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Herpetological Review Herpetological Review - Doczine

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(Stebbins 2003. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians,3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 560pp.). Hence, we provide an observation of juvenile growth in E.coerulea from west-central Washington State.We recorded these observations along the south edge of a second-growthDouglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stand in a ruralneighborhood < 0.15 km from Puget Sound near Olympia, Washington(47°06'59"N, 122°56'08"W, WGS 84; elev. 37 m). All measurementswere made with a 15-cm ruler to the nearest 0.5 mm;and masses were obtained with a top-loading Ohaus 1320 fieldscale with 0.01 g accuracy.While cleaning yard debris at 2010 h on 29 May 2007, CBHcaptured a juvenile female E. coerulea (49.0 mm SVL, 65.0 mmtail [unbroken], 1.70 g) beneath a discarded painting tarp exposeddaily to midday and afternoon sun. Based on having recaptured E.coerulea under similar objects, we opted not to remove the tarp,marked the animal with a single toe clip, and released it at thecapture point. MPH subsequently recaptured this animal at thesame location three times over the next 65 days. On 15 June, itwas 52.5 mm SVL (75 mm tail, 2.26 g); on 2 July, it measured 55mm SVL (82.5 mm tail, 2.50 g); and on 8 August, it was 60 mm(92 mm tail [still unbroken], 3.55 g). These data reveal mean growthrates of 0.21 mm/dy and 0.59 mm/day for the body and tail in the1st interval; 0.15 mm/dy and 0.44 mm/day in the 2nd interval; and0.16 mm/dy and 0.24 mm/dy in the 3rd interval. Mass increased0.04 g/dy in the 1st interval, declined to 0.01 g/dy in the 2nd interval,but increased again to 0.03 g/dy in the 3rd interval.Based on the data of Rutherford (op. cit.) and the fact that thesmallest E. coerulea observed locally (28–32 mm SVL) have alwaysbeen found in later summer and fall (MPH, unpubl. data),the animal we captured belongs to the 2006 cohort. Based on thegrowth curve of Rutherford (op. cit.), the growth of this juvenileseems slightly faster than that of juveniles from the CanadianOkanogan; no animal that Rutherford captured had attained 60mm by their second winter (see her Figure 2), and after our lastrecapture, we expect to have at least 40 days of higher-growthratetemperature conditions in our summer season. One furtherpoint merits comment. Growth rate of the tail declining nearlythree-fold relative to the roughly constant body growth rate asmass increased indicates that substantial allocation to tail growthoccurs early, asymmetry that deserves exploration.Work was done under a Washington Department of Fish andWildlife programmatic handling permit under which MPH was apermitee. This is contribution No. 16 of the Forests and Fish Sectionof the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife HabitatProgram Science Division.Submitted by CHARLEEN BRIGETTE HAYES, 2636 59thAvenue NW, Olympia, Washington 98502 (e-mail:charleenhayes@msn.com); and MARC PHILIP HAYES, WashingtonDept. Fish and Wildlife, Habitat Program, 600 Capitol WayNorth, Olympia, Washington 98501, USA (e-mail:hayesmph@dfw.wa.gov).EUMECES ELEGANS (Elegant Skink). PREDATION. Eumeceselegans occurs in eastern China, Taiwan, and the Diaoyutai(=Senkaku) Archipelago (Hikida 1993. Japan. J. Herpetol. 15:1–21). In Taiwan, it inhabits primarily open mountainous areas andFIG. 1. The Amphiesma stolatum in the process of regurgitating theEumeces elegans (top), and the prey item after it has been regurgitated(bottom). Note the partly digested head of the prey in the bottom image.areas disturbed by human activities below 2500 m (Lue et al. 2002.The Transition World—Guidebook of Amphibians and Reptilesof Taiwan. SWAN, Taipei. 350 pp. [in Chinese]; Pope 1929. Bull.Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 58:335–487; Shang and Lin. 2001. NaturalPortraits of Lizards of Taiwan. Big Trees Publishers, Taipei. 174pp. [in Chinese]).On 14 September 2007, a juvenile male Striped Keelback(Amphiesma stolatum) (293 mm SVL, 100 mm tail, 9.3 g post–regurgitation mass) was collected from a drift fence funnel trapset in a Betelnut Palm (Areca catechu) plantation in Santzepu,Sheishan District, Chiayi County (23.4267°N, 120.4856°E; datum:WGS84; elev. 85 m). Habitat consisted of A. catechu, Alocasiaodora, Bidens pilosa var. radiata, Ipomoea cairica, Mikaniamicrantha, and Panicum maximum; canopy cover, created by thecrowns of A. catechu, was 25%. The A. stolatum had an enlargedmid-body, and after gentle palpation, the snake regurgitated a juvenileE. elegans (Fig. 1) with a partly digested head (45 mm SVL,59 mm tail, 1.4 g). After being scale-clipped for future identification,the snake was released in the area where it was collected.Little is known about the feeding habits of A. stolatum, but thefollowing prey types have been recorded: insects (Acrididae), tadpoles,toads, frogs, fish (Lee and Lue 1996. Biol. Bull. Nat. TaiwanNormal Univ. 31:119–121 [in Chinese]), earthworms, geckoes,lizards, and scorpions (Das 2002. A Photographic Guide toSnakes and Other Reptiles of India. New Holland Publishers [UK]Ltd., London. 144 pp.). Prey size of the skink reported here, at<strong>Herpetological</strong> <strong>Review</strong> 39(2), 2008 223

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