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University Museum of Natural History (AHAP-D 1092a, b). RON ARBAUGH, Aiken ... A host voucher specimen was deposited in the Arkansas. State University ...
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

RON ARBAUGH, Aiken, South Carolina, USA; TRAVIS ARBAUGH, Lexington, South Carolina, USA; DAVID A. STEEN, Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, 1090 South Donahue Drive, Auburn, Alabama, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).

NERODIA SIPEDON PLEURALIS (Midland Watersnake). ACANTHOCEPHALAN PARASITE. Although much is known about the helminth parasites of Nerodia sipedon, little is known of those of N. s. pleuralis (Ernst and Ernst 2006. SSAR Herpetol. Circ. 34:1–86). In addition, we are not aware of any acanthocephalan (spiny-headed worm) parasite reported from N. s. pleuralis. Here, we report a new host and distributional record for an acanthocephalan from a N. s. pleuralis in Arkansas. Nine juvenile and adult N. s. pleuralis (SVLs = 162–775 mm) were collected between April 2010 and July 2014 from Fulton (N = 1), Franklin (N = 1), Independence (N = 5), Marion (N = 1) and Montgomery (N = 1) counties, Arkansas, USA. They were euthanized with an intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital (Nembutal®) and a mid-ventral incision was made to expose the visceral contents. A single male acanthocephalan was recovered from the small intestine, placed overnight in tap water, fixed in 70% ethanol, stained with acetocarmine and mounted in Damar balsam, and identified by MAB. A voucher specimen (HWML 75378) was deposited in the Harold W. Manter Laboratory (HWML) of Parasitology, University of NebraskaLincoln. A host voucher specimen was deposited in the Arkansas State University Museum (ASUMZ) Herpetological Collection, State University, Arkansas. One of 9 (11%) N. s. pleuralis collected on 5 March 2014 from Mill Creek at Spring Mill, Independence Co. (35.825°N, 91.725°W; WGS 84) was found to be infected with a single male acanthocephalan that fit the description of Pomphorhynchus bulbocolli Linkins in Van Cleave, 1919. This acanthocephalan has been previously reported widely from North America in over 80 freshwater fishes (Amin 1987. J. Parasitol. 73:278–289; Hoffman 1999. Parasites of North American Freshwater Fishes. 2nd ed. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York. 539 pp.). Intermediate hosts of P. bulbocolli are the amphipods, Gammarus pseudolimnaeus and Hyalella azteca (Muzzall 1982. J. Helminthol. Soc. Washington 49:289–294; Barger and Nickol 1998. J. Parasitol. 84:534–537). The presence of P. bulbocolli in this snake is considered to be an artifact of a piscivorous diet and the host should be considered accidental. However, this is the first time this acanthocephalan has been reported in N. sipedon. We thank the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for a Scientific Collecting Permit issued to CTM, and S. L. Gardner (HWML) and S. E. Trauth (ASUMZ) for expert curatorial assistance. CHRIS T. McALLISTER, Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Idabel, Oklahoma 74745, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); MICHAEL A. BARGER, Department of Natural Science, Peru State College, Peru, Nebraska 68421, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); HENRY W. ROBISON, 9717 Wild Mountain Drive, Sherwood, Arkansas 72120, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).

OXYBELIS AENEUS (Brown Vinesnake). DIET. Oxybelis aeneus is a long, slender, arboreal snake that is widely distributed from Arizona, USA, to southeastern Brazil (Stebbins 1954. Amphibians and Reptiles of Western North America. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA. 536 pp.). Its diet includes a wide range of vertebrates, including amphibians, arboreal mammals, small rodents, small birds, fish, and primarily lizards (Henderson 1982. AmphibiaReptilia 3:71–80; Savage 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. 934 pp.; Hetherington 2006. Herpetol. Rev. 37:94–95). At 1119 h on 19 May 2015, at Pontal da Santa Cruz (7.21051111ºS, 39.7335444ºW, WGS 84; 730 m elev.), located at Chapada do Araripe municipality of Santana do Cariri, Ceará state, Brazil, an adult male O. aeneus (SVL = 917 mm; Tail length = 549 mm; 91 g) was sighted in a tree ingesting an adult male Tropidurus hispidus (Fig. 1A; SVL = 79 mm; Tail length = 130 mm; 25.4 g) headfirst. During collection the snake regurgitated the freshly killed lizard. Both the snake and the lizard were collected and deposited at the Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade Regional do Cariri (Fig. 1B; URCA-H 11017, 11018, respectively). Despite the variety of prey types reported for diet of O. aeneus, to the best of our knowledge this is the first record of predation by O. aeneus on T. hispidus. We thank Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FUNCAP) for a research fellowship to RWA (process BPI-0067-000060100/12) and for a Master fellowship to EPA; and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for a Master fellowship to CFS.

PHOTO BY H. F. OLIVEIRA

81.889167°W; WGS 84). Upon cleaning one of the fish, RA noticed a dead but largely intact juvenile N. erythrogaster inside (Fig. 1), suggesting that the snake had been consumed in a recent predation event. The current observation is separated from the only other known fish predation record by over 30 years and 1000 km. Photographic vouchers were deposited in the Auburn University Museum of Natural History (AHAP-D 1092a, b).

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PHOTO BY H. F. OLIVEIRA

648 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

FIG. 1. Predation by Oxybelis aeneus on Tropidurus hispidus.

CRISTIANA FERREIRA DA SILVA (e-mail: cristianasilva006@gmail. com), EDNA PAULINO DE ALCANTARA, HERIVELTO FAUSTINO DE OLIVEIRA, MARIA AUREA SOARES DE OLIVEIRA, and ROBSON WALDEMAR ÁVILA, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Regional do Cariri - URCA, Campus do Pimenta, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Bairro do Pimenta, CEP 63105-100, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.

PSAMMOPHIS SCHOKARI (Schokari Sand Racer). ENDOPARASITE. Psammophis schokari occurs throughout Israel and is widely distributed in the Middle East and northern Africa (Bar and Haimovitch 2011. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel. Pazbar Ltd., Herzilya. 245 pp.). Tomé et al. (2013. J. Parasitol. 99:883–887) reported apicomplexan parasites in P. schokari. In this note we add to the P. schokari parasite list.

Herpetological Review 46(4), 2015

Herpetological Review 46(4), 2015