IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(1):109–110 • APR 2020

Northernmost Record of the Nilgiri Keelback, Hebius beddomei (Günther 1864) (Squamata: Natricidae) from the

Western Ghats of IndiaAnuj Shinde1, Shubhankar Deshpande1,4, Makarand Ketkar2,4, and Swayam Thakkar3

1Fergusson College, Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra, 411004, India (shubhankarsdeshpande11@gmail.com)2 Insearch Outdoors, Ketan Heights, C-26, Anupam Park, Rahul Nagar, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra, 411038, India

3MIT World Peace University, Survey No. 124, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra, 411038, India4Institute of Natural History Education and Research (INHER), C26/9 Ketan Heights, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra 411038, India

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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

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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 © 2020. Anuj Shinde. All rights reserved.

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The Nilgiri Keelback (Hebius beddomei) is an endemic natricid (Chaitanya et al. 2018) with a known distribu-

tion in the Western Ghats of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra from south of Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, to the Bonacaud Estate in Kerala at elevations between 60 and 1,000 m asl (Srinivasulu et al. 2014). In the state of Maharashtra, this species is known to occur at the Mahabaleshwar Hill Station and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in Satara District (Srinivasulu et al. 2014), the Kaas Plateau in Satara District (Chikane and Bhosale 2012), Chandoli National Park in Sangli District (Amol Jadhav, pers. comm.), and Amboli (AS, SD, MK, pers. obs.).

At 1330 h on 6 October 2019, during a field survey in Adarwadi Devrai, Tamhini Ghat, Pune (18°25'51.00"N, 73°24'15.36"E), MK and ST encountered a single indi-vidual (Fig. 1) at an elevation of 578 m asl in tropical semi-evergreen type forest (Champion and Seth 1968). The snake was in thick leaf litter next to a rock on the forest floor and in the process of ingesting an endemic Ghate’s Shrub Frog (Raorchestes ghatei) (Fig. 2). We photographed the snake and then released it at the site of capture. The new locality of Adarwadi Devrai is about 62 km north of the previously documented northernmost record at South Mahabaleshwar (Whitaker and Captain 2004)

Fig. 1. A Nilgiri Keelback (Hebius beddomei) from Adarwadi Devrai, Tamhni Ghat, Pune, Maharashtra, India. Photograph by Swayam Thakkar.

IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324

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and also the first record of the species from Pune District of Maharashtra.

AcknowledgementsWe thank Srushti Bhave for helping map the locations, Gaurang Gowande and Shauri Sulakhe for their comments on the manuscript, and Ramdas Yenpure for help during fieldwork.

Literature CitedChaitanya, R., A. Khandekar, D. Caleb, N. Mukherjee, A. Ghosh, and V. Giri.

2018. Herpetofauna of the Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern Western Ghats, India: An updated checklist with annotations on taxonomy and nomenclature. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 115: 21–37.

Champion, H. and S. Seth. 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Government of India, New Delhi, India.

Chikane, S. and H. Bhosale. 2012. Reptiles of Kaas, northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India, with notes on habitat preferences, abundances and threats. Sauria 34(3): 3–15.

Srinivasulu, C., B. Srinivasulu, and S. Molur (compilers). 2014. The Status and Distribution of Reptiles in the Western Ghats, India. Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP). Wildlife Information Liason Development Society, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Whitaker, R., and A. Captain. 2004. Snakes of India – The Field Guide. Draco Books, Chennai, India.

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(1):109–110 • APR 2020SHINDE ET AL.

Fig. 3. Map of the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India, show-ing the distribution of the Nilgiri Keelback (Hebius beddomei). The previ-ously recorded distribution in Maharashtra is represented by pink squares and the new northernmost record is indicated by a red triangle.

Fig. 2. A Nilgiri Keelback (Hebius beddomei) from Adarwadi Devrai, Tamhni Ghat, Pune, Maharashtra, India, ingesting a Ghate’s Shrub Frog (Raorchestes ghatei). Photograph by Swayam Thakkar.