Reptiles and Amphibians


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Reptiles and Amphibians at Berenty

Furcifer-verrucosus © photo by G Williams;		Only one study has been done on reptiles and amphibians at Berenty. One of the most significant finds was a speciment of Pseudoxyrhopus kely. This snake is otherwise known only from the tiny coastal forest of Mandena, near Fort Dauphin, in a wholly different climate regime and forest type. Mandena now has a 240 ha conservation zone, about as large as Berenty, to protect its species while other areas of Mandena are mined for titanium ore over the next 20 years. The Berenty specimen suggests that the snake can survive in a small protected area and that its potential distribution is much wider than the forests of the mine site.

Other snakes commonly seen in the rainy season include the ground and tree boas, Acranthopis madagascariensis and Sanzinia madagascariensis, and the reptile eating snake Leioheterodon geayi. Leioheterodon is polymorphic, either overall yellow sand color, or with an althernating "brickwork" black and yellow scales. All these large snakes shelter in the very large holes of the housekeeper ant, Aphaenogaster swammerdami. Local legend says that the ants feed the snakes until they are too big to emerge, whereupon the ants eat them. It seems instead that the snakes use the ant holes with impunity, though the ants may profit by the snakes' protein-rich feces.		Boa © photo by Rowe
Radiated Tortoise, Up Close © Cyril Ruoso, www.ruoso-grundman.com
The radiated tortoise, Geochelone radiata, and the spider tortoise, Pyxis arachnoides, are both found wild in the Reserve and in tortoise enclosures. The ones in enclosures were saved from markets or bred in the encosure. Radiated tortoises are taboo to eat for local Tandroy people, but appreciated as stew by Tanosy people of Fort Dauphin. Many are smuggled out for export to China as food, and some to western reptile collectors. The Water and Forests department sent 200 confiscated tortoises to the Rapily reserve at Berenty.		Radiated Tortoise © photo by G Williams

Crocodile © photo by D Custance		When Berenty was founded in 1936, crocodiles were common in the Mandrare river, annually eating a woman washing clothes, a man's paddle-arm, or even the tongues from drinking cattle (Genevieve, Naturaliste Guardian and J. de Heaulme, pers. comm.) A smallish one of about 1 meter lived on Berenty's bank in 1990 but died in the drought of 1992. A few crocodiles are in captivity at Berenty, both for show and for their own safety.

Herpetofauna List

From Crowley, Management Plan for Berenty, 1995. Compiled by Daniel Morris in 1992, working with Reserve Manager Helen Crowley and supervised by Prof Ronald Nussbaum (https://cms.lsa.umich.edu/eeb). The list was from a short study, probably incomplete.

LIZARDS: Chamoelieonidae Furcifer oustaleti= Chamaeleo verrucosus Furcifer lateralis Cordylidae Tracheloptychus madagascariensis Tracheloptychus sp. Zonosaurua trilineatus Gekkonidae Geckolepis typica Hemidactylus mercatorius Lygodactylus tuberosus Lygodactylus verticellatus Paroedura androyensis Paroedura bastardi Paroedura pictus Phelsuma modesta Phelsuma mutabilis Opluridae Chalarodon madagascariensis Oplurus cyclurus Scindidae Amphiglossus igneocaudatus Amphiglossus ornaticeps Androngo trivittatus? Mabuya aureopunctuata Mabuya elegans Mabuya gravenhorstii Mabuya dumasi Voeltskowia lineata	FROGS: Microhylidae Scaphiophryne brevis Scaphiophryne calcarata Ranidae Tomopterna labrosa Rhacophoridae Boophis tephraeomystax Heteryadus butili
	© photo by H Clarke
SNAKES: Boidae Boa madagascariensis= Acrantophis madagascariensis Sanzinia madagascariensis Colubridae Dromicodryas bernieri Heteroliodon occipitalis Itycyphus oursi Langaha nasuta Leioheterodon geayi Liophidium torquatus Liophidium vaillanti Lycodryas gaimaridi Madagascarohis colubrinus Mimophis mahfalensis Pseudoxyrhopus kely Typhilopidae Ramphotyphlops braminus Typhlops boettgeri	TORTOISES AND TURTLES: Pelomedusidae Erymnochelys madagascariensis, in captivity Pelomedusa subrufa, in captivity Testudinae Geochelone radiata Pyxis arachnoides