IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•23(2):95–98•AUG2016

Bat Predation by a Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis, Hylidae) and a Summary of Bat Predation by

West Indian Amphibians and ReptilesCarlos A. Mancina1, Leticia Mas Castellanos2, and Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera3

1DivisióndeZoología,InstitutodeEcologíaySistemática,LaHabana,CP11900,Cuba(mancina@ecologia.cu)2CentrodeEstudiosyServiciosAmbientalesdeVillaClara,VillaClara,Cuba(leticia@cesam.vcl.cu)3JardínBotánicodeCienfuegos,Cienfuegos,CP59290,Cuba(tomasmichel.rodriguez@gmail.com)

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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

F 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 198

R 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 212

C 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 ........................................................................................................................................... 225

H U S B A N D R Y

Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226

P R O F I L E

Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234

C O M M E N T A R Y

The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238

B 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 ............................................................................................... 252

Front 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, as

IRC

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REPTILES & 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 Y

Copyright©2016.CarlosA.Mancina.Allrightsreserved.

WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL

TheWestIndiantreefroggenusOsteopiluscompriseseightspeciesnativetosomeBahamianislands,Cuba,Jamaica,

andHispaniola (Meshaka 2001;Henderson andPowell2009).These frogsareopportunisticpredators, consum-ingahighdiversityofinvertebratesandsmallervertebrates(HendersonandPowell2009;Kaiseretal.2016).TheCubanTreefrog(Osteopilus septentrionalis DumérilandBibron1841;Fig.1)isnativetotheBahamas,theCubanArchipelago,andtheCaymanIslands,buthasbeenwidelyintroducedtoseveralLesserAntilleanislands,PuertoRico,Hawaii,andmainlandFlorida(HendersonandBreuil2012;Frost2015),whereithasbecomeaninvasivespecies(Meshaka2001).InCuba,thisspeciesiswidelydistributedandoccupiesawiderangeofhabitats(DíazandCádiz2008;Rivaltaetal.2014).Its diet comprises a variety of invertebrates, including insects, arachnids,crustaceans,andgastropods,butitalsoisknowntoconsumeconspecifics,otherspeciesoffrogs,andlizards(Meshaka1996;HendersonandPowell2009;Armas2014;Kaiseretal.2016). Compared to non-volant mammals of similar size, bats face fewpredators (Altringham1996;LimaandO’Keefe2013).Furthermore,predationonbatsbyamphibians israreandinfrequentlydocumentedintheliterature(Mikula2015).Herein,wereportaneventofbatpredationbyaCuban Treefrog. InJanuary2016,weobservedalargeadultfemaleCubanTreefrog(nearly130mmSVL)eatingabatatduskinahouseat“RepartoUniversitario”(22°26'00.05"N,-79°54'28.00"W;referencedatum:WGS84),SantaClara,VillaClaraProvince,incentralCuba.Thefrogwasonaconcretefloorswallow-ingabatheadfirst(Fig.2A);inducedregurgitation(Fig.2B)revealedanadultmalePallas’sMastiffBat(Molossus molossus, Molossidae;12gbodymass).Thelackofrigor mortis suggested thatthebatprobablywasalivewhencapturedbythefrog.

Pallas’sMastiffBats (Fig.3),likemostmolossids,havenarrowwingsandahighwingload(NorbergandRayner1987),limitingtheircapacitytoliftofffromtheground,

Fig. 1. Adult female Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis).Photograph©C.A.Mancina.

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which increases their vulnerability topredationby frogs(orotheropportunisticpredatorssuchascats)whenontheground(orfloor).BothO. septentrionalis and M. molossus

occurthroughoutCubaandfrequentlyusebuildingsasfor-agingsitesanddiurnalretreats(Silva1979;DíazandCádiz2008).Thefactthatbotharemostfrequentlyencountered

IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•23(2):95–98•AUG2016MANCINA ET AL.

Table 1.AmphibiansandreptilesreportedasbatpredatorsintheWestIndies.Referencesmarkedwithanasterisk(*)werenotexaminedbutwerecitedinHendersonandPowell(2009).

Predator Bat species Island Sources

AMPHIBIA:ANURA

Leptodactylus fallax (Leptodactylidae) Unidentified Dominica Lescure(1979)*

Lithobates catesbeianus (Ranidae) Unidentified(bonesinstomach) Cuba Vogel(1965)*

Osteopilus septentrionalis (Hylidae) Eptesicus fuscus Cuba Silva(1979) Molossus molossus Cuba Thispaper

REPTILIA:SQUAMATA

Gekko gekko (Gekkonidae) Molossus molossus, Tadarida brasiliensis Martinique Breuil(2009)*

Boa orophias (Boidae) Brachyphylla cavernarum SaintLucia ArendtandAnthony(1986)

Boa nebulosa (Boidae) Brachyphylla cavernarum Dominica Angin(2014)

Chilabothrus angulifer (Boidae) Brachyphylla nana, Mormoops blainvillei, Cuba Hardy(1957b),Sheplanand Phyllonycteris poeyi, Erophylla sezekorni, Schwartz(1974)Mancina(2011), unidentifiedspecies Rodríguez-Cabreraetal.(2015)

Chilabothrus inornatus (Boidae) Brachyphylla cavernarum, Erophylla PuertoRico RodríguezandReagan(1984), sezekorni, Monophyllus redmani, Rodríguez-Durán(1996),Wiley Pteronotus quadridens, Mormoops (2003),Puente-RolónandBird- blainvillei Picó(2004),Puente-Rolón(2012)

Chilabothrus subflavus (Boidae) Artibeus jamaicensis,unidentified Jamaica PriorandGibson(1997),Koenig species andSchwartz(2003),Dávalosand Eriksson(2004)

Cubophis cantherigerus (Dipsadidae) Phyllonycteris poeyi, unidentified Cuba Hardy(1957a),Hendersonand species Sajdak(1996)

Bothrops lanceolatus (Viperidae) Unidentified Martinique Pinchon(1967)*

Fig. 2.AdultfemaleCubanTreefrog(Osteopilus septentrionalis;Hylidae)eatingaPallas’sMastiffBat(Molossus Molossus;Molossidae).Photographs©Leticia Mas Castellanos.

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inurbanenvironmentssuggeststhatsimilareventsmayberelativelyfrequentalthoughrarelyobservedanddocumented. Inarecentreviewpaper,Mikula(2015)compiled37casesofbatpredationbyamphibians,listing14frogspeciespreyingonbatsand16batspeciesasprey.Mikula(2015)didnotincludeanyfrogsinthegenusOsteopilus,althoughSilva (1979) identifiedaBigBrownBat (Eptesicus fuscus, Vespertilionidae)takenfromthestomachofanO. septen-trionalis found in a toilet at a tourist village in central Cuba. AlsoinCuba,Vogel(1965)recordedthepresenceofbonesofanunidentifiedbatinthestomachofaninvasiveAmericanBullfrog(Lithobates catesbeianus,Ranidae). Themostcommonpredatorsofbats intheAntilleanislands arenocturnal avian raptors (e.g.,Hernández andMancina2013)andfalconids(e.g.,Rodríguez-DuránandLewis1985);however,atleast11speciesofamphibiansandreptilesareknowntopreyonbats(Table1).Withtheexcep-tionofsomeboidsofthegenusChilabothrusthatregularlyfeedonbats(e.g.,Rodríguez-Cabreraetal.2015),thesearebestconsideredopportunisticbatpredators.IntheGreaterAntilles,caveswithhighaggregationsofbatsareabundant,andbatstherearepotentiallyvulnerabletopredators,par-ticularlyduringemergence.EasternGiantToads(Peltophryne peltocephala)havebeenobservedatCayoCaguanes,innorth-centralCuba,posted atdusknear theopeningsof cavesthat shelter largecoloniesofGervais’sFunnel-earedBats(Nyctiellus lepidus,Natalidae;2.5gbodymass),apparentlywaitingforemergingbats,althoughpredationhasnotbeenconfirmed(H.Vela,pers.comm.).RichardsandHall(2012)observedsimilarbehaviorinAustraliancavesbytheinvasiveCaneToad(Rhinella marina),aspecieswidelyintroducedintheWestIndies(albeitnotinCuba;Powelletal.2011).

AcknowledgementsWethankHumbertoVela(SociedadEspeleológicadeCuba)forsharingunpublishedobservations.WealsoacknowledgeSusanE.Koenig(Jamaica)andAlbertoR.Puente-Rolón(PuertoRico)forprovidingliteraturereferences.

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