Recent funding from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (soon to be Department of Wildlife) included engagement with community scientists to increase observations of frogs across eastern New Mexico. Though primarily aimed to target observations of American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) along the Pecos River, we are interested in all observations of anurans across the region. American Bullfrogs are considered a non-native, invasive species across most of New Mexico, including along the Pecos River watershed. The only region in the state where American Bullfrogs are native is believed to be in the Canadian River watershed in northeastern New Mexico. Early detection of American Bullfrogs is key to prevent their spread and establishment into new areas and control efforts can help to protect native species from these voracious predators.

As part of this engagement with community scientists, we have launched a new project on the platform iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org) called Frogs of Eastern New Mexico (www.inaturalist.org/projects/frogs-of-eastern-new-mexico). Although this iNaturalist project will aggregate observations of all anurans across the study region, please consider joining the project to share all relevant metadata on your contributed observations. 

Two new, short notes were recently published in Herpetological Review, both written by DHL students. One was a Geographic Distribution Note reporting the occurrence of the Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) in Chaves County, New Mexico (Hutcherson et al. 2024). The second note was a Natural History Note documenting a predation event on the Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) by a nursery web spider (Pisauridae).

The Davis Herpetology Lab has been awarded funding from the Share With Wildlife program from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to conduct surveys for two species of imperiled snakes using environmental DNA (eDNA). These two focal species of snakes are the Mexican Gartersnake (Thamnophis eques) and the Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster). eDNA is a novel survey methodology that has shown promise in the detection of wildlife, particularly cryptic aquatic or semi-aquatic species. We will conduct these surveys from 2025–2026 across southeastern (for N. erythrogaster) and southwestern New Mexico (for T. eques) and support undergraduate student involvement and graduate student thesis research. Data generated from this work will hopefully yield important distributional data on these imperiled species that can be used by land managers to inform decisions.

Grant Title: Using Environmental DNA (eDNA) to Survey for Imperiled Reptiles in New Mexico

Congratulations to Zoe Hutcherson for winning 1st place at the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation Symposium held at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico! Her poster was titled “Range expansion of the non-native Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) across New Mexico and West Texas.” Zoe was one of a handful of ENMU students to attend and present alongside other universities across the state. She won a cash prize and an award, but most importantly, gets to claim bragging rights for the next year!

Additionally, Sebastian Summo Elias was just awarded an ENMU Graduate Student Research Award funds to support research projects. These funds will be used to screen additional snake samples for Snake Fungal Disease.

Congratulations to you both!

Last week I started in a new position as an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Here, I am working to better understand factors associated with the distribution of the state-threatened Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis), sirens, and Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) in south Texas. I’m excited to get settled into this position and help increase our understanding of these unique species in the Rio Grande Valley.

When not doing fieldwork, I will be based out of the newly acquired Port Isabel Research Station in Port Isabel, TX.

As part of this position, please note my updated contact information:

Address: 100 Marine Lab Drive, South Padre Island, TX 78597
Email: drew.davis (at) utrgv.edu

I recently returned to Washington, DC from my annual trip out to the Chihuahuan Desert of west Texas where I have been collaborating on multiple research projects involving the Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon flavescens). Working with these turtles continuously leaves us asking more questions about their ecology than we are able to answer. We trapped a total of 201 unique Yellow Mud Turtles at five permanent earthen tanks and a few more ephemeral sites that hold water for only a few days after rains. The newest earthen tank, #2, produced no turtles (compared to only a single turtle trapped last year), but numerous turtles were found in all other permanent sites. By the end of our trapping efforts, we were recapturing a high percentage (75–80%) of turtles trapped the preceding days. However, a large rain event (1.3″) at 96 Tank likely resulted in a low recapture percentage (25%), likely due to numerous turtles not seen in over a decade (despite annual trapping efforts at this site) moving to the site from terrestrial burrows.

96 Tank after heavy rains (notice the high turbidity)

Kimball Draw

Adult female Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon flavescens) with an advanced stage of shell disease

A new publication documenting 54 new distributional records of 17 species of amphibians and reptiles in South Dakota, all collected during 2017, was published in the June 2018 issue of Herpetological Review. Included are numerous records of Boreal Chorus Frogs (n=8) and Painted Turtles (n=8). Also included are six new records of Northern Leopard Frogs, a species for which there is now vouchered material from every county in the state. These specimens are verifiable records of species presence and serve as vouchered material from a historically under-sampled state. All records have been added to the Amphibians and Reptiles of South Dakota website and help fill gaps in the distributions of species across the state.

Davis DR, Farkas JK. 2018. New county records of amphibians and reptiles from South Dakota, USA from 2017. Herpetological Review 49:288–295. [PDF]

This spring I was asked to write an article about my efforts in mapping amphibians and reptiles across South Dakota. Since 2012, I have collected voucher specimens and photographs of amphibians and reptiles that I encountered at research study sites, during camping trips, driving down county roads, and pretty much every other time I was outdoors when it wasn’t winter. These records represent a significant increase (>60%) in the number of verifiable records from the state and provide much needed voucher material for current and future studies. While I continue to collect voucher specimens from the state, citizen scientists are also contributing to what is known about distributions of species in the state. In 2017, I launched a new website, Amphibians and Reptiles of South Dakota (http://www.sdherps.org), and have encouraged citizen scientists to submit their own observations of amphibians and reptiles they encounter while outdoors. In 2017, over 900 records were added to http://www.sdherps.org, all of which help to better map species distributions in the state. Hopefully even more records are submitted to the website in 2018.

Davis DR. 2018. Mapping amphibians and reptiles in South Dakota. South Dakota Conservation Digest 85:34–37. [PDF]

I recently discovered a preserved Eastern Hog-nosed Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) from Brule County, South Dakota (pictured) that represents an important distributional record in the state. Heterodon platirhinos was historically known from southeastern South Dakota in Union and Clay counties. This specimen, from Chamberlain, is roughly 300 km up the Missouri River from previously known localities in Clay County, South Dakota. This historic specimen, combined with recent observations of H. platirhinos from western South Dakota (see https://www.herpmapper.org/record/193175) suggest this species may be present in additional localities across the state and further surveys for this state-threatened species should be a conservation priority.

Davis DR. 2018. Geographic distribution: USA, South Dakota, Brule Co.: Heterodon platirhinos (Eastern Hog-nosed Snake). Herpetological Review 49:76. [PDF]