Notes on the Distribution and Natural History of the Eastern Wormsnake (Carphophis amoenus amoenus) in West Virginia

Small fossorial snakes, such as the Eastern Wormsnake (Carphophis amoenus amoenus), are often neglected in studies since they lead a fossorial life and are frequently hard to find. Since it was last studied nearly 40 years ago, we present an update on distribution, habitat preferences, and diet of the Eastern Wormsnake in West Virginia. We found that this species resides in only a fraction of its original range due to habitat destruction by industrial, residential, and commercial developments. Habitat data suggests this species can tolerate a range of soil temperatures (15–24 °C), air temperatures (23.1 degrees Celsius), and relative humidity (24.5-80%), and can be found on nearly all slope directions. Dietary analysis showed annelids make up the majority of their diet but other invertebrate prey are also taken

Use of data loggers to investigate temperature trends above and below cover objects used by plethodontid salamanders

Amphibians utilize microhabitats to find refugia that will keep them functioning properly by regulating thermoregulatory behavior and for respiration. Microclimates of cover objects and the influence they may have in the selection of refugia by plethodontid salamanders are inherently difficult to study over long periods of time. Herein we provide a case study in which we used U23-003 HOBO Pro v2 2X Temperature Data Loggers to investigate temperature trends under and above cover objects selected by plethodontid salamanders in the field. Overall, data loggers were user-friendly for setup, deploymentt, and data offload and provided abundant data