Dear SARCA Supporters,

AN END AND A BEGINNING

Sad to say, SARCA and the reptile VM have officially come to an end. The draft Atlas and Red Data Book manuscript will soon go to review, and should appear in print by the end of 2009. Thanks a million to all who participated in the project: sent us data, sent us photos, helped with field trips, served on the VM identification panel, helped with expos, contributed articles, and told other people about us.

Who's Eating Who? David Maguire's winning shot in the Nature category of the Lowvelder HotShot photo competition

But the end of SARCA need not mean the end of your chance to act as "citizen scientists", helping with research and making a contribution to conservation. The Animal Demography Unit has a number of other projects that cater for public involvement. Some of you are already sending photos to SABCA, the Butterfly Conservation Assessment. Read more about this and other ADU projects that you can contribute to at http://sabca.adu.org.za/press03.html
 

And in anticipation of SARCA Phase 2, or perhaps a combination Herp project, we're making available a template spreadsheet (SARCA2_VM_template.xls) that you can use to save the information relevant to any reptile and frog photos that you may take in the future. When you save the file to your computer, rename it so it includes your surname and initials, e.g. SARCA2_VM_deVilliersMS.xls. Follow the format of the first three example records in yellow, when entering information for your photos.

VM CONTRIBUTIONS

Marius's Top Ten, SARCA VM records 5001-6000

Newsletters 7, 10, 12 and 13 reported on my selections of the Top 10 special SARCA VM submissions. With over 6000 records now in the VM, it's time to nominate the next Top 10 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.

Bloubergstrand Dwarf Burrowing Skink, by K. Wollenberg	Orange-throated Flat Lizard, by L. Verburgt

#1 is SARCA 5656: Scelotes montispectus - Bloubergstrand Dwarf Burrowing Skink, submitted by K. Wollenberg. This is becoming somewhat of an embarrassment for us Cape Town based herpetologists, because in 2003 this little lizard was known from only one specimen, and now another eight specimens have come to light since the start of SARCA in May 2005. Four of these are VM records! Gut gemacht Katharina.

#2 is SARCA 5364: Platysaurus monotropis - Orange-throated Flat Lizard, submitted by L. Verburgt. This is thus far the only VM record of this extremely localised lizard that is known from only two quarter-degree grid squares. The species is endemic to the Limpopo Province.

Breyer's Long-tailed Seps, by D. Maphisa	Karoo Plated Lizard, by T. Hardaker, M. Hardaker, C. Dorse & S. Dorse

#3 is SARCA 5520: Tetradactylus breyeri - Breyer's Long-tailed Seps, submitted by D. Maphisa. This VM record fills a geographical distribution gap for a poorly known and rarely seen species. The only other VM record of this species is SARCA 676 (newsletter 7).

#4 is SARCA 5886: Gerrhosaurus typicus - Karoo Plated Lizard, submitted by T. Hardaker, M. Hardaker, C. Dorse & S. Dorse. By the mid-1980s, this lizard was only known from a dozen or so specimens, generally restricted to the Namaqualand region. Its known range was substantially broadened during the past 20 years, with new records from the Karoo and Eastern Cape. This VM record represents the southernmost limit of the species' distribution.

Cape Worm Lizard, by B.Y. Wilson	Kalahari Dwarf Worm Lizard, by E.R. le Roux & B.A. le Roux

#5 is SARCA 5119: Monopeltis capensis - Cape Worm Lizard, submitted by B.Y. Wilson. Worm lizards will always find a listing on the SARCA VM Top 10.

#6 is SARCA 5195: Zygaspis quadrifrons - Kalahari Dwarf Worm Lizard, submitted by E.R. le Roux & B.A. le Roux. Yet another worm lizard, and the only VM record of this species.

Desert Mountain Adder, by W. Price	Flat Girdled Lizard, by L. Verburgt	Flat Girdled Lizard, by C. Dorse & S. van Rooyen

#7 is SARCA 5032: Bitis xeropaga - Desert Mountain Adder, submitted by W. Price. Endemic to southern African and restricted to the lower Orange River from about Augrabies and northwestwards into Namibia. See also SARCA 4979 of newsletter 13.

#8 is SARCA 5353 & 5826: Cordylus warreni depressus - Flat Girdled Lizard, submitted by L. Verburgt and also by C. Dorse & S. van Rooyen (= S. Dorse). This lizard is endemic to the Limpopo Province with a restricted distribution along the Soutpansberg range and on smaller ridges between Soutpans and Woodbush. Proudly South African.

Small-scaled Gecko, by S. Kirchhof	Speckled Shield Cobra, by K. Malan, E. van der Westhuizen & M. Witberg	Intermediate Shield Cobra, by I.C. Sharp & A. Sharp

#9 is SARCA 5912: Goggia microlepidota - Small-scaled Gecko, submitted by S. Kirchhof. Another South African endemic, in fact a Western Cape endemic. See also SARCA 3918 of newsletter 12.

#10 is SARCA 5305, 5354 & 5304: Aspidelaps scutatus scutatus - Speckled Shield Cobra, submitted by K. Malan, E. van der Westhuizen & M. Witberg, and also by L. Verburgt, and Aspidelaps scutatus intermedius - Intermediate Shield Cobra, submitted by I.C. Sharp & A. Sharp. Maybe not entirely worthy of a Top 10 listing, but these feisty little puffers are personal favourites of mine and I'm always hugely excited when meeting a specimen. Although they are relatively widespread and probably quite common, these snakes are nevertheless seldom encountered.

Summary of contributions, SARCA numbers 5001-6708

A huge thank you to everyone who sent us photos over the entire course of the project. Below are summaries of the most recent and last contributions (records 6501-6708), interspersed with some of my favourite photos. Names of contributers who sent 10 or more records are in bold, and those that sent 50 or more are also underlined.

Western Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion occidentale, by W. Price (SARCA 5024)	Cape Skink Trachylepis capensis "hung" by Fiscal Shrike, by D. Maphisa (SARCA 5068)	Red-lipped Snake Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, by A. Rebelo (SARCA 5095)

Adam S. (5) - Adams M. (12) - Aguilar G. (1) - Aiston G. (15) - Archer A.M. (13) - Armstrong Q. (8) - Badenhorst W.J. (10) - Botha W. (1) - Bowker M.B. (61) - Brook C. (1) - Brooks G. (3) - Carstens M. (5) - Cauldwell A. (10) - Claassens K. (1) – Coetzer A. (11) - Colahan B.D. (22) - Colahan B.D. & Kraai F.M. (1) - Cole W. (1) - Coleman J. (7) - Conradie W. (4) - Cook G. (1) - Cooke D. & Cooke I. (2) - Costandius E. (1) - Culbert C. (1) - Delport M. (3) - Dench J. (1) - Diedericks G. (9) - Dippenaar S.M. (1) - Dobson R. (5) - Dorse C. & van Rooyen S. (74) - Douglas M. (45) - Douglas M. & Butler M. (1) - Douglas M. & Hobkirk C. (6) - Drummond-Hay K. (4) - Du Plessis R. (3) - Engelbrecht M. (2) - Evans S.W. (5) - Fillery K. (7) - Forshaw N. (1) - Fouché T. (18) - Fourie A. (10) - Frankel C. (1) - Gwynne-Evans D. (76) - Hardaker T. & Hardaker M. (31)

Natal Midlands Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion thamnobates, by A. Kok (SARCA 5149)	Cape Legless Skink Acontias meleagris meleagris, by T. Phelps (SARCA 5315)

Hardaker T.; Hardaker M.; Dorse C. & Dorse S. (6) - Harvey J. (11) - Heymans J.A. (3) - Hietkamp S. (1) - Highburg G. (1) - Hodgson A. & McBurnie H. (18) - Huisamen J. (1) - Husted L. (3) - Jackson A. (4) - Jackson A. & Van Dyk G. (1) - Jeggle R. (1) - Kies W. & Theron J. (2) - Kirchhof S. (6) - Kok A. (6) - Kraai F.M. & Colahan B.D. (1) - Kruger A. (1) - le Roux D.L. (1) - le Roux E.R. (13) - le Roux E.R. & Basson A. (1) - le Roux E.R. & Jaar G. (1) - le Roux E.R. & le Roux B.A. (24) - le Roux E.R. & Titus M. (1) - Lotter J.S.S. (1) - Lotter M.C. (5) - Maguire D. (37) - Malan K.; van Der Westhuizen E. & Witberg M. (1) - Maphisa D. (13) - Maya K. (1) - McBurnie H. (1) - McKenzie D.R. (3) - McMaster C. (7) - McQuillan M. (1) - Meats R. (3) - Mecenero S. (7) - Middleton O. (1) - Mildenhall T.A. (1) - Mileham I. (1) - Miya S. (1) - Myburgh G. (1) - Natural Scientific Services CC (7) - Nixon A. (1) - Oliver T.A. (1) - Pearmain F. (14) - Peiser B. (1)

Another Red-lipped Snake, with prey, by L. Verburgt (SARCA 5373)	Chamaeleo dilepis by A. Coetzer (SARCA 6071)

Perrins N.D. (2) - Phelps T. (22) - Phelps T. & Els J.C. (1) - Phelps T. & Whatley A. (1) - Pretorius J.F. (3) - Price W. (52) - Rebelo A. (111) - Roche C. (12) - Schaerer E. (1) - Schmidt W.R. (9) - Schmidt W.R. & Schmidt J. (1) - Schumann M. (1) - Schurmann A.K. (1) - Serfontein E. (7) - Sharp I.C. & Sharp A. (94) - Sheasby C.Q. (1) - Shufran K. (1) - Snyman P. (1) - Snyman S. (2) - Stanley E. (3) - Theron J. (1) - Theron N. (8) - Theron S. (14) - Uys J.; Gerber L. & Lourens B. (1) - Van As L. (1) - van Dyk G. (7) - van Laren E. & Fourie A. (1) - van Rooyen J. (36) - Van Wyk; A.J. (2) - Verburgt L. (329) - Vermaak F. (1) - Warner J.K. (10) - Webb P. (12) - Webster K. (11) - Webster M. (2) - Willis C.K. (7) - Wilson B.Y. (42) - Witberg M. (70) - Witberg M. & Albertyn R. (2) - Witberg M.; Albertyn R. & Smit K. (1) - Witberg M.; Albertyn R.; Smit K. & Lourens F. (1) - Witberg M. & Coetzee M. (2) - Witberg M.; De Villiers S. & Smit K. (1) - Witberg M.; De Villiers S.; Van Zyl R. & Smit K. (1) - Witberg M., Els J. & Ladanoski R. (6) - Witberg M. & De Villiers S. (2) - Witberg M. & Lourense F. (1) - Witberg M. & Maliehe T. (1) - Witberg M. & Meyer E. (1) - Witberg M. & Parker L. (1)

Possibly Pedioplanis burchelli (not yet id'ed by the VM Panel), by M. Delport (SARCA 6617)	Agama aculeata aculeata , by W. Badenhorst (SARCA 5645)

Witberg M.; Parker L. & Smit K. (1) - Witberg M.; Parker L. & Wessels N. (4) - Witberg M.; Rebelo A. & Havenga M. (1) - Witberg M & Smit K. (16) - Witberg M.; Smit K. & Mostert C. (1) - Witberg M.; Smit K. & Parker L. (2) - Witberg M.; Smit K. & Van Zyl R. (2) - Witberg M.; Steenkamp C. & Steenkamp L. (2) - Witberg M. & Van Zyl R. (15) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R.; Albertyn R. & Coetzee M. (1) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R.; Albertyn R. & Groenewald J. (7) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R.; Coetzee M. & Nel J. (2) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R.; Havenga M. & Groenewald J. (4) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R. & Parker L. (1) - Witberg M.; Van Zyl R. & Smit K. (3) - Witberg M.; Victor R.; Parker L. & Wessels N. (1) - Witberg M. & Witberg M.C. (1) - Wolfaardt L. (1) - Wollenberg K. (1) - Woodhall S.E. (4) - Yetman C.A. & Lötter J.S.S. (28)

SARCA ROCKS!

A combined SARCA/SABCA stand attracted the crowds at Prime Circle's sunset concert at Kirstenbosch on 25 January. The stand featured a SARCA poster, reptile conservation poster and pamphlets, and several live animals courtesy of members of the Cape Reptile Club - a big thanks to Marcel Witberg, Rudie Van Zyl, Retief and Sharon Albertyn, Francois Lourence and Elri Thompson. The stand was especially successful in attracting the attention of the younger members of the 10,000-strong crowd.

TESTIMONIALS

Marcel Witberg, Cape Reptile Club

SARCA - It was not a project – It was an experience.

I personally enjoyed every minute of the SARCA experience. There are numerous people I would like to thank, but would rather like to highlight the following, namely:

• The catch-and-release individuals that contributed extensively, namely: Retief, Rudie, Kobus, Pierre, Fancois, Mario etc etc etc . . . and plenty more. Thanks and let's not stop doing what we enjoy.
• The Cape Reptile Club (CRC) for their involvement with the Bucket competition and the Funnel trap building exercise - thanks to all who were involved and contributed especially the sponsors. Thanks to the chairpersons who supported the initiative from the beginning, namely Pierre Joubert and Deon Louw.
• Cape Nature (CN) for encouragement and support wrt the Briers Louw project where numerous entries were logged and many people were involved (thanks Helene and co.).
• SARCA Trip 12. With "Groenie" Burger, "Proffie" Alexander and Pierre "Sonder Grense" there was never going to be a dull moment. From setting and checking traps, to venom in the eye, to the 50/50 crew, to tick-bite fever ... the list just carries on. WOW explains the experience.
• The Virtual Museum is an excellent way to collect data. It is fun. We would get these specimens, examine them, take photo's of them and them instead of sticking them in a jar in a museum - we just sent the info off electronically and released the specimen back into the wild. Great for reptiles and great for the collection of data.

Marius Burger and the SARCA team . . . From my side . . . Well done.

Johan van Rooyen

The SARCA project has changed my life. I use to only do birdwatching although I always had a very keen interest in reptiles. I watched a program on TV with Marius, I think it was 50/50, and I immediately started looking around. Before long I started picking up rocks and bark and all kinds of things.

It has opened not only my eyes to how many reptiles are around us but also the eyes of my family. They have started sending me mms's from gecko's and lizards and various things, wanting me to tell them what they are?? Unfortunately my knowledge is a bit limited but that is how u learn. The project somehow got my wife interested in Fynbos.. Now on weekends all we do is birding, fynbos, reptiles and anything else we can see or capture on camera... It is amazing!!!

I have also had a few very disturbing issues come to light and not sure how to address these or how to change the course of these things...

Firstly I have found so many tortoises in and around the coastal areas here but the biggest concern is that these poor creatures are starting to be confined to undeveloped plots and small green belts. I fear the impact development will have on these tortoises.

Secondly the past holiday I was driving from George to Paternoster on various back roads. My heart was broken due to all the dead tortoises I found on the road. I photographed one or two but it is just heart breaking. Luckily we were able to save a few from the road but who knows for how long ... There is one road in particular with so many tortoises, many of them young individuals, but not even one sign to warn people to be on the lookout. Is there any way we can bring this under the attention of Cape Nature Conservation to try and at least make people aware of the tortoises?

Another place I found to be disturbing is a little koppie just outside of Groot Brak were there are so many ground agamas and snakes. But the plots have already been laid out and building is starting soon...

LINKS

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.