REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 28(2): 348–349 • AUG 2021

348

HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANS

Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 2332-4961

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

F E A T U R E A R T I C L E S

Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190

The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198

R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E S

The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida

.............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

C O N S E R V A T I O N A L E R T

World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225

H U S B A N D R Y

Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226

P R O F I L E

Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234

C O M M E N T A R Y

The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238

B O O K R E V I E W

Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243

CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252

Front Cover. Shannon Plummer.Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos accullabo.

Back Cover. Michael KernTotat et velleseque audant mo

estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus

aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque

moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia-tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as

IRC

F

REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSC O N S E R V AT I O N A N D N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y

Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.

Despite the fact that nearly all snakes accept carrion in captivity (Rossi 1992) and many reported instances of

scavenging in snakes over the last seven decades (e.g., Cowles 1946; Monapatra 2011; Platt and Rainwater 2011; Ayres 2012; Ghosh and Chaudhuri 2015; Deshmukh et al. 2018), scavenging by wild snakes has been neglected in much of the literature dealing with snake diets and behavior (DeVault and Krochmal 2002). Exploitation of carrion as a food source is difficult to evaluate using methods like stomach-content analyses; thus most observations of scavenging in nature are anecdotal. Although various species of snakes have been observed scavenging, aquatic and semi-aquatic species have been

reported more frequently than others (e.g., DeVault and Krochmal 2002; Lillywhite et al. 2002; Marques et al. 2017). Perhaps because scavenging depends largely on chemical cues, on which these species depend for finding food. The importance of chemical cues for finding carrion in the Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis) was demonstrated clearly by Shivik and Clark (1997) and Shivik (1999). The Checkered Keelback (Fowlea piscator) is a non-ven-omous snake found throughout India (Whitaker and Captain 2004). These snake are closely associated with water, inhab-iting ditches along roads, streams, stagnant water in paddy fields, and holes and bushes near permanent sources of water. Checkered Keelbacks are generalist predators known to feed

First Record of Scavenging by a Checkered Keelback, Fowlea piscator (Schneider 1799) (Natricidae), in Western Maharashtra, India

Nakul Wewhare and Ujwal Pandey

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Ward No. 8, NCL Colony, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra–411008, India (nakul.wewhare@students.iiserpune.ac.in)

Fig. 1. A Checkered Keelback (Fowlea piscator) feeding on a road-killed Wide-spread Fungoid Frog (Hydrophylax bahuvistara). Photographs by Nakul Wewhare.

WEWHARE AND PANDEY REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 28(2): 348–349 • AUG 2021

349

on insects; fish; frogs, eggs, and larvae; and occasionally birds and rodents (Hossain 2016). Herein, we provide the first report of scavenging by a Checkered Keelback. At 0630 h on 10 June 2021 at the edge of a road in Pali Khurd, Maharashtra, India (18.2553°N, 17.1804°E; elev. 23 m asl), we encountered a Checkered Keelback trying to swal-low the road-killed carcass of a Wide-spread Fungoid Frog (Hydrophylax bahuvistara) (Fig. 1). The snake tried to swal-low the frog for about two minutes and, when approached by an observer, carried the carcass into dense roadside vegeta-tion. Road-killed frogs could be an abundant source of food at this site, where we observed more than 75 dead frogs along a 5-km section of the road. The consumption of dead prey would seem to be advan-tageous for snakes as, unlike live prey, carrion does not fight back and can be found predictably along roads (Bhupathy et al. 2011). Indeed, roadkill-scavenging has been reported in a variety of snakes, including the Cape Cobra (Naja nivea; Phelps 2006), Children’s Python (Antaresia childreni; Trembath et al. 2007), Common Kukri Snake (Oligodon arn-ensis; Pandirkar et al. 2015), Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus; Ventura 2012), Banded Cat-eyed Snake (Leptodeira annulata; Mora-Benavides 1999), and Green Racer (Philodryas patagoniensis; Ucha and dos Santos 2017). We speculate that scavenging in snakes is far more common than the literature would indicate and that roads in particu-lar can act as reliable food sources. However, if snakes use road-kills as sources of food, they increase their chances of themselves being killed by vehicles — and that could be an underestimated cause of snake mortality.

AcknowledgementsWe thank Dr. Surthith Dey, Professor, Department of Biology, IISER Pune, for guidance and helpful suggestions that improved our note.

Literature CitedAyres, C. 2012. Scavenging in the genus Natrix. Acta Herpetologica 7: 171–174.

https://doi.org/10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-10447.

Bhupathy, S., G. Rinivas, N.S. Kumar, T. Karthik, and A. Madhivanan. 2011. Herpetofaunal mortality due to vehicular traffic in the Western Ghats, India:

A case study. Herpetotropicos 5:119–126.

Cowles, R.B. 1946. Carrion eating by a snake. Herpetologica 3: 121–122.

Deshmukh, R.V., S.A. Deshmukh, S.A. Badhekar, P.S. Raut, and S.D. Katgube. 2018. Consumption of shed skin and scavenging behavior by Common Indian Trinket Snakes, Coelognathus helena (Daudin 1803). Reptiles & Amphibians 25:192–193.

Devault, T.L. and A.R. Krochmal. 2002. Scavenging by snakes: an examination of the literature. Herpetologica 58: 429–436. https://doi.org/10.1655/0018-0831(2002)058[0429:SBSAEO]2.0.CO;2.

Ghosh, A. and A. Chaudhuri. 2015. Amphiesma stolata (Buff-striped Keelback). Diet/scavenging. Herpetological Review 46: 442.

Hossain, L. 2016. Food habits of Checkered Keelback, Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799), in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Zoology 44: 153–161. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjz.v44i1.30185.

Lillywhite, H.B., C.M. Sheehy III, and M. McCue. 2002. Scavenging behaviors of cottonmouth snakes at island bird rookeries. Herpetological Review 33: 259–261.

Marques, O.A.V., R.Z. Coeti, P.A. Braga, and I. Sazima. 2017. Rotten choice: feed-ing attempt by a coral snake (Micrurus frontalis) on a dead pitviper (Bothrops jararaca) that had swallowed a bulky rodent. Herpetology Notes 5: 137–139.

Monapatra, P.P. 2011. Bungarus caeruleus (Common Krait). Scavenging. Herpetological Review 42: 436–437.

Mora-Benavides, J.M. 1999. Leptodeira annulata (Culebra Destenida, Banded Cat-eyed Snake). Diet. Herpetological Review 30: 102.

Pandirkar, A., H. Karve, P. Ghadigaonkar, R. Todankar, A. Kuwar, P. Jangam, P. Bandekar, and A. Mahangade. 2015. First record of scavenging by Oligodon arnensis (Shaw, 1802) from Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, India. Reptile Rap 17:19–21.

Phelps, T. 2006. Naja nivea (Linnaeus, 1758) Cape cobra. Scavenging. African Herp News 40: 24.

Platt, S.G. and T.R. Rainwater. 2011. An observation of scavenging by Crotalus molossus (Baird and Girard, 1853). Journal of Kansas Herpetology 37: 8–9.

Rossi, J. 1992. Snakes of the United States and Canada—Keeping Them Healthy in Captivity, Vol. 1, Eastern North America. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida, USA.

Trembath, D.F., J.L. Blackburn III, and J.J.L. Rowley. 2007. Road kill predation by a Children’s Python Antaresia childreni (Serpentes: Boidae) at Adelaide River, Northern Territory. Northern Territory Naturalist 19: 58–59.

Shivik, J.A. 1999. Carrion, context, and lure development: The relative impor-tance of sensory modalities to foraging Brown Treesnakes (Boiga irregularis). Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

Shivik, J.A. and L. Clark. 1997. Carrion seeking in brown tree snakes: importance of olfactory and visual cues. Journal of Experimental Zoology 279: 549–553. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(19971215)279:6<549::AID-JEZ2>3.0.CO;2-N.

Ucha, J. and T.G. dos Santos. 2017. Death and life on the roadway: scavenging behaviour of the green racer snake Philodryas patagoniensis (Girard, 1858) (Dipsadidae). Herpetology Notes 10: 439–441.

Ventura, F. 2012. Comportamiento carroñero en Malpolon monspessulanus. Boletin de la Asociacion Herpetologica Espanola 23: 8–10.

Whitaker, R. and A. Captain. 2004. Snakes of India. The Field Guide. Draco Books, Chennai, India.