003 Bodacious Boas

Herpetological Highlights

This fortnight’s episode is dedicated to boas. The first portion looks into how boas hunt; their ability to subdue prey and potentially hunt in a “coordinated” fashion. After, we dig into some landscape genetics and see how the success of cave dwelling boas could boost their conservation chances. Staying on message, our Species of the Bi-week is another ghostly snake from a tropical island. To round the episode off we slide into a lengthy tangent concerning the “dual purpose” of locality data and how it can feed into poaching activity. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Boback, S. M., K. J. McCann, K. A. Wood, P. M. McNeal, E. L. Blankenship, and C. F. Zwemer. 2015. “Snake Constriction Rapidly Induces Circulatory Arrest in Rats.” Journal of Experimental Biology 218 (14): 2279–88. doi:10.1242/jeb.121384. OPEN ACCESS

Dinets, Vladimir. 2017. “Coordinated Hunting by Cuban Boas.” Animal Behaviour and Cognition 4 (1): 24–29. OPEN ACCESS

Puente-Rolón, Alberto R., R. Graham Reynolds, and Liam J. Revell. 2013. “Preliminary Genetic Analysis Supports Cave Populations as Targets for Conservation in the Endemic Endangered Puerto Rican Boa (Boidae: Epicrates Inornatus).” PLoS ONE 8 (5). OPEN ACCESS

Species of the Bi-Week:

Reynolds, R Graham, Alberto R. Puente-Rolón, Anthony J. Geneva, Kevin J. Aviles-Rodriguez, and Nicholas C Herrmann. 2016. “Discovery of a Remarkable New Boa from the Conception Island Bank, Bahamas.” Breviora 549 (1): 1–19.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Boback, S. M., A. E. Hall, K. J. McCann, A. W. Hayes, J. S. Forrester, and C. F. Zwemer. 2012. “Snake Modulates Constriction in Response to Prey’s Heartbeat.” Biology Letters 8 (3): 473–76. OPEN ACCESS

Chiszar, David, Donal Boyer, Robert Lee, James B. Murphy, and Charles W. Radcliffe. "Caudal luring in the southern death adder, Acanthophis antarcticus." Journal of Herpetology (1990): 253-260.

Day, M. and P. Tolson. 1996. “Chilabothrus angulifer.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996: e.T7815A12852846. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T7815A12852846.en

Dinets, V., J.C. Brueggen, and J.D. Brueggen. 2015. “Crocodilians Use Tools for Hunting.” Ethology Ecology & Evolution 27 (1). Taylor & Francis: 74–78. .

Dinets, Vladimir. 2014. “Apparent Coordination and Collaboration in Cooperatively Hunting Crocodilians.” Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 27 (2): 1–7.

Hardy, D. L. 1994. ”A re-evaluation of suffocation as the cause of death during constriction by snakes.” Herpetological Review: 25, 45-47

James, M., and T. Fox. 2007. “The Largest of Lizards.” The Newsletter of the Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network 1 (XII): 9. OPEN ACCESS

Lindenmayer, David and Ben Scheele. 2017. “Do Not Publish.” Science Magazine. 356 (6340) : 800-801.

Madsen, Thomas, Bo Stille, and Richard Shine. 1996. "Inbreeding depression in an isolated population of adders Vipera berus." Biological conservation 75 (2): 113-118.

Murphy, James B., Charles C. Carpenter, and James C. Gillingham. 1978. "Caudal luring in the green tree python, Chondropython viridis (Reptilia, Serpentes, Boidae)." Journal of Herpetology 12 (1): 117-119.

O'Shea, M. 2007. Boas and Pythons of the World. New Holland Publishers.

Puente-Rolón, Alberto R., and Fernando J. Bird-Picó. 2004. “Foraging Behavior, Home Range, Movements and Activity Patterns of Epicrates Inornatus (Boidae) at Mata de Plátano Reserve in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.” Caribbean Journal of Science 40 (3): 343–52. OPEN ACCESS

Pyron, R. Alexander, R. Graham Reynolds, and Frank T. Burbrink. 2014. “A Taxonomic Revision of Boas (Serpentes: Boidae).” Zootaxa 3846 (2): 249–60.

Radcliffe, Charles W., D. Chiszar, and H. B. Smith. 1980. "Prey-induced caudal movements in Boa constrictor with comments on the evolution of caudal luring." Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 16: 19-22.

Reynolds, R. Graham, Glenn P. Gerber, and Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick. 2011. "Unexpected shallow genetic divergence in Turks Island Boas (Epicrates c. chrysogaster) reveals single evolutionarily significant unit for conservation." Herpetologica 67 (4): 477-486.

Reynolds, R. Graham, Matthew L. Niemiller, S. Blair Hedges, Alex Dornburg, Alberto R. Puente-Rolón, and Liam J. Revell. 2013. “Molecular Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of West Indian Boid Snakes (Chilabothrus).” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68 (3). Elsevier Inc.: 461–70. OPEN ACCESS

Rocha-Santos, Gilson da, Eder Barbier, and Marcelo Oscar Bordignon. 2014. “Sweet Trap: Boa Constrictor (Serpentes: Boidae) Preying on Passerines on Cecropia Pachystachya (Urticales: Cecropiaceae) in Fruiting Period.” Biota Neotropica 14 (2): e20140003. OPEN ACCESS

Tzika, Athanasia C., Susan Koenig, Ricardo Miller, Gerardo Garcia, Christophe Remy, and Michel C. Milinkovitch. 2008. "Population structure of an endemic vulnerable species, the Jamaican boa (Epicrates subflavus)." Molecular ecology 17 (2): 533-544.

Wilson, Byron S., Susan E. Koenig, Rick van Veen, Erika Miersma, and D. Craig Rudolph. 2010. “Cane Toads a Threat to West Indian Wildlife: Mortality of Jamaican Boas Attributable to Toad Ingestion.” Biological Invasions 13 (1): 55–60. OPEN ACCESS

Yang, Jian-Huan, and Bosco Pui-Lok Chan. 2015. "Two new species of the genus Goniurosaurus (Squamata: Sauria: Eublepharidae) from southern China." Zootaxa 3980 (1): 067-080.

Other Links/Mentions:

BBC Planet Earth II - Islands Clip on Galapagos Racers (Philodryas biserialis) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3OjfK0t1XM

BBC Planet Earth - Shallow Seas Clip on Banded Sea Kraits (Laticauda colubrina) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0038t09

Music – http://www.purple-planet.com