NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
659
of P. inermicauda includes Egypt and Turkey. Israel is a new locality record for P. inermicauda We thank the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA permit number: 2015/40688). This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract no. APVV-15-0147.
Fig. 1. Ptychoglossus bicolor being preyed on by a tarantula, Pamphobeteus ferox.
Rojo de los Inverterbados Terrestres de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales-Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Conservación Internacional de Colombia, Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Ministerio de Ambiente. Bogotá. 216 pp.). We thank Y. Cifuentes and E. Florez for the helpful P. ferox identification and to U. S. Rozo for taking the photograph. NICOLÁS CASTILLO RODRÍGUEZ, Grupo de Herpetología, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Av. Carrera 30 No. 45-03, Bogotá D.C., Colombia (e-mail:
[email protected]); MIGUEL ÁNGEL MÉNDEZ GALEANO, Grupo de Biodiversidad y Sistemática Molecular, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Apartado 7495, Bogotá D.C., Colombia (e-mail:
[email protected]. co).
PTYODACTYLUS GUTTATUS (Sinai Fan-fingered Gecko). ENDOPARASITE. Ptyodactylus guttatus is known to occur in Egypt, Syria, western Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia, northern Oman, and Israel (Gizeh/Beni Hassan, Faroun; Werner 2016. Reptile Life in the Land of Israel. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main. 494 pp.). In this note we report the occurrence of a nematode Pharyngodon inermicauda from an adult male P. guttatus observed on 24 March 2015 in eastern Negev, Israel (30.95379°E, 35.02780°N; WGS 84). During an observation on P. guttatus, the gecko defecated fecal matter and uric acid that was collected. The nematode was preserved in 70% ethanol and shipped to CRB for identification. Pharyngodon inermicauda was identified according to Anderson et al. (2009. Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Archival Volume. CAB International, Wallingdord, Oxfordshire, UK. 463 pp.) and by comparison to the original description (Baylis 1923. Parasitology 15:14–23). The P. inerimicauda was accessioned at the Harold W. Manter Parasitology Laboratory (HWML), University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska (HWML 110052). Pharyngodon inermicauda was described from the geckos Tarentola annularis and Ptyodactylus hasselquistii (as Ptyodactylus lobatus) from Egypt by Baylis (op. cit.). Hosts for P. inermicauda include Tarentola annularis (Myers et al. 1962. Can. J. Zool. 40:531–538), Tarentola mauritanica (Moravec et al. 1987. Folia Parasitol. 34:269–280), Chalcides ocellatus and Hemidactylus turcicus (Al-Deen et al. 1995. J. Egypt. Soc. Parasitol. 25:145–206.), Ptyodactylus guttatus (Saber et al. 1995. J. Egypt. Soc. Parasitol. 25:395–406) all from Egypt; and Chalcides ocellatus from Turkey (Incedogan et al. 2014. Comp. Parasitol. 81:260–269). The range
DANIEL JABLONSKI, Comenius University in Bratislava, Department of Zoology, Bratislava, Slovakia (e-mail:
[email protected]); GUY SION, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel (e-mail: guy.
[email protected]); CHARLES R. BURSEY, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Biology, Shenango Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail:
[email protected]); STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department of Biology, Whittier, California 90608, USA (e-mail: sgoldberg@ whittier.edu).
SALVATOR MERIANAE (Argentine Tegu). ATTEMPTED PREDATION. Salvator merianae is an omnivorous tegu native to South America (Kiefer et al. 2002. Amphibia-Reptilia 23:105–108) that can grow to total lengths and weights of up to 1.6 m and 5 kg, respectively (Andrade et al. 2004. In Barnes and Carey [eds.], Twelfth International Hibernation Symposium, pp 339–348. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska). Free-ranging S. merianae were first documented in Florida, USA, in 2002 and have since become fully established, with their initial introductions attributable to the pet trade (Krysko et al. 2016. IRCF Rept. Amphib. 23:110–143). Few records of predation on S. merianae are known from its native range, which include predation by Panthera spp. (Puma and Jaguar; Palacios et al. 1997. Herpetol. Rev. 28:204–205) and Lycalopex spp. (Fox; L. Fitzgerald, pers. comm.), yet we are not aware of previous documented predation on S. merianae in its non-native range. Here we report attempted predation in Florida by Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator). In February 2016, we deployed a large, one-door Havahart® animal trap (model # BB1079; Woodstream Corporation, Lititz, Pennsylvania, USA ) and a small two-door Havahart® animal trap (model # b1025-3) side-by-side within the Southern Glades Wildlife and Environmental Area in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA (25.374°N, 80.493°W; WGS 84). Traps were located in hardwood-dominated edge habitat between a freshwater canal and seasonally inundated Cladium jamaicense (Sawgrass) marsh. Traps were deployed as part of an intensive S. merianae trapping effort east of Everglades National Park, and both traps were baited with intact chicken eggs. A motion-activated Moultrie® M-880 Gen2 game camera (EBSCO Industries, Birmingham, Alabama, USA) was positioned to capture animal movement in and around both traps. During 9–10 July 2016, a juvenile female S. merianae (mass = 22 g; SVL = 9.5 cm; total length = 26.5 cm) was captured in the small two-door trap. Between 0954 and 1003 h on 10 July 2016, the game camera captured nine images of an approximately 2-m long A. mississippiensis attempting to bite the trap containing the lizard (Fig. 1). Our observation demonstrates that A. mississippiensis may attempt to consume S. merianae in Florida and improves our understanding of this invasive species’ developing role within the Everglades ecosystem. This work was conducted under Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Nonnative Species Special Permit EXOT-16-13. Funding was provided by Everglades National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Science Program, and the USGS Invasive Species
Herpetological Review 48(3), 2017
660 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
We thank N. Melo and L. Melo for logistic support. This study was financed by research subsidies from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) to BPR (process number 127133/2015-1) and EMXF (process number 309424/2011-9) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) to MFK and MMR, and Sistema de Autorização e Informação em Biodiversidade – SISBIO for the authorization number 52798-1.
Fig. 1. Attempted predation on Salvator merianae by Alligator mississippiensis.
Science Program. We thank J. Sean Doody, Lee A. Fitzgerald, and Mark W. Parry for providing valuable comments on this note. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the United States Government. EMMA B. HANSLOWE (e-mail:
[email protected]), CHARLES V. CALAFIORE (e-mail:
[email protected]), KATHRYN N. SYKES (e-mail:
[email protected]), NOAH VAN EE (e-mail:
[email protected]), and BRYAN G. FALK, U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Beard Center, Everglades National Park, 40001 SR 9336, Homestead, Florida 33034, USA (e-mail:
[email protected]); AMY A. YACKEL ADAMS (e-mail:
[email protected]) and ROBERT N. REED, U.S. Geological Survey, 2150 Centre Ave, Bldg C, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, USA (e-mail:
[email protected]).
SALVATOR MERIANAE (Argentine Black-and-White Tegu). DIET. Salvator merianae is widespread in Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In Brazil, its distribution covers the entire territory south of the Amazon River, including the Caatinga, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest domains, occurring mainly in open areas and sunny environments (ÁvilaPires 1995. Zool. Verh. 299:1–706; Kiefer and Sazima 2002. Amphibia-Reptilia 23:105–108). Its diet consists of eggs, rodents, anuran amphibians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, fishes, birds, arthropods, molluscs, annelids, fruits, seeds and other plant parts. Occasionally, it eats small rocks, which facilitate digestion through abrasion (Mercolli and Yanosky 1994. Herpetol. J. 4:15–19; Ávila-Pires 1995, op. cit.; Kiefer and Sazima 2002, op. cit.). Here we report a field observation of predation on a leptotyphlopid snake by a juvenile S. merianae in the Brazilian Caatinga. At 1158 h on 25 September 2014, during a herpetological survey in a privately owned reserve in the municipality of Lagoa Nova, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (6.07°S, 36.33°W, WGS84; 710 m elev.), we found a juvenile S. merianae (SVL = 183.56 mm) in shrub-tree vegetation on sandy soil. During the lizard capture, using a 4.5-mm air rifle (Urko®), a specimen of the blind snake Epictia borapeliotes (SVL = 130.68 mm) was expelled from the lizard’s mouth. This is the first report of E. borapeliotes as prey of S. merianae. Predation of snakes by S. merianae was also observed in studies in the Argentinean Chaco and others locations (Mercolli and Yanosky 1994, op. cit.; Kasperoviczus et al. 2015. Herpetol. Notes. 8:21–23). The S. merianae and the E. borapeliotes were both deposited at the Herpetological Collection at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal (UFRN), Brazil (UFRN 4734 and 4735, respectively).
BRUNO DE PAIVA RÊGO, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil (e-mail:
[email protected]); MIGUEL FERNANDES KOLODIUK, MATHEUS MEIRA-RIBEIRO, and ELIZA MARIA XAVIER FREIRE, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Botânica e Zoologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário Lagoa Nova, CEP 59078-970, Natal, RN, Brazil.
SALVATOR MERIANAE (Teiú, Black-and-White Tegu). POACHING. The hunting of wildlife is an ordinary practice in Brazil, despite issues of legality. All orders of reptiles occurring in Brazil (Crocodylia, Squamata, and Testudinata) are affected by poaching (Alves et al. 2012. Environ. Monit Assess. 184:6877–6901) and most studies concerning illegal hunting in Brazil have been conducted in the Amazon. One such study reported the poaching of up to one million reptile specimens/year (Peres 2000. Conserv. Biol. 14:240–253), demonstrating the potential for populationlevel effects of hunting on reptiles. One of the poached species in Brazil is Salvator merianae (formerly Tupinambis merianae; Sauria: Teiidae), a widespread tegu lizard in Brazil, occurring from southern Amazonia to northeast, central, and south Brazil. The present communication reports the poaching of S. merianae in one of the most important Atlantic Forest remnants in southeastern Brazil. The Linhares-Sooretama Block (18.9057°S, 40.2125°W and 19.2393°S, 39.9454°W; WGS 84), a ca. 50,000-ha area of the Central Atlantic Forest corridor, represents an important remnant of Tabuleiro forest (forest located on flat terrain) in Brazil. Our poaching records were obtained from January 2000 to December 2014 and were gathered from institutions responsible for the monitoring of and combating environmental crimes in the area (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Instituto Ambiental Vale and Batalhão de Polícia Militar Ambiental do Espírito Santo). A total of 14 events of poaching of S. merianae were gathered, with 24 individuals slaughtered for meat consumption (mean = 1.7 individuals per event; Fig. 1). In one event in February 2014, nine slaughtered individuals were seized. In addition to the records of S. merianae, four events of poaching (one individual in each) were reported for Caiman latirostris (Broad-snouted Caiman; Alligatoridae), and one event for Chelonoidis sp. (tortoise; Testudinidae). It is noteworthy that the records obtained by the protection institutions represent only a small portion of the total number of poaching events and specimens that are slaughtered in the Linhares-Sooretama Block, so the impact of poaching is undoubtedly underestimated by our records. In addition to the potential impact of hunting on local populations of reptiles, we also emphasize the risk of transmission of microorganisms from contact and consumption of the meat of these animals by humans. Salmonella sp. and Escherichia coli, among other gram-negative bacteria, are examples of pathogens with zoonotic potential commonly found in reptiles (Magnino et al. 2009. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 134:163– 175). When ingested, these microorganisms can cause infections
Herpetological Review 48(3), 2017
