AN INTRODUCTION TO AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN SOUTH CAROLINA

1. AN INTRODUCTION TO AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN SOUTH CAROLINA Steve Bennett Krista Noel Mark Danaher Wade Kalinowsky Dr. Whit Gibbons

2. THE STUDY OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS IS CALLED HERPETOLOGY FROM THE GREEK WORD HERPETON … MEANING CREEPING THING, AND YES IT’S THE SAME ROOT WORD FOR HERPETIC VIRUSES … SOUTH CAROLINA HAS APPROXIMATELY 143 SPECIES OF “NATIVE” AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES … WHY APPROXIMATE? NEWLY DISCOVERED SPECIES, PHYLOGENETIC AND TAXONOMIC REVISIONS … AND THEN THERE’S THE “EXOTICS”! SC IS IN THE TOP 10 IN THE US FOR AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE DIVERSITY!

3. THE HISTORY OF HERPETOLOGY IN SC GOES BACK TO COLONIAL TIMES. EARLY EXPLORERS AND NATURALISTS PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS OF THEIR TRAVELS AND THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS THEY ENCOUNTERED AND PRODUCED ILLUSTRTATIONS OF THESE SPECIES. IN 1709 JOHN LAWSON PRODUCED “INSECTS OF CAROLINA”, WHICH INCLUDED SEVERAL AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE SPECIES. AT THAT TIME MOST “LOWER LIFE” FORMS WERE GROUPED TOGETHER.

4. CHARLESTON WAS HOME TO THREE IMPORTANT “EARLY” NATURALISTS WHO ADVANCED HERPETOLOGY: BETWEEN 1731 -1743 MARK CATESBY PRODUCED “NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA, FLORIDA AND THE BAHAMA ISLANDS”. VOLUME 2 OF THIS WORK CONTAINED A NUMBER OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. THE BULLFROG (Rana catesbeiana) WAS NAMED FOR CATESBY.

5. IN THE 1760’S DR. ALEXANDER GARDEN, ANOTHER CHARLESTON RESIDENT, WORKED WITH LINNAEUS ON THE 12TH EDITION OF SYSTEMA NATURAE, WHICH CONTAINED 13 NEW SPECIES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, PROVIDED BY DR. GARDEN. BETWEEN 1850 AND 1860 CHARLESTON RESIDENT DR. JOHN HOLBROOK PRODUCED THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TEXT ON NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY!

6. THE WORK CONTINUED, AND CONTINUES STILL: E. BURNHAM CHAMBERLAIN – CHARLESTON MUSEUM DR. JULIAN HARRISON – COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON/CHARLESTON MUSEUM DR. GEORGE FOLKERTS – CLEMSON UNIVERSITY-AUBURN U. DR. WHIT GIBBONS – UGA’S SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LAB

7. SCDNR- NONGAME AND ENDANGERED SPECIES PROGRAM STATE WILDLIFE GRANT AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE PROJECTS

8. IDENTIFYING AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE … BUT APPROXIMATELY 143 SPECIES OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES 3-4 SNAKES AND 3-4 TURTLES UNDERGO PATTERN CHANGE FROM JUVENILE TO ADULT APPROXIMATELY 38 SPECIES OF AMPHIBIANS, IN PARTICULAR FROGS, HAVE LARVAL FORMS THAT ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THEIR ADULT FORMS

9. WHAT DO WE USE? RESOURCES: BOOKS AND LITERATURE ONLINE/WEBSITES PEOPLE

10. BOOKS AND LITERATURE FIELD GUIDES: Brief descriptions of species appearance, habitat preferences, life history and geographic distribution. Tips on separating “difficult” species. “Made” to go into the field. REFERENCE BOOKS: Typically restricted to a “group” of species, greater detail on life history/ecology, better Literature Cited section. LITERATURE: Articles from peer reviewed journals such as Herpetologica, Journal of Herpetology or Copeia which detail latest research results.

13. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

14. HABITAT MATTERS … SOMETIMES

16. VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE … UNLESS IT JUST CONFUSES YOU!

17. Midlands Watersnakes All from the same stream In Whitehall subdivision

18. EASTERN BOX TURTLES

19. NO FIELD GUIDE OR REFERENCE BOOK CAN DEPICT THE ENTIRE RANGE OF VARIABILITY WITHIN A GIVEN SPECIES! THEY CAN, HOWEVER INDICATE WHETHER INDIVIDUALS WIHTIN A SPECIES ARE VARIABLE, AND SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE RANGE OF VARIATION … EVERY BLACK RACER LOOKS LIKE EVERY OTHER BLACK RACER, BUT NO TWO MIDLANDS WATERSNAKES, OR RAT SNAKES ETC. LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE. SEVERAL FROG SPECIES, MOST NOTABLY TREEFROGS, ARE NOTORIOUS FOR CHANGING COLOR AND PATTERN … LIKE CHAMELEONS! THESE ARE ALL BIRD-VOICED TREEFROGS FROM BLUFF LAKE

20. WWW.SNAKESANDFROGS.COM GENE OTT WIN OTT

21. www.uga.edu/srelherp/

22. www.parcplace.org www.parcplace.org/southeast

23. www.carolinaherpatlas.org/ Carolina Herp Atlas Project Overview The Carolina Herp Atlas is a project developed by the Davidson College Herpetology Laboratory and Davidson College Information Technology Services. The primary objective of the Carolina Herp Atlas is to provide detailed data on the distribution of reptiles and amphibians of North and South Carolina. The resulting database can be used by: 1) you; to track your personal observations, 2) other herpersandamateur naturalists; to view species occurences via county-level distribution maps, and 3) Scientists; to understand activity periods, habitat relationships, current distributions and other facets of amphibian and reptile ecology in the Carolinas so that we can better conserve these important components of our natural heritage.

24. amphibiaweb.org/ A M P H I B I A W E B AmphibiaWeb is an online system that provides access to information on amphibian declines, conservation, natural history, and taxonomy.

25. THERE ARE HERPETOLOGISTS AT MANY OF OUR STATE’S UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES: CLEMSON – ROB BALDWIN USC UPSTATE – MELISSA PILGRIM ERSKINE – MARY LANG EDWARDS USC AIKEN – HUGH HANLIN WOFFORD – “AB” ABERCROMBIE USC – JAYME WALDRON FRANCIS MARION – JEFF CAMPER, PETER KING USC SALKEHATCHIE – ERAN KILPATRICK COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON - ALLISON WELCH COASTAL CAROLINA – DEBRA HUTCHINSON, SCOTT PARKER SREL – KURT BUHLMANN, TRACEY TUBERVILLE, WHIT GIBBONS (RET) MIKE DORCAS – DAVIDSON SCOTT PFAFF – RIVERBANKS ZOO BARBARA FOSTER – GREENVILLE ZOO

26. AS “BUDDING” HERPETOLOGISTS YOU WILL, OF COURSE, WANT TO CATCH THAT SNAKE, LIZARD FROG ETC. … AND THAT’S OK … YOU JUST DON’T NEED TO KEEP IT OR PRESERVE IT TO GET IT CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED OR DOCUMENT IT’S PRESENCE! DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS , WITH METADATA, CAN SERVE AS VOUCHER SPECIMENS IN MANY MUSEUMS, AND CAN BE USED TO IDENTIFY MOST SPECIES. SOUND FILES FROM DIGITAL RECORDERS CAN BE USED TO IDENTIFY CALLING MALE FROGS AND DOCUMENT THE SPECIES PRESENCE DURING BREEDING SEASONS.

27. SOUTHERN TOAD FOWLER’S TOAD NO CRANIAL KNOBS, 3+ WARTS/SPOT CRANIAL KNOBS OAK TOAD LIGHT STRIPE ENTIRE LENGTH OF BODY MARK DANAHER

28. SQUIRREL TREEFROG PINEWOODS TREEFROG “FLASH COLORS” PRESENT ON PINEWOODS TREEFROG NOT ON SQUIRREL TREEFROG

29. HEADS CAN BE IMPORTANT TOO! MIDLANDS WATERSNAKE COTTONMOUTH aka WATER MOCCASIN RIVER COOTER FLORIDA COOTER YELLOWBELLY TURTLE

30. CORAL SNAKE SCARLET KINGSNAKE SCARLET SNAKE

31. BARKING TREEFROG TWO-TOED AMPHIUMA MARK DANAHER MUD SNAKE-JUVENILE

32. CANEBRAKE (TIMBER) RATTLESNAKE COPE’S GRAY TREEFROG RON AHLE SPRING PEEPER

33. PINE WOODS TREEFROG COMMON MUSK TURTLE KRISTA NOEL CANEBRAKE (TIMBER) RATTLESNAKE

34. FROG CALLS THERE ARE 30 SPECIES OF FROGS IN SOUTH CAROLINA MALES OF EACH SPECIES HAVE A DISTINCT MATING CALL AND CAN BE IDENTIFIED USING THESE CALLS DURING BREEDING SEASON. SOME SPECIES HAVE A “TREE” CALL, OR A “RELEASE” CALL THAT IS DISTINCT FROM THE MATING CALL. BUT IN GENERAL IT’S ONE CALL PER SPECIES. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF RECORDED RESOURCES FOR IDENTIFYING FROG CALLS

35. www.pwrc.usgs.gov/naamp/

36. SURVEY TECHNIQUES TIME OR AREA CONSTRAINED SURVEY DRIFT FENCE WITH PITFALL TRAPS AND/OR “SNAKE TRAPS” COVER OBJECT ARRAYS DIP-NETTING HOOP-MINNOW TRAPS

37. VERY FEW OF “OUR” SPECIES ARE: ACTIVE DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS, ESPECIALLY IN THE WARMER MONTHS ACTIVE ON THE SURFACE … MOST ARE UNDERGROUND IN STUMPHOLES, OTHER “BURROWS”, UNDER BARK, UNDER LOGS, ROCKS ETC. … SOME ARE VERY WELL CAMOUFLAGED AND HIDING IN “PLAIN SIGHT” ACTIVE FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME EITHER DURING THE YEAR OR ON A DAILY BASIS IN OTHER WORDS … THE “CHALLENGE” IS NOT SO MUCH IDENTIFYING THEM, BUT FINDING THEM!

38. 250+ SPECIES OF VERTEBBRATES AND INVERTEBRATES RANGEWIDE!