IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•23(2):147–149•AUG2016

A New Distribution Record for the Invasive American Bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus

(Shaw 1802) (Anura: Ranidae), from Eastern Ecuador

Katiusca Valarezo-Aguilar1, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia2,andOscarOrdonez-Gutierrez3

1UniversidaddeLaHabana,FacultaddeBiología,DepartamentodeBiologíaAnimalyHumana,LaHabana,Cuba(katuvalarezo@hotmail.com)2UniversidadSanFranciscodeQuito,ColegiodeCienciasBiológicas&Ambientales,CampusCumbayá,CasillaPostal17-1200-841,Quito,Ecuador

3UniversidadNacionaldeLoja,ÁreaAgropecuariaydeRecursosNaturalesRenovables,LaArgelia,Loja,Ecuador

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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

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Amphibiandiversityaroundtheworldisdeclining(e.g.,Youngetal.2001;CollinsandStorfer2003),andthe

introductionofalienspeciesissecondonlytohabitatlossasacause(Vitouseketal.1997).Casasetal.(2001)identifiedtheAmericanBullfrog,Lithobates catesbeianus(Shaw1802),asoneoftheworstinvasivespeciesinmanyregions.Ithasawidenat-uraldistributioninNorthAmerica,rangingfromNovaScotia,Canada,southtocentralFloridaandwesttotheGreatPlainsoftheUnitedStates(Powelletal.2016).Introducedpopu-lationsareinotherU.S.statesandinmanyothercountries,includingMexico,Argentina,Brazil,Colombia,Ecuador,Uruguay, Spain, Peru, PuertoRico, theCanary Islands,Singapore,andTaiwan(e.g.,Lever2003;Kraus2009).InSouthAmerican, introducedpopulationsareknownfromseveral localitiesintheAmazonianlowlandsofVenezuela,Colombia,Ecuador,Paraguay,Chile,Uruguay,Argentina,and Brazil (Rodriguez and Linares 2001; Batista 2002;Mazzonietal.2003;Hanselmannetal.2004;Sanabriaetal.2005;Ghirardietal.2011).InAmazonianEcuador,Cisneros-Heredia(2004)reportedanapparentlyestablishedpopulationofthisalienspeciesfromNapoProvinceandadditionalobser-vationsofescapedAmericanBullfrogsfromManabíProvince.CobosCobosetal.(2015)documentedanotherapparentlywell-establishedpopulationinLojaProvince. Expeditions conductedby theUniversidadNacionaldeLoja(LOUNAZ)acrossthesoutheasternAndeanslopesofEcuadordetectedathirdestablishedferalpopulationofAmericanBullfrogsinthecountry.Wesawandheardmanyindividuals inartificial lagoonsadjacenttocattlepastures(Fig.1).Theidentityofthesefrogswasconfirmedfrompho-tographsbyR.Powell.Inaddition,avoucherspecimen(anadultfemale)depositedintheherpetologicalcollectionoftheCentrodeInvestigacionesZoológicas,UniversidadNacionaldeLoja,Loja,Ecuador(LOUNAZPAD220)wascollected

at theCentrodeEstudiosyDesarrollopara laAmazonía(CEDAMAZ)on1August2007byK.Valarezo-Aguilar,D.F.Cisneros-Heredia,O.Ordonez-Gutierrez,andseveralstudentsinaherpetologyclass.CEDAMAZisareserveman-agedbyUniversidadNacionaldeLojaandislocatedintheregionof“ElPadmi,”ca.68kmfromthecityofZamoraand128kmfromthecityofLoja, inZamora-ChinchipeProvince,Ecuador(03°44'39"S,78°36'55"W,829masl;Fig.2).Thatindividual(SVL152mm;175g)wascollectedwhileactiveatnightalongasmallstreamborderingcattlepastures.ItexhibitsalldiagnosticfeaturesofLithobates catesbeianus. Colorvariedfrombrowntogreentones,withdarkerdorsalspotsandayellowishthroat.Hindfeetarecompletelywebbedandthetympanumislargerthantheeye. The first introduction of the American Bullfrog toEcuadorwasin1988(Velasco2001)intoGuayasProvince,followedbyadditionalintroductionstofiveotherprovinces(LosRíos,Napo,Pastaza,MoronaSantiago,andZamoraChinchipe;VillacísandZurita2002).Sixteenlegallyestab-lishedbullfrog-breeding farms are inZamora-ChinchipeProvince,thesouthernmostAmazonianprovinceofEcuador(Ortega2007).Theanimalsreportedherelikelyescapedfromoneofthesefacilitiesintonaturalecosystems. American Bullfrogs have voracious appetites (e.g.,SchwalbeandRosen1988)andacapacity to spreaddis-andacapacity to spreaddis-eases(e.g.,Schloegeletal.2012).Theirintroductionoftencoincideswithpopulationdeclinesofnative amphibians(e.g.,Kraus2009),althoughothercauseshavebeenimpli-cated(e.g.,HayesandJennings1986).Thisreportempha-sizestheneedtoconductcontinuousassessmentstoevaluatetheeffectsofthisspeciesonnativeanuransandtheirhabi-tats(e.g.,Daszaketal.2004)andalsospeakstotheneedfordevelopingandenforcingpoliciesregulatingorprohibitingbreedingfacilitiesforthisandothernon-nativespecies.

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

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AcknowledgmentsWethankCEDAMAZandLOUNAZ,UniversidadNacionaldeLoja,forcontinuousfinancialandinstitutionalsupport.WealsoaregratefultoUniversidadSanFranciscodeQuitoforinstitutionalaid;toMaxGonzález,Ma.Elena Heredia, LauraHeredia,AnthonnyOrdóñez,andJasaelOrdóñezfortheirconstanthelp;andtoPatricioHerrera,DiegoArmijos,David Veintimilla, Karen Salinas, ChristianMendoza,ManuelMedina,MarlonCobos,andTaniaJiménezfortheirassistanceinthefieldandlaboratory.

Literature CitedBatista,C.G.2002.Rana catesbeiana(AmericanBullfrog).Diet.Herpetological

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Cisneros-Heredia,D.F.2004.Rana catesbeiana(Bullfrog).Herpetological Review 35:406.

CobosCobos,M.,C.NuñezPenichet,andK.Valarezo-Aguilar.2015.FirstrecordofanAmericanBullfrog(Lithobates catesbeianus)populationinLoja,Ecuador.Reptiles & Amphibians22:46–48.

Collins,J.P.andA.Storfer.2003.Globalamphibiandeclines:Sortingthehypoth-eses. Diversity and Distributions9:89–98.

Daszak,P.,A.Strieby,A.A.Cunningham,J.E.Longcore,C.C.Brown,andD.Porter.2004.ExperimentalevidencethattheAmericanBullfrog(Ranacates-

beiana)isapotentialcarrierofchytridiomycosis,anemergingfungaldiseaseofamphibians.Herpetological Journal14:201–207.

Ghirardi,R.,J.A.López,P.A.Scarabotti,M.M.Steciow,andM.G.Perotti.2011.FirstrecordofthechytridfungusinLithobates catesbeianusfromArgentina:Exoticspeciesandconservation.Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad82:1337–1339.

Hanselmann,R.,A.Rodríguez,M.Lampo,L.Fajardo-Ramos,A.A.Aguirre,A.M.Kilpatrick,J.P.Rodríguez,andP.Daszak.2004.PresenceofanemergingpathogeninintroducedBullfrogsRana catesbeiana in Venezuela. Biological Conservation120:115–119.

Hayes,M.P.andM.R.Jennings.1986.DeclineofranidfrogspeciesinwesternNorthAmerica:Arebullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) responsible? Journal of Herpetology20:490–509.

Kraus,F.2009.Alien Reptiles and Amphibians: A Scientific Compendium and Analysis.SpringerVerlag,Dordrecht,TheNetherlands.

Lever, C. 2003.Naturalized Reptiles and Amphibians of the World. OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford,UK.

Mazzoni,R.,A.C.Cunningham,P.Daszak,A.Apolo,E. Perdomo, andG.Speranza.2003.Emergingpathogenofwild amphibians in frogs (Rana catesbiana)farmedforinternationaltrade.Emerging Infectious Diseases9:995–998.

Ortega,S.2007.DiagnósticodelestadoactualdelosranariosycultivosdetilapiaenlaProvinciadeZamoraChinchipe.TesispreviaalaobtencióndeIngenieroAmbiental,UniversidadTécnicaParticulardeLoja,Loja,Ecuador.

Powell,R.,R.Conant,andJ.T.Collins.2016.Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America.4thed.HoughtonMifflinHarcourt,Boston,Massachusetts.

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Fig. 1.AmericanBullfrogs(Lithobates catesbeianus)attheCentrodeEstudiosyDesarrolloparalaAmazonía(CEDAMAZ).Photographsbytheauthors.

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Sanabria,E.A.,L.B.Quiroga,andJ.C.Acosta.2005.IntroduccióndeRana cates-beianaShaw(Ranatoro)enAmbientesPre-CordilleranosdelaProvinciadeSanJuan,Argentina.Multequina14:67–70.

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Schwalbe,C.R.andP.C.Rosen.1988.PreliminaryreportoneffectofbullfrogsonwetlandherpetofaunainsoutheasternArizona,pp.166–173.In:R.C.Szaro,K.E.Severson,andD.R.Patton(eds.),Proceedings of the Symposium on Management of Amphibians, Reptiles and Small Mammals in North America. USDAForestServiceGeneralTechnicalReportRM-166,FortCollins,Colorado.

Velasco,A.M.(ed.).2001.Propuesta de Ecuador para la Formulación de la Estrategia Nacional de Biodiversidad: Vida Silvestre.SecretaríaGeneraldelaComunidadAndina,Quito,Ecuador. <http://www.comunidadandina.org/bda/docs/CAN-BIO-0007.pdf>.

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Fig. 2. Thelocationofferalpopulations ofAmericanBullfrogs(Lithobates catesbeianus)inEcuador.(A)Theblackdotmarksthesiteofthisnewrecord.(B)BluedotsmarkthecurrentdistributionasreportedbyCisneros-Heredia(2004)andCobosCobosetal.(2015).