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kcmatt_gw

Midwestern Herpers Visit Socal, 47 sp/subs part i (large)

kcmatt
18 years ago

Chad Whitney and I made our much anticipated trip to Southern California last week to finish what we started last fall. Our targets cooperated and the expedition was very successful. There were great adventures had, exciting finds made and good people met. There is no way to narrate all that we saw and did but Ill try to hits some of the tripÂs highlightsÂthe pics didnÂt come out great and as IÂve said before, IÂm no photographer so pardon poor pics. The animals seen are listed below:

Southern Rubber Boa (Charina umbratica) 1

Desert Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata gracia) 3

Coastal Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) 1

Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca x gracia) 1

California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) 3

California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getulus californiae) 2 (1 DOR)

Striped Racer/whipsnake (Masticophis l. lateralis) 2 (1 DOR)

Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon biscutatus lyrophanes) 3

Red Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum piceus) 6 (DOR)

Southwestern blind snake (Leptotyphlops humilis humilis) 1

Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans eburnata) 8 (3 DOR)

Shovelnose snake (Chionactis occipitalis annulata) 4 (1 DOR)

Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola) 5 (DOR)

San Diego Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus annectens) 7 (3 DOR)

Spotted Leafnose Snake (Phyllorhynchus decurtatus) 15

Desert Night Snake (Hypsiglena torquata deserticola) 2

Desert Patchnose (Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis) 1 (DOR)

Western Longnose Snake (Rhinocheilus l. lecontei) 2 (1 DOR)

Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) 3 (1 DOR)

Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) 1 (DOR)

Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus) 1 (DOR)

Colorado Desert Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes laterorepens) 2

Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater) 3

Southern Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum) 2 (1 DOR)

Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) 1

Desert Iguana (Diposaurus d. dorsalis) 2 (1 DOR)

Western skink (Eumeces s. skiltonianus) 15+

Western Zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus) 2

Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansbutiana stejnegeri) TMTC

Granite Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus orcutti) (and probably S. magister uniformis also) TMTC

Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis longipes) TMTC

Desert Banded Gecko (Coleonyx v. variegatus) 46+ (5+ DOR)

Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) 1

Colorado Desert Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma notata) 20+

Southern Sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus)

Granite Night Lizard (Xantusia henshawi) 4

Western Red-tailed Skink (Eumeces "gilberti" rubricaudatus) 1

Orange-throated Whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra) 1

Great Basin Whiptail (Aspidoscelis t. tigris) 5+

Coastal Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegeri) 3+

Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) 1

California Treefrog (Pseudacris (Hyla) cadaverina) 1

Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris (Hyla) regilla) 1

Red-spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus) 1

California Toad (Bufo boreas halophilus) 1

Large Blotched Ensatina (Ensatina eschsholtzi klauberi) 1

Ensatina (Ensatina eschsholtzi klauberi x E. e. croceator (or x E. e. eschsholtzi?)) 1

We began the first night with a trip through the mountains (where we quickly flipped an ensatina) to the low desert. A heat spell from earlier in the week was slowly dissipating, but the night was still very warm. We soon began to see snakesÂthis large fellow darted across the road:


Arizona elegans eburnata

Our first target came quickly that night. Chad noticed about 3 inches of and orange and blue stick hanging onto the side of the road. It belonged to this pretty lady:


Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca

We saw several more snakes that night, including this small target:


"Blurry headed" Chionactis occipitalis annulata

The next morning we hit the mountains to cut our hands on granite and hopefully see zonata.

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Streamside granite outcrops

On the drive up, we just missed saving a large helleri, still twitching from being struck. We had more luck once on topÂsoon after leaving the car, I stepped over a shaded log, nearly treading on this stretched fellow:


Crotalus oreganus helleri, in situ

We met up with Mike Rochford, a temporary transplant from Kansas in Cali for the summer before beginning his herp studies in grad school, who joined our party for most of the remainder of the trip. We were glad to have him along. We next saw some ampibs up in the pines:

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Ensatina eschsholtzi klauberi x E. e. croceator (or x E. e. eschsholtzi?)

This endangered species was a neat sight soaking up the sun next to a cold stream. We didnÂt want to disturb it so I didnÂt get very close for a good picture:


Rana muscosa

Viewing it quickly attracted the attention of the areaÂs Forestry biologist, who described some of the research they are doing with them and other species in the area. She lamented about their biologists being able to find the southern rubber boaÂthat would be a great find up there. She also described a very arrogant guy who she had met awhile back who was searching for zonata and claimed to be doing research for some book. We had no idea who she was talking about.

We worked hard in temps that reached about 80 degrees, very warm for our sensitive target species. As I walked sweat-soaked from one outcrop to another I saw this tree that had cut through a giant chunk of graniteÂit somehow gave me strength to push on in the search for the few critters that might still be on top in the heat.

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"Splitrock" tree in San Jacintos

Then, as payoff, came one of the great finds of the trip, and certainly the most unexpected find. Chad saw an exposed area of granite further up the mountain that we walked up to searchÂmuch of it looked too exposed for this late in the season. Being a flip-every-rock guy, I just had to turn the good rocks even on the sun-soaked southwest side. I was amazed when one of them unveiled this great animal, uncommonly seen in these mountains:


Charina umbratica, shots by Mike

It took a second to realize what I was looking at, as we had not dreamed of actually seeing one here. This creature was a ways from "classic charina habitat" as described by most non-Hoyer researchers and had made a very strange rock exposure choice. After yells and hollers, Chad and Mike went down to inform the biologist we had met earlier in the day of our find. A few minutes later, a caravan of cars came screaming up the mountain and several Forestry employees piled out and chugged up the hillside. They were ecstatic about our find. We all gazed at the boa and took pictures for the next several minutes.

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