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.
Thursday, July 17 2014
Teeny-weeny? That barely describes the tiny patch-nosed salamander, Urspelerpes brucei, which is now known to exist not only in Stephens County, GA, but in adjacent SC as well.
Only an inch and a half in overall length, males of this little salamander are prominently striped while the females are a unicolored greenish-gold dorsally and laterally. Both larvae and adults have a variably prominent light patch on the snout, and it is from this marking that the common name is derived.
Urspelerpes is a monotypic genus and although some initial commenting wondered whether this classification of a salamander that was in superficial appearance quite similar to many of the brook salamanders of the genus Eurycea would stand the test of time, it has.
It was thanks to John Jensen and Carlos Camp that I had an opportunity to photograph this little plethodontid. And although I have procrastinated for the several years that have elapsed since it was described, I still intend to travel to and photograph its montane stream home. That jaunt is planned as one of this month's (July 2014) field excursions.
Goals. There always needs to be a goal.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "A teeny-weeny salamander"
So, that snake infamously fished out of an Alabama toilet? It was retrieved by police officer Ali Thompson and identified by Hueytown Police Chief Chuck Hagler as a venomous cottonmouth. Local herpers came out of the proverbial woodwork, however, to say he was wrong.
From AL.com:
tidey : Don't know about fangs... but this appears to be a rat snake. Very common and not poisonous. Doesn't have the markings of a cottonmouth or copperhead.
umgrizz1: good grief... I know any kind of snake in the house is frightening... but that snake is NOT even venomous, much less a cottonmouth...
AUwildlife81: All snakes can't climb, primarily here in Alabama only the rat snake and corn snake are able to climb because they also feed on birds they would need this ability. Water moccasins eat fish and fish don't live in trees so they don't need to climb. Water moccasins as with most venomous snakes have stocky bodies which will prevent them from climbing. I have a degree in wildlife biology have taken numerous herpetology classes and I used to remove snakes for living. Yes other snakes can climb but those snakes are found in South America, Asia, and Africa.
Hagler's standing firm on his ID, however.
Read more...
Photo: Hueytown Police Department
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AndrewBrinker!
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Wednesday, July 16 2014
The eastern hellbender may be joining its Ozark cousin on the endangered species list.
From Fox News:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting an assessment of the eastern hellbender — one of two subspecies — to determine if it should be added to the federal endangered species list. The other subspecies, the Ozark hellbender, found only in Missouri and Arkansas, was declared endangered in 2011 after a 75 percent decline.
Such a designation could free up federal money to protect their habitat and aid in their recovery.
Hellbenders — the origin of the name isn't known — have been present on this continent for at least 10 million years and are found in hill-county rivers and streams in the area stretching from New York to Missouri to North Carolina.
"There's nothing else like them in North America," said federal biologist Jeromy Applegate, who's leading the eastern hellbender assessment.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user civa!
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Tuesday, July 15 2014
"Dick, could you take a look at this?"
Patti was standing in the utility room, just on our side of the doggie door. At her feet were some of the dog-pack, but none seemed particularly interested in anything there. But when I walked in to the room I was confronted by a sizable greenish-brown (or maybe it was brownish-green) blob on the floor. There, sitting quietly, seemingly staring at the wall, was a subadult bullfrog, Rana (Lithobates) catesbeiana.
Now, bullfrogs are not uncommon in this region. In fact, they are abundant. But a few facts were unusual:
1. Bullfrogs are highly aquatic and the closest pond was more than a quarter mile away.
2. In the 20 years we've lived here I've never heard a bullfrog singing there.
3. The closest I have heard vocalizing bullfrogs was about three quarters of a mile distant (on the far side of a busy four-lane highway).
4. Once in the yard, it elected to come up the back steps and bounce through a heavy doggie door.
Well, it couldn't live in the utility room, so I gathered it up and moved it to the nearest bullfrog pond, where hopefully (if it can avoid the gators, herons, and cottonmouths) it can live out its long life.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "When a bullfrog comes to call"
![](/blog/uploads/TurtleEgg.jpg) Researchers have found a chemical in Missouri waterways that is making male turtles' sex organs develop more like those of female turtles.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
A pilot study conducted at the University of Missouri showed that the synthetic chemical bisphenol A — or BPA, which is known to mimic estrogen and disrupt hormone levels in animals — can alter a turtle’s reproductive system after exposure in the egg. Turtles are perfect creatures for this type of study, because their sex is determined by the temperature of the environment during their development in the egg.
“Cool dudes or hot babes,” explained Sharon Deem, director of the St. Louis Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Medicine and a lead investigator on the study.
The researchers dropped a liquid form of the chemical onto hundreds of eggs that were incubated at cooler temperatures required to produce male turtles. A few months after they hatched, the turtles’ sex organs were removed and studied. The male turtles had developed gonads that were closer to ovaries than testicles.
Read more...
Photo: Huy Mach/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Monday, July 14 2014
![](/blog/uploads/JamIg.jpg) The Jamaican iguana, one of the rarest lizards in the world, came back from extinction once already. Can he do it again?
From the Jamaica Observer:
The Jamaican iguana is listed as a critically endangered species, but it has been saved from extinction. However, this triumph of the conservation movement is now threatened by the plan to turn the Goat Islands into a $1.5-billion economic zone, transshipment port and logistics hub.
The official name for the project is the Portland Bight Economic Zone and Transshipment Port, and foreign journalists seem to be converts to the campaign against it. The Guardian newspaper in London recently published a portfolio of beautiful photographs of the lizard by the prize-winning photographer Robin Moore.
But it is not just the lizard that is threatened. The livelihood and way of life of fishing communities in and around the Goat Islands would disappear. And the flattening of the Goat Islands, as well as the dredging involved, would threaten 50 species of plant life found only in Jamaica, including 17 that are endangered.
Read more...
Photo: Jamaica Observer
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Herpetologia!
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Friday, July 11 2014
Check out this video "Turtle Playing with Ball," submitted by kingsnake.com user PH FasDog.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user deadend!
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Thursday, July 10 2014
The Bulgarian rat snake, Elaphe (quatuorlineata) sauromates, is also known as the Eastern European rat snake and the European blotched snake.
Once considered the easternmore of the two subspecies of E. quatuorlineata, it is now most often considered a full species designated by the binomial of E. sauromates. Although lengths of more than 8 feet have been verified, most examples range between 4 and 6 feet in length.
Unlike the westernmore E. quatuorlineata that undergoes extensive ontogenetic (age related) color and pattern changes, the Bulgarian rat snake retains its juvenile blotched pattern throughout its life.
Continue reading "Bulgarian rat snake update"
![](/blog/uploads/GracePark.jpg) A Long Beach, Calif., park has been named after an early snake expert, Grace Olive Wiley.
From the Press-Telegram:
Known as The Snake Lady, Wiley earned national recognition for her collection of reptiles and venomous snakes. Some of her snakes were featured in films such as “The Jungle Book” and “Cobra Woman.” Wiley herself appeared as a snake charmer in the film “Moon Over Burma,” starring Dorothy Lamour.
Born in Chanute, Kan., in 1883, Wiley, who has been described as headstrong in many biographical accounts, attended the University of Kansas at a time when very few women sought out a higher education.
She began collecting and observing rattlesnakes while doing fieldwork in the Southwest, and within a few years she became the first person to successfully breed rattlesnakes in captivity.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user HerpLver!
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Wednesday, July 9 2014
The Bristol Zoo's giant tortoise has been laid low with a sinus infection.
From the BBC:
Helen, a 90kg (14 stone) tortoise, was given a health check after keepers noticed her unusual breathing.
Staff vet Richard Saunders said: "The whistling, raspy breathing in her nose could be heard from several feet away, so we took samples under anaesthetic."
The 32-year-old tortoise, described as a "good patient" by Mr Saunders, is currently on a course of antibiotics.
Read more...
Photo: BBC News
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BryanD!
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Tuesday, July 8 2014
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/51848DimondBack-med.jpg) What's attracting diamondback terrapin turtles to the runways at JFK Airport, and is there anything that will stop them?
From the New York Times:
The incident, in 2009, naturally drew headlines. While there had always been turtles in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, just south of Kennedy Airport, their occasional presence on the airport’s grounds did not normally cause a stir.
But on that July day five years ago, Russell Burke, the chairman of the biology department at Hofstra University, said, “Something made a huge number of turtles come up to Runway 4L.”
Two years later, it happened a second time. And on Thursday, a group of turtles appeared on Runway 4L yet again, despite recent steps aimed at keeping them away.
For Dr. Burke, who has long studied the terrapins that live in the wildlife refuge, the reptiles’ repeated forays onto the tarmac are the subject of serious study. Shortly after the first invasion, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey enlisted him to help it come to a better understanding of the turtles and their mysterious ways. As part of that effort, he works closely with the Port Authority’s chief wildlife biologist, Laura Francoeur, who described the turtle takeovers as among the more vexing challenges confronting her unit.
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user ThePetZone
So slow, the dawning; so very slow...
As I sat at the computer this morning looking at this pic and that, for some reason I paused at the photos of the tiny (males barely more than 1/2", female to about 3/4") orange-bellied leaf toad, Dendrophryniscus minutus.
"Hmmmm (almost all of my deep thoughts start with 'hmmmmm')," I thought, "When was the last time I saw one of these?"
When I first began traveling to the Iquitos region of Peru, these minuscule bufonids were common. I saw them almost daily on low shrubs at Amazon Camp, at Madre Selva, at Paucarillo, and on dozens of trails in many other villages.
But now, in truth, I think it has been 8 to 10 years since I last saw one. Have I become that much less observant (I don't think so)? Or could these little anurans actually be disappearing, in this case before my very eyes, just as the related Atelopus are before the eyes of others?
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Where is the orange-bellied leaf toad?"
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gabby1!
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Monday, July 7 2014
![](/blog/uploads/BlueIg.jpg) Thanks to the efforts of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, there are now an estimated 850 blue iguanas in Grand Cayman.
From Cayman 27:
This staggering increase means the reptiles, which are indigenous to Grand Cayman, can now be moved off the critically endangered list.
“Previously they were listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as being critically endangered, which is actually only one step away for being extinct in the wild,” said Mr Watler. He went on to tell Cayman 27 that, “the fact is that this is an upgrade, it sounds kind of counter intuitive to say its a good thing that they are only on the endangered list but it really is much better than being critically endangered.”
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user robpirk!
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Friday, July 4 2014
Check out this video "Swim Time," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user uggleedog!
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Thursday, July 3 2014
With each passing year, as the various exporting countries close or open their seasons and/or shipping quotas, the herps we see in the pet trade change.
Availability of some changes from abundance to rarity, of others from rarity to abundance. As an example the Colombian horned frog, Ceratophrys calcarata, once available in the thousands each breeding season, has not been available for decades.
Those among us who are keepers (yes, I am one) owe each and every animal, be their cost mere pennies or thousands of dollars, the best of conditions and care. Research each species before acquisition, and then acquire only those that you can care for adequately and with relative ease.
More photos of species rarely seen today under the jump...
Continue reading "How long has it been since you've seen one of these now-rare species?"
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/1481584Rob2-med.jpg) Not all venomous snakebites are created equal -- and neither are all antivenoms. Now researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) have identfied important differences in venoms that may lead to breakthroughs in snakebite treatment worldwide.
From Phys.org:
LSTM's Dr Nicholas Casewell, first author and NERC Research Fellow, said: "Our work shows that venom variation observed between related snake species is the result of a complex interaction between a variety of genetic and postgenomic factors acting on toxin genes. This can involve different genes housed in the genome being turned on or off in different snakes at different stages of venom toxin production. Ultimately, the resulting venom variation results in significant differences in venom-induced pathology and lethality and can undermine the efficacy of antivenom therapies used to treat human snakebite victims."
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user HerpLver
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mikeinla!
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Wednesday, July 2 2014
![](/blog/uploads/turtletunnel.jpg) How do you save turtles and protect motorists' lives? Build a tunnel.
From KARE 11:
It's a specialized culvert built in Germany, which has small holes at roadway level to allow sunlight to get into the tunnel.
The location was picked after the MN Herpetological Society documented a large number of turtle crossings which were deemed hazardous to both turtles and motorists, who were stopping on the two-lane highway to avoid hitting them.
The $50,000 price is paid for with a $10,000 grant from the University of Minnesota, a $37,000 grant from the DNR's Legacy funding, and $3,000 from the Herpetological Society.
Read more...
Photo: KARE
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kus!
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Tuesday, July 1 2014
I had followed an old "woods road" through a hemlock forest to a beautiful pond of about an acre in size. As I had plodded slowly through the shady woodlands that were still enshrouded and dampened by the morning's fog, I took pleasure in seeing that the forest floor was literally acrawl with red efts.
These, the terrestrial stage of the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus v. viridescens, were the most obvious and seemingly the most common amphibian species along my trek. But by the time I had reached the pond-bank the fog had dissipated and the sun was shining brightly.
Pickerel frogs, Rana (Lithobates) palustris, leapt to the safety of the shallows as I walked slowly along the sunny banks.
Here and there a stirring in the water would draw my attention to an aquatic adult newt or a diving beetle.
But unbeknownst to me at that moment there was a grand finale just a few steps ahead. There in a narrow and shallow inlet, partially shaded by a fallen tree, I encountered a breeding congregation of red-spotted newts.
Numbering in the low hundreds, dozens of pairs were in amplexus while others were still in the courtship stage, The population in this one small inlet would certainly account for the vast population of efts I had seen earlier. It is always good to see Mother Nature hard at work.
Continue reading "On the trail of the Eastern newt"
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