Predation on the lizard species Aspidoscelis lineattissimus by two snake species, Trimorphodon paucimaculatus and Salvadora mexicana in western Mexico

ISSN 2413-337X REVISTA NICARAGUENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD N° 131 Noviembre 2025 Predation on the lizard species Aspidoscelis lineattissimus by two snake species, Trimorphodon paucimaculatus and Salvadora mexicana in western Mexico Jesús A. Loc-Barragán, Barry W. Sullender, A. Delia PadillaRuvalcaba & Adrián Maldonado-Gasca PUBLICACIÓN DEL MUSEO ENTOMOLÓGICO LEÓN - - - NICARAGUA Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 2 La Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad (ISSN 2413-337X) es una publicación que pretende apoyar a la divulgación de los trabajos realizados en Nicaragua en este tema. Todos los artículos que en ella se publican son sometidos a un sistema de doble arbitraje por especialistas en el tema. The Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad (ISSN 2413-337X) is a journal created to help a better divulgation of the research in this field in Nicaragua. Two independent specialists referee all published papers. Consejo Editorial Jean Michel Maes Editor General Museo Entomológico Nicaragua Milton Salazar Herpetonica, Nicaragua Editor para Herpetología. [email protected] Eric P. van den Berghe ZAMORANO, Honduras Editor para Peces. Liliana Chavarría ALAS, El Jaguar Editor para Aves. José G. Martínez-Fonseca Nicaragua Editor para Mamíferos. Oliver Komar ZAMORANO, Honduras Editor para Ecología. Estela Yamileth Aguilar Álvarez ZAMORANO, Honduras Editor para Biotecnología. Indiana Coronado Missouri Botanical Garden/ Herbario HULE-UNAN León Editor para Botánica. URL DE LA REVISTA: http://www.bio-nica.info/revistanicarague/index.html Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución – No Comercial – Sin Obra Derivada 4.0 Internacional _________________________________________________________________________ Cover photo: Salvadora mexicana trying to feed on an Aspidoscelis lineattissimus in River Cuixmala, municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco, Mexico (photograph © Barry W. Sullender). Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 3 Predation on the lizard species Aspidoscelis lineattissimus by two snake species, Trimorphodon paucimaculatus and Salvadora mexicana in western Mexico Jesús A. Loc-Barragán1* , Barry W. Sullender2, A. Delia Padilla-Ruvalcaba3 & Adrián Maldonado-Gasca3 Resumen Documentamos dos casos de depredación de una lagartija de cola de látigo (Aspidoscelis lineattissimus) por dos especies de serpientes diferentes en el oeste de México: una culebra lira de Sinaloa (Trimorphodon paucimaculatus) y una culebra de nariz de parche mexicana (Salvadora mexicana). Estas interacciones específicas no se habían reportado previamente, por lo que su documentación contribuye a nuestra comprensión de las interacciones tróficas de los herpetozoos en el oeste de México. Palabras claves: Depredación, herpetozoos, lagartija, México, serpientes. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16114252 Abstract We document two instances of predation on the Many-lined Whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis lineattissimus) by two different snake species in western Mexico: a Sinaloan Lyresnake (Trimorphodon paucimaculatus) and a Mexican Patchnosed Snake (Salvadora mexicana). These specific interactions have not been previously reported, and thus their documentation here adds to our evolving understanding of herpetozoan trophic interactions in western Mexico. Keywords: Predation, herpetozoan, lizard, Mexico, snake. 1Ciencia Conservación y Desarrollo de las Comunidades (CICODEC) A.C., C.P. 63066, Tepic, Nayarit, México. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6851-054X 2Calle Tamarindo 110A, C.P. 48898, La Manzanilla (La Huerta), Jalisco, México. 3Tecnológico Nacional de México/ I. T. de Bahía de Banderas. Crucero a Punta de Mita S/N, C.P. 63734, Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit. México. *Corresponding author: [email protected] Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 4 Introduction Knowledge of herpetozoan trophic interactions in western Mexico, has increased continuously over the past decade (Loc-Barragán et al., 2016a; LocBarragán et al., 2016b; Loc-Barragán et al., 2016c; Loc-Barragán & Carbajal Márquez, 2016; Loc-Barragán & Woolrich-Piña, 2016; Loc-Barragán, 2017; LocBarragán & Carbajal Márquez, 2017; Loc-Barragán et al., 2017; Loc-Barragan et al., 2020; Loc-Barragán et al., 2022a; Loc-Barragán et al., 2022b). Here we review this literature and report on two novel instances of predation where Many-lined Whiptails (Aspidoscelis lineattissimus) were the prey of a Sinaloan lyresnake (Trimorphodon paucimaculatus) and a Mexican Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora mexicana), respectively. Species Background Information All three of the focus species in this note are Mexican endemics (Smith & Lemos-Espinal, 2025). The Many-lined Whiptail (Aspidoscelis lineattissimus) occurs from Nayarit to Colima (Loc-Barragán et al., 2024; Reyes-Velazco, 2024). The species is listed in Mexico as Pr – “subject to special protection” according to SEMARNAT (2019), and listed as LC – “Least Concern” by IUCN (2022). Its Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS) has been gauged as 14, placing it in the lower portion of the high vulnerability category (Wilson et al., 2013). With the Mexican Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora mexicana) is found along the Pacific coast from Nayarit to western Oaxaca. The distribution also includes the Santiago River Basin in Jalisco, Balsas Basin in Michoacán, México, and Morelos, and the Tehuacán Valley in Puebla (Loc-Barragán et al., 2024; Reyes-Velazco, 2024). The species is listed in Mexico as Pr – “subject to special protection” by conservation status in Mexico according to SEMARNAT (2019), and listed as LC – “Least Concern” by IUCN (2022). Its Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS) has been gauged as 15, placing it in the lower portion of the high vulnerability category (Wilson et al., 2013). With Sinaloan lyresnake (Trimorphodon paucimaculatus) occurs from Sinaloa to Colima (LocBarragán et al., 2024; Reyes-Velazco, 2024). The species is listed in Mexico as NL – “not listed” by conservation status in Mexico according to SEMARNAT (2019), and listed as NE – “not evaluated” by IUCN (2022). Its Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS) has been gauged as 15, placing it in the lower portion of the high vulnerability category (Wilson et al., 2013). Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 5 Results: Interaction trophic event On 23 December 2022, at 11:18, in the Cuixmala river valley above Highway 200 in the municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco, Mexico (19.45520°N, - 104.93902°W; WGS 84; elev. 502 m), one of us, BWS, observed a juvenile Aspidoscelis lineattissimus being preyed upon by an adult Salvadora mexicana (fig. 1) alongside of a dirt road that was at the interface of a second-growth tropical dry forest and a pasture. Likely a result of approaching the snake closely for photographs, the S. mexicana released the A. lineattissimus and moved off into the surrounding vegetation, leaving the lifeless, lizard behind. With this observation, we report for the first time a predator-prey interaction between these two common reptile species in the tropical dry forests of Jalisco Figure 1. Salvadora Mexicana trying to feed on an Aspidoscelis lineattissimus in River Cuixmala, municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco, Mexico. (photograph © Barry W. Sullender). Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 6 A second predation event was recorded at 10:25 on 26 September 2024, inside of the Hotel Naviva-Four Seasons, within the municipality of Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico (20.78470°N, - 105.52594°W; WGS 84; elev. 9 m). LDF observed a juvenile Trimorphodon paucimaculatus ingesting a sub-adult A. lineattissimus (fig. 2). To our knowledge this is the first report of T. paucimaculatus preying on A. lineattissimus. Figure 2. Trimorphodon paucimaculatus found consuming an Aspidoscelis lineattissimus in Hotel Naviva-Four Seasons, Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico (photograph © Luis Daniel Flores). Discussion General natural history accounts report that Trimorphodon paucimaculatus consumes lizards, frogs, rodents, and snakes (Reyes-Velasco, 2024). Davis & Smith (1953) document an Salvadora mexicana in Morelos containing a juvenile Ctenosaura pectinata. Duellman (1961), as part of field work in Michoacán, reported captured individuals which regurgitated Cnemidophorus costatus (= Aspidoscelis costatus), Cnemidophorus deppei (= A. deppei), Sceloporus horridus, Sceloporus pyrocephalus and Urosaurus gadowi. Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 7 Ramírez-Bautista (1994) and Benítez-Gálvez (1997) report that they generally consume other snakes, reptile eggs, rodents, and frog species as Agalychnis dacnicolor, Smilisca baudinii and Trachycephalus typhonius, [= T. vermiculatus]. In Zacatecas, Bañuelos-Alamillo et al. (2019) found an adult male Eastern Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis gularis) among the stomach contents of an S. mexicana. Nieto-Toscano & Cedeño-Vázquez (2021) observed a Salvadora mexicana devouring an Aspidoscelis guttatus among rocks in the state of Oaxaca. While our observation cannot definitively confirm that S. mexicana consumes Aspidoscelis lineattissimus, it strongly suggests that S. mexicana recognizes A. lineattissimus as a prey species. In addition, general natural history accounts suggest that Trimorphodon paucimaculatus consumes lizards, rodents, birds, geckos and bats (García & Ceballos, 1994; ReyesVelasco, 2024). There is, however, little information specifically documenting their diet. These include Carbajal-Márquez et al. (2014) who report a female T. paucimaculatus in Nayarit feeding on a Black-vented Oriole (Icterus wagleri). Also, Loc-Barragán et al. (2016), documents a female T. paucimaculatus in Nayarit with stomach contents containing a Sceloporus albiventris and an Aspidoscelis. costatus. In this note, we added an additional prey species to this list in furthering our understanding of T. paucimaculatus in situ food preferences. Conclusion This note documents predation of Aspidoscelis lineattissimus by Trimorphodon paucimaculatus and attempted predation by Salvadora mexicana. These observations expand on known trophic interactions and provide additional evidence on predator-prey relationships in three endemic Mexican species. Acknowledgements We would especially like to thank Luis Daniel Flores and Eduardo Sampere, worker and General Manager, respectively, of the Hotel Naviva-Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico, for allowing us to use the photo in figure 2, and to mention the site where the photograph was taken for the purposes of this note. Literature cited Bañuelos-Alamillo J.A., Ahumada-Carrillo I.T., Quintero-Díaz G.E. & Carbajal-Márquez R.A. (2019). The Mexican Patch-nosed Snake, Salvadora mexicana (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854; Squamata: Colubridae): a new state record for Zacatecas, Mexico, and a new prey species. Cuadernos de Herpetología. 33 (1): 45-47. Revista Nicaragüense de Biodiversidad. Número 131. 2025. Página 8 Benítez-Gálvez J.E. (1997). Los ofidios de Puebla. Ecologístas. Puebla, México. Carbajal-Márquez R.A. Quintero-Díaz G.E. & González-Saucedo Z.Y. (2014). Natural History Notes. Trimorphodon paucimaculatus (Sinaloan Lyresnake): Diet. Herpetological Review. 45: 521. 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