-
Cane toads adapt rapidly to cool temperatures and are invading high elevation in New South Wales
posted on
A forthcoming paper in Function Ecology by McCann et al. (2014) rerports the cane toad, Rhinella marina has now reached areas much colder than most of its native range in tropical America. In northeastern New South Wales, cane toads have been recorded up to 1100 m above sea level (asl). The authors monitored the toad over the…
-
Leatherback movements associated with food
posted on
Previous studies of leatherback turtles have analyzed surface movement patterns using only surface covariates. Since turtles and other marine predators spend the vast majority of their time diving underwater, an analysis of movement patterns at depth should yield insight into what drives their movements. Photo credit DivingSeaSafari In a new paper Scihick and colleagues (2013)…
-
Capitol Hill wants to regulate snakes
posted on
The following story by Michael Bastasch from is from the Daily Caller Ever wanted to have a pet snake? Well, that could get a little harder soon. It looks like the snakes on Capitol Hill are teaming up with animal rights activists to make it harder for people to keep certain types of snakes as…
-
A new on-line herp journal from CNAH
posted on
The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH) has announce the launch of their new journal – The Journal of North American Herpetology. The Journal of North American Herpetology (JNAH) (ISSN 2333-0694) provides an open access on-line venue with the use of all modern digital technologies for peer-reviewed contributions of all aspects of North American Herpetology…
-
Ripples in the water and the male tungara frog
posted on
Ripples continue for several seconds after a male tungara frog has stopped calling. Photo credit: Ryan Taylor. As the male túngara frog serenades female frogs from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators such as bats, according to researchers from The University of Texas at Austin,…
-
Schouteden’s sun snake, Helophis schoutedeni a forgotten aquatic snake from central Africa
posted on
Heliophis schoutedeni. Photo credit Vaclay Gvozdik. The Schouteden’s sun snake Helophis schoutedeni is the sole member of the genus, and was originally described by the Belgian herpetologist Gaston-François de Witte in 1922 as Pelophis schoutedeni. Twenty years later, the new generic name Helophis was established by de Witte and Laurent because the generic name Pelophis…
-
Taxonomic changes for two shieldtailed snakes in the genus Uropeltis
posted on
Uropeltis madurensis. Photo credit SR Ganesh. Burrowing snakes remain the most difficult serpents to study and undoubtedly represent a disproportionately large percentage of undescribed taxa. Burrowing species are found in many different clades, and a few clades contain only burrowing species. The shieldtail snakes of the family Uropeltidae are dedicated burrowers inhabiting southern India and…
-
The herpetofauna of Manú National Park, highest species count of any known localilty
posted on
Atelopus erythropus, Photo credit A. Catenazzi Alessandro Catenazzi, Edgar Lehr, and Rudolf von May (2014) have compile a list of all amphibians and reptiles known to occur within Manú National Park, Peru as well as its buffer zone. The park is located in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Covering approximately 0.01% of the planet’s terrestrial surface,…
-
More Rattlesnake Round-up Perspective
posted on
BloombergBusinessweek is carrying the following story regarding the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-up. By David Mildenberg January 23, 2014In a West Texas prairie of cactus and mesquite, Riley Sawyers sprays gasoline fumes into a narrow crevice in the ground, hoping to drive slumbering rattlesnakes to the surface. His equipment isn’t fancy, just a common pesticide canister attached…
-
For Second Year in Row, Tens of Thousands Ask Last Remaining Georgia “Rattlesnake Roundup” to Switch to Humane Wildlife Festival
posted on
Photo credit D. Bruce Means A press release from the CBD.ATLANTA— As the town of Whigham, Ga., prepares to host its annual “rattlesnake roundup” this weekend, the Center for Biological Diversity and its allies presented a petition with more than 50,000 signatures to the Whigham Community Club today asking that the state’s last roundup transition…
-
Salamanders & Forest Health
posted on
This red-legged salamander can help scientists predict forest habitat quality and will guide forest management decisions. Photo Credit: Grant Connette at Wayah Bald, NC. Woodland salamanders are small, lungless amphibians that live in moist, forest habitats throughout the U.S. and the world. Salamanders often serve as vital links in forest food chains; their population size…
-
A new arrangement for African plated lizards and two new genera
posted on
The lizard families Gerrhosauridae and Cordylidae form the clade Cordyliformes. But, there is a long history of disagreement as to whether this clade comprises a single family, Cordylidae or two families: Cordylidae and Gerrhosauridae, or one family with two subfamilies (Cordylinae and Gerrhosaurinae). In a recently published study in Zootaxa, Bates et al. (2013) constructed…
-
A strange snake story from Alaska
posted on
The Peninsula Clarion is the daily newspaper of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. By DAN BALMERPeninsula ClarionWhile feeding his dogs last Saturday, George Pierce of Kasilof noticed something out of place in his back yard — a garter snake. The frozen reptile, 1 1/2 feet in length, was coiled up uncovered by the melting snow. Pierce, who…
-
Catalina Rattlesnakes
posted on
The Southern Pacific rattlesnake on Catalina has a tendency to strike before rattling. Conservancy file photo. By Jerry RobertsAVALON, CATALINA ISLAND – Researchers could announce as early as this winter that the Catalina Island version of the Southern Pacific rattlesnake has enough differences from the mainland version of the serpent to declare it a separate…
-
An evo-devo look at limb develpment
posted on
The expression of fish Hox genes in a mouse embryo. Photo Credit: Denis Duboule, UNIGE. The transition from water to land is one of the most fascinating enigmas of evolution. Especially since both fish terrestrial animals have groups of architects genes, Hoxa and Hoxd , necessary for the formation of fins, as well as that…
-
A new species of the Rhinella from the montane forest of the Selva Central, Peru.
posted on
An adult female Rhinella yunga from Rio Huatziroki. Photo Credit: J. Moravec. Jan. 17, 2014 — A new species of toad was discovered hiding in the leaf litter of the Peruvian Yungas. The word is used widely by the locals to describe ecoregion of montane rainforests, and translates as “warm valley” in English. The new species…
-
A new framework for studying blindsnakes, a previously underestimated snake diversity
posted on
Amerotyphlops cf. brongersmianus The five families of sclecophoidians are the oldest group of extant snakes with an ancestor some place in the Jurassic. One family (Xenotyphlopidae) is monotypic and restricted to Madagascar, one family (Anomalepididae) is found only in the Neotropics, One is restricted to Southeast Asia and New Guinea (Gerrhopilidae), a fourth (Leptotyphlopidae)has the…
-
The ancient blindsnake family Xenotyphlopidae becomes monotypic
posted on
Madagascar has a unique phylogenetic representation of reptiles that includes the enigmatic Malagasy blind snake of the family Xenotyphlopidae established by Vidal et al., 2010. The family currently contains one genus Xenotyphlops with the two species X. grandidieri Mocquard, and X. mocquardi both are presumably endemic to the same area in northwest Madagascar. Photo to…
-
Tiktaalik roseae, a 375 MY fish, has a pelvic girdle
posted on
The discovery of well-preserved pelves and a partial pelvic fin from Tiktaalik roseae, a 375 million-year-old transitional species between fish and the first legged animals, reveals that the evolution of hind legs actually began as enhanced hind fins. This challenges existing theory that large, mobile hind appendages were developed only after vertebrates transitioned to land. The…
-
Rattlesnake round-ups are in the near future and the rhetoric heats up.
posted on
The following article is from the Star-Telegram and is a reminder that the extinction of rattlesnake round-ups is controversial. From the quotes contained here solving the rattlesnake round-up issue is clearly an educational issue. Texas schools should be including discussions on how local wildlife is best used. and it should be accompanied with public information campaign about the number of…
-
Pentastomid infections in Australian Snakes
posted on
Armillifer armillatus taken from a Python sebae. Species in this genus are known to infect humans. Photo credit: José Grau de Puerto Montt at en.wikipedia Parasites are an important but often overlooked part of food webs and biodiversity. One estimate places 40% of the known species as parasitic. The number of amphibians species and amphibian…
-
A prediction: a big year for reptiles
posted on
by Sathya Achia AbrahamExperts predict that 2014 will be a big year for reptiles. Reptiles, which include snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, tuataras and amphisbaenians, are projected to become the most diverse vertebrate group in the world. As it stands now, there are approximately 10,000 bird species – the most of any vertebrates – but reptiles…
-
Indigo Snakes & Gopher Tortoises in southern Georgia
posted on
The southeastern Coastal Plain is a center of reptile and amphibian diversity in the United States with habitat loss the primary cause of most herpetofaunal declines. Contributing to these declines has been the loss of the once dominant longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)–wiregrass (Aristida stricta) habitats, which historically covered about 30 million ha of the southeastern…
-
Earliest legs weren’t made for walking
posted on
This is a story from a student journalists at the 2013 SICB Meeting in San Francisco.By Katrina Jones, The Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University Around 400 million years ago, animals underwent a transition that changed the history of life on Earth: vertebrates ventured onto land. The evolution of four-legged tetrapods from…
-
The impact of translocation on king cobras
posted on
King cobras, Ophiophagus hannah, are the largest living elapids, and the largest of the front-fanged venomous snakes. Their large body size and diet of other snakes might suggest that they would have a large home range, but many other snake species are quite sedentary. In a new study Sahas Barve of the Agumbe Rainforest Research…
SerpentResearch.Com
Amphibians, Reptiles, & Natural History
You must be logged in to post a comment.