Natural History Notes

447

PHOTO BY M. Wachlevski

Of particular interest is the position of the snake along the

stick (Fig. 1). It was motionless and oriented head-down in a
position similar to that often described as ambush posture for
some arboreal snake species (e.g., Corallus spp., Henderson
2002. Neotropical Treeboas. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, Florida.
197 pp.). The snake was found after several hours of rain beside
a dry riverbed and we suspect that it was using the stick perch
as a vantage point from which to scan for snails and slugs moving in the damp leaf litter below. Preliminary data from a feeding
behavior study led by CMS support this hypothesis in that captive T. philippii often use visual cues to initially locate and follow
molluscan prey.
We thank J. A. Campbell for assistance, and G. N. Weatherman for assistance with field work. The National Science Foundation (DEB-0613802) provided financial support.
COLEMAN M. SHEEHY III (e-mail: cmsheehy@uta.edu), JEFFREY W.
STREICHER, CHRISTIAN L. COX, and JACOBO REYES-VELASCO, Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.

Fig. 1. An adult female Xenodon neuwiedii found preying on a Rhinella abei in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Tabuleiro, Brazil.

TROPIDONOPHIS DORIAE (Barred Keelback). ENDOPARASITES. Tropidonophis doriae is known from Indonesia (Irian,
Java, Aru Islands) and Papua New Guinea (Malnate and Underwood 1988. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 140:59201). It is a
terrestrial, nocturnal predator that eats frogs and fish (Malnate
and Underwood, op. cit). To our knowledge there are no reports
of helminths for T. doriae. The purpose of this note is to establish an initial helminth list for T. doriae. Two T. doriae from the
herpetology collection of the Bishop Museum (BPBM), Honolulu, HI, USA each had nematodes protruding from a slit in their
body walls (BPBM 31526, SVL = 254 mm; BPBM 31527, SVL =
327 mm). Both snakes were collected on 3 April 2007 in Madang
Province, Wanang, Papua New Guinea (5.232118S, 145.18068E;
datum: WGS84; elev. 600 m). Nematodes were removed, cleared
in glycerol, placed on glass slides, coverslipped, studied under
a compound microscope and identified as Tanqua anomala
(eight from BPBM 31526) and (six from BPBM 31527). Voucher
helminths were deposited in the United States National Parasite Collection (USNPC), Beltsville, Maryland, USA as USNPC
(103501) and the Bishop Museum (BPBM) as (H423). Tanqua
anomala is common in snakes from southeast and southern Asia
(Baker 1987. Occas. Pap. Mem. Univ. Newfoundland 11:1327;
Sood 1999. Reptilian Nematodes from South Asia, International
Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, India. 299 pp.). There is a record
of a larval T. anomala in Hoplobatrachus tigerinus (= Rana tigrina) in Baker (op. cit). As T. doriae feeds on frogs, frogs may act
as paratenic (= transport hosts) for T. anomala. Tanqua anomala
in T. doriae is a new host record. Papua New Guinea is a new locality record.
We thank Pumehana Imada (IBPBM) for facilitating our examination of T. doriae.

Holos, Ribeiro Preto; Sazima and Haddad 1992. In Morellato

[ed.], Histria Natural da Serra do Japi: Ecologia e Preservao
de uma rea Florestal no Sudeste do Brasil, pp. 212236. FAPESP,
Campinas). However, anurans belonging to other families (Hylidae, Leptodactylidae, and Cyclorhamphidae) and even lizards
(Enyalius sp.) are occasionally consumed (Hartmann et al. 2009.
Biota Neotrop. 9:173184; Marques and Sazima, op. cit.). Rhinella abei is a frog distributed in the southern Atlantic Rainforest
from Paran state to southern Santa Catarina state and northern
areas of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil (Baldissera Jr. et al. 2004.
Arq. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro 62[3]:255282). Here we report the
predation of the frog R. abei by the snake X. neuwiedii.
On 16 January 2009, in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Tabuleiro, Santo Amaro da Imperatriz municipality, Santa Catarina
state, Brazil (27.7427S, 48.8075W, datum: SAD 69), an adult female X. neuwiedii (SVL = 489 mm; tail length = 113 mm; 59.5 g),
was found at 1015 h on leaf litter in an area of dense ombrophilous forest ingesting an adult R. abei (SVL = 69.1 mm; 26.2 g; 44%
of the snakes mass). The frog was being ingested headfirst, ventral side up, and was still alive (Fig. 1). Manipulation of the snake
resulted in the release of the prey, which presented deep wounds
in the abdominal region. Batracophagy seems to be the most frequent feeding habit of Xenodon (Marques et al. 2001. Serpentes
da Mata Atlntica. Guia Ilustrado para a Serra do Mar. Ribeiro
Preto, Editora Holos. 184 pp.) and some species have specialized skulls and dentition, facilitating the capture and ingestion
of frogs (Kardong 1979. Evolution 33:433443). The wounds we
observed are evidence of the functionality of X. neuwiediis enlarged posterior teeth, which allow perforation of the prey and
the consequent evacuation of air, which is accumulated in the
toads body for defense (Amaral 1978. Serpentes do Brasil, Iconografia Colorida, 2a edio. Melhoramentos/EDUSP, So Paulo.
247 pp.).

STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department of Biology, PO

Box 634, Whittier, California 90608, USA (e-mail: sgoldberg@whittier.edu);
CHARLES R. BURSEY, Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus,
Department of Biology, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail: cxb13@
psu.edu).

XENODON NEUWIEDII (False Lancehead). DIET. The dipsadid

snake Xenodon neuwiedii has a diet composed predominantly
of anurans, especially those in the genus Rhinella (Marques and
Sazima 2004. In Marques and Duleba [eds.], Estao Ccolgica
Juria-Itatins: Ambiente Fsico, Flora e Fauna, pp. 257277.

THIAGO MAIA (e-mail: thiagomaianc@gmail.com), MILENA

WACHLEVSKI (e-mail: milenawm@yahoo.com), LUCIANA BARANTE (email: lubarcante@hotmail.com), and CARLOS F. D. ROCHA (e-mail: cfdrocha@uerj.br), Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio
de Janeiro, Rua So Francisco Xavier 524, CEP 20550-013, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.

Herpetological Review 42(3), 2011