Hello,
The Seychelles post of Bobby and Laura made me want to share with you another island trip, in Guadeloupe. That was our honeymoon, in august 2014, and as we are also two fanatic naturalists, we spend all the time hiking, looking for animals, mainly frogs and insects.
Guadeloupe is a lesser Antilles french island in the carribean sea, with two part, Basse-Terre, the volcanic one, and Grande-Terre. There is a national natural park on Basse-Terre, so this part of the island is quite preserved, with a rich endemic biodiversity.
There is not so much "reptiles" and amphibians but the species are endemic ones, with some of them very common and others rare and endangered.
Frogs :
Eleutherodactylus johnstonei : introduced
Eleutherodactylus marticensis
Eleutherodactylus pinchoni
Eleutherodactylus barlagnei
Rhinella marina : introduced
Osteopilus septentrionalis : introduced
We saw two of the endemic frogs, marticensis and pinchoni (just one). Eleutherodactylus barlagnei is a very rare and elusive frog, leaving only in rocky streams of the rain forest and in the summit of "The Soufrière", a volcano. So rare and endangered that we did not manage to find it.
Eleutherodactylus johnstonei is everywhere, in jungle, city, gardens etc etc ... but only in disturbed places :
Eleutherodactylus marticensis is bigger, with a large head and a different calling :
Eleutherodactylus pinchoni is a rare species, found only in undisturbed area, where there isn't johnstonei. We found this young individual, after a loooong walk in the island mountains :
It has a "pug nose", it's one of the characteristic of this species.
Rhinella marina is, like johnstonei, everywhere, even in pools :
Guadeloupe is home to the most beautiful of Anolis species (now in the genus Ctenotus), Anolis marmoratus (http://www.anoleannals.org/2012/04/07/t ... uadeloupe/). But, as always, there were so common that we forget to make much pictures of them, especially one we saw all morning in our garden, with a blue head (Anolis marmoratus speciosus).
Here is Anolis marmoratus marmoratus :
Our favorite place were a small island, at the east of the Guadeloupe : La Désirade :
La Désirade is quite different from Guadeloupe, with barren lands. It is also home to one of most endangered Iguana species on earth : Iguana delicatissima, the lesser antilles Iguana :
They love banana (our breakfast ...) :
We also found the beautiful Anolis desiradei, an endemic species of this small place :
But my favorite species of the trip is not a reptile, or an amphibian, but this katytid, Karukerana aguilari (Karukera is the name of the island) :
The male make a 110 dB sound !
This katytid, endemic also, Nesonotus reticulatus, is a nasty biter :
So, Guadeloupe is a great place, not much visited by "herpers", like the rest of the lesser Antilles, but with amazing endemic species and ... the best food in the world
And for other species and landscape : https://www.flickr.com/gp/141135600@N04/D4j445
Robin