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.
The venerable alligator snapping turtle, Macrochelys temminckii once ranged in 3 apparently non-contiguous basically riverine populations westward from the northern peninsula of Florida and southern Georgia, to southeastern Kansas and eastern Texas.
The range extended northward in the Mississippi Valley to central Iowa and Illinois. The southeasternmost population (now the Suwannee alligator snapper, Macrochelys suwanniensis, ranges throughout the Suwannee River drainage of Florida.
The central population (now the Apalachicola alligator snapper, Macrochelys apalachicolae) occurs in the drainage of the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee Rivers of Florida, Georgia and eastern Alabama.
The western population (still referred to as simply the Alligator snapper, Macrochelys temminckii, ranges westward and northward from Florida's western panhandle throughout the remainder of the large range.
The separation and erection of these turtles was based on genetic and morphological differences.
For more information read: "Taxonomic assessment of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Chelydridae: Macrochelys)," with the description of two new species from the southeastern United States in Zootaxa 3786 (2): 141–165.
A massive frog die-off is the latest sign of extreme pollution in Lake Titicaca which threatens wildlife and humans.
From Fox News:
As human and industrial waste from nearby cities increasingly contaminate the famed lake that straddles the border between Bolivian and Peru, the native Aymara people who rely on it for food and income say action must be taken before their livelihoods, like the frogs, die off.
"We used to live off of fishing," said Juan Quispe, a local villager. "But now we have nothing to sustain us." The fish have moved farther and farther from shore.
On a recent Saturday, the 78-year-old Quispe joined a cleanup brigade to remove dead dogs, tires and other refuse from the shore of Cohana Bay where the lake meets the Katari River.
After having problems flushing her toilet, a woman was stunned to find a live iguana in the pipes.
From ABC News:
"I've never seen anything like this before," plumber Alisa Scott told ABC affiliate WPLG-TV. "This is the first time I pulled something like that out of a toilet."
Scott says she used her tools to reach far down into the toilet. What she began to pull out was still alive.
"To my surprise, I pulled out that large iguana," Scott said. "At first I thought it was a toy, and then it started moving around."
Iguanas are common in that part of Florida, but they aren't commonly found inside your plumbing.
In the city where I live, I have come across many snakes from the highly venomous to the non-venomous. The Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) is one of the highly venomous snakes I confront. Rescuing Russell’s vipers and studying them has been one of my finest experiences in my herpetology career.
If I rescue 10 snakes a week, at least 4 of them are Russell’s vipers. While researching these snakes, I came to know many amazing facts about them. One such fact was actually so amazing that I never dreamed of witnessing it: "A female Russell’s viper brings 70 more venomous vipers in the world."
Yes, my friends, you got it right. A few days back I saw a female Russell’s viper and all of her babies, which I rescued in their mini-hospital snake container. I was left awestruck for a few minutes after being told that it was really happening.
Though being in a large number, I could clearly see the babies with their mother, moving to and fro even though they weren't in a spacious container. After seeing them a bit congested, I moved them to a larger crate where they were able to move freely.
I took some easy snaps, gave some privacy to this venomous family, and after some hours I released them into a suitable environment for the betterment of their future.
Who ever said you can't teach an old dragon new tricks was certainly wrong. In our Herp Video of the Week, from the London Zoo, keepers are working with target training their Komodo Dragons!
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users!
Only minutes earlier we had found on the pavement one of the prettiest little banded water snakes I had ever seen. Jake and I were up in Columbia County, Florida, and although conditions were a bit wet and cool, a few interesting snakes were crossing.
Garters, ribbons, waters, a corn, and a yellow rat had been seen. Actually our target for the night was a living example of the rough earth snake, Haldea (formerly Virginia) striatula, a tiny burrowing species.
A few days earlier we had been on the same roadway and had seen 3 rough earth snakes. Sadly all had been DOR. Since both Jake and I wished to upgrade our photos of this species, we had decided to try our luck once more.
Not only had we seen none, but until finding the little water snake mentioned above we had not seen anything of great interest.
We had just about given up on finding our target that night when, on the last pass, the rain having nearly stopped: bingo! An earth snake, the only one seen that night, was slowly crossing in front of us. Success!
Note: Based on genetic findings, the generic name of Haldea has recently been resurrected for this small snake. Whether this will be accepted remains to be seen.
What do you know about the "lesbian lizards" that reproduce asexually?
From the Guardian Liberty Voice:
This hybrid species, the Leaping Lesbian Lizards, also go by the name New Mexico Whiptail Lizard. In fact, the Whiptail is the state’s official reptile. It is one of a number of reptiles that is known to be parthenogenic. This means that this particular species of lizard uses asexual reproduction, so the development and growth of the reptiles embryos occurs without there being any fertilization.
The creation of the Leaping Lesbian Lizards takes place through the hybridization of the western whiptail and the little striped whiptail. Once the hybrid species is formed, they can actually reproduce through parthenogenic reproduction. If a male is born out of the hybridization process, they are actually sterile and seemingly do not live long, but through parthenogenesis the female population is able to reproduce.
Essentially the Leaping Lesbian Lizards, a hybrid species out of New Mexico, are actually a highly evolved reptile species capable of reproduction asexually, as well as through the hybridization process. These reproductive traits seem to be very prevalent across a number of different varieties of whiptail lizards.
Three days after Judge Moss ruled that he would be granting USARK a preliminary injunction, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a joint motion along with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to intervene in USARK’s case.
The extreme position of CBD had been announced promptly after the Lacey Act listing of reticulated pythons and three anaconda species by Collette Adkins, a CBD attorney and biologist focusing on reptiles and amphibians: "Unfortunately, it appears that the agency caved to pressure from snake breeders in its decision not to restrict trade in the boa constrictor — a snake that is clearly damaging to U.S. wildlife."
USARK has filed to oppose joint intervention by HSUS and CBD.
It seems very unlikely that CBD and HSUS will be allowed to intervene in the PI stage of the case, which would allow them to immediately appeal the PI even if USFWS decides not to appeal the PI at this time. (See my earlier discussion of a potential appeal of PI by USFWS.) Fortunately, the time period for CBD and HSUS to appeal the PI on their own has now expired.
It is also possible that the court will deny the motion to intervene because neither CBD nor HSUS established standing in their supporting declarations. Even if allowed to intervene, it is likely that the judge will limit the issues on which CBD and HSUS will be allowed to participate.
Whenever I am visiting an another state or city, I make sure that I get in touch with a snake rescuer in that area. And that is exactly what I did when I was leaving for Nagpur with my family.
Nagpur is a district in Maharashtra which is about a day's drive away from my place. I was supposed to be visiting Nagpur to attend a wedding ceremony with family, but to be frank I was not at all interested in the wedding! All I ever wanted was to explore new snakes in Nagpur and I got one.
The stout sand snake (Psammophis longifrons) is a common non-venomous snake found in Nagpur, but was new for me. After attending some rescues of cobras and vipers with the local snake rescuer, I found this sand snake on the third day of my visit.
The stout sand snake is thick and it moves fast. The body is uniform brown with black-edged smooth scales. The maximum length is 123 centimeters and it is oviparous by nature.
I attended many more rescues on that trip - and it took some convincing from my mom, but I also attended the wedding! While returning I was really happy as I was leaving with some sweet memories of stout sand snake.
The latest clutch of Gray's monitor lizards hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo is just the second time Gray's monitors were born in captivity in the Western Hemisphere.
From My News LA:
Gray’s monitor lizards had long been considered extinct in the wild until some were discovered in 1975 on islands in the Philippines.
The species is considered one of the largest lizards in Asia, as the reptiles can grow to be 6 feet long and 20 pounds. The tree-dwelling, olive-green lizards usually dine on fruit and invertebrates.
The zoo’s reptile and amphibian curator, Ian Recchio, said his staff used their knowledge of other Asian monitor species and Komodo dragons to hatch the Gray’s monitor eggs.
It isn't shocking that movie's have taken inspriation for dinosaurs from our reptiles. This frilled dragon in our herp photo of the day is a prime example, uploaded by kingsnake.com user frilly!