IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(1):29–31•MAR2015

An Observation of Winter Breeding by Two Anurans from Bangladesh

Faysal Ahmad and Shayer Mahmood Ibney Alam

DepartmentofZoology,JagannathUniversity,Dhaka1100,Bangladesh(faysal.nature@gmail.com)

Photographsbytheseniorauthor.

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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

F

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©2015.FaysalAhmad.Allrightsreserved.

WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL

Amphibiansareectothermsthatreduceactivityinextremetemperatures,andmanyhibernateduringthewinteror

becomeinactivewhenconditionsareunfavorable.Littleisknownabouttherangeoftemperaturesthatamphibianscantolerateandmaintainreproductiveactivity(StoreyandStorey1986).InBangladesh,theclimateissub-tropical,withabriefwinterthatgenerallybeginsinNovemberandcontinuesuntilFebruary,peakingfrommid-Decembertomid-January.Data

documentingbreedingtemperaturesandeggtypesofanyamphibianspeciesfromBangladesharelacking. NearBarlekha inMaulvibazarDistrict (24°38’21”N92°13’16”E)on16December2012at1240h,weobservedamplexusintwospeciesofamphibians,theRedNarrow-mouthed Frog (Microhyla rubra; Fig. 1) and the AsianCommonToad(Duttaphrynus melanostictus;Fig.2).Thefirstauthorfoundthesmallpoolofclearwaterbytrackingthe

Fig. 1.RedNarrow-mouthedFrogs(Microhyla rubra)inamplexuswitharaftofclusteredeggsintheforeground.

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breedingcallsofM. rubra.Duetothedrywinterseason,theflowofwaterwasreducedinachanneloftheMadhabkundaWaterfall,leavinganumberofsmallpoolsalongthemainchannel.Thewaterinthepoolwasshallow(~7.5–120cm)andsurroundedbybushes.Watertemperaturewas9°C. Microhyla rubra(Mycrohylidae)hasawidedistributionatlowerelevationacrossBangladeshandpeninsularIndiatoSriLanka,rarelyoccurringabove500masl(Kirtisinghe1957;Padhyeetal.2004;Manamendra-ArachchiandPethiyagoda2006).Thenaturalhistoryandreproductivebiologyofmanymicrohylidfrogsarepoorlyknown,andsmallbodysize,noctur-nalhabits,andcrypticcolorationmightbelargelyresponsible(e.g.,Wassersug1980;Donnellyetal.1990;Lehretal.2007).RedNarrow-mouthedFrogsaremostfrequentlyencounteredinmoistsituationsunderlogs,pilesofrubble,haystacks,andstones,andeggdepositionoccursprimarilyinephemeralpoolsinSriLanka(BowatteandMeegaskumbura2011). Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Bufonidae) occurs fromPakistantotheMalayPeninsula.Ithasbeenrecordedfromsealevelto1,800maslandismostfrequentlyfoundindis-

turbedlowlandhabitats,fromupperbeachesandriverbankstohuman-dominatedagriculturalandurbanareas(Mathew1999;VanDijketal.2004).AsianCommonToadsbreedinstillandslow-flowingriversandtemporaryandpermanentpondsandpools(VanDijketal.2004).Breedingdependsonrainfallandtemperature.Inareaswithseasonalmonsoonrains,breedingoftenpeaksatthestartofthewetseason;whereclimateismorestable,breedingcanoccurthroughouttheyear(Jørgensenetal.1986;Mathew1999). Weobserved21RedNarrow-mouthedFrogsandsevenAsianCommonToads in thepool.Wealso foundclus-teredeggclutchesattributabletoM. rubra (Fig.1)andlongstrings of eggs laid by D. melanostictus(Fig.2).NopublishedrecordsdocumentwinterinactivityorbreedingofM. rubra in Bangladesh.However,D. melanostictus has been observed seekingshelterandbecominginactiveduringthewinterinsomeareasofBangladesh(pers.obs.).Consequently,breed-ingduringthewinterdryseasonmightbealocaladaptationattributabletotheavailabilityofwaterandnotnecessarilyapplicabletomostpopulationsofeitherspeciesinBangladesh.

IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(1):29–31•MAR2015AHMAD AND ALAM

Fig. 2.AsianCommonToads(Duttaphrynus melanostictus)inamplexuswithstringsofeggsattributabletothisspecies(notethatsingleeggsinthevicinityofthetoadsarethoseoftheRedNarrow-mouthedFrog.

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IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(1):29–31•MAR2015AHMAD AND ALAM

AcknowledgementsTheauthorsaregratefultotheNatureStudyandConservationCluboftheDepartmentofZoology,JagannathUniversity,Dhaka1100.KathleenNinnemanandHectorHinojosapro-

videdmoralsupportandStephenMahonyandChristopherE.Smithprovidedimportantinformation.

Literature CitedBowatte,G.andM.Meegaskumbura.2011.MorphologyandecologyofMicrohyla

rubra (Anura:Microhylidae)tadpolesfromSriLanka.Amphibian and Reptile Conservation5:22–32.

Donnelly,M.A.,R.O.deSa,andC.Guyer.1990.DescriptionofthetadpolesofGastrophryne pictiventris and Nelsonophryne aterrima(Anura:Microhylidae),withareviewofmorphologicalvariationinfree-swimmingmicrohylidlarvae.American Museum Novitates2976:1–19.

Jørgensen,C.B.,K.Shakuntala,andS.Vijayakumar.1986.Bodysize,reproduc-tionandgrowthinatropicaltoad,Bufo melanostictus,withacomparisonofovariancyclesintropicalandtemperatezoneanurans.Oikos 46:379–389.

Kirtisinghe,P.1957.The Amphibia of Ceylon.Privatelypublishedbytheauthor,Colombo,SriLanka.

Lehr,E.,L.Trueb,P.J.Venegas,andE.Arbeláez.2007.DescriptionsofthetadpolesoftwoNeotropicalmicrohylidfrogs,Melanophryne carpish and Nelsonophryne aequatorialis(Anura:Microhylidae).Journal of Herpetology41:581–589

Manamendra-Arachchi,K.andR.Pethiyagoda.2006.Amphibians of Sri Lanka.WildlifeHeritageTrust,Colombo,SriLanka.

Mathew,M. 1999. Studies on someAspects of theBiology andEcology ofCommon Indian Toad Bufo melanostictus Schneider (Class Amphibia;OrderAnura).UnpublishedPh.D.Thesis,MahatmaGhandiUniversity,Kottayam, Kerala, India (www.mgutheses.org/page/?q=T%200581&search=&page=&rad=%23184).

Padhye,A.,A.deSilva,S.Dutta,T.KumarShrestha,K.Manamendra-Arachchi,andS.Bordoloi.2004.Microhyla rubra. IUCNRedListofThreatenedSpecies.Version2014.3(www.iucnredlist.org).

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VanDijk,P.P.,D. Iskandar,M.WaiNengLau,G.Huiqing,G.Baorong,L.Kuangyang, C.Wenhao, Y. Zhigang, B. Chan, S.Dutta, R. Inger, K.Manamendra-Arachchi,andM.SharifKhan.2004.Duttaphrynus melanostictus.IUCNRedListofThreatenedSpecies.Version2014.3(www.iucnredlist.org).

Wassersug,R.J.1980.Internaloral featuresof larvaefromeightanuranfami-lies: Functional, systematic, evolutionary and ecological considerations. Publications of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 68:1–146.

Fig. 3.MapofMaulvibazarDistrict(Bangladesh)showingtheapproxi-matelocationofthesitenearBarlekhawheretwospeciesofanuranswerebreedinginDecember2012.