
78041, USA (e-mail: rubyayala87@gmail.com).
SCINCELLA LATERALIS (Little Brown Skink). PREDATION.
There are many records of spiders catching and consuming liz-
ards (Reyes-Olivares et al. 2020. Ecol. Evol. 10:10953–0964; Valdez
2020. Global Ecol. Biogeog. 29:13). Most of these involve large
spiders such as members of the families Theraphosidae, Cteni-
dae, or Lycosidae; however, there are instances of smaller spiders
consuming lizards. For example, Nyffeler et al. 2021 (J. Arachnol.
49:397–401) reported jumping spiders (Salticidae) consuming
small anoles and geckoes. The likelihood that a small spider will
be able to catch, subdue, and consume a lizard is increased if the
lizard is unable to escape a spider’s attack by being in a confined
situation. Here I report just such an incident in which a jumping
spider gained entrance into a cage housing a neonate Scincella
lateralis.
On 12 August 2022, I captured several neonate S. lateralis
from an oak-hickory forest in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, USA
for use in behavioral studies in my lab. Each neonate was placed
in a 300 × 130 × 70 mm clear plastic box with 4 mm diameter holes
drilled into the box lids for airflow. Although these holes were
large enough for the neonates to pass through, their inability to
climb the boxes' smooth sides prevented this. The lizards were
left undisturbed for 7 d, except for daily checks to add food and
water and remove waste. On 19 August 2022, one neonate (21
mm SVL, 0.2 g) was alive at 1140 h, however, the next day, 20
August 2022, at 1315 h, remains of the neonate, its tail and left
foot, were found under paper towels next to a Phidippus audax
(Bold Jumping Spider; 14 mm body length). Since the box was
checked 19 August when mealworms were added and no spider
was detected, I suspect the spider gained entrance into the box
through one of the holes in the lid sometime after the box check,
then killed and consumed the neonate skink.
Spider predation on S. lateralis has been reported previously
and include Latrodectus mactans (Black Widow) and Hogna
carolinensis (Carolina Wolf Spider; Neill 1948. Herpetologica
4:158; Hampton et al. 2004. Herpetol. Rev. 33:269–270). To
my knowledge, this is the first record of any jumping spider,
including P. audax, consuming a S. lateralis, and while not a ex
situ, or wild predation event, it seems possible it can occur under
field conditions. Jumping spiders in general, and Phidippus in
particular, are capable of taking vertebrate prey much larger than
themselves (Nyffeler et al. 2017. J Arachnol.45:238–241; Nyffeler
et al. 2021, op. cit.) and in this observation the lizard’s SVL was
1.5× larger than the spider's body length. This observation
underscores the need for researchers to check for potential
invading predators in their containers while keeping lizards in
captivity or taking measures such as putting screening on air
holes.
Research protocols were approved by the Northeastern State
University IACUC (#03082021-2). Lizards were collected under
the authority of Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
Scientific Collecting Permit number 7275.
MARK A. PAULISSEN, Program in Biology, Department of Natural
Sciences, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma 74464, USA;
e-mail: paulisse@nsuok.edu.
XANTUSIA VIGILIS (Desert Night Lizard). FRUGIVORY. Xantu-
sia vigilis is a small lizard endemic to the arid regions of south-
western North America and is sporadically distributed within
California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, USA, and Mexico (Bezy 1982.
Cat. Am. Amphib. Rept. 302:1–4). Xantusia vigilis are associ-
ated with Yucca brevifolia and tend to be found within decayed
branches and loose bark of Yucca, where they rarely venture from
concealed spaces (Miller 1951. Copeia 1951:114–120). Prior stud-
ies have outlined the diets of members of Xantusiidae. Xantu-
sia vigilis have been reported to be entomophagous, with a diet
mostly made up of small insects and occasionally other arthro-
pods (Miller 1951, op. cit.; Brattstrom 1952. Copeia 1952:168–
172). This is in contrast to the larger-bodied tropical night lizards
(Lepidophyma) and Island Night lizard (Xantusia riversiana)
where omnivory has been previously reported (Bezy 2019. Night
Lizards: Field Memoirs and Summary of Xantusiidae. ECO Her-
petological Publishing and Distribution, Rodeo, New Mexico.
220 pp.). While not a study on wild lizards, in captivity, a pair of
privately held captive born X. vigilis were found to consume fruit
and nectar on a regular basis. The lizards were maintained on
Drosophila melanogaster as well as commercially available fruit
and insect-based meal replacement diets intended for fruit eat-
ing geckos. Lizards readily consumed date fruits, banana and
honey puree, agave nectar, lychee, figs, and fruit flavored gecko
diets. To the best of our knowledge, here we present the first
instance of documented frugivory among X. vigilis. We believe
the cryptic nature and small size of these animals may have im-
peded detecting the breadth of their diet in the wild previously
and that future efforts should investigate a broader potential diet
among wild small-bodied Xantusia.
FERRIS E. ZUGHAIYIR (e-mail: f_z22@txstate.edu) and MICHAEL R.J.
FORSTNER, Department of Biology, Texas State University, 601 University
Drive, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA (e-mail: mf@txstate.edu).
Fig. 1. A male Holbrookia lacerata holding down female by grasping
her body with his forelimbs in order to insert his hemipenes.
PHOTO BY E. DRAKE RANGEL