The use of a refuge during the hibernal period of a snake species in central Mexico is describedThe genus Thamnophis FiTZiNGER, 1843 (garter snakes) includes the most low- temperature-tolerant snake species in North America. The northern species of this group are among the most studied and well known snakes; e.g., T. sirtalis (LiNNAEuS, 1758), selects specific traits of hibernation refuges and congregates in thousands as a strategy for hibernation (ROSSMAN et al. 1996). However, the hibernation process is scarcely known in southern populations.ideaWild Comisión Estatal de Parques Naturales y de la Fauna (CEPANAF

DOMINGUEZ VEGA, HUBLESTER

GOMEZ ORTIZ, YURIANA

MANJARREZ SILVA, FRANCISCO JAVIER

MUNDO HERNANDEZ, VICTOR

RUBIO BLANCO, TAMARA

Soria Díaz, Leroy

Herpetozoa

Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Batrachia. London (Taylor and Francis), pp. xviii, 541.DiNESH, K. P. & RADHAKRiSHNAN, C. & GuRuRAJA, K.V. & DEuTi, K. & BHATTA, G. (2012): A checklist ofAmphibia of india with iuCN Red List status. updatedtill April 2013 (Online Version).- Zoological Survey ofindia, Calcutta. WWW document available at < http://indiabiodiversity.org/biodiv/content/documents/document-8e24da1a-e893-4400-9d35-b2f80d1231d5/381.pdf > [last accessed: March 26, 2016].  FROST, D.R. (2015): Amphibian species of the world: An onlinereference. Version 6.0. American Museum of NaturalHistory, New York. WWW document available at < http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/ index.html > [last accessed: February 5, 2015].  HiJMANS, R.J. & CAMERON, S. E., PARRA, J. L. & JARViS, A. (2005):Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces forglobal land areas.- international Journal of Climatolo -gy, Chichester etc.; 25: 1965-1978.  [WorldClim - ClobalClimate Data. Free climate data for ecological model-ing and GiS. WWW resource available at < http://www.worldclim.org/ >].  LiEM, D. S. S. (1970): Themorphology, systematics and evolution of the OldWorld tree frogs (Rhacophoridae and Hyperoliidae).-Fieldiana Zoology, Chicago; 57: 1-145.  OHLER, A.(2009): Rhacophorus burmanus (ANDERS SON, 1939) –the valid nomen for Rhacophorus taronensis SMiTH,1940 and Rhacophorus gongshanensis YANG & Su,1984.- Herpetozoa, Wien; 21(3/4): 179-182.  SHETH, C.(2010): Rhacophorus burmanus. india Nature Watch.WWW document available at < http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=164547 > [lastaccessed: March 26, 2016].  SMiTH, M. A. (1940):Amphibians and reptiles from upper Burma.- Recordsof the indian Museum, Calcutta; 42 :474-475.  STuART,S. N. & HOFFMANN, M. & CHAN SON, J. S. & COx, N. A.& BERRiDGE, R. J. & RAMANi, P. & YOuNG, B. E.(2008): Threatened amphibians of the world. Barcelo -na, Spain (Lynx Edicions; internat ional union for theConservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland; Conserv -ation international, Arlington, Virginia, u.S.A.), pp.758.  VAN DiJK, P. P. & WOGAN, G. (2004): Rhacopho -rus taronensis. The iuCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies. Version 2014.3. WWW document available at< http://www.iucnredlist.org > [last accessed: March26, 2016].  WiLKiNSON, J. A. & RAO, D. (2004):Taxonomic status of Rhacophorus taronensis SMiTH,1940.- Proceedings of the California Academy ofSciences, San Francisco; 55 (25): 451-457.  YANG, D.T. & Su, C. G. (1984): Rhacophorus gongshanensis, anew species of flying frog from the HengduanMountains.- Acta Herpetologica Sinica, Chengdu; 3:51-53.  YANG D. & Lu S. (2004): Rhacophorus gong-shanensis. The iuCN Red List of Threat ened Species.Version 2014.3. WWW document available at < http://www.iucnredlist.org > [last accessed: March 26, 2016].KEY WORDS:  Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophori -dae; Rhacophorus burmanus, distribution, mapping,modeling the potential distribution, climate variables,natural history, ecology, conservation, China, india,MyanmarSuBMiTTED:  November 13, 2015AuTHORS:  Shruti SENGuPTA (Correspondingauthor, < senguptashruti@gmail.com >), Abhijit DAS –Wildlife institute of india, Chandrabani, uttarakhand-248001, india & Firoz AHMED – 50, Samanwoy Path,Survey, P.O. Beltola, Guwahati, Assam-781028, india. Hibernation refuge of Thamnophis scalaris COPE, 1861,in Central MexicoThe genus Thamnophis FiTZiNGER,1843 (garter snakes) includes the most low-temperature-tolerant snake species in NorthAmerica.  The northern species of this groupare among the most studied and well knownsnakes; e.g., T. sirtalis (LiNNAEuS, 1758),selects specific traits of hibernation refugesand congregates in thousands as a strategyfor hibernation (ROSSMAN et al. 1996).  How -ever, the hibernation process is scarcelyknown in southern populations. Thamnophis scalaris COPE, 1861, theMexican Alpine Blotched Garter Snake,ranges from West-Central Veracruz acrossthe Mexican Transvolcanic Belt to MorelosState, in Central Mexico (ROSSMAN et al.1996; ROSSMAN & LARA 1997) where it oc -curs associated with pine-oak and pineforest (ROSSMAN et al. 1996).  in CentralMexico, peaks of activity in spring to earlysummer and in autumn are reported forsome populations (VENEGAS-BARRERA &MANJARREZ 2001).  Nonetheless, hiberna-tion strategies and refuge characteristicsremained unknown.  in this note the authorsdescribe the structural characteristics of arefuge used by T. scalaris in Central Mexi -co, at the beginning of the cold season.On October 18, 2014, at 12:16 h in theSierra Morelos State Park, eight individualsof T. scalaris were observed to gather at theentrance of an underground refuge.  Thepark, a protected area for wildlife, particu-larly small species, is surrounded by theurban city of Toluca.  The site (geographiccoordinates: 19°18’45”N, 99°41’22”W) islocated on a hill at 2,760 m a.s.l., faces 220°SW, and has a slope of 28.5°.  The sur-rounding habitat (100 m2) is dominated bygrassland and some trees (Quercus sp., Eu -calyptus sp., and Pinus sp.).  No busheswere found; rocks and herbaceous plantscovered 95 % of the surface.  At the momentof observation, eight snakes were disturbedand dispersed; six fled into the refugethrough an opening in the ground that wasabout 10 mm by 14 mm in diameter, theremaining two moved away into the grass-land.  Ten minutes later, two individuals198              SHORT NOTE      HERPETOZOA 29 (3/4) Wien, 30. Jänner 2017      SHORT NOTE            ALL_SHORT_NOTES:SHORT_NOTE.qxd  08.02.2017  16:10  Seite 16(probably those that previously escaped tothe grassland) moved into the refuge.  For anhour the snakes were observed through theaccess hole moving inside the refuge and oc -casionally approaching the entrance (Fig. 1),however, they did not come out again.  Theair temperature just inside the entrance of thehibernaculum (22 °C within 10 cm) and out-side at 5 cm above the entrance (19 °C) wasmeasured using a wired thermometer/hygro -meter Radioshack® model 08A14.The authors returned to the site fivetimes between October 2014 and January2015 to look for snakes.  All visits occurredbetween 11:00 h and 13:00 h and each timeincluded measuring temperatures inside andoutside the refuge.  in addition, an area ofapproximately 2,500 m2 around the refugewas surveyed for snakes, however withoutfinding any.  Mean temperature inside therefuge (17.46 ± 3.16 °C; range: 13.1 - 22.0°C, N = 6) was colder but more stable thanoutside (21.55 ± 6.16 °C; 12.3 - 28.7 °C, N= 6). The mean temperature, its variation,and the presence of the snakes, suggest thatthe refuge provided the appropriate charac-teristics for thermoregulation and shelterduring the cold season, and support thehypothesis that this site is a hibernationrefuge.  Thamnophis sirtalis uses wide (2 mx 10 m and 5 m x 10 m), deep (2 m), androcky cavities, with many openings andadjacent smaller cavities (1 m x 1 m), locat-ed mainly in grassland areas (SHiNE &MASON 2004).  Thamnophis elegans hasbeen reported in hibernation sites thatinclude rocky slopes, rock cracks, rock pilesand rocky edges of roads (HuEY et al. 1989)and T. marcianus (BAiRD & GiRARD, 1853)can use the shelters of other species such astarantulas (HAMiLTON & CRAiG 2008).  Theauthors refrained from measuring the insidedimensions of the refuge because doing sowould have destroyed it.  However, its depthexceeded the length of the probe used (1 m).Other habitat characteristics such as grass-land as the primary vegetation cover, a veryrocky substrate, and several deep openingsin the ground which may provide ingressand egress to other refuges, resemble thosereported in other studies for the genusThamnophis.  Hibernation in the northernspecies of Thamnophis lasts from Novem -SHORT NOTE      HERPETOZOA 29 (3/4) Wien, 30. Jänner 2017      SHORT NOTE          199Fig. 1:  Two aspects of Thamnophis scalaris COPE, 1861, at the opening of the hibernation refuge detected in the Sierra Morelos State Park, City of Toluca, Mexico.ALL_SHORT_NOTES:SHORT_NOTE.qxd  08.02.2017  16:10  Seite 17ber to March.  it is thought that in southernspecies, this span may be shorter (ROSSMANet al. 1996), allowing the snakes to be activefor a longer annual period due to more con-sistent favorable thermal conditions (i.e.,temperature fluctuations are smaller than inthe north).  The observation site reported islocated in a temperate climate and has tem-peratures down to minima of 0 °C andbelow in December and January accordingto SERViCiO METEOROLóGiCO NACiONAL(2010).  Furthermore, snakes were locatedin a grassland area on a hill.  in T. sirtalissome observations show that individualscan disperse as far as 20 km from foragingto hibernation areas, and can locate and usethe same refuge for several years (GREGORY& STEWART 1975; LAWSON 1989).  Prior tothe above observation, the authors surveyedthe Sierra Morelos State Park with regard toreptiles throughout two years without find-ing T. scalaris in the hills.  However, manysightings of this snake were acquired whileit was foraging and mating close to waterbodies that are one km from the site of therefuge observation.  This proximity to a per-manent water source also supports the ideathat the observed snakes may use the refugefor hibernation. The Mexican habitats of the genusThamnophis are extensively fragmented andits populations are diminishing on a localscale (CONANT 2003; VENEGAS-BARRERA &MANJARREZ 2011).  This is the main threatfor the species and is led by desiccation ofpermanent and temporal water bodies, graz-ing, deforestation, burning and human set-tlements.  The Mexican Alpine BlotchedGarter Snake populations in Central Mexicomay be specifically threatened due to theintensity of human activities. identificationand characterization of the refuges of thesesnakes may be crucial for conservation intheir southern range.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:  The authors thankideaWild for the equipment to conduct field work,Marcela Martínez Haro for her support in the field,Ruthe J. Smith for editing the English, and theComisión Estatal de Parques Naturales y de la Fauna(CEPANAF) for allowing this study in the SierraMorelos State Park.REFERENCES:  CONANT, R. (2003): Observa -tions on garter snakes of the Thamnophis eques com-plex in the lakes of Mexico’s transvolcanic belt, withdescriptions of new taxa.- American Museum Novi -tates, New York; 3406: 1-64.  GREGORY, P. T. & STEW -ART, K. W. (1975): Long-distance dispersal and feedingstrategy of the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sir-talis parietalis) in the interlake of Manitoba. CanadianJournal of Zoology, Ottawa; 53: 238-245.  HAMiLTON,E. D. & CRAiG, C. N. (2008): incident of temporaryburrow appropriation by a Checkered Garter Snake,Thamnophis marcianus, from a North American taran-tula Aphonopelma hollyi.- Southwestern Entomologist,Kerrville; 33 (4):319-320.  HuEY, R. & PETERSON, C. R.& ARNOLD, S. J. & PORTER,W. P. (1989): Hot rocks andnot so hot rocks: retreat site selection by garter snakesand its thermal consequences.- Ecology, Washington;70:931-944.  LAWSON, P. A. (1989): Orientation abili-ties and mechanisms in a northern population of com-mon garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis).- Musk Ox,Saskatoon; 37: 110-115.  ROSSMAN, D. A. & FORD, N.B. & SEiGEL, R. A. (1996): The garter snakes.Evolution and ecology; Norman, London (universityof Oklahoma Press), pp. xx, 332.  ROSSMAN D. A. &LARA, G. (1997): Variation in the Mexican garter snakeThamnophis scalaris COPE and the taxonomic status ofT. scaliger (JAN).- Occasional Papers of the Museum ofNatural Science, Baton Rouge; 74: 1-14.  SERViCiOMETEOROLóGiCO NACiONAL (2010): Normales climato -lógicas, Estado de México. WWW document available at< http://smn.cna.gob.mx > [last accessed: January2016].  SHiNE, R. & MASON, R. T. (2004): Patterns ofmortality in a cold-climate population of garter snakes(Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis).- Biological Con -servation, Barking; 120: 201-210.  VENEGAS-BARRERA,C. & MANJARREZ, J. (2001): Ecology of the Mexicanalpine blotched garter snake (Thamnophis scalaris).-Southwestern Naturalist, Austin; 52 (2): 258-262.VENEGAS-BAR RERA, C. & MANJARREZ, J. (2011): Patro -nes espaciales de la riqueza específica de las culebrasThamnophis en México.- Revista Mexicana deBiodiversidad, Ciudad de México; 82: 179-191.KEY WORDS:  Reptilia: Squamata: Serpentes:Thamnophis scalaris; thermoregulation, shelter, hiber-nation refuge, hibernaculum, ecology, behavior,MexicoSuBMiTTED:  December 7, 2015AuTHORS:  Víctor MuNDO-HERNáNDEZ 1),Hublester DOMíNGuEZ-VEGA 2), Yuriana GóMEZ-ORTiZ(Corresponding author, < yurianagomezortiz@gmail.com >) 2), Tamara RuBiO-BLANCO 3), Leroy SORiA-DíAZ 4) & Javier MANJARREZ 5)1) universidad Autónoma del Estado de México,instituto Literario No. 100. C.P. 50000, Toluca Estadode México, México. 2) Centro de investigaciones Biológicas, uni -versidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Ciudad delConocimiento, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo s/n, Col.Carboneras, C.P. 42184. Mineral de la Reforma,Hidalgo, México. 3) Centro Tlaxcala de Biología de la Conducta,km 3.5, carretera Tlaxcala-Puebla, Tlaxcala, México. 4) instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria,Boulevard Emilio Portes Gil 1301 Pte. A.P. 175 C.P.87010 Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, México. 5) Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva, Centro deinvestigación en Recursos Bióticos, Facultad deCiencias, universidad Autónoma del Estado deMéxico, instituto Literario No. 100. C.P. 50000,Toluca, Estado de México, México.200              SHORT NOTE      HERPETOZOA 29 (3/4) Wien, 30. Jänner 2017      SHORT NOTE            ALL_SHORT_NOTES:SHORT_NOTE.qxd  08.02.2017  16:10  Seite 18

Hibernation refuge of Thamnophis scalaris Cope, 1861, in Central Mexico

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Hibernation refuge of Thamnophis scalaris Cope, 1861, in Central Mexico

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