Natural History collections are more important now than they were 10 years ago.
Our knowledge of the biodiversity of Asia and Australasia continues to expand with more focused studies on the systematics of...
Discovering the lightbulb lizards of Ecuador
Alejandro Arteaga, a herpetologist in Ecuador sent out out the following email. If you have the resources for helping Alejandro...
Ontogenetic shift in the venom composition of the Mexican Black-tailed Rattlesnake
Abstract Abstract: Ontogenetic changes in venom composition have important ecological implications duethe relevance of venom in prey acquisition and defense....
A new genus and species of snake from the Lost World (Guyana)
The Pantepui is a remote, biodiverse region made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Lost World. In a recent...
Frogs are younger than previously thought
In evolutionary and ecological research across various organisms, the utilization of large-scale, time-calibrated phylogenies derived from supermatrix studies has gained...
3FTx in four species of colubrid snakes
Snake venom research has historically been predominantly focused on front-fanged species belonging to the Viperidae and Elapidae families. This focus...
Social Western Diamondbacks
Many animal species live in fluid fission-fusion societies, where the size and composition of conspecific groups change in space and...
Time to first shed
The time it takes for snakes to undergo their first shedding event after birth or hatching, known as postnatal ecdysis...
Cryptid Rhabdophis in the nuchalis group
Cryptic diversity has been underestimated, but many examples have been documented in the scientific literature in recent decades. Researchers often...
Rediscovery of a rare, aquatic Philippine Snake
Snakes of the family Natricidae (or subfamily Natricinae) are cosmopolitan in distribution. They can be terrestrial, aquatic, or fossorial, cryptic,...
An endemic, highly aquatic homalopsid snake from Sulawesi
A recent paper (Hamidy et al 2023) describes a new homalopsid snake species, Hypsiscopus indonesiensis. The new snake is restricted...
Snake genome reveals burrowing past and re-adaptation to surface life
The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, has led a study that achieved chromosome-level assembly for 14 snakes, creating a detailed...
A Giant Armoured Skink from Australia’s Pleistocene
More species of lizards and snakes are alive today than any other order of land vertebrates, yet their fossil record...
A new parachuting gecko from northeast India
Within the diversity of reptiles and amphibians, a remarkable group of species has evolved a unique adaptation to navigate their...
A new species of Hynobius Salamander from China
The following is an adapted summary of a blog post by Amaël Borzée: Human activities, such as changing landscapes, have...
Venom in the Blunt-headed Treesnakes
Biological specialization refers to the process by which organisms adapt to occupy specific ecological niches, reducing the available niche space...
The Kingsnake and the Rattlesnake – predator and prey
The feeding behavior of kingsnakes preying on rattlesnakes is a well-known example of a predator-prey relationship among snakes. Recently, my...
Modeling reptile distributions suggests climate change will exacerbate extinctions
The impact of future climate change on global reptile diversity and distributions is a topic of concern. The potential effects...
A frog that feeds on flowers and nectar, and pollinates plants
Above. Top. Emerging from the Brazilian milk fruit flower with pollen grains on its back. Bottom. Xenohyla truncata Emerging from...
Largest Freshwater Turtle, nearly extinct
The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, known as Rafetus swinhoei, is a critically endangered species characterized by its unique physical features,...
Florida Pine Snake, movement & ecology
Studying organism movement patterns can offer valuable insights into species ecology and evolution. Various methods, including radio telemetry, have revealed...
Funding for Invasive Species in Florida
The following is a post from Florida Politics. Its author is Wes Wolfe. Hunters removed around 18,000 pythons from Florida...
The western edge of Ornate Box Turtle’s distribution in Arizona
Louis Agassiz described Cistudo ornata in 1857 "from the Upper Missouri ... and from Iowa" the type locality was restricted...
Dry season snake harvest at Tonle Sap
The following is an abstract and some lightly edited text from English et al. (2023) on the Tonle Sap aquatic...
A new fossil species of Sand Boa from China
Sand boas of the Eryx (family Erycidae) are a group of stout terrestrial snakes with rather short, stubby tails and...
Hearing in Snakes
A University of Queensland-led study has found that as well as ground vibrations, snakes can hear and react to airborne...
Snake teeth show more diversity than previously thought
Above . A photo of the maxillary bone and attached teeth from a twig snake in the genus Thelotornis. JCM...
Giant and Dwarf Body Sizes – a mechanism for evolution
Above. Alamosaurus was named after the Ojo Alamo sandstone formation in New Mexico. This titanosaur is from the late Cretaceous of...
New Frogs from Ecuador
In a paper by Sánchez-Nivicela et al. (2023) they described a spectacular new stream-dwelling hylid from Río Negro-Sopladora National Park....
Terciopelo’s diet shift from juvenile to adult
The Terciopelo (Bothrops asper) is one of the largest pit vipers. It reaches a length of 2.5 m and can weigh 6...
Two more snake species that use autohemorrhaging
Autohemorrhaging means an animal breaks blood vessels and releases blood at will. Often it is associated with stressful situations It...
A new family of Elapoid snakes
An international research team lead by Das (2023) have reconstruct the evolutionary tree of a major group of snakes, the...
Snakes in urban habitats
Urbanization changes landscapes, often simplifying and homogenizing natural ecosystems while introducing novel environments. Although this transformation often adversely impacts native...
Anoles adapt to cities
The genetic variations linked to urbanization underlie physical differences in the urban lizards, including longer limbs and larger toe pads...
Argentine Black and White Tegus in Charlotte County, Florida
Abstract - Argentine Black and White Tegus (Salvator merianae) are a popular lizard species in the live animal pet trade,...
Glassfrogs hide their blood cells to become transparent
"There are more than 150 species of known glassfrogs in the world, and yet we're really just starting to learn...
The invasive Green Whipsnake threatens vulnerable squamates in Switzerland
The photo above is a Green whipsnake, Hierophis viridiflavus, in Gradignan Gironde, France. Gradignan Gironde, France. Photography by Jean-Jacques Milan....
Another new Bent-toed Gecko
The bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus are diverse, with 330 species of Asian geckos, commonly known as bent-toed geckos, bow-fingered geckos, and forest geckos. which...
Mountain Mist Frog declared extinct
The Mountain Mist Frog or Nyakala Frog, Ranoidea nyakalensis (Liem, 1974) (Family Hylidae subfamily Pelodryadinae), was endemic to Australia. Its...
Monitor Lizard – Otter Interaction
Above. Two smooth-coated otters approach a monitor lizard in Singapore. Photo courtesy of Alicia Ellen Brierley. Smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata)...
Madagascar Biodiversity – an opportunity
Madagascar has been isolated from mainland Africa and Asia for more than 80 million years and has developed a distinctive...
A new lizard from the Triassic
The origins of mammals and birds are relatively well understood, while the roots of squamates have been obscure. In a...
Estimating the size of ancient amphibians
The last of the temnospondyls -- amphibians that look more like crocodiles -- became extinct during the Cretaceous period, about...
Mimicry in Turtle-headed Sea Snakes
Image above. Photographs of colour morphs in turtle-headed sea snakes, Emydocephalus annulatus, and putative models that may be mimicked by the...
The Union Island Gecko population recovers
The Union Island Gecko (Gonatodes daudini) is small, beautiful, and in demand in the pet trade The Union Island gecko...
Animals are our greatest allies in reforestation
Above, an Eastern Fox Snake, Pantherophis vulpinus, feeds on mouse of the genus Peromyscus. It is like the mouse is...
Squamates underwent rapid evolution in the Jurassic
Above. The type specimen of Eichstaettisaurus schroederi. A Jurassic lizard that showed many oof the traits seen in geckos. Photography By Ghedoghedo...
Overlooked species diversity in the Nidua Fringe-fingered Lizard
In a recent paper Liz et al. (2022) noted that hyper-arid sandy and rocky fields rank among the least biologically...
Leviathanochelys aenigmatica, a huge fossil turtle
The Press Story from the BBC says, This is the largest marine turtle ever found in Europe! It's called Leviathanochelys...
Palestine Viper Venom
Some of the most medically important snakes in the world belong to the in the genus Daboia. These vipers have...
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