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With the conservation status of Macrochelys (alligator snapping turtles) being examined at the national level, our objective was to compile categorical data on threats from anthropogenic interactions. We included information from (1) author-collected anecdotes on human–turtle interactions and (2) radiographs to assess the prevalence of ingested fishing hooks. We placed 173 interactions involving 192 incidents into 9 IUCN threat categories and found bycatch involving fish hooks to be 4 times more numerous than the second-most numerous threat, turtle persecution. Fishing bycatch resulted in a high proportion of turtle mortalities (39%), and bycatch incidents in several cases preceded the highest-mortality threat (53%), persecution of individuals involving shooting or blunt trauma. We recommend fishing bycatch-mitigation measures and educational efforts to help conserve Macrochelys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the distribution records for herpetofauna of Louisiana as of December 2015. These include Brown Anole at Buckhorn Wildlife Management Area (WMA), Rio Grande Chirping Frog found at Alexander State Forest WMA, Mole Salamander at Boeuf WMA, and Timber Rattlesnake at Sicily Island Hills WMA.