Petite Martinique, one of the Grenada Grenadines, has an area of 0.7 km2 with a maximum elevation of 226 m. Historically, most of the island was devoted to agriculture (primarily cotton) and grazing livestock (Howard, 1952). Today, small patches of woodland are scattered over the island and goats occur virtually everywhere (Fig. 1). We spent 7–9 June 2012 on the island, specifically to search for the arboreal boid Corallus grenadensis, which was known from a single specimen collected 133 years ago.

Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758): Although it occurs elsewhere on the Grenada Bank (Grenada and the Grenadine Islands), this species had not been previously recorded from Petite Martinique. We first became aware of its presence when we saw one in the mouth of a domestic cat (Felis catus). Shortly thereafter, we observed additional individuals foraging on the grounds of the guesthouse where we were staying (12.31.457 N, -61.23.272 W; elevation 3 m) (Fig. 2). The presence of this lizard on Petite Martinique is not unexpected considering its known distribution elsewhere on the Grenada Bank (Daudin and de Silva, 2011; Henderson and Berg, 2011; Henderson and Breuil, 2012). Although the Grenadines are free of lizard-eating mongooses (e.g., Hedges and Conn, 2012), domestic cats take a heavy toll on A. ameiva populations, apparently throughout the Grenadines (Daudin and de Silva, 2011).

Corallus grenadensis (Barbour, 1914): The single known record of Corallus was collected in 1879 by Samuel Garman as part of the Blake Expedition led by Alexander Agassiz (Museum of Comparative Zoology, MCZ 6112).

Upon arrival on Petite Martinique we queried local residents regarding the prevalence of “Congo Snakes” (the local vernacular for C. grenadensis) on the island. To our surprise, people were either unaware of the snake or said it did not occur on the island. Over two nights and 7.9 person-hours of searching, we encountered two C. grenadensis. The first (not captured) was a likely young-of-the-year foraging at 9 m in a tree above the Sanchez area along a dirt road that was wooded on both sides; elevation was 60 m. The second (Fig. 3) was another young-of-the-year (approaching the end of its first year) observed at 2 m in a tree along a paved road in the Kendace (or Kendeace) area (12.30.875 N, -61.23.241 W; 50 m elevation), 36 m from a street light and across the street from a house where people were sitting on a porch. Its colour and pattern match the description Garman (1887) provided for his Petite Martinique specimen.

We eventually encountered two persons who acknowledged the presence of C. grenadensis on the island. One, a young man who lived at about 70 m above sea level, suggested we would find the snakes at still higher elevations (we had minutes before encountered

Herpetology Notes, volume 5: 439-440 (2012) (published online on 20 September 2012)

Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) and Corallus grenadensis (Squamata: Boidae) on Petite Martinique

(Grenada Grenadines), West Indies

Robert W. Henderson1,* and Craig S. Berg2

1 Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells Street, Milwau-kee, WI 53233, USA

2 Milwaukee County Zoo, 10001 West Blue Mound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA

*Corresponding author; e-mail: henderson@mpm.eduFigure 1. Typical habitat in the Kendace area of Petite Martinique.

Robert W. Henderson & Craig S. Berg440

one below his home at 60 m). We searched up to 112 m, but encountered only severely windblown shrubs. The second person was an elderly woman who also said they occurred at higher elevations. We surmised that people living in the population and business center of the island at or near sea level were unaware of C. grenadensis, whereas those living at higher elevations were more likely to be aware of its presence. Considering the small area of the island and its highest elevation, we were somewhat surprised that everyone did not know that two snake species occurred on the island (the other being the colubrid Mastigodryas bruesi).

Based on our experience on other Grenadine islands (Mustique, Cannouan, Union, Mayreau, Carriacou), the population density of C. grenadensis on Petite Martinique seems relatively low. This may contribute to residents of the island being unaware of its presence. Petite Martinique is the smallest island on which C. grenadensis has been documented.

At one time, the pitviper (Bothrops atrox/B. asper) was believed to occur on the island (e.g., Barbour, 1914; Howard, 1952; Lazell, 1964). Its supposed presence was based on early voyages of discovery (see Barbour, 1914), and the rumor was perpetuated for many years. Whether because the name of the island is confused with that of Martinique (which does harbour the pit-viper B. lanceolatus), or because species of Corallus are sometimes mistakenly believed to be venomous due to their somewhat sinister appearance (Henderson, 2002) remains unclear.

AcknowledgmentsHenderson is grateful to the Windway Foundation for their continued support and Berg thanks the Milwaukee County Zoo and the Milwaukee Zoological Society for generous support.

References

Barbour, T. (1914): A contribution to the zoögeography of the West Indies, with especial reference to amphibians and rep-tiles. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 44: 205-359.

Daudin, J., de Silva, M. (2011): An annotated checklist of the am-phibians and terrestrial reptiles of the Grenadines with notes on their natural history and conservation. In: Conservation of Caribbean Island Herpetofaunas, Vol. 2: Regional Accounts of the West Indies, p. 259-271. Hailey, A., Wilson, B.S., Hor-rocks, J.A. Eds., Leiden, Brill.

Garman, S. (1887): On West Indian reptiles in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 24: 278-286.

Hedges, S.B., Conn, C.E. (2012): A new skink fauna from Ca-ribbean islands (Squamata, Mabuyidae, Mabuyinae). Zootaxa 3288: 1-244.

Henderson, R.W. (2002): Neotropical Treeboas: Natural History of the Corallus hortulanus Complex. Malabar, Krieger Publi-shing Company.

Henderson, R.W., Berg, C.S. (2011): The herpetofauna of Gre-nada and the Grenada Grenadines: conservation concerns. In: Conservation of Caribbean Island Herpetofaunas, Vol. 2: Regional Accounts of the West Indies, p. 239-258. Hailey, A., Wilson, B.S., Horrocks, J.A. Eds., Leiden, Brill.

Henderson, R.W., Breuil, M. (2012): Lesser Antilles. In: Island lists of West Indian amphibians and reptiles, p. 148-159. Po-well, R., Henderson, R.W., Eds., Bulletin of the Florida Muse-um of Natural History 51: 85-166.

Howard, R.A. (1952): The vegetation of the Grenadines, Wind-ward Islands, British West Indies. Gray Herbarium of Harvard University 174: 1-129.

Lazell, J.D., Jr. (1964): The Lesser Antillean representatives of Bothrops and Constrictor. Memoirs of the Museum of Compa-rative Zoology 132: 245-273.

Figure 2. Ameiva ameiva in the Sanchez area of Petite Martinique.

Figure 3. This Corallus grenadensis was found in a tree bordering the road in Figure 1.

Accepted by Philip de Pous