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Article Excerpt
The Brazos water snake, Nerodia harteri, is a medium-sized colubrid endemic to the Brazos River system of 11 counties of northcentral Texas (Dorcas & Mendelson 1991; Conant & Collins 1998; Dixon 2000; Werler & Dixon 2000; Ernst & Ernst 2003). Discovered in 1936 in Palo Pinto County in the Brazos River, the species was later described by Trapido (1941). This snake fills a unique niche within this riverine habitat typified by fast-flowing rocky stream riffles of the upper Brazos River and two of its tributaries. Although not currently listed as federally threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species is considered threatened by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD 2007). In addition, N. harteri is globally listed G2 (NatureServe 2007) due to its restricted range and habitat requirements.
Detailed information is available on various aspects of the natural history of this snake (Mecham 1983; Scott et al. 1989); however, very little is known about its parasites. McAllister & Upton (1989) reported three eimerians and a Cryptosporidium sp. from Brazos water snakes from Somervell and Palo Pinto counties, and Upton et al. (1989) further described a Cryptosporidium sp. in a single N. harteri from the latter county. The only previous report on helminth parasites was by Rossi & Rossi (2000) who reported Strongyloides sp. and unidentified filiarial worms from captive N. harteri.
On 18 July 1987 and again between 6 May 1988 and 29 July 1988, 10 juvenile and adult N. harteri (four males, six females; SVL range = 340-710 mm, mean [+ or -] 1SD=547.5 [+ or -] 113.4 mm) were collected by hand or tong from two sites on the Brazos River, one below Possum Kingdom Dam, 11.3 km SW Graford off FM 4, Palo Pinto County (n = 3, 32[degrees] 52.02'N, 98[degrees] 25.03'W), and the other 8.0 km S Glen Rose off FM 200, Somervell County (n = 7, 32[degrees] 16.16'N, 97[degrees] 39.5l'W). Several of these snakes were the same specimens reported in McAllister & Upton (1989)....
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