Reptile & Amphibian News Blog
Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.
Wednesday, June 29 2016
Most adult male marbled salamanders are precisely marked in black and white.
The beautiful marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum, ranges southward from extreme South Eastern New Hampshire and Southern Michigan to East Texas and Northern Florida. Interestingly and sadly, the Florida range of this pretty autumn breeding mole salamander once extended as far south on the FL peninsula as Hillsborough County (Tampa Bay). I know this as a fact, for back in the mid-60s Ron Sayers and I found both adult and juvenile marbled salamanders beneath weathered ties under railroad bridges near Lithia Springs.
I am not sure when this population of marbled salamanders disappeared from that area. Nor do I know the whys of its disappearance. Having moved northward, it was not until 1979 that I returned to Florida and was able to return to the locale. By then everything about the area had changed. The area was dustbowl dry, the discarded ties were gone and the railroad itself was little more than a memory.
Now, when I hope to see one of these autumn breeding, light banded, black salamanders, I start my search in woodland locales about 200 miles northwestward of Tampa. But as I search I can’t help but reminisce about the Florida, the herping, of the last half of the 20th century and thinking that the changes herpers see now are not for the better.
Continue reading "The Marbled Salamander"
Monday, June 27 2016
An adult pair of green forest Dragons, male right.
I had veered from the trail a bit. Darkness had fallen and we had stopped at a riverside Amazonian village. The evening meal was prepared on the riverboat and a half-dozen of us were walking a trail with our Peruvian guide in the lead. So far, all seen had been a blunt-headed tree snake and 2 species of gecko. I wasn’t too far from the trail, and this being my first trip to the region, I wasn’t about to lose contact with the guide. The Amazonian rainforest is a wonderful place, a bastion of greenery at all levels—including face level.
And it was at face level, on a horizontal branch extending outward from a slender sapling, that I met my first green forest dragon, Enyalioides laticeps. Sleeping soundly on that limb, the foot-long lizard was even greener than the surrounding greenery. Blunt nosed, heavy bodied, and long tailed, in appearance the lizard reminded me of an Asian green water dragon.
Waking only after I had lifted it carefully from the tree, the beautiful creature was identified by the tour leader, photographed by the several hike participants, and replaced.
Since then I have found that this lizard species is rather common and is a whole lot easier to find at night as it sleeps than during the day when it is active.
This was a wonderful start to a 10 day long Amazonian interlude during which over 100 herp species were seen and photographed. Life was good!
Continue reading "The Green Forest Dragon"
Friday, June 24 2016
Hatchling western chicken turtles.
Chicken turtles, the 3 subspecies of Deirochelys reticularia are wanderers. Between periods of aestivation or brumation chicken turtles wander from ephemeral pond to equally ephemeral roadside ditch where they hunt crayfish, dragonfly larvae, and occasional small fish, or other turtle fare, and then wander on again. I usually see, more by accident than intent, the eastern and the Florida subspecies every year, but the western is far less of a certainty. In fact, I have seen the western chicken turtle, D. r. miaria, only twice in the wild.
The most recent sighting, now several years ago, was in a shallow, woodland surrounded, brushy pond in a city park in Houston, TX. Brandon had led Kenny and me to this pond. He had earlier seen the turtle on several occasions and felt that on this sunny day the turtle would be up and basking. He was right. It was an adult and we found it lying quietly on a slender fallen tree, easily visible, but difficult to photograph.
We tried but got only voucher shots and our manipulations alerted the creature. It dropped the several inches from the limb to the safety of the water. Our visit was concluded. Next stop, the Grasslands.
Continue reading "Western chicken turtles."
Thursday, June 23 2016
5 Timber Rattlenakes, Crotalus horridus, found under the same tin
I wish I could share a picture of my face and a recording of the words coming out of my mouth when Phil Peak and I lifted up a piece of our artificial cover and bore witness to the sight in this photograph! Moments before we had found 1 Timber Rattlesnake beneath a sheet of metal and were feeling really happy about that, so you can imagine how cool it was to find 5 more under a single piece just a short distance away. This particular piece of cover was set out between 2 and 3 years ago. We have had some warm weather this spring, but the 5-7 days leading up to the day we made this flip were unseasonably cool with a lot of rain. On the day we arrived conditions had changed and the sun had finally broken through the clouds. These 5 snakes had emerged weeks earlier but after many days of cold temperatures they all congregated at a place where they knew the heat would arrive once the weather broke.
Phil and I were at the right place at the right time.
Several hours later the blazing sun scorched this same piece of metal and caused it to reach temperatures well over 100 degrees and the snake most certainly found a new place to hide…but only after we were able to capture the moment with our cameras! Spring is turning to summer in our area and it appears that mild days are behind us and the real heat of summer lies ahead. We will continue to check our materials, but the real climax of flipping season is probably over for the year. That is kind of depressing, but at least it was good while it lasted and we had the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time after making some effort to set our table.
Wednesday, June 22 2016
A resting pair of turnip-tailed agamas.
Meet Xenagama taylori, a species deserving of much more attention by the herpetocultural community.
It was about 30 years ago when I first saw X. taylori, a small (to about 4 ½ “ total length), robust, oviparous, agamid lizard that has come to be known as the shield-tailed or, more commonly, the turnip-tailed agama. It is a burrowing, aridland , omnivorous species of Somalia and Ethiopia. Small insects are relished as are the blossoms, fruits, and seeds, of desert plants. The very spiny, flat, broadly rounded tail is used as a burrow plug by resting lizards. This, like many desert species, is not a brightly colored lizard. Although the dorsal colors may darken or lighten, the ash-gray to rich tan dorsal color blends well with the substrates chosen by the lizards. The belly is white. In fact, the only splash of color displayed by the species are the bright blue chin and chest that are assumed by displaying males.
For several years following the initial importation of this lizard (and one congeneric taxon), Xenagama taylori was popular with hobbyists. When maintained in desert terrarium setups having a temperature of 80 to 95F and a hot spot of 110 to 120F, it proved hardy and was not difficult to breed. Sadly, it is now a seldom seen species in herpetoculture.
Continue reading "Xenagama"
Tuesday, June 21 2016
Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platirhinos
This large Eastern Hognose Snake is the first Phil Peak and I ever recorded from Bell County, Kentucky. Phil spotted this snake out basking among a pile of rocks on top of a strip mine surrounded by secondary growth forest. Our group nearly decided not to hunt the area where this snake was located, but Phil liked the looks of it and demanded that we stop and poke around, so it was fitting that he found the nice big Hognose.
While there is no doubt that species diversity is impacted in a negative way by the process of strip mining, the mined areas recover quickly and provide a kind of artificial oasis for many large game species like Bear, Elk, Timber Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Hognose Snakes. After many years of experience I can say that I would rather search on strip mines than natural areas where no disturbance has taken place. This snake was a very welcome find on an otherwise slow day and to top it off the snake was just as calm as could be and never played dead. Every year I see people posting pictures and videos of their Hognose Snakes playing dead. That was fun for me once, and since then I prefer to get pictures of the snake BEFORE it goes into the routine.
Monday, June 20 2016
Target taxon #1: Chihuahuan lyre snake, Trimorphodon vilkinsonii.As you read this blog, Jake and I are driving westward; destination Texas’ Big Bend…the Chihuahuan Desert. My mind’s eye is already visualizing the desolate roadways, some paved, many dirt and rock, edged with spine studded plants and crossed by packs of feisty javelina (peccaries), lizard-hunting roadrunners, four species of rattlesnakes, horned lizards and lyre snakes. The mountains, the Davis’, the Chisos, the Christmas’s, the Rosillo’s, and if you travel a bit further west, the Guadalupes, islands of boulders and talus, sere and windworn in some spots, lush and green in others. Lajitas, where the elected mayor is a goat! Terlingua that bills itself as a ghost town. Study Butte that fortunately has a 24- hour gas station. There’s Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park nestled tightly against the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo to many) that are, except during tourist season, bastions of solitude. Despite having been to this remarkably beautiful area on a dozen occasions, I still anticipate each visit with excitement. Will the old windmill still be standing? What herps will we see? What birds? Will we see a panther, a badger, bannertail kangaroo rats, Border Patrol? We’ll soon know. We’re almost there.
Continue reading " Big Bend Bound"
Friday, June 17 2016
Speedy and agile, this species occurs only near Presidio, TX and in southwestern New Mexico.Finding the gray-checkered whiptail, Aspidoscelis dixoni, out near Presidio (TX) wasn't too difficult. Kenny and I located the (now contested) species in an old roadside dumping ground where amidst the sun-baked boards, house hold unwanteds and bullet riddled car skeletons several gray checkered whiptails had found home. But finding them and photographing them proved to be two very different projects. Photographing a lizard that moves only in instantaneously applied bursts of jet propulsion amidst piles of trash and building debris rife with protruding nails and broken glass was another matter entirely. For our own safety we elected to employ capture and release techniques, Lizard nooses to the rescue!
Like many whiptails, this is a hybrid, parthenogenetic (unisexual) species. It is named in honor of the late Dr. James R. Dixon. The species, a member of the confusing Aspidoscelis tesselatus complex, is not recognized by all researchers.
Continue reading "Gray Checkered Whiptail"
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