THE BACTERIAL FLORA OF THE COMMON GARTERSNAKE, THAMNOPHIS SIRTALIS SIRTALIS
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Thamnophis sirtalis
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Forty-two individual amphibians and 37 reptiles from Arkansas, U.S.A., were examined for tetrathyridia of the cyclophyllidean cestode genus, Mesocestoides. The following herpetofauna were found to be infected with encapsulated or free tetrathyridia of this tapeworm, 1 of 25 (4%) spotted salamanders, Ambystoma maculatum; 1 of 17 (6%) western slimy salamanders, Plethodon albagula; 1 of 21 (5%) 5-lined skinks, Plestiodon fasciatus; 1 of 5 (20%) black racers, Coluber constrictor priapus; 1 of 10 (10%), western rat snakes, Pantherophis obsoletus; and 1 of 1 (100%) eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis. We report 6 new host records for Mesocestoides sp., including the fifth and sixth report of this parasite from caudate amphibians of the world. This is also only the second time this tapeworm has been reported from snakes of the genus Thamnophis.
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published part I of his great monograph on the development of the viper in 1903, but it only goes as far as the closure of the amnion, and part II was not completed before his death in 1936. Little has been published on older stages. Parker (1878) noted six stages of skull formation, and Berchelt (1936) described six other stages in the differentiation of the hemipenis. Franklin (1945) recorded the ages and lengths of 25 stages in the development of Natrix taxispilota, but these stages are not defined anatomically. Few complete series of snake embryos are known to exist in research collections. It is
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Salamanders of several species were heated in experiments designed to reveal differences between species with respect to the critical thermal maximum. Also the effect of acclimation on the upper thermal level tolerated was tested. It was found that salamanders of the species Desmognathus fuscus and D. quadramacula-tus have significantly lower critical thermal maxima after being kept for several days at five degrees Centigrade than when kept at fifteen degrees before being used in experiments. At the five-degree level of acclimation, the widely distributed fuscus has a slightly but statistically significantly higher critical thermal maximum than quadramnaculatus, a species restricted to montane streams. Desmognathus ochrophaeus carolinensis has possibly the lowest CTM among the species tested, while Diemiictylus viridescens proved to have greater resistance to high temperatures than the other species. This greater tolerance of high temperature enables viridescens to utilize warm standingwater habitats unfavorable to other species, and possibly plays an important part in the wide geographic distribution of the species.
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Two subspecies of garter snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis from New Jersey and Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis from Manitoba, were examined for mean preferred temperature (MPT) in an artificial gradient. Analysis of variance failed to reveal any significant pattern of diurnal or nocturnal fluctuations in MPT. No significant differences were noted in the MPT's of starved T. s. parietalis and T. s. sirtalis, although the Manitoba subspecies did select slightly lower temperatures in the gradient than the New Jersey variety. Following feeding, a significant (p < 0.025) thermo- philic response was revealed by analysis of variance in specimens of T. s. parietalis. The benefits of elevated body temperature to recently fed reptiles are discussed, and a hypothesis is presented to explain the failure to find a similar thermophilic response to feeding in T. s. sirtalis.
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