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Sub-lethal skin sections in the wrinkled frog effective against snake predation
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Frogs and toads are packets of proteins and calories to many predators. In response anurans have evolved a plethora of defenses against their predators, many of these defenses are chemical. Dendrobatid frogs may kill a potential predators with its defensive toxins, but many species of anurans seem to produce toxins that are sub-lethal. Anuran skin…
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A second look at the Tethyan limbed snakes
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Artist’s reconstruction of Pachyrhachis problematicus. Three fossil marine snakes with hind-limbs Pachyrhachis problematicus, Eupodophis descouensi, and Haasiophis terrasanctus. are known from the upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Middle East. All of them were collected from the region that formed the ancient Tethys Sea. The first species was described in 1979 and a reduced limb lizard,but later…
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New species of Neotropical Treerunners in the genus Plica
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Treerunners are diurnal, medium sized lizards that sit in the open on vertical surfaces, and are often in small colonies that include adults of both sexes and juveniles. The sounds they make scurrying on the bark of trees or rock outcrops draws attention to their presence and thus, they are common in museum collections. The…
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New study reports US frogs have relatively few abnormalities
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A 10-year study shows some good news for frogs and toads on national wildlife refuges. The rate of abnormalities such as shortened or missing legs was less than 2 percent overall — indicating that the malformations first reported in the mid-1990s were rarer than feared. But much higher rates were found in local “hotspots,” suggesting…
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Rhinoderma & Bd
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Rhinoderma darwinnii. (Photo Credit: Copyright Claudio Soto-Azat) Deadly amphibian disease chytridiomycosis has caused the extinction of Darwin’s frogs, believe scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB), Chile.Although habitat disturbance is recognised as the main threat to the two existing species of Darwin’s frogs (the northern Rhinoderma rufum endemic to…
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Stretching the lower jaw
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The ability of skin and organs to stretch is important in determining the size of prey a snake can swallow. Snake skin consists of a keratinized epidermis divided into thick scale regions and thinner, folded interscale regions that are underlain by a dermis containing a complex array of fibrous connective tissues. In a new study…
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Snakes control blood flow to the spectacle to improve vision
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Instead of eyelids, snakes have a clear scale called a spectacle. It works like a window, covering and protecting their eyes. When presented with a threat, the fight-or-flight response changes the spectacle’s blood flow pattern, reducing blood flow for longer periods than at rest, up to several minutes. Nov. 4, 2013 — A new study…
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