First record of Osteopilus septentrionalis on Guana Island, British Virgin Islands

Abstract

Cuban treefrogs are native to Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas, but are increasingly recorded from other locations (Lever, 2003). The species was first collected in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in 1990 (Owen et al., 2005) and has since spread, with about one new island record per year in the BVI (Owen et al., 2005, 2006; Perry and Gerber, 2006) and new localities in the United States Virgin Islands (Waddle et al., 2005; Platenberg and Boulon, 2006; Perry and Platenberg, 2007). Perry and Gerber (2006) mentioned that the species had been sighted on Guana Island, BVI, but did not provide any information that would allow the significance or circumstances of the event to be evaluated. Those details are provided herein. At about 2000 h on 21 October 2005, I collected an adult male (SVL = 72 mm) with small nuptial pads, foraging at a night light within the hotel complex on Guana Island. Guana Island is a private wildlife preserve. In the 12 months prior to the reported event, the small hotel on the island had imported relatively large quantities of construction materials and ornamental plants. However, hotel staff had made extensive attempts to prevent the arrival of the Cuban treefrog and other invasive species. These include manual searches of all arriving plants and other materials while still on the barges bringing them to the island, and on-island fumigation within an enclosure into which arriving materials and engine exhaust were introduced (Perry et al., 2006). No additional Cuban treefrogs have been seen on Guana since removal of that individual, despite extensive searches in 2006 and 2007. Guana Island offers RA P.1 (1-2) APHE:m v 1.24 Prn:7/01/2009; 14:03 aphe1161 by:Daiva p. 1