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The Side-Blotched Lizard & A Warming Climate
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A side-blotched lizard, Pima Co., AZ, JCM Side-blotched lizards of the genus Uta are perhaps the most abundant and most frequently seen lizards in western North American deserts. Males are usually larger than females and have brightly colored throats that are used to signal other lizards. They mature rapidly and reproduce at young age. Many…
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Crocodilian Bite Force
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University of Florida Photo In Greg Erickson’s lab at Florida State University, crocodiles and alligators rule. Skeletal snouts and toothy grins adorn window ledges and tables — all donated specimens that are scrutinized by researchers and students alike. Lately, Erickson, a Florida State biology professor, and his colleagues have been pondering a particularly painful-sounding question:…
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Where Common Snakes are Rare and Rare Snakes are Common – On the Abundance of Tropical Snakes
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Above: the arboreal cat snake, Boiga jaspidea; below the cryptozoic Gongylosoma baliodeirus. Photographed in the Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia. Hans Breuer’s post on Herp Nation’s web site, Herping in the Tropics – Ecstasy or Nightmare?, brought back memories from another lifetime. In 1989 I spent a couple of months collecting data and specimens in Sabah’s…
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The Rediscover of Cardioglossa cyaneospila
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SAN FRANCISCO (March 27, 2012) – Herpetologists from the California Academy of Sciences and University of Texas at El Paso discovered a single specimen of the Bururi long-fingered frog (Cardioglossa cyaneospila) during a research expedition to Burundi in December 2011. The frog was last seen by scientists in 1949 and was feared to be extinct…
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Suzio Report March 18
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Howdy Herpers, Sunday, March 18 brought upon us the weather conditions that are ideal for herping: 8 degrees C, rain and sleet, and howling winds. John Slone and Marty Feldner joined me for the arctic blast, and we had a blast in the process. There were others who were supposed to join us, but at…
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Titanoboa Documentry Hype
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The Smithsonian Channel will be showing a documentary on the fossil boid Titanoboa. The trailers and advanced promotional material can be found here. BY PAT SUMMERSNEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM “Titanoboa” – the name says it all: giant squeezing snake. In Greek mythology, “Titans” were primordial giant gods, and the word has come to mean any person or thing of enormous…
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Lithobates (Rana) yavapaiensis Gets Protected Land
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Photo Credit: Dennis Caldwell. Arizona Daily Star, March 21, 2012 10K acres set aside for threatened frog. Areas near Rosemont not included due to absence of breeding By Tony DavisThe federal government will designate more than 10,000 acres in Arizona and New Mexico as prime habitat for the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog. More than a dozen…
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Suzio Report, Winter 2012
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Howdy Herpers, 03/21/12So, where’s Waldo these days? He’s wherever you folk find him. My new duties with the THS have me so buried that I can’t play where’s Waldo any more. Perhaps the day will come when I have too much time on my hands again. When that happens, we’ll play some more Waldo games. …
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Antivenom Kits for Use by the Public
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The following story appear in the Times of India today, let’s hope the reference to venom really refers to anti-venom. PUNE: The Pimpri-based Haffkine Bio-pharmaceutical Ltd, a state government undertaking, has developed an easy-to-use venom kit for reducing deaths caused due to snake bites, especially in rural areas. The kit is useful for treating bites…
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Student Project on Lake Erie Water Snakes
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Lake Erie Water Snakes, Nerodia sipiedon insularum University of Cincinnati’ s Lauren Flick, a 19-year-old, triple-major senior, will present findings at an upcoming regional conference on the first-ever use of a surgically implanted device to record the habits of snakes in their natural environment. This particular study holds promise in “keeping score” as Ohio’s Lake Erie…
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Natrix natrix cypriaca, Court Ruling
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A Cyprus Mail story By Poly Pantelides reports that the European Court of Justice yesterday said Cyprus broke EU law by failing to protect Paralimni lake and the endangered native grass snake. “We hope (the ruling) will lead to swift action to properly protect the highly threatened Paralimni Lake, home to this unique snake and…
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Adaptation to TTX by Snakes
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A new study by University of Notre Dame biologist Michael Pfrender and a team of researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno; Utah State University; and the University of Virginia suggests that snakes from different regions of the world have evolved a similar, remarkable resistance to a deadly neurotoxin. The finding, which appeared in the…
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The Aesculapian Snake In Central London
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The following story was adopted from the West End Extra by Josh Loeb. The Aesculapian snake, Zamenis longissimus, is widely distributed in Europe, but rarely considered abundant and also appears to be declining in numbers. Several isolated populations occur around the edges of the range and are thought to be remnants of a wider distribution.…
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Undescribed Lithobates from New York & New Jersey
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Hiding in Plain Sight: Rutgers Scientist Discovers New Frog Species in New York and New Jersey In New York City – in the midst of some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers – and within view of the Statue of Liberty, scientists have found a new frog species. While discovering new species in remote rainforests is…
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Venom Cartels
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The Pioneer, New Dehli is carrying to following story. Recovery of 500 ml cobra venom, estimated at Rs 2 crore, and two highly poisonous snakes from the national Capital hints at the ever-rising demand for drug pushers in the national Capital Region. This is the fourth seizure of snake poison since November 2011 from Delhi.…
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Tiger Rattlesnake Venom, Lethal and Neurotoxic, Yet Simple
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Crotalus tigris. JCM Tiger rattlesnakes, Crotalus tigris, are relatively small (< 90cm), and geographically restricted to south-central Arizona (USA), northwestern Sonora (Mexico), and Isla Tiburón in the Gulf of California (Mexico). However they have been considered to produce the most lethal venom of any snake in the western hemisphere. Toxicological and immunology assays done in…
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A West Texas Perspective on Rattlesnake RoundUps
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Here is a West Texas writer’s retrospective on the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-up,the largest rattlesnake slaughter. Who would like to do the math on how many rodents 300,000 pounds of rattlesnakes could consume, and how many predators and scavengers could have been fed on that amount of biomass? Rattlesnakes may taste more like catfish – but…
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Hot Springs Refugia for Thermophis
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The hot spring snake, Thermophis baileyi, is endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and restricted to a few high altitudes locations, above 3500 m. The species has been recovered as the only Eastern Hemisphere member of the otherwise Western Hemisphere Dipsadiade. In a forthcoming article, Sylva Hoffman of the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University, in…
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Evidence For Co-evolution of Primates and Snakes in Humans?
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The folllowing is from the EMax Health web site: Premenstrual Women Seek Snakes By Timothy Boyer Numerous studies have demonstrated that the hormonal influences of the premenstrual phase of a woman’s cycle leads to a wide range of cognitive, mood and behavioral changes. Of the three, cognition is the least-studied research area. However, recent research…
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Georgia Festival Ends Cruel ‘Rattlesnake Roundups,’ Switches to Wildlife Celebration
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ATLANTA— This weekend the Evans County Wildlife Club hosts the first-ever Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, where snakes will be celebrated instead of collected and killed. The Center for Biological Diversity, Coastal Plains Institute, One More Generation and Protect All Living Species have worked for years to end rattlesnake roundups and are applauding Claxton’s decision…
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Suzio Report 3/09/12
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Howdy Herpers, 03/09/12We’ll get the bummer news out of the way first, and hopefully, follow up with the fun stuff soon.It appears that our lone Mojave Rattlesnake met Mr. Badger out in paradise.Pic 1: Male Crotalus scutulatus #1, “Blake the Snake” in situ on 28 September 2011. This was the best image that I was able to…
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Reptiles May Have Evolved Feathers For Sexual Selection
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Microraptor A team of American and Chinese researchers has revealed the detailed feather pattern and color of Microraptor, a pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur that lived about 120 million years ago. A new specimen shows the dinosaur had a glossy iridescent sheen and that its tail was narrow and adorned with a pair of streamer feathers, suggesting…
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Rattlesnake Round-ups & Drought
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Crotalus atrox, JCM The following is being carried by ScrippsNews.com ABILENE, Texas – For Dennis Cumbie, there’s little doubt that drought conditions have affected all creatures great, small and, most important for the Jaycee’s yearly Rattlesnake Roundup, snaky. “Anytime you have a drought as severe as what we’ve had, it’s going to affect any and…
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Crawfish Frogs, The Most Secretive Frog in North America
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The Most Secretive Frog in North America from Ravenswood Media on Vimeo.
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Systematics of Confused North African Macrovipers
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Daboia mauritanica, Casablanca. Photo Credit: Gabri Mtnez In North Africa, three species of large paleartic vipers have been recorded: Daboia mauritanica (Duméril & Bibron, 1848), D. deserti (Anderson, 1892) and Macrovipera lebetina transmediterranea Nilson & Andrén 1988. The latter has never been recorded accurately after its description, and it has never been included in any recent…
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The Garter Snake & TTX
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Utah State University biologists have long studied varied species of North American garter snakes that have evolved an amazing resistance to a deadly neurotoxin found in innocuous-looking newts, a favorite food of the snakes. The researchers have now discovered that snakes of different types in Central and South America and Asia have evolved the same…
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The Turtle & the Octopus
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Hapalochlaena sp. from New South Wales. Photo Credit: David Brenemen Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia is estimated to support 20,000 sea turtles. The bay has extensive seagrass beds used as feeding areas by the green sea turtle, (Chelonia mydas). The seagrass beds also provide habitat for many marine creatures, including the blue-lined octopus, Hapalochlaena fasciata, a…
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View Points on Constricting Snake Ban
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The federal government is ready to institute a ban on the import and interstate movement of large constricting snakes before the end of the month. People are reacting differently depending upon their viewpoint and interests. Here a sampling of opinions and emotion. The SunSentinnel.com is carrying a story about Ben Siegel building an adoption center…
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Sea Turtle Migration Study
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Loggerhead, Caretta caretta. JCM Sea turtles have long and complex lives; they can live into their 70s or 80s and they famously return to their birthplace to nest. But new research suggests this isn’t the only big migration in a sea turtle’s life. “We’re starting to realize that developmental migrations — ones that sea turtles…
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Amphibians, Reptiles, & Natural History
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