ContextAdvancements in camera-trap technology have provided wildlife researchers with a new technique to better understand their study species. This improved method may be especially useful for many conservation-reliant snake species that can be difficult to detect because of rarity and life histories with secretive behaviours. AimsHere, we report the results of a 6-month camera-trapping study using time lapse-triggered camera traps to detect snakes, in particular the federally listed Louisiana pinesnake (Pituophis ruthveni) in eastern Texas upland forests in the USA. MethodsSo as to evaluate the efficacy of this method of snake detection, we compared camera-trap data with traditional box-trapping data collected over the same time period across a similar habitat type, and with the same goal of detecting P. ruthveni. Key resultsNo differences in focal snake species richness were detected across the trap methods, although the snake-detection rate was nearly three times higher with camera traps than with the box traps. Detection rates of individual snake species varied with the trapping method for all but two species, but temporal trends in detection rates were similar across the trap methods for all but two species. Neither trap method detected P. ruthveni in the present study, but the species has been detected with both trap methods at other sites. ConclusionsThe higher snake-detection rate of the camera-trap method suggests that pairing this method with traditional box traps could increase the detection of P. ruthveni where it occurs. For future monitoring and research on P. ruthveni, and other similarly rare and secretive species of conservation concern, we believe these methods could be used interchangeably by saturating potentially occupied habitats with camera traps initially and then replacing cameras with box traps when the target species is detected. ImplicationsThere are financial and logistical limits to monitoring and researching rare and secretive species with box traps, and those limits are far less restrictive with camera traps. The ability to use camera-trap technologies interchangeably with box-trap methods to collect similar data more efficiently and effectively will have a significant impact on snake conservation.

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Species delimitation attempts to match species-level taxonomy with actual evolutionary lineages. Such taxonomic conclusions are typically, but not always, based on patterns of congruence across multiple data sources and methods of analyses. Here, we use this pluralistic approach to species delimitation to help resolve uncertainty in species boundaries of phrynosomatid sand lizards of the genus Holbrookia. Specifically, the Spot-tailed Earless Lizard (H. lacerata) was historically divided into a northern (H. l. lacerata) and southern (H. l. subcaudalis) subspecies based on differences in morphology and allopatry, but no research has been conducted evaluating genetic differences between these taxa. In this study, patterns in sequence data derived from two genes, one nuclear and one mitochondrial, for 66 individuals sampled across 18 counties in Texas revealed three strongly supported, reciprocally monophyletic lineages, each comprised of individuals from a single geographic region. Distinct genetic variation evident across two of these regions corresponds with differences in morphology, differences in environmental niche, and lines up with the presumed geographic barrier, the Balcones Escarpment, which is the historical subspecies boundary. The combined evidence from genetics, morphology and environmental niche is sufficient to consider these subspecies as distinct species with the lizards north of the Balcones Escarpment retaining the name Holbrookia lacerata, and those south of the Balcones Escarpment being designated as Holbrookia subcaudalis.