Cokeville – Herpetologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department recently discovered a new species of herptile to the state of Wyoming, the Great Basin Skink. The species lives in Utah and Idaho, but has never been found in Wyoming; that is until May 6, 2010.
Herptiles are reptiles and amphibians, including salamanders, toads, frogs, turtles, lizards and snakes. They are essential parts of the environment, serving as scavengers and predators controlling insect and rodent populations and serve as an important prey base. They are biological indicator species of environmental health for entire ecosystems and, although many species of reptiles and amphibians worldwide are declining, the Great Basin Skink seems to be doing fine in the US.
No one is more excited about this find than WGFD herpetologists Charlotte Matthews, Hank Vogel and Leslie Schreiber.
“We found two juveniles so far,” Matthews says, “But, this is a new species for the state of Wyoming, which is pretty rare nowadays.”
The Great Basin Skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus utahensis) is a subspecies of the Western Skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus). The Many-Lined Skink (Plestiodon multivirgatus) is found in the southeast corner of Wyoming, mostly in Laramie, Platte and Goshen counties. To anyone studying amphibians and reptiles this is an exciting find.
“We were actually looking for Valley Garter Snake hibernaculua (the shelter of a hibernating animal) in the Bear River drainage,” Matthews says. “We found a range expansion for Valley Garter Snakes last year in the Cokeville area and were trying to see how widespread that species was in the area. It was a very cold day, around 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and technician Hank Vogel found the Great Basin Skink underneath a piece of tin on the west bank of the Bear River. Funny thing is I initially thought it was a joke when he showed it to me. Then I realized it was for real. I was shocked and pretty excited about it.”
The finding of the new species also cost Matthews dinner for three. She was so happy she bought Vogel and Schreiber dinner in Kemmerer that night to reward them.
On the next day, May 7, Mathews says they were still looking for gartersnakes and possibly other species of lizards.
“Only a few lizards have been reported from the Bear River area before, so we were interested to see if we could find any species other than the Great Basin Skink,” Matthews said. “We did find Northern Sagebrush Lizards, which was exciting to me because we know they have been documented in the area, but there have not been many observations of them. Towards the end of the day we surveyed at the top of a ridge, about a half mile west of the Smith’s Fork, and Hank found another Great Basin Skink! Another juvenile with a bright blue tail. I was shocked again. This was five miles away from our first sighting the day before, on the other side of the Bear River and on the other side of the mountain ridge.”
Great Basin Skink’s have been documented in Utah 128 miles from the Wyoming location.
Matthew’s study is part of an intense effort by states to identify species of special concern through the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). The Wyoming SWAP was produced to provide a long-range conservation plan to conserve Wyoming’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and meet the requirements of the Congressionally-authorized State Wildlife Grants (SWG) Program.
There are over 800 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, mollusks and crustaceans in Wyoming over which the WGFD has statutory authority. Although there are about 40 reptile and amphibian species in the state, biologists have little or very limited information on most of the species. Limited funding has sometimes hampered efforts to manage nongame species, including herptiles.
Matthews says herpetologists do not fully understand all of the factors contributing to the population declines in some species, but they are learning more through the collection and sharing of data. The global decline of some amphibian and reptile populations due to habitat loss/fragmentation and disease are well documented. Wyoming herpetologists are working to learn more about herptiles in Wyoming before they can take steps to protect their habitats and identify other limiting factors causing any population declines.
Matthews said that very little reptile or amphibian surveys have been conducted in the Bear River drainage in Wyoming. Mathews and her crew are targeting four areas in the drainage. She believes there is an established population of Great Basin Skinks, but because not many people have been out looking for the skink, no one knew they were there.
Zack Walker, WGFD State Herpetologist Coordinator in the Casper region, says there is a possibility that other new state records could be in the area. Walker adds, “Time and effort will tell”.
“They are a pretty secretive species and tend to hide under rocks and other debris,” Matthews says. “I have been told they are easiest to find in the spring. They are probably also easier to spot with bright blue tails. Only the juveniles have the bright blue tails and the tail becomes darker as adults. They can also drop their tails on purpose, if they feel a predator has grabbed their tail and that they are threatened. Males may have red or orange on their heads or tails during the breeding season. They eat insects, spiders and sowbugs and have been documented at 4500-8300 feet in rocky areas in habitats of scrub oak, sagebrush, juniper and grassland.”
Matthews has a two-year contract with the WGFD to survey for reptiles and amphibians in the Pinedale and Green River Fisheries Management Regions. The crew will survey the lower Bear River drainage, an area near Calpet, the Savery Creek drainage (targeting Smooth Green Snakes) and the area north of Interstate 80 in Green River and Rock Springs (targeting Midget Faded Rattlesnakes). They will also be surveying for Great Basin Spadefoots in Sweetwater County and parts of the surrounding counties.
For more information on herptiles and the Wyoming Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy go to the Game and Fish web site at http://gf.state.wy.us Go to the Home Page and click on CWCS at the far right. In addition, there are many web sites people can access to learn about herptile life histories and global population decline.
Two publications, Identification Guide to the Herptiles of Wyoming (Parker and Anderson) and Amphibians and Reptiles of Wyoming (Baxter and Stone) are also excellent sources of herptile information.
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