Download Full Document - Mountain Boomer Music!
Download Full Document - Mountain Boomer Music!
Download Full Document - Mountain Boomer Music!
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
72 BULLETIN CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NO. 32<br />
are able to take off bipedally from a standing start,<br />
as are all other Crotaphytus species. This species<br />
appears to be territorial, which is the case for all<br />
other Crotaphytus that have been studied (Fitch,<br />
1956; Moehn, 1976; Montanucci, 197 1; Sanborn<br />
and Loomis, 1979; Yedlin and Ferguson, 1973; plus<br />
numerous additional references). On 25 June 1994,<br />
I witnessed apparent temtorial behavior when an<br />
adult male chased another adult male over approx-<br />
imately 10 m after the first male ventured into the<br />
area occupied by the second male. During the in-<br />
teraction, the pursuing male appeared to have its<br />
gular pouch fully depressed, a behavior that appears<br />
to be associated with aggression in all Crotaphytus<br />
species (Fitch, 1956; Sanborn and Loomis, 1979;<br />
personal observation).<br />
Very little is known about the reproductive be-<br />
havior of this species. However, since all but one of<br />
the females observed displayed orange gravid col-<br />
oration in various stages of intensity, it is clear that<br />
the reproductive cycle includes late June. One of the<br />
females bearing gravid coloration appeared emaci-<br />
ated, as if she had just oviposited. No juveniles were<br />
observed, suggesting that the year's early clutches<br />
had not yet hatched. Some individuals (TNHC<br />
53 154, 53 159) contained yolked ovarian follicles<br />
together with corpora lutea and distended, vascu-<br />
larized oviducts, suggesting that this species can pro-<br />
duce at least two clutches in a single reproductive<br />
season. One large female (SVL = 89 mm) contained<br />
four shelled eggs, another (SVL = 89 mm) contained<br />
three shelled eggs, and four additional females con-<br />
tained between one and four yolked ovarian folli-<br />
cles, suggesting that the species has a relatively small<br />
clutch size.<br />
The only observation made regarding feeding<br />
habits is that one adult male that was prepared as<br />
a skeleton contained the remains of an unidentified<br />
coleopteran insect.<br />
Illustrations. -Black-and-white photographs of<br />
males and females were provided by Axtell and<br />
Webb (1 995).<br />
Crotaphytus bicinctores<br />
Smith and Tanner<br />
(Fig. 32A)<br />
Croraphyrus collaris bicinctores Smith and Tanner, 1972:27; fig.<br />
1.2. Type Iacality: "Mercury Pass, Nevada Test Site, Nye Co.,<br />
Nevada" (holotype: BYU 23883).<br />
Croraphyrus insularis bicinctores- Axtell, 1972:72 1; fig. 2,<br />
S b , 6.<br />
Crotaphyrus bicincrores-Sanborn and Loomis, 1979: 105.<br />
Etymology.-From the Latin bi. two, and cinct, banded or<br />
girdled, in reference to "the divided banding (presumably of the<br />
collar) in the Great Basin populations" (fide Tanner, personal<br />
communication, 1993).<br />
Diagnosis. - Crotaphytus bicinctores can be dis-<br />
tinguished from C. reticulatus. C. collaris, C. ne-<br />
brim, and C. dickersonae by the absence of black<br />
oral melanin. It can be further distinguished from<br />
C. reticulat us, C. collaris, and C. nebrius by the pres-<br />
ence in adult males of a strongly laterally com-<br />
pressed tail with a pale white dorsal caudal stripe,<br />
enlarged dark brown or black inguinal patches that<br />
extend between one-third and two-thirds of the dis-<br />
tance between the hindlimb and forelimb insertions,<br />
and a pale tan or off-white patternless region on the<br />
dorsal surface of the head. It may be further distin-<br />
guished from C. reticulatus as well as C. antiquus<br />
by a dorsal body pattern of white spots and dashes<br />
on a brown field rather than white reticulations on<br />
a gold, tan, or brown field. It may be further distin-<br />
guished from C. nebrius by its brown dorsal col-<br />
oration rather than pale tan. It may be further dis-<br />
tinguished from C. collaris by the presence of dark<br />
brown or black pigmentation in the gular fold (=<br />
ventrally complete anterior collar). It may be dis-<br />
tinguished from C. grismeri, C. vestigium, and C.<br />
insularis by the presence of broad tan or buff trans-<br />
verse dorsal body bands. It may be further distin-<br />
guished from C. grismeri by the absence ofa green-<br />
ish tint to the white bar that separates the collars,<br />
by a pattern of white reticulations on a brown field<br />
on the forelimbsand hindlimbs rather than a pattern<br />
of yellow forelimbs with minute brown spotting on<br />
the proximal dorsal surface of the brachium and a<br />
hindlimb coloration that is nearly patternless yellow<br />
with scattered minute brown spots from the distal<br />
thigh to the distal terminus of the limb, by the ab-<br />
sence of a pale orange tail coloration in subadult<br />
females, and by the absence of a well-defined pale<br />
tan dorsal caudal stripe in juveniles of both sexes.<br />
It may be further distinguished from C. insularis<br />
and C. vestigium by the presence of a dorsally com-<br />
plete or narrowly separated posterior collar rather<br />
than a posterior collar that is broadly separated dor-<br />
sally or completely absent. It can be further distin-<br />
guished from C. insularis by the presence of a rel-<br />
atively broad nasal process of the premaxilla, the<br />
absence of olive green ventrolateral coloration in<br />
adult males, the presence ofa pattern of small white<br />
spots and dashes (occasionally transverse bands),<br />
rather than a pattern ofthicker, elongate white dash-