Winter 2018: Luvhondo Nature Reserve and Beyond

Wolkberg Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion transvaalense), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

A sooty Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) found in burned grassland a few weeks after a fire.

The Soutpansberg Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation has had an interesting winter.  We spent the majority of our time at Lajuma Research Centre on top of the Soutpansberg. There we experienced a very cold winter in the damp Afromontane forest. Most days were spent working on our data, writing, supervising our students and of course we made time to get out there and do our winter sampling and continuing fieldwork on the endemic Lygodactylus geckos of the region.

A juvenile Boomslang (Dispholidus typus) from Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Black-headed Centipede Eater (Aparallactus capensis) Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) Luvhondo Nature Reserve. This particular animal was caught in a Sherman trap.

We found some new species for our Luvhondo Nature Reserve list. These were the Wolkberg Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion transvaalense) which we have been searching for for some time; Peter’s Ground Agama (Agama armata); and the high altitude Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis) of which we had anecdotal evidence of their occurrence. The biggest surprise of the winter was two Dwarf Sand Snakes (Psammophis angoloensis). Showing that there are still a few more reptiles to be found on the Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Peter's Ground Agama (Agama armata), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis), Luvhondo Nature Resereve.

Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

In terms of our scorpion sampling, we finally encountered the high altitude Uroplectes cf. vitattus, potentially another Soutpansberg endemic.

Uroplectes cf. vittatus from the top of the Soutpansberg.

Uroplectes triangulifer, from the top of the Soutpansberg.

 Another exciting development is that we have finally come to grips with the 'Variable Skinks' in the area. These common lizards were recently split into three Southern African species and two of them have so far been identified on the Soutpansberg. One, Trachylepis varia favours high altitude grassland; while the other Trachylepis damarana favours more woody areas. Big thanks to Darren Pieterson for your help with these difficult reptiles.

Variable Skink (Trachylepis damarana) Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Variable Skink (Trachylepis varia), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

This winter we also visited a few sites off the mountain where we aim to do more work, increasing our sample sizes and our locations.  We visited sites north of the mountain in the deep sands of the Limpopo Valley, Blouberg Nature Reserve and also our old sampling sites at Hanglip.

Arnold's Velvet Gecko (Homopholis arnoldi), Blouberg Nature Reserve.

Makgabeng Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus montiscaeruli) Blouberg Nature Reserve.

Turner's Gecko (Chondrodactylus turneri), Blouberg Nature Reserve.

Sundevall's Writhing Skink (Mochlus sundevalli), Blouberg Nature Reserve.

Kalahari Dwarf Worm Lizard (Zygaspis quadrifrons) Blouberg Nature Reserve.

This coming summer will see some changes for the Soutpansberg Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation. The most exciting development will be moving back to our old base, Medike. After spending a year at Lajuma Research Centre, we are leaving Luvhondo Nature Reserve for the pull of the Sand River Valley. Medike is now managed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and we will be assisting the EWT with biodiversity monitoring in the Sand River.

Sunny Medike during the rainy season.

A Common Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus capensis) making use of an arboreal cover board.

Another exciting development is that the SCBC will be experimenting with a new method of sampling for reptiles. This new method uses arboreal cover boards. So far our piloting has given us good results and we expect to find some interesting and elusive species this way. Watch this space!

Whalberg's Velvet Gecko (Homopholis wahlbergii), Soutpansberg, Limpopo.

Mozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica), Luvhondo Nature Reserve

Southern African Rock Python (Python natalensis), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Montane Sand Snake (Psammophis crucifer) from Hanglip.

The SCBC will be placing researchers at remote sites to increase our sample size and give greater insights into the reptile assemblages of the Limpopo Valley. From October we will start with this and have a researcher Katherine Monaghan placed at an under-sampled field site at Alldays. Looking forward to building up our species assemblage list for that region.

Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis subtaeniatus) Alldays.

Juvenile Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) Alldays.

Brown House Snake (Boaedon capensis) Alldays.

We have a few other exciting collaborations and developments lined up for the coming months. Our future is open and we are facing new challenges with optimism and tenacity. To keep up to date please follow our Facebook page (soutpansbergcbc).

Small Wolkberg Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion transvaalense), Luvhondo Nature Reserve.

Hadogenes troglodytes, Blouberg Nature Reserve.

Curious luck: New Species, Rarities and the familiar (April to June 2017)

Transvaal Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion transvaalense) from Entabeni. Photo Melissa Petford.

Panorama of Medike clearly showing the gorge cut by the Sand River (Photo Ryan MacDonnell)

The first half of the winter has been a very interesting period at the Soutpansberg Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation. We have traveled widely to under sampled areas, spent a lot of time on the Northern Slopes and also enjoyed a fair bit of time at Lajuma and sunny Medike.

Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus). Lajuma. Photo Melissa Petford.

Hatchling Leopard Tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) Photo Leo Eastley.

New Species for our Lists

During the last couple of months we have been working very hard looking for reptiles and meticuliously logging everything for our biodiversity surveys, amongst the 2406 records generated in just over two months, we managed to find some new species which is always exciting. 

The first new species for the period was a Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis) from the hot dry northern slopes. After finding a sloughed skin of the species earlier this year we have been working very hard to locate specimens for photography and finally we caught up with one. Although these snakes are common they are very difficult to see. Since the first find we have located another.

First Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis) for SCBC from the Northern Slopes. Photo Melissa Petford.

Second Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis) from the Soutpansberg. Photo Melissa Petford.

The second new species for the period was a rather big surprise, it was a juvenile Snouted Cobra. Anecdotal records indicated that the species did occur on Medike but we had not located them until May 2017 (note that we have been sampling since 2014). After the first we saw another, a very thickset two metre long adult, and a week later another. Very exciting! 

First Snouted Cobra (Naja annulifera) for Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Second Snouted Cobra (Naja annulifera) for Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

The other new species we found this past winter have been the elusive Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis), we spotted this little beauty while walking along the track at Medike. Next surprise was finding the Cape Skink in some deep Kalahari Sands while sampling in the far western Soutpansberg. Another interesting find was locating Stevenson's Dwarf Gecko near Pafuri in the North East. 

Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis) new species for Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Cape Skink (Trachylepis capensis) from the far Western Soutpansberg. Photo Melissa Petford.

Stevenson's Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus stevensonii) from the North Eastern Soutpansberg. Photo Melissa Petford.

Southern Brown Egg-Eater (Dasypeltis inornata) from high altitude grassland in the Soutpansberg. Photo Melissa Petford.

The final new species for our list was the Southern Brown Egg-Eater (Dasypeltis inornata). The Soutpansberg harbours a relicit population of these plain, yet beautiful snakes. These snakes are completely harmless and feed exclusively on bird's eggs. These new finds bring our total list of reptiles for the Soutpansberg to 103 species and we are confident that we will locate even more with hard work in the coming months.

  

Rarities and Soutpansberg Endemics and Special Finds

The Soutpansberg is a hotspot for reptiles with many unusual and exciting animals to be seen. Sometimes locating them can be difficult, but with time we eventually catch up with even the most secretive. The most unusual and rare sighting we witnessed over this early winter period was Giant Baboon Spiders (Harpactira gigas) mating in the wild. We moved a rock and saw the male near the females chamber, the male started drumming and approaching the female. The whole thing took about five minutes and the male ran away in the end. This was a once in a lifetime sighting and amazing to witness. The whole thing was filmed by Ryan Macdonnell from Canada.

Reticulated Centipede Eater (Aparallactus lunulatus) a rarity so far only found at Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Melanistic form of Cregoi's Legless Skink (Acontias cregoi) Punda Maria Kruger National Park. Photo Melissa Petford.

Normal colour morph of Cregoi's Legless Skink (Acontias cregoi) Lajuma. Photo Melissa Petford.

The endemic Lang's Dwarf Worm Lizard (Chirindia langi langi), far eastern Soutpansberg. Photo Melissa Petford.

Some of our highlights include: locating another rare Reticulated Centipede Eater (Aparallactus lunulatus), so far we have only located six individuals of this species at Medike which is a considerable range extension; finding a population of melanistic Cregoi's Legless Skinks (Acontias cregoi) near Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park; more localities for Lang's Dwarf Worm Lizard (Chirindia langi langi); obtaining a high altitude record for the Soutpansberg Purple-Glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas microphthalma nigra); a far western record for Savannah Lizards (Meroles squamulosus); and another locality for Jones's Girdled Lizard (Cordylus jonesii).

The endemic Soutpansberg Purple Glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas microphthalma nigra) Entabeni, Photo Melissa Petford.

Savannah Lizard (Meroles squamulosus) a new species for our western Soutpansberg Lists. Photo Melissa Petford.

Gravid Jones's Girdled Lizard (Cordylus jonesii) Western Soutpansberg. Photo Ryan van Huyssteen.

The Familiar

During Winter things are a bit slower and we tend to take more time with the animals we find and get some photographs of more common and visible species. Because our participants over the past two months were avid nature photographers we took a little more time to get some good images of the more common but still exciting Soutpansberg reptiles. As you can see we were lucky to see so many different species.

Lizards

Spotted Sandveld Lizard (Nucras interetexta) Lajuma. Photo Melissa Petford.

High altitude camera trap image of a Giant Plated Lizard (Matobosaurus validus). Courtesy of Jordy Koedam.

Whalberg's Snake Eyed Skink (Panaspisd whalbergii) Lajuma. Photo Melissa Petford.

Kalahari Dwarf Worm Lizard (Zygaspis quadrifrons). Goro Game Reserve. Photo Melissa Petford.

Yellow Throated Plated Lizard (Gerrhosaurus flavigularis) Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Soutpansberg Flat Lizard (Platysaurus relictus) Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Bushveld Lizard (Heliolobus lugubrus), Northern Slopes. Melissa Petford.

Hatchling Soutpansberg Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus soutpansbergensis) photo Melissa Petford.

Flap-necked Chameleon (Chameleo dilepis), near Pafuri. Photo Ryan van Huyssteen.

Water Monitor (Varanus niloticus), Pafuri, Kruger National Park. Photo Melissa Petford.

Water Monitor (Varanus niloticus) Punda Maria, Kruger National Park. Photo Melissa Petford.

Snakes

Mozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica) near Waterpoort. Photo Melissa Petford.

Natal Rock Python (Python natalensis) Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Common Slug Eater (Duberia lutrix) Hanglip. Photo Melissa Petford.

Herald Snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) Hanglip. Photo Melissa Petford.

Common Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus rufulus) Hanglip. Photo Melissa Petford.

Common Centipede Eater (Aparallactus capensis) Goro Game Reserve. Photo Melissa Petford.

Large Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) Goro Game Reserve. Photo Melissa Petford.

Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) in camouflage mode, Lajuma. Photo Melissa Petford.

Juvenile Puff Adder (Bitis arietans), Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Long-tailed Thread Snake (Myriopholis longicauda). Medike. Photo Melissa Petford.

Big thanks to everyone who helped us in the field and with additional support over the past few months, without you all none of this would be possible. Special thanks to Goro research Centre, Lajuma Reserach Centre, Hannes and Maritjie Underhay, Jordy Koedam, our assistants Leo Eastley and Ryan Macdonnell, Craig Napier and family, Nimeng Safaris and Johan Marais.

The core team for the past few months. From left Ryan Macdonnell, Jordy Koedam, Ryan van Huyssteen, Melissa Petford and Leo Eastley (Centre).