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TERRAPENE CAROLINA TRIUNGUIS (Three-toed Box Turtle). ANOMALOUS SCUTATION. Modal carapacial scutation for Terrapene is: 1 nuchal, 5 vertebrals, 4 pairs of costals, and 12 pairs of marginals (Dodd 2001. North American Box Turtles. University of Okalahoma Press, Norman). We have examined the carapacial scutation of 3430 T. c. triunguis hatchlings and found only three with a reduced number of vertebrals (each one had just four vertebral scutes). Thus a reduction in the number of vertebral scutes in T. c. triunguis is apparently rare. On 18 July 2007, an adult female T. c. triunguis was found at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana, USA. She had only one vertebral scute, the most posterior one (Fig. 1). We judged her age to be 30+ years, as her scutes were almost smooth with little trace of growth lines (Schwartz et al. 1984. The Three-toed Box Turtle in Central Missouri, Part II: A Nineteen Year Study of Home Range, Movements and Population. Dept. of Conservation, Jefferson City, Missouri). The highly atypical vertebral scutation appeared to be congenital, as opposed to injury induced, and this specimen appeared to be in good health. The fi fth vertebral can be seen to be unusually narrow on the anterior end and there is midline contact between all four enlarged pairs of costal scutes; otherwise her carapacial scutation was typical in number. We thank Gay Brantley, Bob Eisenstadt, Kelby Ouchley, Sean Miller, Robert Barham, the Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for support. Work was done under Louisiana Scientifi c Collecting Permit No. LNHP-07-019.

Submitted by GEORGE M. PATTON (e-mail: gmpatton@suddenlink.net) and MARTHA A. MESSINGER, 2022 Gemini Drive, Bastrop, Louisiana 71220-3467, USA; and JOHN L. CARR, Department of Biology and Museum of Natural History, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana 71209-0520, USA (e-mail: carr@ulm.edu).

TRACHEMYS DORBIGNI (Brazilian Slider). MORPHOLOGY. A kyphotic adult male Trachemys dorbigni (Fig. 1) was captured on 6 September 2004 in Delta do Jacuí State Park, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (-30.0311111°S, 51.2519444°W). The specimen had the following maximum dimensions: carapace length = 178.3 mm, carapace width = 138.7 mm, plastral length = 158.6 mm, plastral width = 104.8 mm, and the kyphotic shell height was 85.3 mm. The highest point of the carapace was at the second vertebral shield. Besides the kyphotic deformity of the carapace, several anomalies in the epidermal shields were recorded (Bujes & Ver-rastro 2007. Supernumerary epidermal shields and carapace varia-tion in Orbigny’s Slider Turtles, Trachemys dorbigni (Testudines, Emydidae). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 24: 666-672.). Out of 57 T. dorbigni (13 males, 37 females, 7 unsexed) captured at this site, only this specimen had kyphosis. Kyphosis (“hump-back”) in turtles is defi ned as a column deformity dorsally convex to the sagital plane of the animal. Hypothesized causes include temperature variations in the nest during embryonic development (Glazebrook and Campbell 1990. Dis. Aquatic Org. 9:83–95), premature shell fusion (Saumure 2001. Chelon. Conserv. Biol. 4:159), or yolk retraction problems (Wil-liams 1957. Herpetologica 13:236). However, there are records of captive-held animals that have acquired the deformity as a result of metabolic bone diseases, and of wild turtles that were victims of unidentifi ed metabolic pathologies (Gerlach 2004. Afr. J. Her-petol. 53:77–85). Thus, the reason for the occurrence of kyphosis in chelonians is unknown. Kyphosis and related shield deformations are reported in the literature for marine turtles including Chelonia mydas (Rhodin

FIG. 1. Terrapene carolina triunguis with only one vertebral scute.

FIG. 1. Kyphotic adult male Trachemys dorbigni from Delta do Jacuí State Park, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

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et al. 1984, Brit. J. Herpetol. 6:369–373), and Caretta caretta (Drennen 1990. Mar. Turt. Newsl. 48:19–20), and in Sternotherus odoratus (Saumure 2001, op. cit.; Iverson 2007. Herpetol. Rev. 38:334), Trachemys scripta elegans (Tucker et al 2007, Herpetol. Rev. 38:337–338), Apalone spinifera (Burke 1994. Herpetol. Rev. 25:23), Chrysemys (= Trachemys) scripta yaquia (Plymale et al. 1978. Southwest. Nat. 23:457–461), and other freshwater turtle species (Stuart 1996. Bull. Chicago Herpetol. Soc. 31:60–61; Bell et al 2006. Environ. Pollution 142:457–465). This type of pathol-ogy is reported to date in fi ve families, 12 genera, and 21 species, thus potentially occurring occasionally in all chelonian species (Plymale et al. 1978, op. cit.). This is the fi rst report of kyphosis in Trachemys dorbigni. I thank Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza (FBPN), Departamento de Zoologia (Projeto Chelonia-RS, UFRGS), In-stituto Gaúcho de Estudos Ambientais (INGA), and Secretaria Estadual de Meio Ambiente (SEMA) for fi nancial and logistic support. I thank Priscila S. Miorando for fi eldwork support.

Submitted by CLÓVIS S. BUJES, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Bloco IV, prédio 43.435, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (e-mail: chelonia_rs@hotmail.com).

SQUAMATA — LIZARDS

CNEMIDOPHORUS OCELLIFER (Whiptail Lizard). PRE-DATION. Cnemidophorus ocellifer is a common lizard that is widespread in Brazil, excluding Amazonia (Vanzolini et al. 1980. Répteis da Caatinga. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Ja-neiro. 161 pp.). This species utilizes open habitats in the Cerrado bioregion, frequently associated with rocks (Mesquita and Colli 2003. J. Herpetol. 37:498–509). Several aspects of this species’ biology are well known, but information on predators is scarce. Mato Grosso Pantanal, Morais and Pinho (2007. Herpetol. Rev. 38:453) recorded a Road Hawk (Ruphornis magnirostris) preying on a juvenile C. ocellifer. França et al. (2008. Copeia 2008:23–38) documented the colubrid Liophis paucidens with two C. ocellifer in its stomach in Cerrado at Brasília. Here, we add to the known predator set on C. ocellifer with observations of predation by another colubrid snake and a centipede. On 23 July 2008 at 1201 h, we captured an adult Pampas Snake (Phimophis guerini; 716 mm SVL, 297 mm tail, 15 g) of unknown sex in Fazenda Floryl (14.04670ºS, 45.89124ºW, datum: SAD69; elev. 900 m), municipality of Jaborandi, Bahia, Brazil. This in-dividual, captured in a 60-liter bucket pitfall trap, regurgitated a juvenile C. ocellifer (51 mm SVL, 85 mm tail, 9 g). Ingestion had occurred headfi rst. Phimophis guerini is a moderate-sized fossorial colubrid that occurs in different Cerrado habitats (Vaz-Silva et al. 2007. Check List 3:338–345; Sawaya et al. 2008. Biota Neotrop. 8[2]:http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v8n2/en/abstract?inventory+bn01308022008) and feeds on lizards (França and Araújo 2007. Braz. J. Biol. 67:33–40; Sawaya et al., op. cit.). França et al. (op. cit.) recorded a gymnophthalmid lizard eaten by a P. guerini, but this is the fi rst record of predation by P. guerini on C. ocellifer. On 29 January 2009 ca. 1100 h in the same area of the aforemen-tioned predation event, we observed an adult centipede, Scolopen-dra viridicornis (size not measured) feeding on a juvenile male C.

ocellifer. The abdominal region of the C. ocellifer was punctured and its contents had been completely consumed by the centipede. Centipedes of the genus Scolopendra are known to prey on anurans (Carpenter and Gillingham 1984. Caribb. J. Sci. 20:71–72), snakes (Easterla 1975. Southwest. Nat. 20:411), rodents (Clark 1979. J. Mammal. 60:654), bats (Molinari et al. 2005. Caribb. J. Sci. 41:340–346), and lizards (Butler 1970. West. Aust. Nat. II:146). This is the fi rst record of S. viridicornis preying on C. ocellifer. We thank Fazenda Floryl/Jatobá for assistance and IBAMA for capture permit #11596.

Submitted by ADRIANA BOCCHIGLIERI, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, 70919-970, Brasília, DF, Brazil (e-mail: adriblue@hotmail.com); and ANDRÉ FARIA MENDONÇA, Departamento de Pós-graduação em Zo-ologia, Laboratório de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

KENTROPYX STRIATA (NCN) and LEPOSOMA HEXALEPIS. (Six-scaled Tegu). INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTION. The ge-nus Kentropyx comprises eight heliothermic teiid species that have active feeding habits and inhabit savannas or forest environments, generally near water (Gallagher and Dixon 1992. Boll. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino 10:125–171). Saurophagy has been recorded only for three species of Kentropyx; K. calcarata on Iphisa elegans (Hoogmoed 1973. Biogeographica 4:1–419), K. pelviceps on Ano-lis trachyderma (Duellman 1978. Misc. Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas 65:1–352), and a specimen of K. striata for which remains of an unidentifi ed lizard were found in its gut (Vitt and Carvalho 1992. Can. J. Zool. 70:1995–2006). Here, we report predation by K. striata on the microteiid, Leposoma hexalepis. During fi eld work at 1010 h on 13 February 2006 at a location along road from Puerto Ayacucho to Gavilán 12 km S of Puerto Ayacucho, Estado Amazonas, Venezuela, (5.57°N, 67.53°W, da-tum: La Canoa; elev. ~80 m), we observed an adult male K. striata (89.9 mm SVL) attempting to swallow an adult female L. hexalepis (33.9 mm SVL) on leaf litter in a small patch of secondary forest along a small creek. Air temperature was 31.4ºC; relative humidity was 65%. The lizards were collected and preserved before the K. striata could swallow the L. hexalepis; both were deposited in the Museo de Historia Natural La Salle, (K. striata MHNLS 17696, L. hexalepis MHNLS 17695). The Leposoma was unscarred. Kentropix striata, which actively forages on tree branches or in leaf litter, feeds mostly on spiders, frogs, and even fruits (Gal-lagher and Dixon, op. cit.; Manzanilla and Natera 1997. Herpetol. Rev. 28:50), whereas L. hexalepis is non-heliothermic species that actively forages in litter (Molina et al. 2002. Herpetologica 58:485–491). Saurophagy among members of the genus Kentropix seems infrequent (Vitt 1991. Can. J. Zool. Vol. 69:2791–2799; Vitt and Carvalho, op. cit.), but K. striata may have the opportunity to prey with some frequency on L. hexalepis in this locality because of the abundance of the latter. Vitt and Carvalho (op. cit.) found that Ameiva ameiva often prey on K. striata; the latter in turn feed on other lizards, as in our observation, implies that trophic interac-tions among lizards comprise an important part of the food web in these ecosystems. We acknowledge the funding provided by the National Science Foundation (DEB-0416160) and the Instituto Bioclon to Eric N.