First Record of Body-bending Behavior from Asia in the Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake, Coelognathus helena nigriangularis (Squamata: Colubridae)

Abstract

Snakes display a wide variety of antipredator tactics that
include cryptic coloration, immobility, struggling, cloacal discharge, sound production, S-coil posture, tail vibrations, actively breaking the tail, exuding blood from the
eyes, feigning death, biting, and spitting venom (e.g., Greene
1997). Body-bending behavior was described as “a cryptic defensive behavior in arboreal snakes” by Marques et al.
(2006) and was described for the first time by Beebee (1946).
Subsequently, this behavior has been recorded in various
species from the Western Hemisphere by Abuys (1986),
Marques et al. (2006), Doherty-Bone (2009), Maddock et
al. (2011), Pinheiro Miranda et al. (2012), Ribeiro Duarte
(2012), and Torres et al. (2015). Herein, we report the first
observed occurrence of this behavior in the Arrow-Headed
Trinket Snake (Coelognathus helena nigriangularis) from the
Indian Subcontinent.

Full text

IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(3):241–242 • JAN 2020
First Record of Body-bending Behavior
from Asia in the Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake,
Coelognathus helena nigriangularis
(Squamata: Colubridae)
Dinesh Khate1 and Rahul V. Deshmukh2
1WildLife Conservation Trust, Bhagyachakrya, Nagpur, Maharashtra-440025, India (dineshkhate@gmail.com)
2Teacher Colony, Ghire Lay-out, Kalmeshwar-Brahmani, Nagpur, Maharashtra-441501, India (rahul30.snake@gmail.com)
241
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE ARTICLES
Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin:
On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190
The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada:
A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198
RESEARCH ARTICLES
The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204
The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida
............................................. Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212
CONSERVATION ALERT
World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220
More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223
The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225
HUSBANDRY
Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226
PROFILE
Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234
COMMENTARY
The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238
BOOK REVIEW
Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox,
R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243
CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245
NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247
NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248
EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251
FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252
Front Cover. Shannon Plummer.
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Back Cover. Michael Kern
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REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS
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Snakes display a wide variety of antipredator tactics that
include cryptic coloration, immobility, struggling, cloa-
cal discharge, sound production, S-coil posture, tail vibra-
tions, actively breaking the tail, exuding blood from the
eyes, feigning death, biting, and spitting venom (e.g., Greene
1997). Body-bending behavior was described as “a cryp-
tic defensive behavior in arboreal snakes” by Marques et al.
(2006) and was described for the first time by Beebee (1946).
Subsequently, this behavior has been recorded in various
species from the Western Hemisphere by Abuys (1986),
Marques et al. (2006), Doherty-Bone (2009), Maddock et
al. (2011), Pinheiro Miranda et al. (2012), Ribeiro Duarte
(2012), and Torres et al. (2015). Herein, we report the first
observed occurrence of this behavior in the Arrow-Headed
Trinket Snake (Coelognathus helena nigriangularis) from the
Indian Subcontinent.
Arrow-Headed Trinket Snakes are known to occur
in eastern Maharashtra, eastern Madhya Pradesh, Andhra
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh, and
West Bengal (Lampe 1902; Edake 2011; Srivastava et al.
2013; Kantimahanti et al. 2015; Mohapatra et al. 2016;
Chowdhury et al. 2018; Uetz et al. 2019).
At 1024 h on 17 December 2017, the senior author
encountered an adult Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake (Fig. 1A)
along a blacktop road in the Melghat Tiger Reserve near the
Belkund Rest House, Koha (21.333932°N, -77.138479°E)
at an elevation of 731 m. The unsexed snake (~1,400 mm
in total length) was basking. Upon closer observation, we
noticed multiple, regular bends in its body, causing it to
resemble a piece of bamboo (Figs. 1B & 1C). We observed
the snake for 40 min, during which it exhibited body-bend-
ing behavior with its head slightly elevated for 15 min.
Fig. 1. (A) An adult Arrow-Headed Trinket Snake (Coelognathus helena nigriangularis) observed near the Belkund Rest House in the Melghat Tiger Reserve,
Maharashtra, India. (B & C) The snake exhibiting body-bending behavior with a slightly elevated head. Photographs by Dinesh Khate.
IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324

242
Marques et al. (2006) suggested that body-bending
behavior served primarily as a cryptic function in arboreal
snakes as the transition from a stretched position to a bent
posture removed the visual cues (i.e., an elongate search
image) perceived by a predator. Maddock et al. (2011) indi-
cated that such behavior could be more widespread than pre-
viously thought and that the adaptive value of this behavior
could extend beyond an arboreal lifestyle. Ribeiro Duarte
(2012) suggested that it might serve as a signal to a preda-
tor that the latter had been detected and that the snake was
prepared to flee or strike. Regardless of its primary purpose,
body-bending appears to be an effective anti-predator behav-
ior, and the diversity of species employing this strategy may
be regarded as an instance of behavioral convergence.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Vishal Bansode, Ashish Choudhari
(Pilot), Munna Sheikh, Kiran Bawaskar, Sagar Deshmukh,
Swapnil Badhekar, and Shubham Katgube for helping in vari-
ous ways.
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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(3):241–242 • JAN 2020KHATE AND DESHMUKH