
Amphibians, Reptiles, & Natural History

Naturalist, Photographer , Zoologist
After retiring from a career teaching biology and anatomy & physiology and science administration, I study reptiles and amphibians (but focus mostly on squamates). My current interest are in snake phylogeny and diversity, highly aquatic snakes (that are non-sea snakes), the herpetofauna of Trinidad and Tobago, and giant snakes. I have been on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Herpetological Society, the Board of Directors of the Tucson Herpetological Society; a research associate at the Field Museum in Chicago. I have been a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Snake Specialists Group International Society for the History and Bibliography of Herpetology (ISHBH); and on the board of directors of Friends of Madera Canyon.

During a herpetological expedition, Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India in the summer of 2019 an adult male Trimeresurus was collected from the outskirts of Pakke Tiger Reserve by Harshal Bhosale. The new species was…

There is a large colony of Leatherbacks that nesting on the north coast of Trinidad at Grande Riviere The beach there is about a kilometer long and hundreds of female Leatherbacks use it for…

The potential ecological and economic impacts of the common Green Iguana have been reported for Florida and the Lesser Antilles. The giant lizards have been regarded as a nuisance species but some regard the…

Above. Figure 8 from Breuil et al. (2020) showing the dorsal carpet pattern of young adults Iguana melanoderma. A Montserrat B Saba. The dorsal coloration is formed by darker more or less interrupted dorso-ventral…

Above: Â Snake predation on a reed parrotbill nest. (A) The parent feeding nestlings. (B) the same nest was depredated by the snake Elaphe anomala. Nest predation is a major limiting factor of bird reproductive…

The Brown Anole is native to the Caribbean and was first introduced into the USA in southern Florida decades ago. Since then, the species has slowly expanded northward and is now firmly established in…

Gomez and Feriche (2019) report a Montpellier Snake, Malpolon monspessulanus, capturing a butterfly while in flight. Some lizards leap into the air to capture flying insects, and some snakes capture airborne prey (bats) during…

China’s Zisiqiao Village is famous for snake farming. The farms are family owed and combined the village produces about three millon snakes per year. The village was built along a canal about 200 kilometres…

  By RNZ Tuatara hatchlings have been spotted at Orokonui Ecosanctuary for the first time since adult tuatara were released in 2012. Two hatchlings were seen by Otago University researchers and may be…