RED-BELLIED MUDSNAKE (FARANCIA ABACURA) HOME RANGES INCREASE WITH PRECIPITATION IN AN ISOLATED WETLAND

We radiotracked Red-bellied Mudsnakes (Farancia abacura) from April to October 2018 in a small isolated wetland pond in Central Arkansas, USA. Individual F. abacura were aquatic, fossorial, and moved within small, well-defined home ranges confined to the pond basin of a wetland system. Individual home ranges of radiotracked F. abacura overlapped extensively. Activity and home range size of F. abacura increased following heavy precipitation in August and September. Use of space by F. abacura in a small isolated wetland pond in central Arkansas was strikingly different from a previous study in an expansive wetland in southeastern Missouri.