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GlimpsesofsocialbehaviorinGrenadaBankTreeboas(Corallusgrenadensis).

ARTICLE·JANUARY2015

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RobertWHenderson

MilwaukeePublicMuseum

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IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):98–101•SEP2015

Glimpses of Social Behavior in Grenada Bank Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis)

Robert W. Henderson1, Billie Harrison2, Craig S. Berg2, and E. Marie Rush3

1MilwaukeePublicMuseum,Milwaukee,Wisconsin53233,USA(henderson@mpm.edu)2MilwaukeeCountyZoo,Milwaukee,Wisconsin53226,USA3St.George’sUniversity,St.George’s,Grenada,WestIndies

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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

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Gillingham(1987)notedthat“Socialbehaviorinsnakestendstocenteraroundtheirreproductiveactivities.”

NinespeciescomprisingtheNeotropicalboidgenusCorallus haveacollectiverangethatextendsfromGuatemalatosouth-easternBrazil,anddespiteseveralspeciesbeingrelativelycom-moninappropriatehabitat,observationsofsocialbehaviorinthefieldarealmostnonexistent.Onlyrecentlyhasmating(butnocourtship)beenobservedinC. annulatus in Colombia (Muñozetal.2013)andC. hortulanusinBrazil(daCostaSilvaandHenderson2014).

On9June2015(mooninitsthirdquarter;wetseasonwithrainearlierintheday)atasiteincentralGrenada,weobservedwhatweconsidercourtshipintheGrenadaBankTreeboa(C. grenadensis).Inacemeteryat2100hweobservedalarge(1,470mmSVLasof23January2015)femalerestingonthebranchofaCandleBushTree(Senna alata)andclosetothetoprailofachain-linkfenceborderingthecemetery(Fig.1).Thefollowingobservationsweremadewithinter-mittentwhitelightandmoreprolongedobservationswithilluminationthrougharedfilter.

Fig. 1.AfemaleGrenadaBankTreeboa(Corallus grenadensis).PhotographbyCraigS.Berg.

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At2103h,wesawanadultmale(~1,250mmSVL)crawlingrapidlyintoahollowinthetrunkofaBayleafTree(Pimenta dioica).At2105h,asmalleradult(unsexed)wascoiledontheupperrailofthesamefenceandabout7mfromthefemale(Fig.2).Atabout2107,despitethepresenceofthreepersonswithheadlampsstandingwithin2–5m,themaleemergedfromthetreehollow(Fig.3)andmoveddowntothechainlinkfenceandintotheproximityofthefemale(Fig.4).Withveryslowandintermittentadvances,themaleapproachedthefemaleandby2120htheywereincontact.Themaledisplayedfrequenttongue-flickstothefemale’sbody,butat2150htheirheadswerefacingawayfromoneanotherandtheirtailswerenotclose(Fig.5).At2215h,themalehadhistailwrappedaroundthefemale’smid-sectionandtheirheadswereinvirtualcontact.At2221h,wewereforcedtoterminateobservationsandquicklysexedthetwosnakes.At2225h,themalehadretreatedintothehollowoftheBayleafTreebutthefemaleremainedonthefence.Theseobservedbehaviors(frequenttongue-flicks,dorsalbodyloop-ing,dorsaladvance,andpossiblechinrubbing)areelementsof“tactile-chase,”theinitialphaseofcourtship(Gillingham1987;Tolson1992;TolsonandHenderson1993).Wesus-pectthatthemalemayhavebeenmakingadvancestowardthefemalewhenwearrivedatthefenceandsawhimretreatintothetreehollow.Wealsosuspectthathelikelyresumedhisadvancesafterwedepartedthecemetery. ThissamefemalehadpreviouslybeenobservedbyEMRonthesamefence(25February2012)andalsoinanearbyMangoTree(23January2015).AlthoughwehaveonlyscantmovementdataforC. grenadensis,markedindividualshavebeenfoundincloseproximity(<20m)topreviouscapturesafterintervalsofmorethanoneyear(Henderson2015).That

IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):98–101•SEP2015HENDERSON ET AL.

Fig. 2.AnunsexedGrenadaBankTreeboa(Corallus grenadensis)alongthesamefencelineasthefemaleinFig.1.PhotographbyRobertW.Henderson.

Fig. 3.AmaleGrenadaBankTreeboa(Corallus grenadensis)emergingfromatreecavity.PhotographbyRobertW.Henderson.

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HENDERSON ET AL. IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):98–101•SEP2015

thisfemalewasstilllivinginthecemeteryisthereforenotsur-prising,especiallyconsideringthevirtualabsenceofhumanactivityinthecemeteryafterdark. Earlier(1920h)onthesamenight(9June),weobservedonelargeboa(~1,100mmSVL)andtwosmallerboasatabout8.0mabovegroundonabranchofaGoldenAppleTree(Spondias cytherea).Becausewewereaboutsixmetersbelowthesnakes,wewereunabletoobservepositioningoftailsrelativetooneanother.Weassumetheconspicuouslylargerboawasafemaleandthetwosmallerindividualsweremales.Whenfirstobserved,thelargestandoneofthesmallerboaswereinphysi-calcontact.Eachwasanchoredbyitstailtoseparatebranches,butaportionofthesmallersnake’sbodycanbeseenbeneaththe largeranimal(Fig.6).Whetherornotcopulationwasoccurring would be another guess, but that seems unlikely. The third boa descended along the branch holding the other two, andeventuallymadecontact.At2246h,wereturnedtothetreeinwhichwesawthetrio,butonlyoneboawasobserved. Elementsofthebehaviorobservedbetweenthesnakesonthefenceparallelsomeofthoseobservedinamatingpairofthecloselyrelated(Colstonetal.2013)C. hortulanus(daCostaSilvaandHenderson2014).Althoughcourtshipwasnot witnessed in the C. hortulanus,attimesduringcopulationtheboaswerefacinginoppositedirectionsandatothersthemalerubbedhisheadonthefemale’sneck.Althoughwedidnotobserveneck-rubbinginC. grenadensis,atonepointthemale’sheadwasaboveandincontactwiththatofthefemale. Previousobservationsthatweconsider“social”occurredon20–25April1993(moonawaningcrescenttonew;dryseason)atWesterhallEstateinsouthernGrenadawhen,onfivesuccessivenights,groupsofthreeorfouradultC. gre-nadensiswereobservedineitheraMangooraNutmegtree.

Fig. 5.MaleandfemaleGrenadaBankTreeboas(Corallus grenadensis)entwinedatopthechain-linkfence.PhotographbyCraigS.Berg.

Fig. 4.ThemaleGrenadaBankTreeboa(Corallus grenadensis)fromFig.3descendingtothefenceandthenearbyfemale(arrow).PhotographbyCraigS. Berg.

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Theboaswerealwaysinverycloseproximity(<1.0m),andontwoofthosenightsthreeboaswereincontact.Althoughatleastoneoftheboaswasamale,wewereunabletocaptureandsextheothers(Henderson2015). InadditiontoourJuneobservationsofsocialbehavior,we encountered C. grenadensisthatweresmaller(<400mmSVL)thananywehadpreviouslyobservedinJune.Theseclose-to-neonate-sizedboascamefromelevationsrangingfromnearsealevelintheGrenadinestoabout530mabovesealevelatGrandEtangNationalParkonGrenada.Theserecentobservationsseemtoindicatewiderwindowsfortimeofmatingandparturitionthanpreviouslyestimated.

AcknowledgmentsWe thank IsadoreMonah for his kind hospitality. TheWindwayFoundationprovided funding forHenderson’sparticipation in the fieldworkand theMilwaukeePublicMuseumprovided logistical support.TheeffortsofBergandHarrisonwere funded by theZoological Society ofMilwaukee County and the Milwaukee County Zoo. Isadore MonahandChristopherTyrrellidentifiedtreespeciesforus.WethanktheMinistryofAgricultureandtheDepartmentofForestryonGrenadafortheirinterestinourresearchandtheircontinuedsupport.

Literature CitedColston T.J., F.G. Grazziotin, D.B. Shepard, L.J. Vitt, G.R. Colli, R.W.

Henderson, S.B.Hedges, S. Bonatto,H.Zaher, F.T.Burbrink. 2013.Molecularsystematicsandhistoricalbiogeographyoftreeboas(genus Corallus spp.). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66:953–959.

daCosta Silva,P. andR.W.Henderson. 2014.Matingbehavior ofAmazonTreeboas, Corallus hortulanus(Squamata,Boidae),onBatatasIsland,Piauí,Brazil. Herpetology Notes7:335–336.

Gillingham,J.C.1987.Socialbehavior,pp.184–209.In:R.A.Seigel,J.T.Collins,andS.S.Novak(eds.),Snakes: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, NY.

Henderson,R.W.2015.Natural History of Neotropical Treeboas (genus Corallus). EditionChimaira,FrankfurtamMain,Germany.

Muñoz,C.A.,R.W.Henderson,andJ.M.Daza.2013.Firstobservationsinthewildofmatinginthearborealboid,Corallus annulatus. Herpetology Notes6:537–539.

Tolson,P.J.1992.ThereproductivebiologyoftheNeotropicalboidgenusEpicrates(Serpentes:Boidae),pp.165–178.In:W.C.Hamlett (ed.),Reproductive Biology of South American Vertebrates.Springer-Verlag,NewYork.

Tolson,P.J.andR.W.Henderson.1993.The Natural History of West Indian Boas. R&A Publishing Ltd., Taunton, England.

Fig. 6.ThreeGrenadaBankTreeboas(Corallus grenadensis)sharingthesamebranch.Thecentrallylocatedboaisthelargestandpresumablyisafemale.PhotographbyCraigS.Berg.