IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•21(3):98–99•SEP2014

Predation on a Cuban Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei (Dactyloidae), by a Spider,

Cupiennius cubae (Ctenidae), in the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden, South-central Cuba

Elier Fonseca Hernández1 and Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera2

1DepartamentodeBiologíaAnimalyHumana,FacultaddeBiología,UniversidaddelaHabana,LaHabana,CP10400,Cuba(elierfonseca@fbio.uh.cu)2JardínBotánicodeCienfuegos,Cienfuegos,PC59290,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©2014.ElierFonsecaHernández.Allrightsreserved.

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Arthropods, including arachnids (scorpions, spiders,sun spiders, whip spiders, whip scorpions), insects

(waterbugs,ants,beetles,dragonfly,caddisflyandstone-flynymphs),crustaceans(crabs,shrimps),andcentipedes(Scolopendraspp.),areknownpredatorsofsmallvertebrates(e.g.,McCormickandPolis1982,Meninetal.2005,Toledo2005,HendersonandPowell2009),butspidersarebyfarthemostfrequentlyreportedvertebratepredatorsofanuransandlizards.WanderingSpiders(Ctenidae)areknowntopreyonamphibiansandreptilesintheNeotropics(e.g.,Meninetal.2005,Barboetal.2009,Barejetal.2009,Losos2009).However, West Indian records are scarce. Ctenus ottleyi(=Oligoctenus ottleyi;Platnick2009)fromPuertoRicopreysonEleutherodactylus coqui(FallsandWoolbrightinFormanowiczetal.1981,Joglar2005)andAnolis gundlachi(ClarkandGillingham1990); and Ohvida vernalis (=Ctenus vernalis; Platnick2009)fromCubawasobservedpreyingonE. zugi (Novoetal.1985). AlthoughtheCubanBrownAnole(Anolis sagrei Cocteau inDumérilandBibron1837)isoneofthemostwidelydis-tributedWestIndian lizards, it isnativetotheBahamas,theCubanArchipelago, andLittleCayman (HendersonandPowell2009).Agreatvarietyofvertebratesareknownpredatorsofthisanoleinnature,includingfrogs(Osteopilus),snakes (Caraiba, Cubophis, Tropidophis), lizards (Anolis, Leiocephalus),andbirds(Dives, Falco, Ferminia, Quiscalus, Mimus)(forareviewseeHendersonandPowell2009,Losos2009).However, only one report of an arthropodprey-ingonthislizardinvolvedanOrbweaver,Argiope trifasciata (Armas2001).HereinwereportpredationonAnolis sagrei by Cupiennius cf.cubaeStrand1909,insouth-centralCuba.TothebestofourknowledgethisconstitutesthefirstrecordofactenidspiderpreyingonlizardsintheCubanArchipelago,andonlythesecondcasereportedintheWestIndies.

On 25 January 2014, at 2250 h, an adult femaleCupiennius cf. cubae (8.6mm carapace length, 0.94 g)wasfounddevouringanimmaturemaleA. sagrei (31mmSVL,0.72g)(Fig.1).Bothanimalswereonabromeliad(Tillandsia valenzuelana)210cmabovegroundlevel inatreeat theCienfuegosBotanicalGarden (22°07’31.5”N,-80°19’20.2”W;50ma.s.l.),CienfuegosProvince;airtem-

Fig. 1. Predation on Anolis sagrei by Cupiennius cf.cubaeintheCienfuegosBotanicalGarden,Cuba.Scalebars=5mm.

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perature21°C.Atthetimeoftheobservation,softtissuesofthelizard’sheadandanteriorbodywerepartiallydigested.Thespiderwashanginginaninvertedpositionfromtheleafofabromeliad,holdingthelizardwiththefirstpairoflegsandthechelicera.AnotherfourindividualsofA. sagrei were sleepinginthesamebromeliadandadjacenttwigs.Aftercol-lection,thespiderpersistedinholdingthepreydespitecon-siderable disturbance. ThespiderwastentativelyreferredtoCupiennius cubae becausethisistheonlyspeciesofthisgenusknowntooccurinCuba.Bothspiderandlizardweredepositedintheherpetologi-calcollectionoftheMuseodeHistoriaNatural“FelipePoey,”FacultyofBiology,UniversityofHavana(MFP12516).

AcknowledgementsWethankAnselFong,JavierTorres,andRubenMarreroforhelpwiththeliterature.J.Torresalsomadeusefulcommentsthatimprovedthemanuscript.

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IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•21(3):98–99•SEP2014HERNÁNDEZ AND RODRÍGUEZ-CABRERA