By Herp News
A new fossil reptile that lived 250 million years ago in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southernmost Brazil has been discovered by an international team of researchers. The species has been identified from a mostly complete and well preserved fossil skull.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Imagine exploring a wooded site along an Alaska stream or lake for evidence of animals. Maybe you’ll see moose prints in the soil or a bit of wolf fur in a berry bush. But some species don’t leave footprints. They still leave a clue. It’s their DNA.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Separated by several hundred kilometers from its next of kin, a new blue-tailed monitor lizard unique to the remote Mussau Island has been described. Given a Latin name meaning ‘isolated,’ it is the only large-sized land-living predator and scavenger on the small Pacific island.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A gene in snails that determines whether their shells twist clockwise or anti-clockwise has been discovered by a team of international researchers. It could offer clues to how the same gene affects body asymmetry in other animals including humans, they report.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A new study has called for a change in the way we manage bycatch — to better monitor the unintentional catching of sea turtles by commercial fishers. The number of turtles caught in a single fishery or year may not seem to be a cause for concern, but even low levels might place pressure on a species when considered across fisheries and over multiple years, say the authors.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A new species of snake has been identified in Europe. The researchers were able to demonstrate that the “Iberian Grass Snake” does not constitute a subspecies of the wide-spread common Grass Snake as previously thought, but rather a distinct species.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Marine turtles experienced an evolutionary windfall thanks to a mass extinction of crocodyliforms around 145 million years ago, say researchers.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
As the natural forests in Ethiopia is already less than 3 percent of what it once has been, the banana frog species, dwelling exclusively in the southwestern part of the African country, is exposed to a great risk of extinction. Through their survey, a research team have extended its range, thus making the first steps to saving the charming frogs.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Using head shapes and genetic analyses, researchers have recommend that six groups of subspecies of the western rattlesnake be elevated to full species status.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Researchers have discovered a new species of extinct worm lizard in Texas and dubbed it the ‘Lone Star’ lizard. The species — the first known example of a worm lizard in Texas — offers evidence that Texas acted as a subtropical refuge during one of the great cooling periods of the past.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Coral snake venom carries significant neurotoxicity and human injuries can be severe or even lethal. Despite this, antivenom treatments are scarce due to challenges collecting adequate amounts of venom needed to produce anti-elapidic serum. Exciting new research uses synthetically designed DNA to produce coral-snake antivenom.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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In our celebration of all things venomous on Friday, this little rough-scaled bush viper (Atheris hispida) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user eekster26 is looking forward to the weekend! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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What a stunning Leopard Gecko in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Eve! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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Still with well defined facial markings, this black-breasted leaf turtle is about a quarter grown.
Have you ever wanted to kick yourself in the butt for getting rid of a particular herp or for passing by the opportunity to purchase a given species. On several occasions I have done both and regretted it for a long time after.
For example, I regret not acquiring a photo of the Javan tubercled or dragon snakes when they were being offered. It is true that they have proven difficult (read that impossible) to keep as captives but there has to be a key to that problem somewhere.
Of the herps that I am most upset at allowing myself to be talked out of was and still is my 2 pairs of black-breasted leaf turtles, Geomyda spengleri spengleri.
There are several Asiatic turtle species of which I am fond, several members of the genus Cuora among them, but IMO none compare with this little leaf turtle.
This is not because of color. This leaf turtle is a variable but often dingey brown above with very pronounced posterior carapacial serrations. The yellow(ish) rimmed plastron is mostly black. The skin is also brown with the only noticeable highlight being the stark white irides of the protuberant eyes.
So, if it’s not color what is it about these four inch long Asian turtles that is so enchanting? One word—personality. Once acclimated this turtle, naturally alert, quickly becomes tame– actually outgoing—and seems contemplative. It reminds me in more ways than one of our little bog turtle but outdoes the boggy in each aspect…
Time to close. I’ve almost talked myself into another purchase.
Continue reading “Black-breasted Leaf Turtle” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Is this Irian Jaya Jag in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user StonedReptiles bright enough for you? Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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In high school I got my hands on Barbours book about Snakes in Kentucky and will never forget gazing at the picture of the Corn Snake and learning that a small and isolated population of these snakes occurred in Kentucky. Little did I know that the names of the other students who checked out that book would be my future bosses and co-workers at The Louisville Zoo, or that my friend Phil Peak and I would one day focus in on this serpent and spend countless hours in the counties that seemed so far away and foreign to me at the time.
It took some effort to locate my first specimen by the time that I was in my 20’s, but once I began to figure them out I was able to locate well over 100 of them in a very confined area. Phil and I were able to establish a small group of these snakes in captivity and we donated babies to educational facilities across Kentucky. We also gave them to people in our local Herp Society so that they could be used in presentations, and also so that our local people would not feel the need to go down and remove additional specimens from the wild. Phil and I had a lot of questions about this isolated population of snakes so we began to record as much information about each specimen as we could. In addition to blotch and scale row counts we were also able to determine when they emerged, when they bred, when they laid eggs, when the babies hatched, and when the adults went back underground to spend the winter. After compiling all of our data we began the process of publishing our work in a scientific format. This process was long and complicated for us, and we were fortunate to meet Danna Baxley who came onboard with our efforts as a co-author and helped us organize the work in a way that was presentable and acceptable to the newly formed Journal of North American Herpetology where it was published in 2015. To anyone interested in the scientific paper, here is a link to the PDF file that can be found on the Center For North American Herpetology website: http://www.cnah.org/pdf/88314.pdf
It is difficult to fully describe everything that was involved in this whole process in the short format here, so I will close it out by saying that the journey from my high school library all the way to being published in a scientific journal was a long and interesting experience that has left me grateful to the local people of rural Kentucky and to my friends Phil Peak and Danna Baxley whose knowledge and patience made possible what I could not have done on my own.
…read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Crocodilians come out of the egg sassy, like this Cuvier’s dwarf caiman in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sk8r009 give us a serious case of the “awws”! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Many McGregor’s pit vipers are strongly patterned.
This is another of today’s choose your name species. This beautiful and variable pit viper from the Philippine islands of Batan and Sabtang (perhaps introduced to other locales) has gone from its 1913 described name of Trimeresurus mcgregori (named for the collector of the first specimen who just happened to receive and survive a bite) to Trimeresrus flavomaculatus mcgregori, then to Parias mcgregori, and now back to the starting name, T. mcgregori.
This is one of the more variably colored pit vipers, ranging from solid brown to a pure silvery white and having many shades of yellow and a few differing patterns between those 2 extremes. It is adult at about 3 feet in length. It is an oviparous species.
Protected in its Philippine homeland and the relatively few captives having proven problematic to breed, this beautiful pit viper is not a frequently seen species in collections. As would be expected, when on the rare occasions this taxon does become available, the prices asked are often out of range for all but the most dedicated of venomous keepers.
Continue reading “McGregor’s Pit Vipers” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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These hatchling Galapagos Tortoises in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jerry d. fife give us a serious case of the “awws”! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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By Herp News
Coral snake venom carries significant neurotoxicity and human injuries can be severe or even lethal. Despite this, antivenom treatments are scarce due to challenges collecting adequate amounts of venom needed to produce anti-elapidic serum. Exciting new research uses synthetically designed DNA to produce coral-snake antivenom.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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In our celebration of all things venomous on Friday, what an amazing close up of the Hagen’s pit viper in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user knotsnake ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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The old standby, Wagler’s viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri, Thailand.
A decade or so ago, the Wagler’s viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri, once thought to be just a very variable snake species, was determined to actually be a species complex. Researchers have now elevated several of what were long considered simply geographic or color variants of the Wagler’s viper to full species status. This has, of course, rendered the Wagler’s viper, itself, much less variable, but definitely no less interesting.
Besides T. wagleri of Thailand and West Malaysia the genus now contains:
Hutton’s pit viper, T. huttoni (a poorly known species from southern India)
Mindanao pit viper, T. philippinensis (a genetically separable Wagler’s viper lookalike from Mindanao)
Keeled green pit viper. T. subannulatus of the Philippines and Borneo (as described, possibly a species complex)
Broad-banded temple pit viper, T. laticinctus, of Sulawesi.
The alternate name of temple viper (applied to at least 2 of the species) seems to have originated due to the abundance of T. wagleri near the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaya.
If you search old literature or Google the species, you will undoubtedly see photos of people, old and young alike, often near the Temple of the Azure Cloud, holding Wagler’s vipers barehandedly. In my opinion this is unwise in the extreme. Admittedly this snake, nocturnal by nature, is relatively placid and reluctant to bite in the daylight hours. They are far less apt to allow indiscriminate handling after dark. It is to the best interests of all herpers (and especially yourself) that you not become an expensive and controversial snakebite statistic.
Continue reading “Wagler’s Vipers” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
Using head shapes and genetic analyses, researchers have recommend that six groups of subspecies of the western rattlesnake be elevated to full species status.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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So precious! We love hatchling photos, like this awakening Gecko in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SA! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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How cute is this Pacman Frog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user doobie119 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The supraocular areas of this northern Colombian boa baby are barely darkened.
For many decades Colombian boas, Boa constrictor imperator, were a major component in the American pet trade. In fact, they were the dominant and least expensive subspecies available. I purchased my first baby Colombian boa back in the early 1950s from Quivira Specialties Company in Topeka, Kansas. It cost me $4.65 plus postage. Yep—that was 4 dollars and 65 cents. You could buy a “red-tailed” boa for a couple of bucks more but they were less readily available and why would one need a boa with a redder tail that that borne by the Colombian (actually imperator is found from northern Mexico to northwestern South America) subspecies anyway?
What is a B. c. imperator? The call is pretty much made by the shape of the dark head marking. On this subspecies the longitudinal central marking ostensibly had a lateral projection to each eye. In reality the lateral projections could vary from well-defined to nearly absent. They were often represented by the supraocular scales being darkened but not connected to the longitudinal central mark. These projections are lacking on the more southerly forms. The red of the tail of imperator may vary from blackish-red in northern Mexico to dusty red in northern Colombia.
Boas, escaped or deliberately released, were known to have been established in South Florida since the 1960s. They were and are largely restricted to a small area of Miami. Of variable appearance. Some have the head markings and pale red tails that define the northern Colombian boas while others lack even vestiges of the horizontal head projections and have rich red tails suggesting a more southerly origin.
And since I recently lost all pix of Miami boas when a hard drive crashed, I guess it’s time to try my luck once more.
Continue reading “Colombian Boas and a Mention of Miami” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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By Herp News
In the past two decades, water frogs have spread rapidly in Central Europe. Using a new statistical model, researchers have now been able to show that local species such as the Yellow-bellied Toad and the Common Midwife Toad are suffering from the more dominant water frogs.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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As you can see here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mjmullis , there is no doubt where the name came from! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Three cheers for one of the best reptile pets, the Bearded Dragons here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Rick Millspaugh ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This action alert just came in from USARK. Oregon has the ability to change laws through a rulemaking process which is faster, however reduces our time to respond.
ACTION ALERT Oregon state: Comment by March 4.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has proposed some rule changes which will negatively impact both native and exotic animal keepers. The changes may even harm the animals by requiring sterilization of animals that are rarely, if ever, sterilized. While good intention may be the basis for these proposals, ODFW may not be aware of the negative impacts associated with the new rules.
One big change is that it will be illegal to keep animals listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). This list includes many non-native species that have been kept and bred in the U.S. for many decades, hence, not affecting wild populations. That list includes not only herps like Radiated tortoises, but many macaws, other birds, fish and even chinchillas. which are commonly kept as pets.
View the full ACTION ALERT at USARK’s website here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake
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Hey mamba, mamba verde! What a great shot of the Western Green Mamba in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user fangfatale ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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By Herp News
A gene in snails that determines whether their shells twist clockwise or anti-clockwise has been discovered by a team of international researchers. It could offer clues to how the same gene affects body asymmetry in other animals including humans, they report.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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This young gator is getting a start on the weekend a day early in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user goini04 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
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By Herp News
Separated by several hundred kilometers from its next of kin, a new blue-tailed monitor lizard unique to the remote Mussau Island has been described. Given a Latin name meaning ‘isolated,’ it is the only large-sized land-living predator and scavenger on the small Pacific island.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
No products found.
By Herp News
A new study has called for a change in the way we manage bycatch — to better monitor the unintentional catching of sea turtles by commercial fishers. The number of turtles caught in a single fishery or year may not seem to be a cause for concern, but even low levels might place pressure on a species when considered across fisheries and over multiple years, say the authors.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
A new species of snake has been identified in Europe. The researchers were able to demonstrate that the “Iberian Grass Snake” does not constitute a subspecies of the wide-spread common Grass Snake as previously thought, but rather a distinct species.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Hope you have a happy hump day with a little help from this cute Spotted Turtle in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user allen! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Today is a great day for new beginnings, like this pair of hatching Ball Pythons have in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sf! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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How beautiful is this Ctenosaura quinquecarinata in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rockabirdie ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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By Herp News
Imagine exploring a wooded site along an Alaska stream or lake for evidence of animals. Maybe you’ll see moose prints in the soil or a bit of wolf fur in a berry bush. But some species don’t leave footprints. They still leave a clue. It’s their DNA.
…read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com
No products found.