IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•21(4):140–141•DEC2014

TheBrahminyBlindsnake(Indotyphlops braminus)1, is unisexual and reproduces by parthenogenesis. This

breeding strategy and its capacity to survive in pots and small containers used for plant cultivation and sometimes interna-tional transportation are characteristics of a very successful

I N T R O D U C E D S P E C I E S

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

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IRC

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First Record of the Brahminy Blindsnake, Indotyphlops braminus (Squamata: Typhlopidae),

in CubaLuisM.Díaz1andAntonioCádiz2

1MuseoNacionaldeHistoriaNaturaldeCuba,HabanaVieja,Cuba(luisfromcuba@yahoo.es)2FacultaddeBiología,UniversidaddeLaHabana,CiudaddeLaHabana,Cuba(cadiz@fbio.uh.cu)

Photographs by the senior author.

140Copyright©2014.LuisM.Díaz.Allrightsreserved.

1 The Brahminy Blindsnake also is known as the “Flowerpot Blindsnake” for its propensity to be transported in the root systems of potted plants, a frequent means of introduction to areas where the species is not native. Indotyphlops braminus was formerly included in the genus Ramphotyphlops until the recent revision of the TyphlopidaebyHedgesetal.(2014).Thegenusascurrentlydefinedcomprises22species, most of them distributed in southern Asia, especially India and Sri Lanka.

Fig. 1.BrahminyBlindsnake(Indotyphlops braminus;MNHNCu5071),fromLawton,HavanaCity,Cubawithdetailsoftheheadindorsalandlateralviews. The dark dorsal and ventral surfaces readily distinguish this foreign species from native typhlopids.

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INTRODUCEDSPECIES IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•21(4):140–141•DEC2014

colonizer(McKeown1996,Bomfordetal.2009,Powelletal.2011).Thespeciesisthemostwidelydistributedsnakeon Earth. From its presumed original distribution in south-easternAsia (Storr 1981,Wallach2008), it has invadedtropical and subtropical regions throughout the world and is nowknownfromAfrica,Australia,Japan,theUnitedStates(includingtheHawaiianIslands),CentralAmerica,andtheLesserAntilles(Wallach2008,Kraus2009).IntheCaribbeanislands, these snakes have been reported from Anguilla, Aruba, St. Christopher, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Mustique, the Turks &Caicos,Curaçao,andSt.Eustatius(Powelletal.2011).West Indian populations might have been introduced from Florida(Powelletal.2011),butSanchezandLópez-Forment(1988)suggestedthatatleastsomeMexicanpopulationscanbe traced to the Philippines. Here we report on five individuals of Indotyphlops brami-nus recorded in two localities in the City of Havana. Four of them were deposited in the herpetological collection of MuseoNacionaldeHistoriaNaturaldeCuba(MNHNCu5071–4).Threespecimens(MNHNCu5071–3;Fig.1)werecollected by the senior author in Loma del Burro, Lawton, Municipalityof10deOctubre,HavanaCity(23°06’00’’N;82°21’24’’W;38mabovesealevel)on23and30July2014.Anotherspecimen(MNHNCu5074)wasfoundbythejuniorauthorinPlaya,HavanaCity(23°06’25’’N;82°25’18’’W)on26July2014.Thetwolocalitiesareabout7kmapart,sug-gesting that this species is broadly established and might still bespreading.Adultspecimenshadtotallengthsof125mm(MNHNCu5072),139mm(MNHNCu5071),and144mm(MNHNCu5174).Onejuvenile(MNHNCu5073)hadatotallengthof67mm.RobertPowellconfirmedtheidentity of the specimens from photographs.

Thesnakeswerefoundactiveatnight(2000–2030h)onrainy days as they crossed paved walking trails or were col-lected directly on the surface of the ground. In addition, a crushed and desiccated individual was seen but not collected on22August2014onastreetclosetoapublicparkonlyafew meters from the first locality. The species most likely was introduced in Cuba as a conse-quence of importing ornamental plants, as has been suggested forotherCaribbeanislands(Powelletal.2011).Althoughtheorigin(s)ofCubanpopulationsremain(s)obscure,nationalgarden and agricultural suppliers might be contributing to the apparently rapid increase in distribution within the country.

Literature CitedBomford,M.,F.Kraus,S.C.Barry,andE.Lawrence.2009.Predictingestablish-

mentsuccessforalienreptilesandamphibians:Aroleforclimatematching.Biological Invasions11:713–724.

Hedges,S.B.,A.B.Marion,K.M.Lipp,J.Marin,andN.Vidal.2014.Ataxo-nomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia,Squamata).Caribbean Herpetology 49:1–61.

Kraus,F.2009.Alien Reptiles and Amphibians, a Scientific Compendium, and Analysis. InvadingNature:SpringerSeriesinInvasionBiology4.Springer, Dordrecht,TheNetherlands.

McKeown,S.1996.A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians in the Hawaiian Islands.DiamondHeadPublishing,Inc.,LosOsos,California.

Powell, R., R.W. Henderson, M.C. Farmer, M. Breuil, A.C. Echternacht, G. van Buurt,C.M.Romagosa,andG.Perry.2011.IntroducedamphibiansandreptilesintheGreaterCaribbean:Patternsandconservationimplications,pp.63–143.In:A.Hailey,B.S.Wilson,andJ.A.Horrocks(eds.),Conservation of Caribbean Island Herpetofaunas. Volume 1: Conservation Biology and the Wider Caribbean. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Sánchez,O.andW.López-FormentC.1988.AnfibiosyreptilesdelaregióndeAcapulco, Guerrero, México. Anales del Instituto de Biología, UNAM, serie Zoología58:735–750.

Storr,G.M.1981.ThegenusRamphotyphlops (Serpentes:Typhlopidae)inwesternAustralia. Records of the Western Australian Museum9:235–271.

Wallach,V.2008.RangeextensionsandnewislandrecordsforRamphotyphlops braminus (Serpentes:Typhlopidae).Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society43:80–82.

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