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Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment | |
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SARCA Newsletter No. 12September 2008If you would like to be taken off this mailing list, please visit the site https://lists.uct.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/sarca-l and complete the "unsubscribe or edit options" at the bottom of the page. New subscribers, please visit http://sarca.adu.org.za for more information about SARCA. Previous newsletters are posted on the "Newsletters and Media" page. Dear SARCA Supporters, UNUSUAL DESTINATIONSThe Atlas and Red Data Book is starting to take shape! The SARCA authors have been hard at work writing accounts for about 410 taxa, and at the end of this month the editors will be getting together to scrutinize all accounts and to write the introductory chapters. The SARCA core team have travelled to exotic places, thanks to generous funding from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation. In July, Marienne and Rene attended a meeting of JRS grantees on Zanzibar, and made useful contacts with representatives of other projects with a strong bioinformatics focus - you can find out more about these on the JRS website. And last month Marius and Marienne represented SARCA at the World Congress of Herpetology in Manaus, Brazil. Other SARCA authors who gave oral presentations at the meeting were Aaron Bauer (Villanova University - plenary lecture), Brian Maritz (University of Witwatersrand), Ernst Baard (CapeNature) and Mike Bates (National Museum). Click on this link to browse the conference abstracts.
VM CONTRIBUTIONSSummary of contributions, SARCA numbers 4001-5000The VM has exceeded all expectations, hitting a total of 5000 records in June! Below the summary of your contributions that made up the fifth thousand records (4001 - 5000), interspersed with some of my favourite photos - this time, a selection of close-up shots that show the often-overlooked beauty of small creatures. Thanks again for all of your amazing contributions. Contributers who sent 10 or more records are in bold, and those that sent 50 or more are also underlined. Adam S. (2) - Adams M. (18) - Aiston G. (4) - Altwegg R. & Erni B. (1) - Anderson M.D.; Anderson T. & Willis C. (1) - Anderson T.A. (3) - Archer A.M. (12) - Bowker M.B. (1) - Braat P. (3) - Breet E. (1) - Brouard J.P. (9) - Budge R. (1) - Campbell L. (1) - Coetser W. (1) - Coetzer A. (52) - Compion E. (3) - Cooke D. & Cooke I. (2) - de Beer C. (1) - de Kock C. (12) - Deacon A.R. (2) - Diedericks G. (4) - Dippenaar S.M. (2) - Dobson R. (7) - Dorse C. & van Rooyen S. (66) - Douglas M. (26) - Du Plessis C.F. (2) - Eberle D. (1) - Els J. (1) - Erni B. & Altwegg R. (4) - Evans S.W. (3) - Felmore T. (10) - Fourie A. (27) - Garth A. (2) - Gilfillan C.S. (2)
Gray N.K. (2) - Haas F. (2) - Hankey A. (3) - Hardaker T. & Hardaker M. (30) - Hardy P. (1) - Harebottle D. (1) - Harvey J. (25) - Helme N. (2) - Heymans J.A. (8) - Hodgson A. & McBurnie H. (1) - Hoffman J.D. (1) - Huisamen J. (1) - Jackson A. (4) - Jones R. (1) - Jordaan B. (2) - Jorens B. (2) - Keswick T (3) - Khan A. (1) - Kilday P. & Pepper M. (1) - Kirchhof S. (3) - Koen D. (42) - Kraai S. (1) - Kruger A. (2) - le Mahieu M. (3) - le Roux E.R. (27) - le Roux E.R. & le Roux B.A. (12) - le Roux E.R. & le Roux N.M. (2)- le Roux E.R. & Titus M. (1) - Lotter J. (2) - Maguire D. (3) - Maphisa D. (3) - Marais A. (11) - Marais K. (2) - Maya K. (1)
McBurnie H. (1) - McKenzie D.R. (5) - McMaster J.C. (8) - Nixon A. (3) - Peacock F. (7) - Pearmain F. (9) - Pietersen A. & Highbury G. (1) - Pretorius A. (7) - Pretorius J.W. (1) - Prozesky A. (2) - Rebelo A. (181) - Rebelo T. (11) - Roberts B. (1) - Scheepers K. & Herbst M. (1) - Schmidt W.R. (30) - Schmidt W.R. & Otto L. (11) - Schmidt W.R & Schmidt A. (4) - Schmidt W.R & Schmidt J. (2) - Schmidt W.R & Smit M. (10) - Schmidt W.R. & East Rand Herpetological Association (6) - Schmidt W.R.; Reissig J. & Tiedemann C. (35) - Schmidt W.R. & Zack R. (3) - Shufran K. (1) - Soroczynski M. (6) - Steyn C. (1) - Swanepoel D. (9) - The Steyns (1) - Theron N. (2) - van Rooyen J. (19) - Van Stormbroek T. (4)
van Wyk A.J. (1) - Webster K. (5) - Webster M. (3) - Willis C.K. (7) - Wilson B.Y. (31) - Witberg M. (14) - Witberg M. & Acton V. (2) - Witberg M. & Albertyn R. (9) - Witberg M. & Botha M. (1) - Witberg M. & Coetzee M. (12) - Witberg M. & Compion E. (1) - Witberg M. & Foreman D. (1) - Witberg M. & Hammon D. (1) - Witberg M. & Henke A. (1) - Witberg M. & Joubert P. (4) - Witberg M. & Lourance F. (1) - Witberg M. & Lourens F. (2) - Witberg M. & Louw A. (1) - Witberg M. & Rebelo A. (1) - Witberg M. & Smit K. (5) - Witberg M. & Van Zyl R. (14) - Witberg M. & Witberg G. (3) - Witberg M. & Witberg K. (1) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R. & Coetzee M. (2) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R. & Groenewald J. (1) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R. & Smit K. (1)
The VM ChampsLast month we featured 11 of the Top Twenty contributers to the VM. Here are four more. The others - G. Diedericks, Andrew Hodgson & Heather McBurnie, Andrew Deacon, F. Grundlingh and J. Theron - are mysteriously silent on their herping history. But thanks again to all twenty for their dedicated contributions.
Marius's Top Ten, SARCA VM records 3001-4000Newsletters 7, 10 and 11 reported on my selections of the top ten special SARCA Virtual Museum submissions for the first 3000 records received. With over 5000 records currently in the VM, it's time to nominate the next top ten out of a thousand records. Judging the novelty rating of a particular record will differ between various evaluators, thus the following ranking is according to my personal opinion only.
#1 is SARCA 3392: Scelotes montispectus - Bloubergstrand Dwarf Burrowing Skink, submitted by C. Dorse and S. van Rooyen. An obvious winner. This species was also a winner in the top 10 of the first 1000 VM records (newsletter 7), when G. Oliver submitted VM record 346. At that stage it represented only the second record of a species that was described in 2003. I made a prediction that: "I won't be surprised if it [VM 346] remains as the overall most special Virtual Museum record for the next 9000 submissions". I still stick by that prediction, but I must admit that I did not expect any further VM records of this species. And now there are three already! In total this rarely-seen little lizard is now known from six records. The first was found in 2001, and is the specimen that the species description is based upon. The second was VM record 346. A third specimen was found in the West Coast National Park, a forth at Koeberg Nature Reserve, the fifth at Mamre (see VM 4089), and now the sixth from Melkbosstrand. #2 is SARCA 3352: Zygaspis v. vandami - Van Dam's Round-headed Worm Lizard, submitted by K. Abram. Anyone lucky enough to find and photograph a worm lizard should get a special mention. Worm lizards, or amphisbaenians, spend most of their lives underground and are thus seldom encountered, hence the fact that only six out of 5150 VM records are of these peculiar and secretive lizards. Their taxonomy is far from being adequately resolved, and a study is currently underway to address this issue for southern African amphisbaenians. For further details, read "Amazing worm-lizards beneath our feet" in this newsletter.
#3 is SARCA 3642: Homopus boulengeri - Karoo or Boulenger's Padloper, submitted by C. Dorse and S. van Rooyen. Would you believe a tortoise on the VM Top Ten?! Well, when's the last time you saw the Karoo Padloper? I saw one in Graaff-Reinett in 1997, and then never again. Although the species has a fairly wide distribution range, this VM record is the only one submitted thus far. #4 is SARCA 3918: Australolacerta australis - Southern Rock Lizard, submitted by A. Hodgson and H. McBurnie. The genus Australolacerta is comprised of only two species, one in the Soutpansberg and this one in the Cederberg region. Not only is it a rare find, it is also a rather handsome fellow.
#5 is SARCA 3493: Goggia microlepidota - Small-scaled Leaf-toed Gecko, submitted by T. Hardaker and M. Hardaker. As with the previous lizard, this species is also mostly restricted to the Cederberg region. In spite of many days spent exploring this area, I have yet to find this gecko. #6 is SARCA 3922: Lamprophis fiskii - Fisk's House Snake, yet another submission by the Dorse and Van Rooyen team! No wonder they are also the winners of the 2007/2008 VM competition, for having submitted the most records during that period. And here we see Fisk's House Snake dropping down to #6 on the Top Ten charts? Previously it was #2 in the first 1000 records, and #3 in 1001-2000.
#7 is SARCA 3536: Elapsoidea sundevallii media - Highveld Garter Snake, submitted by D. Maguire, a budding herpetologist. Rumour has it that Dave just about wet himself when he found this snake crossing the road at night. I suspect the truth is that he did in fact do so. I might have too! #8 is SARCA 3499: Xenocalamus b. bicolor - Bicoloured Quill-snouted Snake, also by D. Maguire. I initially hesitated about including this one in the Top Ten, because Dave had previously found the same species in the same region (#4 in newsletter 10). But in the end I had to admit that this is a damn fine species to find, and better so for finding it twice.
#9 is SARCA 3613 & 3616: Cordylus tasmani - Tasman's Girdled Lizard, submitted by A. Hodgson and H. McBurnie. This lizard is an Algoa endemic. #10 is SARCA 3825: Bitis armata - Southern Adder, submitted by C. Dorse and S. van Rooyen, again. A specimen found dead on road, but still it is a valuable record to improve our understanding of the distribution range of a poorly known snake. And now for a few special mentions that didn't quite make it onto the Top Ten:
AMAZING WORM LIZARDS BENEATH OUR FEET!(Adapted from an article in Farmer's Weekly - 19 September 2008)When thinking of reptiles, four-legged lizards and snakes come to mind. However, there is a whole wealth of reptile diversity that we are only just beginning to appreciate. Only six out of over 5000 images uploaded to the SARCA virtual museum so far have been of an enigmatic, but very interesting group of lizards called amphisbaenians. These legless lizards look like a cross between a lizard and a worm, hence the common name "worm-lizards"! There are ten species in South Africa, one of which occurs in the soils of the Free State, with 2 or 3 species in the greater Kimberley area. But hepetologists Dr John Measey (SANBI, Cape Town) and Dr Mike Bates (National Museum, Bloemfontein), who are both involved with SARCA, have a problem: there are very few specimens available for study and they are in desperate need of more.
When most of the existing museum specimens were collected, scientists used physical appearance to decide how they should be split up into species. This included looking at things like colour, number and position of head and body scales, and head and tail shape. Today, molecular techniques are available to back up the features that can be seen and measured, and these techniques can help in determining the relationships between species. But to conduct a molecular investigation, fresh tissues (frozen or in pure alcohol) from recently collected animals are needed. This is where they need your help: John and Mike are looking for specimens of worm-lizards from throughout southern Africa. These slender and totally harmless reptiles are most commonly encountered when ploughing or digging through soil. Sometimes they come to the surface after heavy flooding and can be picked up by cats. If you see one of these animals, or know where they can be easily collected, please contact Mike Bates at 051-4479609 or 072-7133250. The best way of keeping these animals fresh for DNA analysis is to put them in a freezer in a plastic bag together with information about when and where you found them. Wrap specimens in several plastic bags to separate them from food. Alternatively, they can be immersed in pure alcohol (not methylated spirits as this destroys DNA). If you have live specimens, please contact Mike Bates for advice. Mike Bates and John Measey
SARCA is a joint project of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Herpetological Association of Africa (HAA), and the Avian Demography Unit (ADU), Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town.
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