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Herpetological Review 39(2), 2008 221
Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) in southeastern Utah.
At 1051 h on 19 August 2007, in the valley of Indian Creek, San
Juan Co., Utah, USA (38.0523°N, 109.5587°W, datum: WGS84;
elev. 1697 m), I observed a M. frenata moving from an open area
of compacted sand to the cover of a Greasewood (Sarcobatus
vermiculatus) shrub, ca. 40 m W of the intermittent stream chan-
nel of Indian Creek. Air temperature was ca. 27°C and cloud cover
was 60%. Vegetation was dominated by Big Sagebrush (Artemi-
sia tridentata), Greasewood, and Four–wing Saltbush (Atriplex
canescens). I observed the weasel through 10× binoculars from a
distance of ca. 3 m. The weasel seemed aware of my presence as
its gaze was fixed in my direction. After ca. 1 min of observation,
the weasel darted from the shrub in pursuit of an adult
(ca. 7 cm SVL) A. velox that I had not previously noticed. The
lizard maneuvered in a series of rapid zigzag movements up–slope
and away from where the weasel had appeared, making at least
four abrupt (ca. 90°) turns over a distance of ca. 4 m. The weasel
seemed to follow closely, tracing each abrupt turn of the lizard,
but the speed of the pursuit made it impossible to ascertain from
my position whether the weasel was gaining on the lizard or the
lizard was gaining distance from the weasel. The weasel gave up
chase after ca. 4 m and returned rapidly to the shrub from which it
had emerged, where it apparently entered a burrow and disappeared
from sight. As the weasel gave up the chase, the lizard crested a
small rise in the slope, leaving my field of view. Based on the
recording times of photographs taken during the chase, the chase
lasted ca. 26 sec.
Because the weasel was aware of my presence prior to chasing
the lizard it may have been motivated to terminate the chase ear-
lier than it would have otherwise. However, Long-tailed Weasels
have been reported to continue apparently normal foraging be-
havior even in front of large groups of people (e.g., Hamilton 1933.
Am. Midl. Nat. 14:289–344). Long-tailed Weasels are regarded
as generalist predators even though they eat primarily small ro-
dents, and only rarely take lizards (Sheffield and Thomas 1997.
Mamm. Species 570:1–9). Predation attempts, successful or oth-
erwise, by M. frenata on A. velox have not been previously re-
ported. Whiptail lizards are known for their speed and evasive
abilities, and being notoriously difficult for humans to capture is
the origin for the species name “velox” (Springer 1928. Copeia
169:100–104; Stuart 1998. Cat. Am. Amphib. Rept. 656:1–6). This
observation suggests that the rapid zigzag escape strategy of A.
velox is effective in avoiding capture by other mammalian preda-
tors as well.
Submitted by RYAN P. O’DONNELL, Department of Biol-
ogy and the Ecology Center, 5305 Old Main Hill, Utah State Uni-
versity, Logan, Utah 84322–5305, USA; e-mail:
Ryan@biology.usu.edu.
COLEODACTYLUS NATALENSIS (NCN). CLUTCH SIZE;
HATCHLING SIZE. Coleodactylus natalensis is a small lizard
endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
(Freire 1999. Bol. Mus. Nac. 399:1–14). Clutch size is not known,
but its geographically proximate congener, C. meridionalis, has a
one-egg clutch (Vanzolini et al. 1980. Répteis das Caatingas. Acad.
Bras. de Ciênc. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 161 pp.). Here, we provide
an observation of clutch size and hatchling size in C. natalensis.
At 1630 on 24 January 2006, PAGS collected two eggs of C.
natalensis ca. 1 m apart among leaf litter in a 30-cm deep cavity
in a large rock (ca. 1 m2) at the Estação Experimental Rommel
Mesquita de Faria (Mata do Jiquí; 5.9305°S, 35.1814°W; datum:
WGS84; elev. 40 m), an Atlantic Forest fragment on an EMPARN
(Empresa de Pesquisas Agropecuárias do Rio Grande do Norte)
farm of 79 ha in the of municipality Parnamirim. These data and
field observations of females carrying one egg (CMCAL, pers.
obs.) indicates that this species likely has a fixed clutch size of a
single egg.
The eggs were placed in a terrarium (20 cm × 12 cm × 20 cm)
with a substrate of sand and leaf-litter, and maintained at
Laboratório de Herpetologia, in the Departamento de Botânica,
Ecologia e Zoologia in Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Norte) at an ambient temperature averaging about 25°C, but which
varied between 24°C and 32°C over the incubation period. On 6
March 2006 (41 days after collection), one juvenile emerged.
Measurements were SVL: 11 mm; tail length: 0.8 mm; foreleg
length: 3.1 mm; fourth finger: 0.4 mm; hindleg length: 3.6 mm;
fourth toe: 0.7 mm; head length: 2.9 mm; head width: 2.0 mm;
jaw length: 1.6 mm; head height: 1.1 mm; body width: 2.2 mm;
pelvis width; 1.3 mm; axilla–groin length: 4.4 mm; and mass: 0.024
g. This is the first record of hatchling size in C. natalensis.
The specimen (CHBEZ 1504) was deposited in the Herpeto-
logical Collection of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
(CHBEZ), municipality of Natal. We thank two anonymous re-
viewers for suggestions on the manuscript. Conselho Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) provided re-
search grants to LBR (process 141993/2006-5) and to PAGS (pro-
cess 107762/2006-4).
Submitted by CAROLINA M. C. A. LISBOA1, 2, PABLO
AUGUSTO GURGEL DE SOUSA2, LEONARDO B.
RIBEIRO3, and ELIZA M. X. FREIRE2; 1Programa de Pós–
Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Centro de Biociências,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 59072–970, Natal,
RN, Brazil; 2Departamento de Botânica, Ecologia e Zoologia,
Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Norte, 59072–970, Natal, RN, Brazil; 3Programa de Pós–
Graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte, Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Fisiologia,
Caixa Postal 1511, 59078–970, Natal, RN, Brazil; e-mail
(CMCAL): carolisboabio@yahoo.com.br; (PAGS):
pabloguitar2@hotmail.com; (LBR): ribeiro.lb@gmail.com;
(EMXF): elizajuju@ufrnet.br.
CYCLURA CYCHLURA CYCHLURA (Andros Iguana).
ATTEMPED PREDATION. Shifts in prey size may reflect sev-
eral processes including limitations on gape (Shine and Sun 2003.
Funct. Ecol. 17:340–348). Alternatively, rather than the ability to
physically ingest prey, limitations may reflect a predator’s ability
to capture, kill, or digest prey of different sizes. Few field accounts
exist demonstrating a snake’s ability to dispatch but not ingest
prey (but see Sabo and Ku 2004. Herpetol. Rev. 35:396–397). The
few reports of failed predation attempts may reflect a combina-
tion of the inability to record them without direct observation and
bias against reporting unsuccessful predation events even though
such events can inform aspects of species-specific predation be-
