Further notes on the reproduction of Hydrops caesurus (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Corrientes, Argentina

EDUARDO G. ETCHEPARE ; VÍCTOR H. ZARACHO; ROMINA SEMHAN; ROBERTO H. AGUIRRE

HERPETOLOGY NOTES

Societas Europaea Herpetologica

Lugar: Milan; Año: 2012 vol. 5 p. 169 - 170

2071-5773

This note reports further observations on clutch size and hatching time of H. caesurus. On 15 November 2008 in Puerto Tala, Isla Apipé Grande, Corrientes province, Argentina (27º 33? S, 56º 48?W, datum: WGS84; elev. 65 m) we found a clutch composed of 12 elliptic eggs with coriaceous shell. They were buried into the border of the embankment of a rural road that crosses a marsh (Figure 1 a,b). The measurements of three eggs were 26.4, 26.3 and 25.6 mm length, and 17.8, 17.3 and 17.6 mm width, respectively. An egg examined at this moment contained an embryo in stage 26 according to stages of normal development of Thamnophis sirtalis (Zehr, 1962). It measured 40.7 mm body lenght (from the snout to the tail tip). The eggs were maintained under laboratory conditions to environmental temperature. Four eggs were examined on 2, 15 and 22 December 2008 and 1 January 2009. They had embryos in stage 30, 34, 36 and 37, respectively.