On 5 May 2018, the author observed a Trinidad Motmot using a rock as an anvil to predate a Manicou Crab in the Main Ridge Forest Reserve, Tobago. This note contributes to the information regarding the use of anvils by the Trinidad Motmot and hopes to encourage further research on the use of tools by birds and other animals.
Snakes with two heads are known as dicephalic, axial bifurcated or bicephalic snakes. In early June 2019, a gravid adult Oxybelis rutherfordi Jadin et al. 2020 was collected from a poui tree (Tabebuia sp.) in Endeavour, Chaguanas, Trinidad. It was kept in captivity and laid six eggs, one of which was found to contain a dicephalic snake.
An illustrated and annotated catalogue is presented of 17 species of the tribe Thermesiini (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Erebinae) confirmed to occur in Trinidad, of which Hemeroblemma dolon (Cramer), H. helima (Stoll), H. malitiosa (Guenee) H. ochrolinea (Guenee), Feigeria mycerina (Cramer) and ‘Letis’ arcana Feige are new records for the island. Seven species are recorded from Tobago, two for the first time. Images of 14 species of living adults are included. Almost nothing has recorded regarding food plants and early stages of Thermesiini in Trinidad, but known food plants from elsewhere in the Neotropics are tabulated.
The abundance and status of our bird species, especially the common ones, are reasonably well known and described in the available guides (ffrench, 2012; Kenefick et al. 2012). Our knowledge of the rarer species is less complete. Rare species comprise 44% of our bird species richness, and since they are rare, years of accumulated records are needed to assess status or changes in abundance. Without formal review and archiving, records would be haphazard and confidence low, making trends difficult to detect or interpret. The Trinidad and Tobago Rare Birds Committee was established in 1995 to assess, document and archive the occurrence of rare or unusual birds in Trinidad and Tobago and thus provide reliable long-term monitoring of our rarer species. Now re-named the Birds Status and Distribution Committee, we have assessed all records submitted during 2015. In all 105 records were adjudged, representing 55 different species. Of the submissions assessed, in only eight cases did the Committee find the identification inconclusive.
In July 2013, a severely debilitated, critically endangered juvenile hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) washedashore on Campbleton Beach, in northeast Tobago, West Indies. Four years later, in June 2017, a similarly debilitated,vulnerable sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) stranded on Manzanilla Beach, on the east coast of Trinidad,West Indies. Floating Syndrome was diagnosed in both cases. Based on local resource availability, several modificationswere effectively made to previously documented sea turtle management techniques, particularly pertaining to selectionof gelatin diet ingredients for nutritional support and equipment used for handling and restraint. Despite the very limitedresources and the absence of a well-equipped facility on the islands for long-term management of larger aquatic vertebrates,each animal was successfully rehabilitated after 10 weeks of therapy which included correction of serum biochemicalabnormalities, fluid therapy, dietary modification, assist-feeding and freshwater therapy. Once fully recovered, the turtleswere returned to their respective stranding sites and were successfully released. Rescue, rehabilitation and release of theseanimals were made possible through the collaborative efforts of a multitude of local and international wildlife conservationorganisations and volunteers. These represent the first documented cases of successful rehabilitation and release of ahawksbill sea turtle and a loggerhead sea turtle with Floating Syndrome in Trinidad and Tobago. Furthermore, it is the firstknown and first documented loggerhead sea turtle stranding case for Trinidad and Tobago.
In February 2020, an image of a skipper butterfly posted on iNaturalist by Dempewolf was spotted by Cock as a species new to the Trinidad fauna. The image was shared, and rapidly identified as Microceris dulcinea (Plotz, 1879). This species has not previously been recorded from Trinidad.
During night walks in the forests of Trinidad, West Indies, the authors observed and photographed several moth species (Lepidoptera) not previously reported from the island and documented several interesting behaviours. Belonoptera patercula (Pagenstcher), Siculodes avicula Guenee (both Thyrididae) and Sylepte coelivitta (Walker) (Crambidae) are species not previously known from Trinidad. Rejectaria niciasalis (Walker) and R. rosimonalis (Walker) (Erebidae) were known from Trinidad, but their presence had not previously been reported in the literature. Feeding was noted at flowers, fallen fruit, bird droppings, diseased grass flowers and water.
Ascia monuste (L.) also known as the great southern white is one of the 29 Pieridae butterflies found in Trinidad & Tobago (Barcant 1970, Cock 2014) and is considered common. However, we did not find any published account of the life cycle of this species in Trinidad. This note describes a host plant, Cleome sp. naturally ocurring in Trinidad.
Details of 45 new moth records from Tobago are presented, including species of Cossidae (1), Crambidae (14), Dalceridae(1), Erebidae (7), Geometridae (9), Limacodidae (3), Megalopygidae (1), Noctuidae (1), Nolidae (1), Notodontidae (1),Oecophoridae (1), Pyralidae (2), Sphingidae (2), and Uraniidae (1). All records are based solely on photographs, andrepresentative images are included as vouchers. Forty-two species were identified as adults and three as caterpillars. Thetotal number of moth species known from Tobago is now 400. All reported species are also known from Trinidad (althoughsome records represent the first notification for Trinidad), apart from Trocodima lenistriata (Dognin) (Erebidae, Arctiinae,Phaegopterini) and Eulepidotis sp. (Erebidae, Eulepidotinae), which are not so far known from Trinidad.
Moriche Palm Mauritia flexuosa (Arecaceae-Calamoideae) is an arborescent palm species found throughout much of South America. Observations on M. flexuosa stands were made during field visits to the Erin Forest Reserve in Trinidad and Tobago. Only four M. flexuosa palms were identified in savanna habitat, all of which were male. With no female palms in the Middle Savanna or Erin Savanna, individual palms cannot reproduce.
Two species of Opsiphanes (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Brassolini) are found in Trinidad: Opsiphanes cassina merianae Stichel and O. cassiae cassiae (Linnaeus). The purpose of this note is to show how adults of these two species can be separated based on a simple character of the ventral surface, provide preliminary documentation of the caterpillar and food plants of O. cassina merianae in Trinidad, and indicate how the caterpillars may be identified.
Known as postmen in Trinidad & Tobago, Heliconius erato (Linnaeus) and Heliconius melpomene (Linnaeus) are widely distributed in Central and South America. The most reliable way to separate the two species is based on the number of small red spots at the base of the ventral hindwing: three in H. melpomene and four in H. erato (Barcant 1970), the extra one in H. erato being at the base of the cell (Figs. 1-4, 6, 11). However, in the field, and especially in photographs, often only the dorsal surface is visible, making specieslevel identification difficult. This note sets out how the two species may be separated in dorsal view in Trinidad and Tobago.
Gonatodes vittatus (Lichtenstein and von Martens 1856) (Squamata: Gekkota: Sphaerodactylidae) is distributed along the northeastern edge of South America, ranging from northeastern Columbia to Guyana, including the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and smaller islands off the coast of Venezuela. Males of G. vittatus are considered to show different colour morphs based on differences in throat, chin and lower lip colour. We investigated which of the male colour morphs of G. vittatus are represented, and in what abundance, in northeastern Trinidad.
It was with widespread shock and dismay that the news was received of Jo-Anne Sewlal’s untimely death from an acute allergic reaction in January of this year. She has passed from among us with a great deal yet undone, but not before showing what she could do.
The cane toad Rhinella marina provides a unique opportunity to investigate Neotropical ectoparasite communities, because individuals travel long distances and traverse multiple habitat types, each inhabited by different species of ectoparasite including ticks (Ixodidae). To evaluate the ticks parasitising Rhinella marina within northeastern Trinidad, individual toads were obtained from four agrarian sites with different environmental characteristics and proximity to urban or sylvan areas. Individuals were collected by hand and inspected for ticks within 5-10 minutes of capture. Parasitism by ticks occurred in 12 of the 39 toads collected. R. marina specimens were hosts to 12 species of ticks represented by five genera ( Amblyomma spp., Hamaphysalis spp., Hyalomma spp., Ixodes spp., and Rhipicephalis spp.). Individuals sampled from sylvan environments exhibited the highest incidence of infestation with a low to moderate density of toads while individuals collected from urban environments showed lower incidences of infestation despite the greatest density of toads. 84% of all ticks collected were female and 43% of all ticks collected were immature. Individuals representing all instars were obtained for all five genera excluding Amblyomma spp., for which only adult specimens were observed. The data resulting from this study provides evidence that R. marina is infested by a moderate diversity of tick species in northeastern Trinidad which reinforces the utility of this species as a means to study ectoparasites within Neotropical environments.
The Boa Constrictor ( Boa constrictor ) is a large, heavy-bodied snake inhabiting a diversity of habitats throughout most of South America. It is a dietary generalist, foraging on a wide variety of prey including shrimps, fishes, lizards, birds and mammals. In this note we document a Boa Constrictor preying on a Great Kiskadee ( Pitangus sulphuratus ).
Evans (1955) records a female of Oxynthes corusca (Herrich-Schaffer, 1869) (Hesperiidae, Hesperiinae, Hesperiini) from Trinidad in The Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK). However, this record has been overlooked since then (e.g. Cock 2014b) until now, when more recent specimens were located and identified.
There are two common species of Junonia in Trinidad and Tobago, which have been confused together under the local name ‘donkey’s eye’: J. zonalis C. Felder and R. Felder and J. genoveva genoveva (Cramer). There is also a local, mangrove-feeding species, J. litoralis Brevignon, found in Trinidad but not reported from Tobago. Characters are presented to facilitate identification of adults in the field and from images.
The scorpion fauna of Trinidad and Tobago currently comprises ten species following the reinstatement of Microtityus starri Lourenco and Huber, 1999, by Armas and Teruel, 2014. Chactas raymondhansi was previously thought to be endemic to Trinidad and had only been found in cloud forest at the summits of the highest mountains in the Northern Range: Cerro Del Aripo (990 m), Mt. El Tucuche (980 m) and Morne Bleu (800 m) (Prendini 2001). This note details the first records of C. raymondhansi for the island of Tobago.
Currently 53 families of spiders of the infraorders Araneomorphae and Mygalomorphae are confirmed to be found in Trinidad and Tobago (Sewlal and Cutler 2003, Cutler 2005, Sewlal and Alayon 2007, Sewlal 2009, Sewlal 2010, Sewlal 2013). Magalhaes and Ramirez (2019) gives the latest reference and characteristics of the family Filistatidae (Araneomorphae), bringing the total number of families recorded from Trinidad and Tobago to 54.
