680 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
putative species D. “Poor Knights” (Nielsen et al. 2011, op. cit.), #437/2021). Sampling permit issued by Instituto Chico Mendes
was reported to enter a tidal pool on the Poor Knights Islands to
escape predation (Whitaker 1968. New Zeal. J. Sci. 11:623–651).
Alternatively, D. “Mokohinau” forage on rocky wave platforms or
coastal cliffs near the high tide mark where there is a relatively
high risk of being washed into the ocean (Whitaker 1968, op. cit.;
Towns 1972. Tane 18:95–105).
The authors would like to thank Sarah J. Wells for her
constructive comments on this note.
DYLAN VAN WINKEL, Bioresearches (Babbage Consultants), P.O.
Box 2027, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140, New Zealand (e-mail: dylan.
vanwinkel@hotmail.co.nz); TONY ORTON, Journey of a Fisherman HQ, 18
Devon Street, Mangawhai Heads 0505, New Zealand (e-mail: tony@offsho-
readventures.net).
GONATODES HUMERALIS (Trinidad Gecko; Lagartixa-da-Ma-
ta). DIET. Gonatodes humeralis is a sub-arboreal forest gecko of
South America that is known to feed on a variety of invertebrates
such as gastropods, beetles, spiders, and ants (Avila-Pires 1995.
Zool. Verh. 299:1–706; Figueiredo et al. 2020. Cuad. Herpetol.
34:231–237). However, little is reported about vertebrates in their
diet. Here we report on a novel, frog prey item from a G. humera-
lis from the Juma Lake region, Municipality of Autazes, Amazo-
nas, Brazil (3.7535°S, 59.8047°W; WGS 84; 15 m elev.).
On 20 March 2022, at 1312 h, we observed an adult G.
humeralis (38 mm SVL) in leaf litter with an adult Adenomera
cf. andreae (17 mm SVL) in its mouth with only the frog’s feet
protruding (Fig. 1). The lizard did not finish swallowing the frog
and instead remained still for 3 min before regurgitating the
frog. We suspect the frog was too large for the lizard to swallow
because G. humeralis typically eat much smaller prey (Vitt et al.
1997. Copeia 1997:32–43). Unpalatability is another possibility,
although we could not find any evidence in the literature that
A. cf. andreae has protective skin compounds. Both individuals
were collected and deposited in the Herpetological Colletion of
Herpeto Capixaba, Museu de História Natural do Sul do Estado
do Espírito Santo, Jerônimo Monteiro, Espírito Santo, Brazil as
HC 148).
This work is part of the “Biotrips: science in biological tourism
in the Amazon” and “Herpeto Capixaba: for the knowledge and
conservation of amphibians and reptiles of Brazil”. We thank
Albertina P. Lima and Renato Gaiga for assisting us with species
determination and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação
do Espírito Santo (EDITAL FAPES Nº 03/2021 – UNIVERSAL
PHOTOS BY THIAGO SILVA-SOARES.
Fig. 1. An adult Gonatodes humeralis with a partially ingested adult
Adenomera cf. andreae in northern Brazil. The frog was later regur-
gitated.
Herpetological Review 53(4), 2022
de Conservação da Biodiversidade (SISBIO 77979-2).
THAIRIS TELLI PIMENTEL, São Paulo, Brazil (e-mail: thairispimentel@
yahoo.com.br); JOÃO VICTOR FERRARI-SILVA, Rio Grande do Sul, Bra-
zil (e-mail: j.v.ferrarione@gmail.com); THIAGO SILVA-SOARES, Herpeto
Capixaba project, Instituto Biodiversidade Neotropical, Rua Sanhaço 562,
Nova Guarapari, Guarapari, 29.206-400, Espírito Santo, Brazil (e-mail: thia-
gosilvasoares@hotmail.com).
HEMIDACTYLUS MABOUIA (House Gecko). ENDOPARASITES.
Hemidactylus mabouia is widespread in Africa and has been in-
troduced into Central America, the Caribbean, South America,
and state of Florida, USA (Uetz et al. 2022. The Reptile Database,
http://www.reptile-database.org, 10 Aug 2022). Baker (1987. Mem.
Univ. Newfoundland, Occas. Pap. Biol. 11:1–325) presented a par-
tial list of helminths infecting H. mabouia and the helminth list is
constantly increasing as it has been shown to acquire helminths
from areas it has invaded (Anjos et al. 2005. J. Helm. 79:307–313;
Goldberg et al. 2017. Herpetol. Rev. 48:192). In this note, we pres-
ent new information on the geographic distribution of two hel-
minth species infecting H. mabouia in central Africa.
We examined a sample of 20 H. mabouia (mean SVL = 54.5
mm ± 5.43 SD, range: 45–68 mm), collected 2012 to 2016, that
are in the UTEP Biodiversity Collection, University of Texas at
El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA, from four provinces in Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Five specimens are from Ituri (UTEP
22536–22540), four from North Kivu (22541–22544), nine from
Sankuru (UTEP 22545–22553) and two from South Kivu (UTEP
22554–22555). The lizards were fixed in neutral buffered formalin
and later stored in 70% ethanol. The body cavity was exposed by
a longitudinal incision and the digestive tract was removed and
opened. The esophagus, stomach and small and large intestine
were examined using a dissecting microscope. Helminths were
placed on a glass slide in a drop of lactophenol, a coverslip was
added, and identification was made from these temporary wet
mounts after study under a compound microscope.
Identifications were made after study of individual species
descriptions and utilizing keys in Anderson et al. (2009. Keys
to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates. CABI Publishing,
Oxfordshire, UK. 463 pp.). One Spauligodon morgani each
was found in the large intestines of UTEP 22539 and UTEP
22542; this species was originally described as Pharyngodon
morgani by Fitzsimmons (1961. Parasitology 51: 395–399); and
five Physalopteroides asymmetrica were found in the stomach
of UTEP 22536. Spauligodon morgani has been reported from
different lizard species in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia and P.
asymmertica has been reported from different lizard species in
Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda (see Baker 1987, op. cit.),
and both have been previously found in H. mabouia in Tanzania
(Simonsen and Sarda. 1985. J. Herpetol. 19:428–430). Our
findings of P. morgani and P. asymmetrica infecting H. mabouia
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are new geographic
records for these helminths. Nematodes were deposited in the
Harold W. Manter Laboratory (HWML), University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, USA as Physalopteroides asymmetrica (HWML 112308)
and Spauligodon morgani (HWML 112309).
STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, Whittier College, Department of Biology,
Whittier, California 90608, USA (e-mail: sgoldberg@whittier.edu); CHARLES
R. BURSEY, Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus, Department
of Biology, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail: cxb13@psu.edu); ELI
GREENBAUM, The University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Biological
Sciences, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA (e-mail: egreenbaum2@utep.edu).