García-Padrón, L. Yusnaviel

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Biodiversity Informatics

 REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS  •  29: 270–272  •  2022270Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.The Broad-banded Trope (Tropidophis feicki) is one of 17 endemic Cuban species of Tropidophis (Henderson and Powell 2009; Díaz and Cádiz 2020; Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2021; Uetz et al. 2022). This species occurs in karstic areas associated with forests in western and central Cuba (Schwartz and Henderson 1991; Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020a). Based on a wild-caught male kept in captivity for nearly a year, Rodríguez-González (2020) recently reported the largest indi-vidual ever recorded (463 mm SVL, 50 mm tail length [TL]). Data on the diet of T. feicki is scarce (see Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020b for a review). Herein I report a new maximum size record and a new dietary record for the species. At 1930 h on 9 March 2022, during a herpetological expedition to El Moncada, Viñales Municipality, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba (22.32942°N, 83.50937°W; 300 m asl), I encountered a female T. feicki in the Incógnita Gallery of Santo Tomás Great Cavern in complete darkness 220 m from the nearest entrance. The female was on the cave wall 1.8 m above the ground and measured 604 mm SVL, 64 mm TL (668 mm total length), 20.5 mm head length, and 13.2 mm head width (Fig. 1). Upon closer examination I noticed that the female had a stomach bulge and forced regurgita-tion by abdominal palpation (Luiselli and Amori 2016; Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020b) revealed a partially digested adult Cuban Giant Frog (Eleutherodactylus zeus) (~62.2 mm SVL) (Fig. 2). A male T. feicki was coiled on the floor 2.4 m from the female; it measured 411 mm SVL, 51 mm TL (462 mm total length), 13.6 mm head length, 8.6 mm head width, Maximum Size and a New Dietary Record for the Broad-banded Trope, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), in CubaL. Yusnaviel García-PadrónSociedad Cubana de Zoología, Pinar del Río, Cuba (yusnaviel@gmail.com; ORCID 0000-0002-9666-8042)Fig. 1. A large female Broad-banded Trope (Tropidophis feicki) encountered in the Incógnita Gallery, Santo Tomás Great Cavern, El Moncada, Viñales Municipality, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. This individual represents the maximum size record for the species. The snake with a reference scales (caliper 200 mm) (left) and the author holding it (right). Photographs © L. Yusnaviel García-Padrón (left) and Hilario Carmenate Rodríguez (right).HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSReptiles & Amphibians ISSN 2332-4961https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v29i1.17035IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS  •  VOL15, NO 4  •  DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTST A B L E  O F  C O N T E N T SF 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 198R 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 212C 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  ...........................................................................................................................................   225H U S B A N D R Y Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon  ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226P R O F I L E Kraig Adle : A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology  ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234C O M M E N T A R Y The Turtles Have Been Watching Me  ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238B 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  ...............................................................................................  252Front 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, asIRCFREPTILES & 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 YGARCÍA-PADRÓN  REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS  •  29: 270–272  •  2022271and 1.98 mm spur length (Fig. 3). During a second visit to the cave seven days later (at 1100 h on 16 March 2022), I found the male in the same place, but the female had moved to within 80 m of the nearest entrance (Fig. 4). The female T. feicki exceeded by 141 mm the previ-ous maximum size record for the species (463 mm SVL; Rodríguez-González 2020) and by 156 mm the previous maximum size record for females (448 mm SVL; Hedges 2002). Domínguez Díaz and Moreno (2003) mentioned SVLs up to 505 mm for the species, but provided no further references. Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. (2021) listed the sizes of the largest species of Tropidophis, and T. feicki closely fol-lowed the smallest of the giant tropes (Grand Cayman Trope, T. caymanensis, female 438 mm SVL, male 470 mm SVL). With the maximum size record presented here, T. feicki is now the second largest species of Tropidophis after the Cuban Giant Trope (T. melanurus). As for most Cuban Tropidophis, the diet of T. feicki is virtually unknown (Henderson and Powell 2009; Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020b). This species has been recorded as a predator of the Cuban Flat-headed Frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) and the Cuban White-fanned Anole (Anolis homolechis) (Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020b). This report is the first record of T. feicki feeding in caves, specifically on large frogs such as adult E. zeus, suggesting that this species might regularly forage in caves as E. zeus is a well-known cave-dwelling species (Henderson and Powell 2009; Alonso Bosch et al. 2015; García-Padrón et al. 2021). In addition, Schwartz (1958) suggested that arachnids (Phrynus sp. and large taran-tulas) prey on E. zeus, but no confirmed predator had been recorded for this frog until now.Fig. 4. Incógnita Gallery, Santo Tomás Great Cavern, 80 m from the near-est entrance. Photograph © L. Yusnaviel García-Padrón.Fig. 2. Cuban Giant Frog (Eleutherodactylus zeus) regurgitated by a large female Broad-banded Trope (Tropidophis feicki) (top) and the partially digested prey (bottom). Photographs © L. Yusnaviel García-Padrón.Fig. 3. Broad-banded Tropes (Tropidophis feicki) found in the Incógnita Gallery, Santo Tomás Great Cavern, El Moncada, Viñales Municipality, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. A female after regurgitating a Cuban Giant Frog (Eleutherodactylus zeus) (left) and an inactive male where initially encountered (right). Photograph © L. Yusnaviel García-Padrón.GARCÍA-PADRÓN  REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS  •  29: 270–272  •  2022272 The use of caves by T. feicki is largely unknown. The occurrence of this species in these karstic formations has been rarely documented and reports are limited to anecdotal records (e.g., Schwartz 1957; Schwartz and Henderson 1991; García-Padrón et al. 2020). García-Padrón et al. (2020) reported a Broad-banded Trope 20 m within a cave, but the two snakes recorded herein represent by far the deepest known penetration by the species into a cave. The location of the female seven days after the first observation equates to an average movement of 20 m/day. Also, despite not seeing any sign of reproductive activity, the initial close proximity of the male and female suggests that these snakes might breed in caves.AcknowledgementsThis research is part of the project “Reproductive Ecology of the Cuban Giant Frog (Eleutherodactylus zeus) in Western Cuba,” partially funded by a National Speleological Society Research Grant. I thank Centro Nacional de Entrenamiento Espeleológico “Antonio Núñez Jiménez” for logistical support during fieldwork; Dany Celeiro Rodríguez, Miguel Boligán Expósito, Hilario Carmenate Rodríguez, Lázaro Lemus Lugo, Alain López Martínez, Marco A. Yglesias Ravelo, Lisa María Velásquez Serrano, Daniel Reinoso Aguiar, and Manuel Ojeda Hernández for assistance in the field; and Tomás Michel Rodríguez-Cabrera for his review of an early version of this manuscript.Literature CitedAlonso Bosch, R., L.Y. García, S. del Castillo Domínguez, and E.L. Torres Martínez. 2015. Clutches, nest attendance, and hatching in a rock-cave-dwelling frog, Eleutherodactylus (Syrrophus) zeus, from Cuba. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 77: 83–86. https://doi.org/10.4311/2014LSC120.Díaz, L.M. and A. Cádiz. 2020. A new species of Tropidophis (Squamata: Tropidophiidae) and molecular phylogeny of the Cuban radiation of the genus. Novitates Caribaea 16: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.33800/nc.vi16.222.Domínguez Díaz, M. and L.V. Moreno. 2003. Serpientes del suelo, pp. 98–109. In: L. Rodríguez Schettino (ed.), Reptiles y Anfibios de Cuba. UPC Print, Vaasa, Finland.García-Padrón, L.Y., J. Torres, and M. Boligán Expósito. 2020. Aberrant body markings in the Cuban banded dwarf boa, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae). The Herpetological Bulletin 152: 38–39. https://doi.org/10.33256/hb152.3839.García-Padrón, L.Y., M. Boligán, and H. Barrero Medel. 2021. Diet of the Cuban giant frog, Eleutherodactylus zeus (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) in Viñales National Park, Cuba. Cuadernos de Herpetología 35: 43–51. https://doi.org/10.31017/CdH.2021.(2020-035).Hedges, S.B. 2002. Morphological variation and the definition of species in the snake genus Tropidophis (Serpentes, Tropidophiidae). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, London (Zoology) 68: 83–90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0968047002000092.Henderson, R.W. and R. Powell. 2009. Natural History of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.Luiselli, L. and G. Amori. 2016. Diet, pp. 97–109. In: C.K. Dodd, Jr. (ed.), Reptile Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques. Oxford University Press, London, UK.Rodríguez-Cabrera, T.M., J. Torres, and E. Morell Savall. 2020a. Easternmost record of the Cuban Broad-banded Trope, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae). Caribbean Herpetology 71: 1–3. https://doi.org/10.31611/ch.71.Rodríguez-Cabrera, T.M., A. Fong G., and J. Torres. 2020b. New dietary records for three Cuban snakes in the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae), with com-ments on possible niche partitioning by Cuban tropes. Reptiles & Amphibians 27: 201–208. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v27i2.14177.Rodríguez-Cabrera, T.M., E. Morell Savall, R. Alonso Navarro, J.Q. Pigott, A.M. Rodríguez-González, and J. Torres. 2021. Giant dwarfs: Very large Giant Tropes, Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), and new maxi-mum size records for the species. Reptiles & Amphibians 28: 404–410. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v28i3.15965.Rodríguez-González, A.M. 2020. Maximum size record for the Broad-banded Trope, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae). Reptiles & Amphibians 27: 515. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v27i3.14903.Schwartz, A. 1957. A new species of boa (genus Tropidophis) from western Cuba. American Museum Novitates 1839: 1–8.Schwartz, A. 1958. A new large Eleutherodactylus (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae) from western Cuba. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 71: 37–42.Schwartz, A. and R.W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida, USA.Uetz, P., P. Freed, R. Aguilar, and J. Hošek (eds.). 2022. The Reptile Database. <http://www.reptile-database.org>.

Maximum Size and a New Dietary Record for the Broad-banded Trope, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), in Cuba

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Maximum Size and a New Dietary Record for the Broad-banded Trope, Tropidophis feicki (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), in Cuba

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