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The is featured in the October Edition of H**pBuzz, a monthly newsletter by H**pClub! You can find the feature on page 2 of the newsletter! 🐸💙
Find the newsletter here: https://www.herpclub.org/herpbuzz

**petology **petology

Kachin Keelback / Hebius taronensis (Smith, 1940) - A New Addition to the H**petofauna of India

Smith described Hebius taronensis as a subspecies of a similar-looking species namely, Hebius venningi (Natrix venningi taronensis) based on specimens collected from the Kachin state of Myanmar. Over the years, some authors have regarded this species as distinct but without providing scientific justification.

A taxonomic revision of the genus Hebius published recently discussed the status of this species and formally regarded it as a full species. You can find the publication at https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4911.1.1

Hebius taronensis differs from H. venningi by the following set of characters
A shorter tail, ratio TaL/TL 0.25–0.29 vs. 0.30–0.35 in H. venningi
Fewer subcaudals, 92–104 vs. 115–129
Dorsum brown to blackish-brown with pale and dark spots or blotches forming a complex speckled or mottled pattern vs. dorsum grey or greyish-brown with a checkered pattern of darker blotches
On each side, a series of more or less elongate blotches, pale yellowish-brown or ochre-brown (bright orange or yellowish-red in life) vs. yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown (same in life). In India, H. taronensis is distributed in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Changlang District. This was based on the specimens cited by Captain & Bhatt (2001).
References:
*Captain, A., & Bhatt, B. B. 2001. First record of Amphiesma venningi (Wall, 1910)(Serpentes, Colubridae, Natricinae) from India, with remarks on its subspecies. HAMADRYAD (26), 354-358.
*David. P., Vogel G., Nguyen T. Q., Orlov N. L., Pauwels O. S. G., Teynié A., and Ziegler T. . 2021. A Revision of the Dark-bellied, Stream-dwelling Snakes of the Genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the Description of A New Species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. ZOOTAXA. 4911(1); 1-61.

The above piece is written originally by Sanjaya Kanishka

Photograph by Nikolay Poyarkov.

Best regards,
Team H**pClub.

Strange foam eating behaviour in Skittering Frog.
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https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/6291
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Kudos to all authors!


Bikash Sahoo
Aniruddha Datta-Roy

Introducing "The Indian H**pers' Collective", a Google group aimed to be a discussion platform & an online bulletin board to keep all amphibian & reptile enthusiasts up-to-date on the advances in Indian H**petology.

Indian H**pers can join the collective by filling out the questionnaire on
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www.bit.ly/herpform
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Interested non-herpers, & herpers based outside India can email their full name with 'Indian H**pers collective' as the mail subject to herpclub@gmail(.)com

The data obtained from the survey (except any personal info) will be communicated in the form of charts and graphs on H**pClub's Instagram, Twitter & pages. So do follow us on these platforms to not miss out on exciting H**p related news.

The survey will remain open till 31st December 2020.

Happy H**ping!

Do share this msg w your herping buddies.
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Yatin Kalki ( ) and Merlin Weiss collated 203 observations of Common Vine Snake predation. The dataset was created using observations reported in scientific publications, citizen science websites, and SOCIAL MEDIA platforms.

In India, we are experiencing severe a lack of natural history data for majority Indian H**p species. When the authors took up this project, only a handful of prey taxa was recorded to be present in the diet spectrum of Common Vine Snake.

Traditionally, diet compositions of herps have been evaluated using much destructive techniques like gut analysis of preserved individuals by dissection which rendered the specimens useless. But this study reported prey species spanning 44 species, 38 genera and 19 families in the diet of Ahaetulla nasuta with frogs, lizards, and mammals making up the majority of its diet composition based on photographs uploaded by herpers like you and me. This study increased the known dietary spectrum of A. nasuta by 77% and demonstrated the value of citizen science data in ecological research.
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**pScience

New species of Rain Snakes.
Smithophis arunachalensis
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Kudos to all the authors,
Abhijit Das

Edward O Z Wade
Ashok Captain
David Gower
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A new small-bodied Lacertid lizard, Ophisops agarwali has been discovered from the hills of  Gujarat. It is a diurnal species and is currently known to inhabit open grass patches near the Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat.

The species was collected in the year 2000 and it hasn't been sighted ever since despite extensive surveys in the area. The authors highlight the ongoing urbanisation and habitat degradation at the type locality, which might have led to its disappearance. Moreover, the authors suggest that the species may have gone extinct. Intensive surveys at the type locality and adjoining identical habitats are needed to confirm or refute the authors' claims.

The specific epithet is a patronym, honouring Dr. Ishan Agarwal for his significant contributions to the study of reptile systematics and biogeography.
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Kudos to the authors - & Raju Vyas.
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An interesting study published in Springer Nature's Biological Invasion journal reviews the Indian Bullfrog invasion and predicts environmental suitability to curb their further expansion.

Dr. Nitya Mohanty briefs us about their findings in the following write-up.

"Indian bullfrogs, naturally occurring on the Indian subcontinent, are known for their large body size (nearly half a foot) and voracious diets. In 2000-01, some bullfrogs were transported by humans to the Andaman archipelago. Twenty years later, this “introduced” population became “invasive”, spreading to six of the eight major islands. In the Islands, the bullfrogs feed on many endemic frogs, raising concern for the fragile island ecosystem. In this paper, we synthesized all available information on the bullfrog’s invasive populations (also on Madagascar) and their impact on native species, and modeled to which other locations they could spread – a one-stop-shop for scientists and managers to know everything about bullfrog invasion."
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The paper can be accessed from this link- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02356-9

Figures obtained from - Mohanty, N. P, Crottini, A., Garcia, R.A. et al. Non-native populations and global invasion potential of the Indian bullfrog Hoplobatrachus tigerinus: a synthesis for risk-analysis. Biol Invasions (2020).
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Kudos to all authors
Nitya Prakash Mohanty,
Angelica Crottini,
Raquel A. Garcia.
& John Measey
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Happy H**ping!

A paper published in Springer Nature's Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology journal investigates the sleeping patterns in the Roux's Forest Lizard in evergreen forests and in adjacent Beetle nut plantations.

Dr. Nitya Mohanty provided us with an outline of their study.

"For animals, sleeping in the wild is dangerous – to switch off completely in a world full of predators is risky. Therefore, animals must always choose to sleep in safe locations. We studied how such behaviour changes with human modification of natural habitats (forest to plantation), for the ‘Forest blood sucker lizard’ in the Western Ghats. Lizards always chose thin, unstable perch plants to sleep, as they allow for early detection of an approaching predator.

In the Beetle nut plantations, opting for thin perches led to lizards using significantly lower perches, probably leaving them vulnerable to predators approaching from the ground."

The published paper can be accessed on - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02905-1 (link in bio)

Kudos to all authors.
Milena Bors,
Nitya Prakash Mohanty,
and Pogiri Gowri Shankar.
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Figures obtained from Bors, M., Mohanty, N. P., & Gowri Shankar, P. Anti-predatory sleep strategies are conserved in the agamid lizard Monilesaurus rouxii. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 74, 121 (2020)
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A new Rock-dwelling Gecko from the Sirumalai hills of Tamil Nadu.

Hemidactylus is a diverse genus with over 166 species worldwide. So, to understand this diversity better, species are clustered according to their evolutionary relationships. These clusters have been recognised as radiations and clades (basically, subgroups).

Hemidactylus sirumalaiensis belongs to H. prashadi clade and it is sister to H. vanam, a recently discovered gecko.

It was found at an elevation of ~580m asl in on large rocks and trees in a deciduous forest patch. Like most other leaf toed geckos, this species is also nocturnal.

It often loses patches of skin upon capture and handling, which is a defence technique.
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Kudos to the authors,



Tejas Thackeray

A study published in Zootaxa last month reports phenotypic diversity in the Kalinga Cricket Frog.
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Contact (Amit Hegde) to know more about their findings.

Authors -
Amit Hegde
K P Dinesh
Girish Kadadevaru
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Happy Frogging! 🐸