CHAPTER 8. COMMUNITY COMPONENTS - AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES 



Food habits and status of 24 species 

 of turtles, snakes, lizards, and frogs of 

 the Florida mangrove region are given in 

 Appendix C. Any of three criteria had to 

 be met before a species was included in 

 this table: (1) a direct reference in 

 the literature to mangrove use by the 

 species, (2) reference to a species as 

 being present at a particular geographical 

 location within the mangrove zone of 

 Florida, and (3) North American species 

 recorded from mangroves in the West Indies 

 or South America, but not from Florida. 

 This last criterion assumes that a species 

 which can utilize mangroves outside of 

 Florida will be able to use them in 

 Florida. Ten turtles are listed of which 

 four (striped mud turtle, chicken turtle, 

 Florida red-bellied turtle, and softshell 

 turtle) are typical of freshwater. Two 

 (mud turtle and the ornate diamondback 

 terrapin) are found in brackish water and 

 the remainder (hawksbill, green, logger- 

 head, and Atlantic ridley) are found in 

 marine waters. 



Freshwater species usually occur in 

 the headwater regions of mangrove-lined 

 river systems. All four freshwater 

 species are found in habitats other than 

 mangrove swamps including streams, ponds, 

 and freshwater marshes. The brackish 

 water species are found in salt marshes in 

 addition to mangrove swamps. Mangroves, 

 however, are the principal habitat for the 

 ornate diamondback terrapin (Ernst and 

 Barbour 1972). Cam and Goi n (1955) 

 listed two subspecies of the diamondback: 

 Malaclemys terrapin macrospilota and M. t. 

 rhizophorarum . Malaclemys terrapin macro - 

 spilota inhabits the southwest and south- 

 ern coasts, and M. ;t. rhizophorarum is 

 found in the Florida Keys. The two sub- 

 species intergrade in the region of north- 

 ern Florida Bay. 



All four of the marine turtles are 

 associated with mangrove vegetation at 

 some stage of their lives. Loggerhead and 

 green turtles are apparently much less 

 dependent on mangroves than the remaining 

 two, although we strongly suspect that 

 recently hatched loggerheads may use man- 

 grove estuaries as nursery areas. Green 

 turtles are generally believed to feed on 



a variety of submerged aquatic plants and 

 sea grasses; recent evidence has shown 

 that they also feed on mangrove roots and 

 leaves (Ernst and Barbour 1972). The 

 Atlantic ridley's preferred habitat is 

 "shallow coastal waters, especially the 

 mangrove-bordered bays of the southern 

 half of the peninsula of Florida" (Carr 

 and Goin 1955). Hawksbill turtles feed on 

 a variety of plant materials including 

 mangrove (especially red mangrove), 

 fruits, leaves, wood, and bark (Ernst and 

 Barbour 1972). 



Three species in the genus Anol i s 

 have been reported from Florida mangroves: 

 the green anole, the cuban brown anole, 

 and the Bahaman bank anole. All are 

 arboreal lizards that feed on insects. 

 The green anole is widespread throughout 

 the Southeastern United States and is not 

 at all dependent on mangrove swamps. The 

 other two species have much more 

 restricted distributions in the United 

 States and are found only in south 

 Florida. They also are not restricted 

 to mangrove ecosystems. Of the six 

 species of snakes listed, the mangrove 

 water snake (Figure 13) is most dependent 

 upon mangrove habitats. 



Two important species of reptiles 

 found in mangrove swamps are the American 

 alligator and the American crocodile. The 

 alligator is widespread throughout the 

 Southeastern United States and is only 

 incidentally found in low salinity sec- 

 tions of Florida mangrove areas (Kushlan 

 1980). The American crocodile is rare; 

 historically its distribution was centered 

 in the mangrove-dominated areas of the 

 upper and lower Florida Keys (particularly 

 Key Largo) and the mangrove-lined shore- 

 lines and mud flats along the northern 

 edge of Florida and Whitewater Bays 

 (Kushlan 1980). Mangroves appear to be 

 critical habitat for this species. Its 

 range has shrunk considerably in south 

 Florida since the 1930's, even though 

 Florida Bay was added to Everglades 

 National Park in 1950 (Moore 1953; Ogden 

 1978). Much of the decrease in range is 

 due to increased human activity in the 

 Florida Keys. The remaining population 

 centers of the American crocodile are in 



