Serpent Research

The Tadpole & Buoyancy

2012-02-24T05:08:00.000-06:00

Survival and reproduction of many aquatic and semi-aquatic animals can depend upon how well they float. Tadpoles use various strategies to attain buoyancy, depending upon their stage of development and location in still or turbulent waters. Researchers have taken a closer look at the developing frog's strategies to achieve buoyancy.

A report in the current issue of the journal Herpetologica studied eight species of tadpoles in three different environments -- still waters, intermittent streams, and torrent sections of rivers. All species were examined in the larval and metamorphic stages, and three species were also examined in the hatchling stage.

The ability to float is determined by hydrodynamic lift and static lift. Hydrodynamic lift is generated by a difference in the velocities of a tadpole and the water around it. Static lift is the difference between the specific gravities of the organism and the water in which it lives. Tadpoles can alter their static lift by adding lung gas -- for instance, gulping air at the water's surface -- or by releasing lung gas.

Comparing buoyancy levels and how tadpoles achieve them, researchers have found that the tadpoles of different species can adjust to different environments. In ponds and intermittent streams, lung gases offer tadpoles the flexibility they need to adjust to water depth, current speed, and ingestion of dense particles when feeding. When water currents increase, tadpoles can rapidly reduce lung volume and therefore gaseous lift and buoyancy.

In fast-flowing waters, negative buoyancy is favored. So species in such environments have no gaseous lift, but can maintain their position in the water using an oral sucker. These species often live in contact with the bottom where the water current is at its lowest.

Transitions between hatchling, larval, and metamorphic stages also affect the buoyancy of tadpoles. It seems important to survival that buoyancy is neutral, or nearly so, as hatchlings become larvae because this facilitates locomotion. Another change in buoyancy occurs at the start of metamorphosis. At this time, buoyancy decreased in all but of the species, possibly to make the tadpoles less vulnerable to predation.

Citation
John H. Gee & Sylvie L. Rondeau. 2012. Strategies Used By Tadpoles to Optimize Buoyancy in Different Habitats. Herpetologica, 68 (1): 3 DOI:10.1655/HERPETOLOGICA-D-10-00023.1

The Chikilidae- A New Family of Ambibians

2012-02-23T05:38:00.001-06:00

Chiklil fulleri a member of the family Chikilidae.

A team of biologists led by University of Delhi professor Sathyabhama Das Biju spent more than five years digging through forest soils in the rain, and discovered a new family of amphibians -the Chikilidae - endemic to northeast India but with ancient links to Africa.

Their discovery was published Wednesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, providing yet more evidence that India is a hot spot for amphibians and a location worthy of protection against the country's industry-heavy development agenda. It also provides exciting new evidence for the zoogeography of caecilians.

"This is a major hotspot of biological diversity, but one of the least explored," Biju said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We hope this new family will show the importance of funding research in the area. We need to know what we have, so we can know what to save."

By naming it Chikilidae, a name from the Goro language, Biju hoped to increase the profile of the local people and make them aware of the importance of the new animal.

The forest habitat of the Chikilidae an ignored tropical forests now faces deforestation and development for industry as India's economic growth takes off. Industrial pollutants, pesticides and more people may mean a world of trouble for a creature that can be traced to the earliest vertebrates to creep across land.

Biju - a botanist-turned-herpetologist now celebrated as India's "Frogman" - has made it his life work to find and catalog new species. There are too many cases of "nameless extinction," with animals disappearing before they are ever known, he said. "We don't even know what we're losing."

Biju, however, is working the reverse trend. Since 2001, he has discovered 76 new species of plants, caecilians and frogs - more than any other scientist in India - and estimates 30-40 percent of the country's amphibians are yet to be found.

Within the Chikilidae, the team has already identified three species, and is on its way to discovering at least three more.

The discovery of the Chikilidae's , made along with co-researchers from London's Natural History Museum and Vrije University in Brussels, brings the number of known caecilian families in the world to 10. Three are in India and others are spread across the tropics in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. There is debate about the classifications, with some scientists counting fewer caecilian families.

Much remains to be discovered in further study, Biju said, as many questions remain about how the creatures live.

So far, Biju's team has determined that an adult chikilid will remain with its eggs until they hatch, forgoing food for some 50 days. When the eggs hatch, the young emerge as tiny adults and squirm away.

They grow to about 4 inches (10 centimeters), and can push their dense skulls through some of the region's tougher soils, disappearing quickly at the slightest vibration. "It's like a rocket," Biju said. "If you miss it the first try, you'll never catch it again."

A possibly superfluous set of eyes is shielded under a layer of skin, and may help the chikilidae gauge light from dark as in other caecilian species.

DNA testing suggests the chikilids closest relative is in Africa - with the two evolutionary paths splitting some 140 million years ago when India separated from the supercontinent of Gondwana.

Biju's team worked best during monsoon season, when the digging is easier and when the chikilids lay their eggs in waterlogged soils. Gripping garden spades with blistered hands, the researchers along with locals they hired spent about 2,600 man hours digging for the elusive squigglers, usually found about 16 inches (40 centimeters) deep.

"It was backbreaking work," said research fellow Rachunliu Kamei, who even passed out in the forest once, and some days found not even one specimen.

"But there is motivation in knowing this is an uncharted frontier," said Kamei, lead researcher and main author of the study paper.

Citation
Rachunliu G. Kamei, Diego San Mauro, David J. Gower, Ines Van Bocxlaer, Emma Sherratt Ashish Thomas, Suresh Babu, Franky Bossuyt, Mark Wilkinson and S. D. Biju. 2012. Discovery of a new family of amphibians from northeast India with ancient links to Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0150 (published first on-line)

New Sea Snake From Australia

2012-02-22T16:45:00.000-06:00

Photo credit Brian G. Fry

A paper, published yesterday in the journal Zootaxa, announces the discovery and notes that the new species called Hydrophis donaldii is unique in having raised scales.

“H. donaldii had evaded earlier discovery as it prefers estuarine habitats that are poorly surveyed and not targeted by commercial fisheries”, explained Dr. Bryan Fry, a co-author on the discovery paper and an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland’s School of Biological Sciences.

The scientists collected nine specimens of this ‘viviparous or true’ sea snake from the coastal estuarine habitats of Weipa on the Queensland coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

“Weipa really is one of the last sea snake ‘Serengetis’. We can see over 200 sea snakes in a single night’s hunting, whereas sea snake populations have really crashed elsewhere through over-fishing removing their prey and also the snakes drowning in trawling nets.”

“All venomous animals are bio-resources and have provided sources of many life-saving medications, such as treatments for high-blood pressure and diabetes. This reinforces why we need to conserve all of nature as the next billion dollar wonder-drug may come from as unlikely a source as sea snake venom.”

H. donaldii is named in honor of David Donald, Dr. Fry’s long-time boat captain.

“Quite simply we would not have found this snake without Dave’s unique knowledge of the area. I told him we wanted to survey as many distinct types of habitat as possible and he guided us to the perfect spots,” Dr. Fry said.

It is also given the common-name ‘rough-scaled sea snake’ to reflect the unique scalation.

“We don’t know why it has been evolutionarily selected to have such unique scalation, but we will next study its ecology to learn more about it,” the scientist concluded.

Citation

KANISHKA D. B. UKUWELA, KATE L. SANDERS & BRYAN G. FRY. 2012. Hydrophis donaldi (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae), a highly distinctive new species of sea snake from northern Australia. Zootaxa 3201: 45–57

Chrysosporium Threatens Endangered Rattlesnake

2012-02-22T16:32:00.000-06:00

The Chicago Tribune is carrying the following story:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.— A fungus rarely seen in the wild is killing certain southern Illinois rattlesnakes while cropping up in the northeastern U.S., wildlife specialists said.

Matthew Allender, a wildlife veterinarian and University of Illinois visiting instructor of comparative biosciences, said that in 2008 biologists reported to him that they'd found three eastern massasauga rattlesnakes with debilitating fungal infections in a southern Illinois park. The snakes, which are candidates for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, died within three weeks of their discovery, and a fourth snake with the fungus was discovered in the same park in 2010.

Allender later identified the pathogen as Chrysosporium, a fungus that plagues portions of the pet reptile industry but is not normally seen in the wild. He later heard from other biologists about similar infections in timber rattlesnakes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

"Chrysosporium causes disease in bearded dragons and in other snakes, and it's a bad bug," Allender said. "We see it in captive animals worldwide, but we don't typically find it in free-ranging animals."

The fungus also is emerging as a dangerous infection in humans with weakened immune systems, he said, adding that he sees the fungal infection in endangered snakes as a "yellow flag" warranting more study.

"Wildlife diseases and human health are not that different," he said. "And often wildlife are our window into a weakened environment that leads to disease in both people and animals."

Fungal Ant Gardens as Incubators for Snake Eggs

2012-02-21T07:45:00.000-06:00

Parental care in snakes is poorly documented. It has been known since the 18th century that female pythons will not only guard their eggs but warm them when the ambient temperature drops; female king cobras have been long known to build nests of decomposing vegetation for their eggs and stay nearby; and more recently maternal care in rattlesnakes has been observed. There are other examples scattered in the literature but perhaps most unexpected is the ancient scolecophidians show signs of parental care and since parental care is present in these snakes, the behavior should not be too surprising in the more modern snake lineages. Paleontologist Claude Hibbard discovered a nursery (or a communal egg laying site) of the New Mexico worm snake, Rena dissectus in the 1960’s.

A Liotyphlops albirostris egg on a colony of A. cf. goniodes.
Note that the workers have planted pieces of fungal garden on
the egg’s shell.

Recently Gaspar Bruner and colleagues report the dawn blind snake (family Anomalepididae) Liotyphlops albirostris depositing its eggs in the fungus gardens of the fungus-growing ant Apterostigma cf. goniodes.They found three snake embryos in the nest of the phylogenetically basal attine ant, which has relatively small nests. In an effort to determine if the ants could distinguish snake eggs from a snake-like egg made of a different material, the authors observed the behavioral responses of ants to natural and artificial snake eggs. They transferred the eggs from the nest to a sterile Petri dish and removed the fungal mycelium around the eggs using forceps. Then either a plasticine or natural egg (with the fungus removed), was placed on the top of the fungal garden. Using a stereomicroscope they observed the ants’ behavior toward the egg or the plasticine egg. They found worker ants repeatedly attended and groomed the snake eggs, but never observed the ants biting them. The ant workers took pieces of their fungus garden and planted them on the eggs, behavior very similar to what the workers do with ant eggs, larvae, and pupae in their fungus garden, as a means of controlling infections. When researchers removed the mycelial cover of an egg the ants completely recovered the eggs with fungal garden material and restored it to the original condition but did not attend or cover the artificial egg. Also, the ants spent substantially more time physically examining the snake egg than the artificial egg suggesting the ants were not simply responding to natural eggs as a foreign object. The entire article is available on line.

Citation

Gaspar Bruner, Hermógenes Fernández-Marín, Justin C. Touchon, and William T. Wcislo, “Eggs of the Blind Snake, Liotyphlops albirostris, Are Incubated in a Nest of the Lower Fungus-Growing Ant Apterostigma cf. goniodes,” Psyche, vol. 2012, Article ID 532314, 5 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/532314

Another Large Python bivittatus from Everglades NP

2012-02-18T16:38:00.002-06:00

The following is from the National Parks Traveler webiste. The story is dated February 17, 2012.

A Burmese python more than 16 feet in length and tipping the scales at 140 pounds has been captured at Everglades National Park, evidence of the problem park officials face with the spread of these non-native constrictors.

The female snake was captured Monday after a park staffer came upon it while spraying non-native vegetation.

Park officials say that "many national parks struggle to manage the impacts on resources by invasive exotic animals and plants, but it seems that the Burmese python in the Everglades has captured the attention of the media and the public on this issue, which may help to focus attention on the larger invasive exotic problem that many land managers are grappling with."

"The park has spent the past few weeks emphasizing to the media and the public the importance of not letting unwanted animals or plants loose," notes Everglades spokeswoman Linda Friar. "It is important to focus on what we have learned from this experience to prevent future invasive exotic infestations and improve our ability to react quickly before a species becomes impossible to eradicate."

While pythons have been a problem in Everglades National Park for much of the past decade, the situation garnered heightened media interest recently due to a study blaming the snakes for a "precipitous declines" in mammals that once were commonly seen in parts of the park.

Though members of the park’s staff are working on containment and science to better understand the impacts of this newest exotic in the park, it appears that eradication is currently not possible on a landscape the size of the park (almost 2400 square miles), Ms. Friar wrote in a release.

The Smallest Lizard

2012-02-15T18:58:00.000-06:00

Brookesia micra from Nosy Hara, northern Madagascar. (A) adult male on black background, showing orange tail colouration; (B) juvenile on finger tip; (C) juvenile on head of a match; (D) habitat along a small creek on western flank of Nosy Hara, where part of the type series was collected. This is Figure 8 from the original paper.

Size determines much biology in living organisms: what an organism can eat and what eat its, how fast or slow an organims may loose or gain heat and water, and where an organism can or cannot hide. The largest animals tend to be well known, but the smallest may go undetected and overlooked. Until today, the smallest lizard was the gecko Sphaerodactylus ariasae with a snout-vent length of 18 mm and a total length of 33 mm.

Madagascar has about 80 (43%) of the 185 chameleons, and they are all in three genera Brookesia, Calumma, and Furcifer. Brookesia contains about 26 species of ground dwellers that forage in the leaf litter rainforest and dry deciduous forest, climbing to low perches in the vegetation for sleeping. Brookesia are typically dull brown or green, have a short non-prehensile tail that is used as “fifth leg” in walking, and are relative small in size, about 15–65 mm in body length and 25–105 mm in total length. Most species of Brookesia have very small geographic distributions, with almost half of the species known from single localities.

During recent fieldwork in northern Madagascar, Glaw and colleagues discovered several new populations assignable to the Brookesia minima group, some of which are morphologically and genetically distinct from all described species, and they describe four new species in a PLoS One artcile published today.

One of the newly discovered dwarf chameleons is striking cases of miniaturization and microendemism and suggest the possibility of a range size-body size relationship in Malagasy reptiles. The newly described Brookesia micra reaches a maximum snout-vent length in males of 16 mm, and its total length in both sexes is less than 30 mm, ranking it among the smallest amniote vertebrates in the world. With a distribution limited to a very small islet, this species may represent an extreme case of island dwarfism. Brookesia micra was found active on the ground during the day in a mosaic of eroded limestone boulders and dry forest leaf litter, and at night roosting on branches in very low vegetation (about 5–10 cm above the ground). The entire article is available on-line.
Citation
Glaw F, Köhler J, Townsend TM, Vences M (2012) Rivaling the World's Smallest Reptiles: Discovery of Miniaturized and Microendemic New Species of Leaf Chameleons (Brookesia) from Northern Madagascar. PLoS ONE 7(2): e31314. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031314

Hormone Triggers Production of Sex Pheromones in Thamnophis

2012-02-11T17:53:00.001-06:00

Garter snake dens in the Interlake region of Manitoba, Canada, are the scene of a mating frenzy each spring and pfrovide an opportunity for researchers to work out the mechanisms by which snake's choose their mates. The following is based upon an article published in The Journal of Experimental Biology that experimentally demonstrates that oestrogen triggers to production of the female sex pheromone to attract males to females. Males detect the phromone with theri vomeronasal organ and collect the female's molecules by tongue flicking. Now researchers at Oregon State University have decoded the secrets of chemical signalling in red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalils parietalis). The hormone oestrogen activates sexual signaling expression in birds and other tetrapods and M. "Rocky" Parker and Robert Mason thought oestrogen may initiate the production of the sexual signaling pheromone in garter snake They reasoned that, if oestrogen was the key to their puzzle, exposing male snakes to oestrogen should make males smell like females and therefore irresistible to other males. To test the hypothesis, they collected male redsided garter snakes in Manitoba and surgically inserted oestrogen implants into the males’ body cavities in their Oregon lab. The following spring, they returned the snakes to Manitoba to test whether oestrogen had made them alluring. Placing the altered males in an outdoor arena,they found wild males courted the implanted males. But, seeing that the altered males tried to avoid their love-struck suitors, Parker and Mason devised an additional test. Starting a mating ball composed of a female surrounded by courting males, they placed an altered male near the mating ball and counted how many males lost interest in the female and directed their attention to the altered male instead. Again, wild males courted implanted males; tricked into believing they were pursuing females. Parker and Mason found the effects were reversible, the wild males were no longer fooled by altered males once their implants were removed. Oestrogen functions as an ‘on/off switch’ for female pheromone production. When they laid scent trails in a Y-maze – by rubbing male and female snakes along the arms of a maze, they were astonished to find implanted males were more attractive than small females. ‘Longer females have more babies, so it’s best to court large females’, said Parker. ‘For some reason, oestrogen made males as alluring as large females.’ To find out why, Parker and Mason collected altered males’ skin lipids and examined their pheromone composition using mass spectrometry. Garter snake sex pheromones are made up of light and heavy methyl ketones, with large females producing mostly heavier ketones. When the researchers plotted the pheromone profiles, they saw that altered males had a heavy pheromone composition, just like large females. ‘It turns out that oestrogen triggers the reproduction of the heaviest, and therefore sexiest, methyl ketones’, Parker concluded. So, in red-sided garter snakes, oestrogen triggers female pheromone production. This may offer an explanation for the puzzling existence of ‘she-males’ – wild males who naturally produce female sex pheromone but have negligible circulating oestrogen levels. ‘Exposure to oestrogen- mimicking pollutants could explain the presence of she-males’, says Parker; bad news for a species whose reproduction depends solely on chemical cues. ‘But the good news is that the changes are at least reversible’, he adds.

Citation
Parker, M. R. and Mason, R. T. (2012). How to make a sexy snake: estrogen activation of female sex pheromone in male red-sided garter snakes. Journal of Expiremental Biolology 215: 723-730.

Snake Venom Forensics

2012-02-11T06:26:00.000-06:00

In the science fiction classic Bladder Runner, Harrison Ford's character Rick Deckard tracks down a replicants (synthetic humans) using a scale from an artificial snake. The planet has been turned into a sewer, and most of its life forms other than humans have been obilterated. While we have not quite reached the level of environment degradation depicted in the film, we are consuming snakes at an alarming rate. For a variety of purposes including meat, skins, and venom.

The illegal trade in snake parts in many places in the world has increased in spite laws and legistation to protect snakes. Last August there was a story posted on this blog regarding the illegal trade in snake venom.

A raid on a hotel room in Kerala recovered the venom and the the local magistrate sent venom samples to the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. The smugglers were charged with illegal hunting and trafficking of a protected animal, both punishable by a prison sentence and fine of 25,000 rupees (about $500). The case is still pending.

Now Indian scientists (Sing et al. 2012) at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad have developed a technique of identifying the species of snakes that produced a venom sample. Their analysis used the primers for cytochrome b frpom the mitochondrial DNA genome and revealed that the venom was extracted from Indian cobras (Naja naja). On the basis of this report, the authorites were able to file charges against the accused for illegal hunting of the protected cobra and smuggling of snake venom. This approach potential for rapid identification of snake venom recovered by law enforcement. This paper is also the first report of DNA isolation from dried snake venom for species identification.

Extraction of DNA from snake venom is difficult because when a snake voluntarily injects or ejects its venom, it usually does not contains snake cells. However, when humans exteact the venom by force tissues of the venom gland are most likely damaged and DNA becomes available from the cells mixed with the venom.

You know its only a matter of time before this becomes a plot on CSI, or one of its spin-offs.

Citation
Singh, C. S., Gaur, A., Sreenivas, A. and Singh, L. (2012), Species Identification from Dried Snake Venom. Journal of Forensic Sciences. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.02049.x

Loggerhead Feeding Ecology

2012-02-08T05:09:00.000-06:00

Caretta caretta. JCM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Satellite tracking of threatened loggerhead sea turtles has revealed two previously unknown feeding ‘hotspots’ in the Gulf of Mexico that are providing important habitat for at least three separate populations of the turtles, according to a study published recently in the journal Biological Conservation.

The two sites, located in the open waters off the coast of Southwest Florida and the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, were found by a team of scientists when they compiled and analyzed loggerhead tracking data.

The researchers' goal was to synthesize tracking data from three genetically distinct loggerhead populations to learn more about how they use the Gulf of Mexico. By identifying the specific location of regularly used habitat, the results provide invaluable information for marine planning and management for this species, whose populations in the Gulf of Mexico are well below historic levels and in recent years have continued to decline drastically in some areas.

The maritime feeding grounds also hold the first clues about how loggerhead sea turtles spend time at sea – which is, in essence, most of their lives.

"Up until now, management actions that affect loggerheads have often focused on their limited time at nesting beaches, or on fisheries regulations," said Kristen Hart, Ph.D., the U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist who led the synthesis. "Our findings open up important new options for marine habitat conservation, and provide valuable geographic data that can be used to strategically locate marine reserves based on the best available science, as called for in the new National Ocean Policy."

"The use of satellite tags for tracking marine animals has opened our eyes to the secret lives of some of nature's most elusive creatures," said USGS director Marcia McNutt, "At first a scientific tool to understand the life cycle of animals, such as white sharks and leatherback turtles, who rarely come into contact with humans, these tags may now be the main hope for understanding what we can do, or what we should stop doing, in order to bring them back from the road to extinction."

Researchers intercepted female loggerheads after their nesting forays to beaches and outfitted them with satellite tags at study sites in the Florida Panhandle, Casey Key in southwest Florida, and Dry Tortugas National Park. They then tracked the females’ migrations and used a new method to determine precisely when they had arrived at "hotspot" foraging areas, in two geographically different locations.

Seven female turtles migrated to foraging sites off Southwest Florida, while the other three took up residence at foraging sites at the Yucatan site. Once the researchers applied the new method for synthesizing their satellite-tracking data, it became clear that these loggerhead turtles from all three populations consistently converged around two common sites. This confirmed a hunch that the researchers had developed after years of tracking turtles.

At both of the feeding hotspots, turtles selected individual sites where they foraged in shallow or nearshore waters less than fifty meters deep. Turtles appeared to prefer their own distinct territories, where they tended to remain resident. This suggests that it may be possible to accurately predict where sea turtles will feed, information that will prove vital for managers looking to focus conservation efforts on prime foraging habitat.

Researchers don't yet know what attracts loggerheads from around the Gulf to these specific feeding areas, although generally, loggerheads forage on the bottom of the sea floor for crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, clams or conchs.

"The logical next step is to investigate what makes these particular sites 'prime' foraging grounds by mapping and sampling the habitat types found on the sea floor," explained Hart. "It would also be useful to tag loggerheads at these foraging sites to confirm how long they reside in these areas, or alternatively to see where they go next."

Kristen M. Hart, Margaret M. Lamont, Ikuko Fujisaki, Anton D. Tucker, Raymond R. Carthy. Common coastal foraging areas for loggerheads in the Gulf of Mexico: Opportunities for marine conservation. Biological Conservation, 2012; 145 (1): 185 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.030

A New Semi-Aquatic Lizard from Peru

2012-02-06T07:44:00.000-06:00

An adult male Potamites montanicola. G. Chavez & D. Vasques

There are relatively few aquatic or semi-aquatic lizards. The marine iguana feeds underwater and the common iguana uses water to escape predators, as do a few Anolis; some monitor lizards regularly use aquatic habitats; a few teiids also use aquatic habitats for escape (Kentropyx) and the caiman lizards of the genus Dracaena feed in the water. But, some microteiids in the genera Rimia, Neusticurus and Poyamites are also semi-aquatic.

Now, Germán Chávez and Diego Vásquez of the Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Lima, Peru have described an unusual, new semi-aquatic microteiid (family Gymnophtalmidae). The new species, Potamites montanicola, is six to seven cm in body length, with a tail measuring about 10 cm, and has strongly keeled scales over its dorsum.

Members of the genus Potamites (six species) were placed in the genus Neusticurus (five species) until they were separated in 2005 by Doan and Castoe. Two species of Potamites are known from Peru: Potamites ecpleopus and Potamites strangulatus, both of which contain several subspecies. Surveys in 2010 produced a new species of Potamites from southern Peru. The following has been adapted from the original article and an article from Sci-News.com.

“The first specimen of P. montanicola was discovered in Cajadela Native community by Karla García, a member of our team, in August 2010,” said Dr. Chávez in the interview with Sci-News.com. “This only specimen was found when the surveys was ending. One morning, when Karla García was walking back to the camp, this lizard was crossing a trail very close to a creek in a secondary forest.”

The new species is known only from two localities in the Andes of southern Peru,separated by 64 km and located at the Cordillera de Vilcabamba and Apurimac river valley.

“According to our field data, this species is very restricted to streams with fresh temperatures of 14 to 16 Celsius degrees,” Dr. Chávez explained. “The most of the specimens were observed at night, thus we believe that this species is nocturnal (active at night), but we can’t confirm this. We also found some individuals at day (some recently collected specimens). They were always spotted under rocks, probably with lower activity than at night when we found the specimens running or swimming.”

“The males have great colors on the vental region of the body. They can be light blue, electric blue with black spots or yellow with black spots, while the ventral region in females can be creamy white or light red. Males are longer than females. Although we have no records or proofs that P. montanicola is a part of the diet of some snakes, it is probably that this lizard is prey for snakes such as Bothriopsis taeniata, Chironius monticola and even juveniles of Lachesis muta, recorded in the same location.”

The species name is derived from the Spanish ‘montano’, an adjective to describe something from a mountain, and the Latin suffix ‘-icola’ for ‘inhabitant’ and refers to the montane forests where P. montanicola lives.

“This species is the first Potamites recorded in mountain forests at elevation above 2,000 m, that give us an idea about an unknown diversity of Andean Potamites,” Dr. Chávez concluded. “Over the last years, many species of amphibians have been described from Peru, but very few reptiles. Thus, it is another proof of the reptiles richness in our country.”

The article is available on-line.

Chavez G, Vasquez D. 2012. A new species of Andean semiaquatic lizard of the genus Potamites (Sauria, Gymnophtalmidae) from southern Peru. ZooKeys 168:31-43.

Doan TM, Castoe TA. 2005. Phylogenetic taxonomy of the Cercosaurini (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), with new genera for species of Neusticurus and Proctoporus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 143: 405-416. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00145.x

A 1973 Death from a Sistrurus catenatus Bite Recounted

2012-02-05T17:41:00.001-06:00

An article in TheDailyNews.com (New York) recounts the 1973 death of a man from the bite of an eastern massasauga.

HIDDEN HISTORY: Snake bite kills man in Bergen swamp, 1973 By Mark Graczyk

The Bergen Swamp Wildlife Area is a swamp and nature preserve located within the towns of Bergen and Byron.

It's a wonderful spot with a variety of different flora and fauna. Created about 400 million years ago, the swamp was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1964.

Among the many creatures living in the preserve are a small colony of Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes. These snakes are on the endangered species list. They live in remote areas of the swamp and rarely go near humans.

But on a summer's day in 1973, a rattlesnake bite brought tragedy to this picturesque location.

Gordon D. Ball, 34, of Byron-Bergen Townline Road entered the swamp on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 5. He told relatives he was going on a picture-taking expedition. He brought a camera, a .22 caliber revolver and a few other supplies.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., Mr. Ball signed a book maintained at the home of Stephen Lane, the swamp caretaker. He began walking on a marked path leading east from the Lane home. It was the last time he was seen alive.

By Sunday night, Mr. Ball had not returned home and relatives contacted police. A massive search of the 30-square-mile swamp began.

By late Monday, a 17-year-old girl visiting from Fresno, Calif., came forward with information. The girl, Nancy Hoe, was staying with her aunt, uncle and cousin at their home on Warboys Road, adjacent to the swamp.

About 1:30 a.m. Monday, Nancy said she heard a man yell for help on two occasions, according to a report in The Daily News. She awakened her cousin and they both listened for a short time, heard nothing further and returned to bed.

Then she heard the cries again about five minutes later.

''Miss Hoe said she was not overly concerned at the cries since she was not aware that anyone was missing in the swamp area,'' The Daily News reported. ''She said she informed her aunt of the yells later Monday when she learned of the disappearance of Mr. Ball.''

The aunt notified police immediately and the search continued for several days with no success. By Friday, few held out much hope that Mr. Ball would be found alive. The search party had grown to include state troopers, conservation officials, area volunteers and a busload of the missing man's fellow workers from his employer in Rochester. Bloodhounds were also used.

Searchers were hampered by the swamp's dense mid-summer vegetation. One police observer called it the most difficult search conditions he had ever seen.

Finally, about 3:10 p.m. Friday, an Air National Guard helicopter spotted the body in a small clearing surrounded by 6- to 7-foot high grass near Warboys Road, on the swamp's northern perimeter.

And not far from the area where the girl from Fresno had heard cries of a man early Monday morning.

Searchers later recounted that they had passed near the spot on at least one other occasion, but couldn't see the body because of the dense vegetation.

Mr. Ball's body was taken to H.E. Turner & Son Mortuary to determine an exact cause of death. Pathologist C.V. Okay later listed the ''presumptive cause'' of death as snake venom poisoning, apparently from a rattlesnake.

The autopsy report said death occurred sometime in the early morning hours of Monday, The Daily News reported. This seemed to corroborate Nancy Hoe's story that she heard a man crying for help about 1:30 a.m. Monday.

Investigators also determined that Mr. Ball had fired his .22 caliber gun four times in hopes that someone would hear him. Several people said they heard gunshots but it wasn't enough to find Mr. Ball in time.

As far as I can tell, this was the only time — at least in recent history — that someone had died of a rattlesnake bite in Genesee County.

Anoles Demonstrate the Founder Effect

2012-02-05T10:43:00.000-06:00

Anolis sagrei. Photo credit Neil Losin

The following is a press release from the National Science Foundation.

Biologists who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas have uncovered a seldom-observed interaction between evolutionary processes.

Jason Kolbe, a biologist at the University of Rhode Island (URI)--along with colleagues at Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California, Davis--found that the lizards' genetic and morphological (form and structural) traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called the founder effect.

Their research results are published online today in the journal Science.

The founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It often results in the new population becoming genetically or morphologically different from the original population.

"We rarely observe the founder effect as it happens in nature, but we know that it occurs because islands are colonized by new species over time," said Kolbe.

"What we didn't know was how these evolutionary mechanisms [natural selection and the founder effect] interact with each other."

The scientists learned that differences caused by the founder effect persist even as populations adapt to new environments.

"Evolutionary biologists have been debating the importance of founder effects for more than 70 years," said Sam Scheiner, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research. "This study is the first to definitively demonstrate those effects for ecologically important traits."

Kolbe and colleagues randomly collected brown anole lizards from a large island near Great Abaco in the Bahamas, and released one pair on each of seven nearby islands whose lizard populations had been cleared by a recent hurricane.

The source island is forested, while the other islands have short, scrubby vegetation.

Previous research had found that anole lizards living in forests had longer hind limbs than those found in scrub habitat.

Lizards with longer limbs can run faster on the broad perches available in forests, while short-limbed lizards are more adept at moving on the narrower perches found in lower vegetation.

The scientists revisited each of the islands over the next four years to measure the lizards' limb length and collect tissue samples for genetic analysis.

All the new populations survived and increased an average of 13-fold in the first two years, before leveling off.

"We noticed a founder effect one year after starting the experiment, which resulted in differences among the lizards on the seven islands," Kolbe said.

"Some of the islands had lizards with longer limbs and some had lizards with shorter limbs, but that was random with respect to the vegetation on the new islands."

Because the structure of the vegetation on the islands differed from that of the source island, the scientists predicted that natural selection would lead the lizards to develop shorter limbs.

"Over the next four years, the lizards on all the islands experienced a decrease in leg length that is attributable to natural selection," Kolbe explained. "But those that started out with the longest hind limbs still had the longest hind limbs."

The fact that the populations maintained their order from longest to shortest limbs throughout the experiment means that both the founder effect and natural selection contributed to their current differences.

According to Kolbe, the founder effect is rarely observed in nature, with most previous research conducted in the laboratory.

"Ours is the first to study this process experimentally in a natural setting, and we were able to account for multiple evolutionary mechanisms through time," he said. "We manipulated the founding of these islands, but everything else about it was natural."

The next step in the research will be to determine how long the founder effect persists before other factors erase its signature.

Co-authors of the paper are Kolbe; Manuel Leal of Duke University; Thomas Schoener and David Spiller of the University of California, Davis; and Jonathan Losos of Harvard.

The study was also funded by the National Geographic Society.

Citation

Kolbe JJ, Leal M, Schoener TW, Spiller DA, Losos JB. 2012. Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards. Science 1209566 Published online 2 February 2012 [DOI:10.1126/science.1209566]

Salamanders & Road Salt

2012-02-04T10:43:00.000-06:00

Ambystoma maculatum. JCM

New Haven, Conn.—Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of roads apparently by evolving rapidly.

Salamanders breeding in roadside ponds are exposed to a host of contaminants from road runoff. Chief among these is sodium chloride from road salt, which reaches average concentrations of 70 times higher in roadside ponds compared to woodland ponds located several hundred feet from the road.

“While the evolutionary consequences of roads are largely unknown, we know they are strong agents of natural selection and set the stage for fast evolution,” said Steven Brady, the study’s author and a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. “These animals are growing up in harsh environments where they face a cocktail of contaminants, and it appears that they are evolving to cope with them.”

Brady found that salamanders in roadside ponds have higher mortality, grow at a slower rate and are more than likely to develop L-shaped spines and other disfigurements. In roadside ponds, only 56 percent of salamander eggs survive the first 10 weeks of development, whereas 87 percent survive in the woodland ponds. As roadside ponds become more toxic, the surviving salamanders may develop a genetic advantage over their counterparts living in woodland ponds.

The salamanders that survive year after year in the roadside ponds appear to have adapted to the harsh conditions. “The animals that come from roadside ponds actually do better—substantially better—than the ones that originate from woodland ponds when they’re raised together,” Brady said.

That animals adapt to human activities is not altogether new. For example, fish have begun to mature at smaller sizes in response to commercial fishing. But whereas humans directly utilize fish for consumption, salamanders are just bystanders to human activities. This suggests that the majority of species, which are not specifically targeted for human use, may be experiencing profound evolutionary consequences. And it appears that even species not being driven to extinction—and seldom thought about—are changing.

“This adaptation is certainly encouraging for conservation,” said Brady. “But our modern footprint is fundamentally changing species in ways we don’t understand and, critically, we don’t know if these adaptive responses will keep pace with environmental change.”

Brady observed the development of the salamanders in 10 ponds—five roadside and five woodland—at Yale Myers Forest and in the town of Willington, both in northeastern Connecticut. The paper, “Road to Evolution? Local Adaptation to Road Adjacency in an Amphibian (Ambystoma maculatum),” is available at www.nature.com.

Citation
Steven P. Brady. 2012. Road to evolution? Local adaptation to road adjacency in an amphibian (Ambystoma maculatum). Scientific Reports, 2012; 2 DOI:

Two New Blindsnakes From Oceania

2012-02-04T05:20:00.000-06:00

The widespread Ramphotyphlops braminus. JCM

Blind snakes of the family Typhlopidae number about 250 species and are found throughout the tropical and sub-tropical world in Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America. The family is also well represented in the island archipelagos of Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands, but its members are mostly unknown in Oceania north of Melanesia and east of Palau. The exception is the flower pot snake, Ramphotyphlops braminus, a parthenogenetic species that has been carried around the world by humans. More than 30 blind snake species have island distributions in the western Pacific, from the Philippines in the north to Fiji in the south. But, only two species are reported from Oceania to the north and east of this arc: Typhlops pseudosaurus from Guam (now regarded as Ramphotyphlops braminus and Ramphotyphlops acuticaudus from Palaua. Ramphotyphlops acuticaudus is similar to Ramphotyphlops flaviventer and related species from Halmahera eastward through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to Fiji is the only recognized species that occurs inside this island arc, and other than R. braminus, no blind snakes occur eastward in Micronesia. Two recent discoveries suggest blind snakes occur within the Caroline Islands and are possibhly widespread. In 1999, a typhlopid was collected on Pasa Island, Ant Atoll from inside a rotted Cocos trunk that was lying on the ground. Subsequently, the presence of blind snakes on Ulithi, approximately 2000 km to the west of Ant Atoll. Comparison of these specimens from Ant Atoll and Ulithi, along with more recently collected specimens, indicate that they represent two similar undescribed species of Ramphotyphlops. These two snakes have now been described byn Addison Wynn and colleagues (2012).

Ramphotyphlops adocetus is from Ant Atoll, Pasa Island Caroline Islands, and Ramphotyhlops hatmaliyeb is from Giilab Island, Ulithi, Caroline Islands

The authors point out such low-lying atolls as Ant and Ulithi are usually inhabited by widespread, highly adaptable species. Except for Ramphotyphlops adocetus, the terrestrial vertebrate fauna of Ant Atoll is a subset of more broadly distributed species also occurring on Pohnpei, and the reptiles found on Ant Atoll are all species inhabiting many of the Caroline Islands and beyond. The only other reptiles known solely from atolls in the Caroline Islands east of Palau are the geckos Perochirus scutellatus, endemic to (Kapingamarangi Atoll); and P. cf. scutellatus (endemic to Ulithi on Sorenleng Island; Bulbul, Giilab, Iaar, Soong, and Yeew islands) and Lepidodactylus oligoporus, known from only from a single island on Namoluk Atoll.

Pacific atolls, are recent phenomena and form form unconsolidated sand and gravel piled on top an emergent paleoreef, making them only 1000 to 2000 years old, but were built upon the rims of karst platforms exposed when sea levels were as much as 125 m lower during the peak of the last glaciation. Today’s atolls formed after present sea levels were reached after sea level was lowered 1.0 to 2.6 m about two thousand years ago. If the two new blind snakes require stable, perched atolls for habitat, they must have dispersed to Ant Atoll and Ulithi no more than two thousand years ago, possibly from the relatively close high islands of Pohnpei and Yap. But, the snakes remain unknown from those islands at the present time.

Citation
Wynn, A. H, Reynolds, RP, Buden, DW, Falanruw, M., & Lynch, B. 2012. The unexpected discovery of blind snakes (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) in Micronesia: two new species of Ramphotyphlops from the Caroline Islands. Zootaxa 3172:39-54.

Dog Survives Coral Snakebite

2012-02-02T16:46:00.000-06:00

It is good to know that coral snake antivenom, while apparently not available for humans in the USA, is available for dogs! The following story is from the Health New Digest.com.

Gainesville resident Larry Ferguson relaxes at home with his dogs, Max, left, and Whiskey, who survived a coral snake bite after being treated at the UF Small Animal Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Larry Ferguson.)

“Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black won’t hurt Jack” might be a familiar folk rhyme in Florida and elsewhere in the deep South to distinguish the deadly Eastern coral snake from the harmless scarlet king snake. But Larry Ferguson, who recently moved to Gainesville from Arkansas, had never heard of a coral snake, much less the danger they pose.

Alerted by his two dogs barking, Ferguson went outside to find a colorful banded snake dead near a clearly distressed dog in the yard. A call to his veterinarian, Dr. Janine Tash of Aalatash Animal Hospital in Gainesville, revealed that the dog, a 3-year-old pit bull terrier named Whiskey, had most likely been bitten by a coral snake

Ferguson was told that the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital was the only place his animal could receive the antivenom that could possibly save his life. He rushed Whiskey to the hospital’s emergency room.

“In the yard, he’d been panting heavily,” Ferguson said. “On the drive to the ER, I could see him shaking. I knew he’d been bitten.”

Upon Whiskey’s arrival at UF, however, emergency veterinarians noted that the dog was bright, alert and responsive with no visible signs of a snakebite, although they said this is not unusual because coral snakes have very small teeth. Whiskey received antivenom, but unfortunately developed paralysis despite the treatment.

“Within only a few hours, Whiskey began showing clinical signs, becoming totally paralyzed and unable to breathe,” said Dr. Luiz Bolfer, a resident with the UF Small Animal Hospital’s emergency and critical care service.

The dog, unable to breathe by himself, was placed on a mechanical ventilator for four days. The snake’s venom also led to acute kidney disease. Several different medications were administered to perfuse the animal’s kidneys, increase his urine output, decrease the acid in his stomach, regulate acidic content in his blood and control his irregular heartbeat, Bolfer said.

“Whiskey had no muscle ability,” said Ferguson, who manages a textbook store in Gainesville. “His diaphragm wouldn’t work. His lungs were fine, but his muscles wouldn’t allow him to use them.”

So Ferguson waited and hoped.

“My first inclination was to pay for the antivenom and if that didn’t work …” he said, his voice trailing. “I’d always heard of people spending a lot of money on pets. Initially, you might say you won’t do that, but you never know what you’ll do when you’re in the situation. I wound up doing a lot more than I thought I would.”

After four days at the UF Small Animal Hospital, Whiskey started to breathe on his own. Veterinarians took him off of the ventilator. The dog remained paralyzed, but was breathing normally. He began to improve a little every day, although veterinarians continued to treat him for the other problems and for pneumonia, a common complication associated with ventilator treatment

“Finally, he started moving his legs and we moved him to a bed on the floor,” said Bolfer. “Whiskey was still not able to swallow due to his muscle paralysis, so we placed a feeding tube that bypasses the mouth to deliver food directly to his stomach.”

On the eighth day, Whiskey began eating canned food on his own. The feeding tube was removed and 10 days after arrival, Whiskey was finally discharged and able to return home with his owner.

“He’ fine,” Ferguson said. “He’s just tired a lot, but he’s been walking a lot. He’s just a sweet dog to begin with.”

During the course of treatment, UF veterinarians finally found the snake’s tiny bite marks … on Whiskey’s tongue.

New 30-foot Fossil Croc from Africa

2012-02-01T12:36:00.001-06:00

Aegisuchus witmeri. A 30-foot, flat-headed crocodile. Original art work by Henry Tsai, University of Missouri

A University of Missouri researcher has identified a new species of prehistoric crocodile. The extinct creature, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today's crocodiles. Its discovery provides scientists with additional information about the evolution of crocodiles and how scientists can gain insight into ways to protect the species' environment and help prevent extinction.

The discovery was published this week in the journal PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science). "Aegisuchus witmeri or 'Shieldcroc' is the earliest ancestor of our modern crocodiles to be found in Africa," said Casey Holliday, co-researcher and assistant professor of anatomy in the MU School of Medicine. "Along with other discoveries, we are finding that crocodile ancestors are far more diverse than scientists previously realized."

Shieldcroc is the newest discovery of crocodile species dating to the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 95 million years ago. This period is part of the Mesozoic Era, which has been referred to as the "Age of the Dinosaurs;" however, numerous recent discoveries have led to some scientists calling the era the "Age of the Crocs," Holliday said.

Holliday identified Shieldcroc by studying a fossilized partial skull specimen, which was discovered in Morocco and held by the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto for several years before Holliday analyzed it. By analyzing blood vessel scarring on the bone, Holliday determined that the crocodile would have had a structure on top of its head, resembling a shield. The dents and bumps on the bone indicate veins delivered blood to a circular mound of skin, something never before seen in a crocodile. He said the shield was likely used as a display structure to attract mates and intimidate enemies and possibly as a thermo-regulator to control the temperature of the animal's head.

Holliday compared Shieldcroc's skull to those of other crocodilians. By comparing slopes of various bones, he found that the new species had a flatter skull than other known species. With this information, he believes it is unlikely that Shieldcroc wrestled dinosaurs on or near the shoreline. Instead, Holliday said the fossil indicates that Shieldcroc had thin jaws, likely used to catch fish.

"We believe Shieldcroc may have used its long face as a fish trap," said co-author Nick Gardner, an undergraduate researcher at Marshall University, who collaborated with Holliday on the study. "It is possible that it lay in wait until an unsuspecting fish swam in front of it. Then, if it was close enough, Shieldcroc simply opened its mouth and ate the fish without a struggle, eliminating the need for strong jaws."

In addition, Holliday analyzed Shieldcroc's skull and brain to estimate the overall size of the reptile. He said scientists often use head size of an animal to estimate its total length. Using several parameters, Holliday and Gardner estimate that this specimen had a 5-foot long head and was 30 feet long.

"Scientists often estimate body size of crocodilians based on the size of the skull," Gardner said. "However, estimating the body size of Shieldcroc was difficult, due to the enormous size of the skull compared to other crocodilians. To make a size estimate, we compared several features of the bone to many different species."

Although Shieldcroc lived more than 90 million years ago, Holliday said scientists can use information about the animal to gain a better understanding of today's crocodiles. He said this insight grows in importance as humans encroach on ecosystems.

"Today's crocodiles live in deltas and estuaries, the environments put under the most stress from human activity," Holliday said. "By understanding how these animals' ancestors became extinct, we can gain insight into how to protect and preserve the ecosystems vital to modern crocodiles."

The Shieldcroc fossil studied by Holliday and Gardner is being returned to the Royal Ontario Museum, where it will be put on display later this year.

Citation
Holliday, CM & Gardner NM. A New Eusuchian Crocodyliform with Novel Cranial Integument and Its Significance for the Origin and Evolution of Crocodylia. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e30471 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030471

Pythons and Cardiovascular Research

2012-01-30T18:11:00.000-06:00

The following story by Jeff Hansen, of The Birmingham News is being carried by AL.com. At left, University of Alabama biologist Stephen Secor holds a Burmese python.

University of Alabama biologist Stephen Secor fell in love with snakes in college.

He then spent his graduate years chasing coachwhip snakes and venomous sidewinders across the Mojave Desert, learning what and when they ate. And for the past 15 years, Secor has studied the Burmese python -- a docile ambush-feeder that may eat only every other month or even just once a year in the wild.

The Burmese python, it turns out, is a prime model for intense physiological changes after breaking its long fast, as Secor detailed in a 1998 Nature cover story. Within 48 to 72 hours after swallowing its prey, pythons show intense increases in metabolism -- up to 44-fold -- and rapid growth of organs, including a 40 percent increase in its heart size.

That change in heart size is the focus of recent research at the universities of Alabama and Colorado -- and payoff from the research may lead toward treatment for human congestive heart failure.

In 2006, Secor was contacted by cardiac biologist Leslie Leinwand of the University of Colorado. She wanted to discover what molecular mechanism caused the cells of the python's heart to increase in size so rapidly, and see if that same trigger had an effect in mammals.

One early experiment in their collaboration was simple but startling, and showed that there seemed to be some factor in the blood of the python that made the heart suddenly increase in size.

In the experiment, done by co-author and post-doctoral student Cecilia Riquelme at Colorado, blood plasma from a just-fed python was added to a culture of rat heart muscle cells. The plasma caused a significant increase in the size of the rat muscle cells.

"When they found that, they said, 'Ooo, we've got something,'" Secor said. The hunt for the underlying cause of this increased cell size began.

Findings
In a paper published in Science in October, the researchers found that:

The blood plasma of a just-fed python had a superabundance of fatty acids.

That plasma, when fed to a fasting Burmese python, made its heart grow in size, similar to eating a meal.

A mixture of three of those fatty acids given to pythons intravenously duplicated this heart growth.

That same mixture of fatty acids, given to living mice, significantly increased the size of their left ventricles -- the major pumping chamber of the heart -- and the size of their heart muscle cells.

Leinwand is pursuing possible application of this discovery to human heart disease.

"I think congestive heart failure would be the first and most prevalent thing to consider," she said. "It's important that people distinguish between congestive heart failure, which is chronic and debilitating, from a heart attack, which is very different and acute."

About 5 million people in the United States have heart failure, according to the National Institutes of Health, and it contributes to about 300,000 deaths each year.

Secor, meanwhile, has returned his focus to changes in the digestive system of the Burmese python as it begins or ends its meal.

"Hearts are OK," he said, "but it's nothing like the intestine."

The stomach of the Burmese python, for example, stops producing acid within minutes of the snake clearing its stomach. The intestines reduce their size, and their hair-like microvilli shorten dramatically.

"The Burmese python does all sorts of interesting things," Secor said.

The snakes that Secor uses in research studies are usually "no longer than this table," he said, pointing at his desk. Each weighs about one or two pounds.

Secor has done hundreds of snake surgeries over the years. In the experiments to give blood plasma of fed snakes to snakes that have been fasting, for example, he had to place a thin catheter into the liver vein of the snake.

His office shows his roots in general biology.

On the wall he has the 13-foot skin from his former family pet, a Burmese python named Linus. He also has long rows of animal skulls he uses in some of his biology classes. In cages next door he keeps some of the pythons and other animals that he takes during visits to schools.

"I do biology," Secor said, "for the love of biology."

Invasive Pythons Impact Native Wildlife: Evidence from Road Kill

2012-01-30T18:02:00.000-06:00

The ecological damage done by the invasive brown tree snake on Guam has mad biologists, conservationists and ecologists paranoid about invasive snakes. In the United States invasive species management is estimated to exceed $120 billion annually. Invasive species, including invasive snakes alter habitat structure, competition between species, reduce native predator populations, alter the trophic structure of ecosystems, and they deplete or extirpate native prey populations. Now, Michael Dorcas and colleagues have documented the impact of the Burmese python, Python bivittatus, on the native wildlife of the Florida Everglades in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Between 1993 and 1999, prior to invasive snakes in south Florida, raccoons, opossums and rabbits were the most frequent road kill. But from 2003 to 2011, road kill surveys found a 99.3%fewer raccoons, 98.9% fewer opossums, and no rabbits or foxes; the surveys also found 94.1% fewer white-tailed deer and 87.5% fewer bobcats. During the 2003 to 2011 time frame annual removals of Burmese pythons rose from less than 50 per year to 300-400 per year. Raccoons, opossums, bobcats, deer and rabbits are all species documented in the diet of the invasive pythons in Everglades National Park. The native mammals are naive to the danger posed by the pythons, making them susceptible to python predation.

While raccoons, rabbits, and opossums are relatively common, concern for the predation pressure placed on endangered birds and mammals in south Florida has been expressed by conservationists and biologists. The entire study can be found on- line.

Citation:
Dorca, ME, Wilson, JE, Reed, RN, Snow, RW, Rochford, MR, Miller, MA, Meshaka, WE, Andreadis, PT, Mazzotti, FJ, Romagosa, CM, Hart, KM. 2010. Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park. PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.1115226109

Endemic Species, Biodiversity Hot Spots & Overlooked and Underestimated Species Diversity

2012-01-28T07:31:00.000-06:00

Three undescribed species

of Plica, with locations and

number of scale rows at

midbody. Many undescribed

species of reptiles and amphibians

remain to be discovered

Conservation International reports that biodiversity hotspots hold high numbers of endemic species, but their combined area of remaining habitat cover only 2.3% of the Earth's land surface. Each hotspot is considered threatened and has lost at least 70 percent of its original natural vegetation. Over 50 percent of the world’s plant species and 42 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate species are endemic to the 34 biodiversity hotspots.

In a forthcoming paper, Swenson et al. (2012) report the Andes-Amazon basin of Peru and Bolivia as one of the most data-poor, and biologically rich areas of the world. While conservationists and scientists agree the region has extremely high endemism, perhaps the highest in the world, little was known about the geographic distributions of these species and ecosystems within country boundaries. Swenson et al. developed conservation data on endemic biodiversity (~800 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and plants) and terrestrial ecological systems (~90; groups of vegetation communities resulting from the action of ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients) to conduct a fine scale conservation prioritization across the Amazon watershed of Peru and Bolivia. The authors modeled the geographic distributions of 435 endemic plants and all 347 endemic vertebrate species, from existing museum and herbaria specimens at a regional conservation practitioner’s scale (1:250,000- 1:1,000,000), based on the best available tools and geographic data. They mapped ecological systems, endemic species concentrations, and irreplaceable areas with respect to national level protected areas. They found that sizes of endemic species distributions ranged widely, from a minimum of about 20 km² to more than 200,000 km² across the study area. Endemic bird and mammal species richness was greatest within a narrow 2500-3000 m elevation band along the length of the Andes Mountains. Endemic amphibian richness was highest at 1000-1500 m elevation and concentrated in the southern half of the study area. Of interest, amphibians displayed peaks of endemism (21-29 species per 1-km² cell) on lower slopes, between 1000 and 1500 m elevation. These areas were concentrated in southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and in an isolated endemic area in the northern Peruvian department of San Martin. In the study region they found 177 endemic species of amphibians in 30 genera. Given that the region is poorly known many species undoubtedly remain to be found and the challenges involved in conserving the biodiversity of this region are considerable.

Thee more undescribed

species of Plica. The

top photo, may be the real,

Plica plica.

While the authors looked at most of the major groups of terrestrial vertebrates, for some unknown and unstated reason they left out reptiles. For the past few months I have been looking at some widespread neotropical reptiles and am finding a considerable amount of cryptic diversity that has been overlooked and ignored. An excellent example is the widespread lizard, Plica plica. Some times called the tree runner, these arboreal lizards sit on tree trunks and lap up ants as they march passed. While there are currently three recognized species in the genus (P. umbra, P. plica, and P. luminaria), Plica plica appears to be a superspecies. The most recent discussion of this species is probably Avila-Pires' (1997) account where she reports Plica plica has 121-162 scales around the middle of the body and 74-95 ventrals. The list of specimens she examined included material from Guyana, Peru, Suriname, as well as Brazil.

To date I have looked at more than 60 specimens from about 25 localities ranging from Trinidad and Venezuela to Ecuador and southern Peru. My range for scales around midbody is 97 to 202, with a ventral range of 48 to 96. Conservatively, these specimens represent at least 12 species, but probably 14 or 15 species. This is of concern because species like Plica plica are often considered species of least concern,due to their perceived widespread distribution. So, yes biodiversity hot spots are of interest but it appears that much of the rest of the world is also harboring undetected, cryptic biodiversity also.

Literature

Avila-Pires, TCS, 1997. Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoologische Verhandelingen 299:1-706.

Swenson JJ, Young BE, Beck S, Comer P, Cordova JH, Dyson J, Embert D, Encarnacion F, Ferreira W, Franke I, Grossman D, Hernandez P, Herzog SK, Josse C, Navarro G, Pacheco V, Stein BA, Timana M, Tovar A, Tovar C, Vargas J, Zambrana-Torrelio CM 2012. Plant and animal endemism in the eastern Andean slope: Challenges to conservation. BMC Ecology 2012, 12:1 (27 January 2012).

Gopher Snake Enters Hawaii Illegally!

2012-01-27T04:56:00.003-06:00

HDOA photo of Nimitz snake, Jan. 25, 2012

MauiNow.com an on-line news outlet for Hawaii is carrying a story by Wendy Osher titled, "PHOTOS: Snake Captured on Oahu, Ferret Found in Hilo." The article reports an "illegal snake" being weed-whacked to death in Honolulu and an illegal ferret was found in Hilo over the weekend (last weekend). The 24 inch snake was killed by a landscaping crew on Oahu Wednesday morning near the Honolulu airport. A crew from Island Landscaping was cutting grass near a freeway on-ramp, when the snake was injured by the weed-whacker. It died shortly after. Police were notified and the snake was turned over to inspectors with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Snakes are illegal to possess and transport to Hawaii because of the threat they pose to native animal populations that they would compete with for food and habitat.

The snake is clearly a member of the genus Pituophis, and given the number of flights each day from the lower 48 (particularly the west coast) to the island paradise it is not too surprising that a common snake species like this one arrived in Hawaii as an accidental tourist. Given its proximity to the airport and the emaciated appearance it seems likely a waif as opposed to an escape pet. It is unknown if the landscape crew asked the snake for a passport or visitor ID before attacking it with the weed-wacker. Really - you can't make up stories like this.

Leatherback turtle sanctuary set up on West Coast

2012-01-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

To the left: The Pacific leatherback sea turtle population has declined 95 percent since the 1980s. Photo: David Wimpfheimer /seaturtles.org

Federal regulators designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean along the West Coast as critical habitat for the Pacific leatherback turtle Friday, far less than originally proposed but still the largest protected area ever established in American waters.

The protected area is the first permanent safe haven in the waters of the continental United States for endangered leatherbacks, which swim 6,000 miles every year to eat jellyfish outside the Golden Gate.

The designation, by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, was a bittersweet victory for environmentalists, who have been fighting to protect the marine reptiles from extinction.

The 41,914 square miles that the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service protected along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington did not include the migration routes the turtles take to get to the feeding grounds. That means 28,686 square miles of habitat originally proposed for the designation was left unprotected.

"It's a big step in the right direction, but we want protections for migratory pathways," said Ben Enticknap, the Pacific project manager for Oceana, an international nonprofit dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. "I guess we've got a lot more work to do to get there."

How protection works
The regulations will restrict projects that harm the turtles or the gelatinous delicacies they devour. The government will be required to review and, if necessary, regulate agricultural waste, pollution, oil spills, power plants, oil drilling, storm-water runoff and liquid natural gas projects along the California coast between Santa Barbara and Mendocino counties and off the Oregon and Washington coasts.

Aquaculture, tidal, wave turbine, desalination projects and nuclear power plants will have to consider impacts on jellyfish and sea turtles. For instance, the repermitting of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, in San Luis Obispo, will probably come under scrutiny.

The regulations are a response to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in 2009 by the nonprofit environmental groups Turtle Island Restoration Network, the Center for Biological Diversity and Oceana. The groups had been trying since 2007 to establish critical habitat for leatherbacks under the Endangered Species Act. They accused the government of failing to protect the reptiles from gill-net and longline fishing, oil drilling and a variety of other activities, including wave-energy projects.

California habitat
The new ruling covers 16,910 square miles along California's coast from Point Arena (Mendocino County) to Point Arguello (Santa Barbara County) to a depth of 9,000 feet. The remaining turtle habitat stretches from Cape Flattery, Wash., to Cape Blanco, Ore. seaward to a depth of a little more than 6,500 feet.

The only other critical habitat established for leatherbacks in U.S. waters is in a small area along the western end of St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands. There is also some critical habitat in Puerto Rico for green sea turtles and hawksbill sea turtles, but nothing as large as the new designation.

Turtle advocates are worried that the decision to leave out migratory routes will leave the giant sea creatures vulnerable to long lines and drift nets dragged by oceangoing vessels, which often mistakenly hook and entangle marine mammals and turtles.

Both longline and gill-net fishing are banned along the West Coast during leatherback migration, but Teri Shore, the program director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said the fisheries service is considering plans to expand gill-net fishing for swordfish.

More threats
"Threats to these turtles are increasing, not diminishing," said Shore, whose organization also goes by its Web name, SeaTurtles.org. "We don't want to see the leatherback turtles go the way of the grizzly bear and disappear."

Leatherbacks, known scientifically as Dermochelys coriacea, are the largest sea turtles in the world, sometimes measuring 9 feet long and weighing as much as three refrigerators, or more than 1,200 pounds. Their life span is not fully known, but biologists believe they live at least 40 years and possibly as long as 100 years.

The worldwide population has declined by 95 percent since the 1980s because of commercial fishing, egg poaching, destruction of nesting habitat, degradation of foraging habitat and changing ocean conditions. Listed as endangered since 1970 under the Endangered Species Act, there are believed to be only 2,000 to 5,700 nesting females left in the world.

Pacific leatherbacks leave their nesting grounds in Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea and swim across the Pacific Ocean to forage along the West Coast in the summer and fall. It is the longest known migration of any marine reptile.

Golden Gate jellyfish
They are often seen feeding on jellyfish in the shipping lanes outside the Golden Gate, in Monterey Bay and Bodega Bay. Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, said Friday that he will introduce legislation designating the leatherback as California's official marine reptile in an attempt to call attention to its plight.

The newly protected zones will extend 200 miles out to sea, but they won't protect the slow-moving creatures from floating plastic bags, which look like jellyfish. A recent study found plastic in the intestinal tracts of 37 percent of 370 leatherbacks that had been found dead.

Multiple Paternity, Green Turtles, & Climate Change

2012-01-26T05:10:00.000-06:00

A hatching Green Turtle. Photo credit:
Kimberly Stokes, University of Exetar.

The mating habits of marine turtle may help protect them against the effects of climate change, according to new research led by the University.

Published yesterday (25 January 2012) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study shows how mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.

The gender of baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the eggs during incubation, with warmer temperatures leading to more females being born. Higher average global temperatures mean that offspring from some populations are predominantly female. This is threatening the future of some populations and there are concerns that inbreeding within groups due to a lack of males will lead to health problems.

The study focused on a population of the green turtle, Chelonia mydas, nesting in Northern Cyprus, where, due to the high summer temperatures, 95 per cent of babies are female. The study involved a team from the University of Exeter (UK), University of Lefke (Turkey) and North Cyprus Society for Protection of Turtles. Through DNA testing, they were able to ascertain the paternity of baby turtles and, contrary to what they had expected, they found a large number of mating males.

The researchers found that 28 males sired offspring with 20 nesting females: an average of 1.4 males for every female. This means that each female’s offspring were sired by one or more fathers. The researchers were surprised to find no evidence that any males fathered offspring born in that season with more than one female.

The Cornwall Campus-based research team had thought that one single male might be breeding with multiple females. However, their results suggest that a large number of males are mating with different females at different times. This means that there is less chance of inbreeding.

The team also carried out satellite tracking to discover that males cover thousands of miles of ocean within one breeding season. This suggests they could have also been mating with females at other sites in Turkey or North Africa.

Lead researcher University of Exeter Biosciences PhD student Lucy Wright said: “It is fantastic to know that there are so many males fathering offspring in this population of green turtles. There is great concern that a lack of males could lead to inbreeding in small populations of marine turtles, potentially causing a population crash. However our research suggests that there are more males out there than expected considering the female-biased hatchling sex ratios and that their mating patterns will buffer the population against any potential feminising effects of climate change.”

Corresponding author Dr Annette Broderick added: “Climate change remains a great threat to marine turtles, but our ongoing research will help us focus on where the priority areas are for management that may help them cope with future change.”

The work was funded by a NERC studentship with additional support from NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Sheffield.

Citation
L. I. Wright, K. L. Stokes, W. J. Fuller, B. J. Godley, A. McGowan, R. Snape, T. Tregenza, & A. C. Broderick. Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.2285

Oldest Dinosaur Nursery

2012-01-26T05:01:00.000-06:00

UTM professor Robert Reisz and his team unearthed this skull of adult and complete embryo of the Early Jurassic (190-million-year-old) dinosaur Massospondylus in the South African nesting site. Photo courtesy of Robert Reisz.

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus-revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behaviour in early dinosaurs. The newly unearthed dinosaur nesting ground predates previously known nesting sites by 100 million years, according to study authors.

A new study led by University of Toronto Mississauga paleontologist Robert Reisz, with co-author, Professor David Evans of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Royal Ontario Museum, along with a group of international researchers, describes clutches of eggs, many with embryos, as well as tiny dinosaur footprints, providing the oldest known evidence that the hatchlings remained at the nesting site long enough to at least double in size.

At least 10 nests have been discovered at several levels at this site, each with up to 34 round eggs in tightly clustered clutches. The distribution of the nests in the sediments indicate that these early dinosaurs returned repeatedly to this site, a behaviour known as nesting fidelity, and likely assembled in groups to lay their eggs, (colonial nesting), the oldest known evidence of such behaviour in the fossil record. The large size of the mother, at six metres in length, the small size of the eggs, about six to seven centimetres in diameter, and the highly organized nature of the nest suggest that the mother may have arranged them carefully after she laid them.

"The eggs, embryos, and nests come from the rocks of a nearly vertical road cut only 25 metres long," said Reisz, a professor of biology at U of T Mississauga. "Even so, we found ten nests, suggesting that there are a lot more in the cliff, still covered by tons of rock. We predict that many more nests will be eroded out in time as natural weathering processes continue."

The fossils were found in sedimentary rocks from the Early Jurassic Period in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa. This site has previously yielded the oldest known embryos belonging to Massospondylus, a relative of the giant, long-necked sauropods of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. (View a video of the excavation.)

"Even though the fossil record of dinosaurs is extensive, we actually have very little fossil information about their reproductive biology, particularly for early dinosaurs," said Evans (pictured left, bottom, with Reisz, above), associate curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum. "This amazing series of 190 million year old nests gives us the first detailed look at dinosaur reproduction early in their evolutionary history, and documents the antiquity of nesting strategies that are only known much later in the dinosaur record."

The study, co-authored by Drs. Hans-Dieter Sues (Smithsonian Institute, U.S.), Eric Roberts (James Cook University, Australia), and Adam Yates (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Citation
R. R. Reisz, D. C. Evans, E. M. Roberts, H.-D. Sues, & A. M. Yates. Oldest known dinosaurian nesting site and reproductive biology of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph Massospondylus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1109385109

Rattlesnake Roundup in Georgia Switches to Humane Wildlife Festival, Last Remaining Georgia Roundup, in Whigham, Should Follow Suit

2012-01-24T17:30:00.000-06:00

EDR, Photo credit D. Bruce Means

The eastern diamondback is the largest rattlesnake in the world. Adults are typically four to five feet long and weigh four to five pounds, but a large individual can reach or exceed six feet in length and weigh 12 pounds or more. Scientific studies over the past decade have documented range-wide population declines and significant range contractions for the eastern diamondback. The Center for Biological Diversity is reporting the following story.

People fear rattlesnakes, but in reality eastern diamondbacks pose a very small public-safety risk. The snakes are certainly venomous, but more people are killed every year by lightning strikes and bee stings. Those most likely to be bitten are snake handlers who either keep the snakes in captivity or work with them professionally. Still, malicious killings by those who perceive the snakes as a threat are contributing to its decline.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Coastal Plains Institute, Protect All Living Species and One More Generation sent a letter to the Evans County Wildlife Club today praising its recent decision to change its rattlesnake roundup in Claxton, Ga., to a wildlife festival where snakes will be celebrated instead of collected by the hundreds and butchered for their meat and skins. In a separate letter, the groups today also presented a petition with more than 5,000 signatures to the Whigham Community Club asking it to make similar changes to its annual rattlesnake roundup in Whigham, Ga., the state’s last outdated roundup.

“We’re so happy the rattlesnake roundup in Claxton is being switched to a humane event that celebrates these great native animals and recognizes the importance of saving them,” said Collette Adkins Giese, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity who works to protect rare and vanishing reptiles and amphibians. “The Whigham Community Club needs to follow suit — it needs to recognize that massacres of endangered animals are just wrong, and clearly the wrong message to send to young people about our relationship to the natural world.”

The Evans County Wildlife Club is replacing its annual rattlesnake roundup with the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, which will feature displays of the imperiled eastern diamondback rattlesnake and other native wildlife. Educational programs, entertainment and a variety of other activities will be offered at the event, held during the second weekend in March.

“We congratulate the sponsors of the Claxton event for recognizing that all wildlife has a valuable place in nature,” said Dr. Bruce Means, director of the Coastal Plains Institute and an expert on the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. “Now we hope to get the sponsors of the Whigham roundup to see the same light.”

“When the rattlers are collected at the Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup this weekend, we hope that it will be for the last time,” said Olivia and Carter Ries, student founders of One More Generation. “Participants in the Whigham rattlesnake roundup need to recognize the impact they are having on the environment.”

Rattlesnake roundups are depleting populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes: Analysis of data from four roundups in the southeastern United States shows a steady decline in the weights of prize-winning eastern diamondbacks and the number collected. This once-common species is being pushed toward extinction not only by hunting pressure but also by habitat loss and road mortality. In August, the Center and allies filed a petition to protect the snake under the Endangered Species Act.

“Georgia is blessed with a rich natural heritage of animals and plants. All of these species — even the rattlesnakes — should be allowed to exist,” said Bill Matturro of Protect All Living Species. “Rattlesnakes serve an important role in the food chain by controlling rodent populations and should be respected.”

Daboia Envenomation and the Pituitary Gland

2012-01-23T18:55:00.003-06:00

The Russell’s vipers (Daboia russelii and D. siamensis) inhabit South and South East Asian, they are large and dangerous and do not hesitate to bite. Tun-Pe et al. (1987) suggested that envenomation by Russell's vipers could produce a disorder that resembled Sheehan’s syndrome. They investigated pituitary function in nine patients that were in shock after envenomation by Russell's viper and another 24 individuals who had been severely envenomed two weeks to 24 years prior to the study. Three out of the nine patients had hypoglycemia and inappropriately low serum cortisol, plasma growth hormone, and plasma prolactin concentrations. Four who died showed pituitary hemorrhage and one had adrenal hemorrhage. Of the 24 who had apparently recovered from bites, seven had clinical symptoms of hypopituitarism and no response in plasma growth hormone or prolactin concentrations to symptom-producing insulin-induced hypoglycemia. Four men with symptoms showed low serum testosterone concentrations; serum thyroxin was also low in these men but not in two women with menstrual disturbances and impaired insulin responses. Of the 17 individuals without clinical evidence of endocrine disease, and four had pituitary hormonal abnormalities.

In 2011, Antonypillai and colleagues found people envenomed by Russell’s vipers suffer coagulopathy, bleeding, shock, neurotoxicity, acute kidney injury and local tissue damage leading to severe morbidity and mortality; and report the unusual complication of hypopituitarism. They described the first case of hypopituitarism following Russell’s viper bite in Sri Lanka. A 49-year-old man bitten and seriously envenomed by D. russelii in 2005 was treated with antivenom, recovered from the acute effects but remained unwell. Three years later hypopituitarism, with deficiencies of gonadal, steroid and thyroid axes was diagnosed and he showed marked improvement after replacement of anterior pituitary hormones. The authors attributed the hypopituitarism to Daboiai envenomation. Russell’s viper venom is known to cause acute and chronic hypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus, possibly through deposition of fibrin microthrombi and hemorrhage in the pituitary gland that result from the action of procoagulant enzymes and haemorrhagins in the venom. Forty nine cases of hypopituitarism following Russell’s viper bite have been described in the literature. More than 85% of these patients suffered acute kidney injury immediately after the bite, but steroid replacement in acute hypopituitarism is lifesaving.

Although the pituitary gland regulates puberty, it continues to function throughout a person's life and damage can result in failure of the gland to produce the needed hormones. Envenomation by Russell's Vipers often result in significant damage to the gland and hypopituitarism or Sheehan's Syndrome, as suggested by these two studies. Both conditions have symptoms, such as a constant feeling of cold and an unusual amount of fatigue, but what distinguishes them is a loss sex drive, fertility, body hair, and muscle mass (especially pubic hair), while women lose their body shape as they lose weight, and some may lose cognitive skills as the condition progresses.

Citations
Antonypillai CN., Wass, JAH., Warrell, DA, and Rajaratnam, HN. 2011. Hypopituitarism following envenoming by Russell’s Vipers (Daboia siamensis and D. russelii) resembling Sheehan’s syndrome: first case report from Sri Lanka, a review of the literature and recommendations for endocrine management. Oxford Journal of Medicine, 104: 97-108.

Tun-Pe, Warrell DA., Tin Nu, S. Phillips, RE., Moore, RA. 1987. Acute and chronic pituitary failure resembling Sheehan's syndrome following bites by Russell's Vipers in Burma. The Lancet 330: 763-767.

Invasive Giant Constricting Snakes, News and Comments on Regulations.

2012-01-21T08:39:00.000-06:00

Python sebae. JCM

The following is a combined press release from USFW and an opinion piece that was in the Miami Herald.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized a rule that would ban the importation and interstate transportation of four nonnative constrictor snakes that threaten the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems across the United States, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today.

The final rule – which incorporates public comments, economic analysis, and environmental assessment – lists the Burmese python, the yellow anaconda, and the northern and southern African pythons as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act in order to restrict their spread in the wild in the United States. It is expected to publish in the Federal Register in the coming days.

“Thanks to the work of our scientists, Senator Bill Nelson, and others, there is a large and growing understanding of the real and immediate threat that the Burmese python and other invasive snakes pose to the Everglades and other ecosystems in the United States,” Salazar said. “The Burmese python has already gained a foothold in the Florida Everglades, and we must do all we can to battle its spread and to prevent further human contributions of invasive snakes that cause economic and environmental damage.”

The four species were assessed by the U.S. Geological Survey as having a high risk of establishing populations and spreading to other geographic areas in that agency’s 2009 report, Giant Constrictors: Biological and Management Profiles and an Establishment Risk Assessment for Large Species of Pythons, Anacondas, and the Boa Constrictor.

Sixty days after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register, interstate transport and importation of live individuals, gametes, viable eggs, or hybrids of the Burmese python, northern and southern African pythons and yellow anaconda into the United States will be prohibited. None of these species is native to the United States.

“Burmese pythons have already caused substantial harm in Florida,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “By taking this action today, we will help prevent further harm from these large constrictor snakes to native wildlife, especially in habitats that can support constrictor snake populations across the southern United States and in U.S. territories.”

Ashe said the Service will continue to consider listing as injurious the five other species of nonnative snakes that the agency also proposed in 2010 – the reticulated python, boa constrictor, DeSchauensee’s anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda. Once that process is completed, the Service will publish final determinations on those species.

Most people who own any of these four species will not be affected. Those who own any of these four species of snakes will be allowed to keep them if allowed by state law. However, they cannot take, send, or sell them across state lines. Those who wish to export these species may do so from a designated port within their state after acquiring appropriate permits from the Service.

Anaconda
The Burmese python has established breeding populations in South Florida, including the Everglades, that have caused significant damage to wildlife and that continue to pose a great risk to many native species, including threatened and endangered species. Burmese pythons on North Key Largo have killed and eaten highly endangered Key Largo wood rats, and other pythons preyed on endangered wood storks.

In the Everglades alone, state and federal agencies have spent millions of dollars addressing threats posed by pythons – an amount far less than is needed to combat their spread. If these species spread to other areas, state and federal agencies in these areas could be forced to spend more money for control and containment purposes.

Interior and its partners, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, South Florida Water Management District, and others are committed to controlling the spread of Burmese pythons and other large nonnative constrictors. For example, FWC recently implemented the use of a “snake sniffing” dog to help in its efforts to find and eradicate large constrictor snakes. This dog was present at the Secretary’s announcement today, along with a 13-foot-long Burmese python.

Under the injurious wildlife provisions of the Lacey Act, the Department of the Interior is authorized to regulate the importation and interstate transport of wildlife species determined to be injurious to humans, the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.

For more information on injurious wildlife and efforts to list the four species of snakes as injurious under the Lacey Act, please visit: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/news.html.

Today's Miami Herald is carrying the following commentary by Carl Hiaasen.

Those big snakes are here to stay

Now that federal regulators have outlawed the importation of humongous, gator-eating pythons, all Floridians can breathe a grateful sigh of relief. Finally we are saved from this insidious reptilian plague!

Sorry, but no. We might as well try to ban fleas.

As anybody who knows anything about the Everglades will tell you, the giant Burmese python is here to stay. If last year’s hard freeze didn’t kill off the tropical snakes, nothing short of a nuclear disaster will do it.

The import ban on the Burmese and three other species of constrictors — which was announced last week — is being hailed by the Obama administration as a victory for Florida’s native environment. In reality, it’s just a classic lesson of how Washington mulls and stalls until things are out of hand.

That there was an actual debate about the invasive snake crisis is incredible to the point of satire. Some reptile dealers and breeders, joined by a few clueless Republican lawmakers (none of whom had experienced a 15-foot python in their swimming pool), claimed that a ban on imports and interstate sales would be “job killing.”

As one who once collected and bred snakes, I cannot overstate how laughably bogus that position was. The realm of commercial reptile dealing, which has always had a sketchy element, is full of clever folks who always find ways to market different exotic species when one becomes unavailable. Not one real job would have been lost.

Still, the “herp” industry — wholesale and retail herpetology enthusiasts — hired lobbyists to fight the proposed ban, and the big-snake argument dragged on for six ridiculous years. During that period, untold thousands of baby pythons were hatched in the wilds of South Florida and dutifully commenced to devour the local fauna.

By the time the ban was approved, the government’s original list of “injurious” snake species had been politically pared to four — the Burmese python, the yellow anaconda and two species of African pythons.

Spared from the blacklist was the common boa constrictor, one of the most popular species among pet owners, and one of the most likely to be turned free when it becomes a little too interested in the family poodle. Boas don’t grow as hefty as pythons, but they are equally fond of our sunny climate and tasty bird population.

The fact is, there are already so many of these snakes being captive-bred in this country that a ban on imports is essentially meaningless. Most serious reptile dealers buy from U.S. breeders who specialize in extravagantly hued strains, the product of years of genetic tinkering.

It’s true that certain exotic species won’t mate in captivity, and must be caught in the wild and then shipped here. However, that’s not the case with the four snakes named in the new federal ban.

Pythons and yellow anacondas reproduce exuberantly, with no shyness, in robust, rat-like numbers. The time is long past when their importation is necessary to the trade.

The significant part of the federal ban, which takes effect in March, is the illegalizing of interstate sales of Burmese pythons, their eggs and hybrids. That will sure impact the sales of some reptile dealers, but there’s nothing to prevent a customer from purchasing as many snakes as they want from an in-state breeder.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re a reptile fancier in South Florida or North Dakota. If you’ve got a nice warm room in your house and a lovestruck pair of pythons, you will have bushels of fertile python eggs.

The snakes that now roam the Everglades are most likely descended from those set loose when Hurricane Andrew flattened rural reptile farms in the summer of 1992. The jumbo specimens might well be original refugees from that storm, their love lives spiced by chance encounters with ex-pet pythons whose owners had lost (or purposely ditched) them.

So ubiquitous is the python presence that the notoriously slug-like Florida Wildlife Commission last year took steps that practically bans private ownership of the Burmese and seven other species, for new collectors. Herp lovers who already owned the snakes could keep them if they bought a permit and agreed to implant microchips before July 2010.

When it comes to environmental protections, rarely does the state of Florida take a leading role over the feds. The delay speaks to the embarrassing gridlock in the nation’s capital, where even a pernicious snake infestation generates pious, ideological fuming.

Sen. Bill Nelson and others worked long and hard to get the Department of Interior to do something, and a ban is a probably a good thing to have on the books as a precedent before the next invasive species settles in.

But as a way of containing the Burmese python, it’s way too little, way too late. They’re here, they’re hungry, they’re happy — and they’re getting it on.

Time to Death - Boas Monitor Prey's Heartbeat During Constriction

2012-01-19T05:08:00.000-06:00

A threatening Boa constrictor. JCM

The 19th century literature on constriction by snakes often describes the prey as being crushed. And, for many years it was thought that constricting snakes killed their prey by preventing the prey from breathing. A coil from the snake's body was tightened each time the prey exhaled, gases returning the the prey's lungs would have to be exhaled, so when the prey exhaled the snake tightened its hold, making it impossible for the prey to inhale. There was another hypothesis that was overlooked. In 1912 Frank Wall proposed snakes induce asphyxia by essentially stopping blood flow to the heart.

A new study by Scott Boback and colleagues suggests that constriction may be more sophisticated than previously thought. Killing prey by constriction is both energy expensive and potentially dangerous to the snake, constriction requires and significant increase in aerobic respiration and the prey may retaliate and injure the snake. The authors tested constricting boa constrictors to see if they adjusted their hold on prey. They developed a method of isolating a rat's heartbeat as a potential cue, by implanting a simulated heart in a dead rat that replicated the size, rate and stroke volume of a rodent heart. They then tested how the constriction effort varied as snakes constricted rats with: a simulated heartbeat throughout constriction; a simulated heartbeat for the first half of constriction and then shut off, and no heartbeat. The results suggest tightness and duration of a constricting snake’s coils are timed to perfection, matching the heartbeat and weakening state of the snake’s prey.

Snakes constricting dead prey with a simulated heart beat constricted for a much longer time than in previous studies (averages of 12 vs 23 minutes). The authors propose that longer constriction times may have been required prior to the evolution of endotherms (birds and mammals) because ectotherms have slower metabolisms and can survive for longer periods of time with reduced amounts of oxygen.

Citation
S. M. Boback, A. E. Hall, K. J. McCann, A. W. Hayes, J. S. Forrester and C. F. Zwemer. 2012. Snake modulates constriction in response to prey's heartbeat. Biology Letters doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.1105.

Joseph T. Collins, 1938-2012

2012-01-17T16:49:00.000-06:00

Joe Collins studies a 64-inch Western rat snake during the Kansas Herpetoligical Society's Spring 2003 Field Trip at the Wilson State Fishing Lake and Wildlife Area. During the field trip, at least 35 species of snakes and reptiles were gathered. That is nearly a third of the 98 species found in Kansas.

The following story is being reported by the Kansas City Star.

As far as Joe Collins was concerned, snakes have had a bad rap ever since the Garden of Eden.

Mr. Collins’ passion for herpetology inspired generations of students and outdoors enthusiasts.

“For 60 years, I have been obsessed with herpetology,” Mr. Collins said in a video shot by Dan Krull. “I make no apologies for it ... the thrill of discovery just can’t be beat.”

Mr. Collins, who founded the Center for North American Herpetology and was a former instructor at the University of Kansas, died Saturday of a heart attack in Florida. He was 72.

Mr. Collins and his wife, Suzanne, were on their annual five-week trip to document wildlife – such as snakes, turtles and alligators – when he was stricken.

“He was a great mentor to students of all ages, from the very smallest student who might come to him with a tiny little snake to Ph.D. students working on their dissertation,” Suzanne Collins said.

As news of his death spread, many of those who considered Mr. Collins a mentor offered tributes to him on Facebook.

“I remember all these excited kids (including me) running up to Joe with pillow cases full of snakes and lizards, and Joe being equally excited to educate them about what they found,” Mike Zerwekh of San Diego wrote in a forum dedicated to Mr. Collins. “Since then, I’ve made a lot of friends and had some great adventures finding the animals I love. If it wasn’t for Joe, I’m not sure any of that would have happened. He was a true inspiration ... ”

Snakes have a reputation for being evil, which Mr. Collins blamed on the biblical story. But he loved telling audiences how beneficial snakes are to the environment, Suzanne Collins said. They eat enormous numbers of insects and disease-carrying, crop-eating rodents.

“He considered reptiles and amphibians to be his animals,” she said. “He was so passionate and dedicated his life to it.”

Travis W. Taggart, curator of herpetology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University, said Mr. Collins’ enthusiasm was infectious.

“He really had an eye for people who were wide-eyed about herpetology,” Taggart said. “He was really good at nurturing it and feeding those interests.”

Most people have hobbies, Taggart said, but Mr. Collins didn’t. He was focused at all times on herpetology.

“He woke up thinking about it, and he went to bed thinking about it,” Taggart said.

While Mr. Collins often said he disliked writing, he wrote numerous books. By his own count, he wrote more books about Kansas wildlife than anyone in the history of the state. That’s because he knew books were a vital way to convey information, said Bob Gress, director of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita.

Perhaps Mr. Collins’ proudest writing accomplishment was serving as co-author for a Peterson Field Guide: “Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America.” Snake enthusiasts consider it the bible of herpetology.

“He was one of those special people that could bridge the academia world with the hobbyist,” Gress said. “He brought interest to the masses.”

Taggart said he would talk to Mr. Collins frequently – about every other day – about one thing or another.

“I’ll miss those conversations,” he said. “You tend to take it for granted. There was a whole lot of wisdom there to tap into.

“It’s a little scary going forward not having that insight and that push.”

Taggart said his herpetology decisions will be guided by a simple question going forward: What would Joe have done if he were still here?

Mr. Collins’ legacy will continue to blossom in the years ahead, he said.

“He’s touched so many people, it can’t help but go on,” Taggart said. “He had so many great ideas and got so many things started.”

A memorial service will be held in Lawrence, Suzanne Collins said, but details haven’t been finalized.

Biosensor Technology for Snake Venom

2012-01-17T05:11:00.000-06:00

The following story by T. Nandakumar is from The Hindu, originally published in November 1, 2011 and was sent by Dr. A. Buji Kumar.

Naja naja, JCM

A team of researchers at the State Inter-University Centre for Excellence in Bioinformatics (SIUCEB) under the University of Kerala is working on the development of a biosensor for identification of snake venom that could help bring down the mortality rate of snake bite victims in the country significantly.

The State-funded project, essentially an amalgamation of biology and electronics, will enable targeted treatment of snake bite victims by precise detection of the type of snake. The sensor under development is a gadget like a glucometer that can read a strip laced with the body fluid of a snake bite victim and provide a read out on a screen. The blood, urine or fluid from the bite site can be used to analyse the specific type of venom. The prototype of the biosensor is expected to be ready in eight months.

According to WHO estimates, India has the highest number of deaths (35,000 to 50,000 a year) due to snake bites. The States with the largest number of snake bite cases include Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

In India, the conventional clinical practice is to administer polyvalent anti-snake venom (ASV) which comprises antibodies of four different species (Big Four), namely the Spectacled (Indian) cobra, the Common krait, Saw-scaled viper and Russell's viper, that account for most of the bite cases.
The polyvalent method accounts for the high incidence of snake bite deaths in India. It often causes severe allergic reaction in the victim, (seen in up to 30 per cent of the recipients worldwide) demanding secondary treatment.

Australia has the highest number of venomous snakes, yet the number of death cases is less because the country follows the targeted monovalent technique based on identification of species using a snake venom detection kit.

“The polyvalent treatment method results in collateral damage, affecting internal organs. To confirm a snake bite, doctors often wait for symptoms like dizziness, nausea or imbalance, typical of neurotoxins, or anti-coagulation of blood that is characteristic of haemotoxins. The delay can lead to complications or death,” says R. Dileepkumar, Post Doctoral Fellow at SIUCEB and principal investigator of the project.

The biosensor, based on ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay) technology, will obviate the need to wait for symptoms and avoid the complications inherent in administering polyvalent antivenom.

The project team at SIUCEB is currently raising antibodies in mammalian models against the Big Four species that account for the maximum number of snake bites in India.

The sensor is expected to overcome many limitations in the conventional approach like cross reactivity and sensitivity, says Mr. Dileepkumar. “It can also be used to quantify the extent of envenomation (to determine the dose of monovalent ASV required) and to monitor the venom clearance from the body,”

When a snake bite victim is brought to the hospital, the doctor or technician collects body fluids from the person and applies them to the strips coated with species-specific antibodies. The unreacted materials in the fluid are washed off and the strips are administered with enzyme-labelled secondary antibody that can generate electrons measurable as electric current for a reaction. The strips are then inserted into the biosensor to give a reading that can be classified as one of the Big Four venoms.

While the technical design of the biosensor is complete, the biological study is on. Mr. Dileepkumar says efforts are on to tie up with research institutions in the Middle East for sourcing more stable antibodies raised from the camel. This, he says, would avoid the need to store the strips at low temperature.

Vava Suresh of Thiruvananthapuram

2012-01-16T06:07:00.001-06:00

According to one article in The Times of India, five out of the ten best cities to live in India are located in Kerala. This Indian state is a popular tourist destination for multiple reasons, including its spectacular scenery, world class yoga, and Ayurveda treatments. Not mentioned in the article is the state's exceptionally rich snake fauna - it’s difficult to understand why this was overlooked. One Kerala man is exceptionally well known for his efforts to conserve snakes, Vava Suresh of Thiruvananthapuram. Locally he is known as the 'Snake Man' and is estimated to have rescued and conserved 5000 snakes which have strayed into the human world in and around Trivandrum. Vava Suresh attributes his passion for snakes from childhood experiences which started at about age twelve. He is well known for rescuing and releasing endangered species of snakes and collecting eggs and protecting them during incubation, and then releasing the neonates into natural habitats. One recent article about him included the following, "Time and again, he has paid the price for flirting with danger. Hardly a few months ago, he was battling for life in a hospital ICU after being bitten by an enraged cobra. The skin on his hands bears the mark of several viper bites." The photos below show Vava Suresh's snake handling and education efforts as well as documenting his encounter with a Russell's viper. The photos were recently sent to me by Dr. A. Biju Kumar at the University of Kerala.

Serpent Handling in America

2012-01-13T05:55:00.001-06:00

Crotalus horridus is frequently used in Appalachian snake handling ceremonies

There are two endemic cultures in America that have snake handling rituals. The oldest is of course the Hopi Indians in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi snake dance takes place every year, usually in late August and it has been closed to the public for many decades. The ceromony is a prayer for rain and the snakes are the emissaries for the prayer to the rain diety. The second snake handling practice occurs in Appalachia and is the subject of a new, six part Animal Planet series, and its purpose is quite distinct from the Hopi ceremony.

Nooga.com is a media website for the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. It is carrying a story by Mary Barnett about the new Animal Planet series Snake Man of Appalachia. And, features contributions from Dr. Ralph Hood, Professor of Psychology of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). The six-part series follows Verlin and Reva Short, an Appalachian family deeply involved in religious snake handling who keep more than 40 rattlesnakes and copperheads used in religious services. Hood specializes in studying serpent handling religion and has befriended and studied the Shorts for many years as part of his research into the psychology of religion. Hood has accompanied Short on snake hunts and considers him as a close friend, and acted as a consultant for the series. Getting factual information to the public is one of Hood's roles as he studies the snake handlers. The serpent handling ritual is the result of Pentecostal traditions that take the Gospel of Mark literally and seriously. Hood said there are still many people who identify themselves as "sign followers," who believe, follow and practice signs in the Gospel of Mark. Mark 16:17-18 states, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Hood is often called to testify on behalf of serpent handlers, a practice that is illegal in every state but West Virginia. "There is a real interesting prejudice in American culture that a religious practice can't contain risk. You have an absolute right for religious belief, but you don't have an absolute right for religious practice," he said. Hood argues that just like other high-risk activities, such as professional football or hang gliding—which are not legislated by the courts—consenting adults aware of the risks of handling snakes should be allowed to practice what they believe, even it means risking their own lives.

While I have not had an opportunity to view the first episode it promises to provide a unique insigt into human behavior and Homo sapiens obsession with snakes. The serpent handling practices of Appalachia have been previously studied and written about by Weston La Barre in his now classic text, They Shall Take Up Serpents (Waveland Press).

The Smallest Vertebrate, Paedophryne amauensis (Microhylidae)

2012-01-12T16:58:00.000-06:00

Above is the world's smallest vertebrate, Paedophryne amauensis. What follows is a press release from LSU. At the bottom of the post is a video and the journal reference and link.

LSU’s Chris Austin recently discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world’s tiniest known vertebrate, averaging only 7.7 millimeters in size – less than one-third of an inch. It ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record. Austin, leading a team of scientists from the United States including LSU graduate student Eric Rittmeyer, made the discovery during a three-month long expedition to the island of New Guinea, the world’s largest and tallest tropical island.

“It was particularly difficult to locate Paedophryne amauensis due to its diminutive size and the males’ high pitched insect-like mating call,” said Austin. “But it’s a great find. New Guinea is a hotspot of biodiversity, and everything new we discover there adds another layer to our overall understanding of how biodiversity is generated and maintained.”

Austin, curator of herpetology at LSU’s Museum of Natural Science and associate professor of biological sciences, is no stranger to discovering new species, having described numerous species previously unknown to science, including frogs, lizards and parasites.

The research, which will be published in the Public Library of Science One journal, or PLoS, on Jan. 11, includes a second species of diminutive frog newly named Paedophryne swiftorum that is only slightly larger than Paedophryne amauensis, averaging only about 8.5 millimeters in body size.

Austin’s work, supported by the National Science Foundation, highlights an interesting trend among the discovery of extremely small vertebrates.

“The size limit of vertebrates, or creatures with backbones, is of considerable interest to biologists because little is understood about the functional constraints that come with extreme body size, whether large or small,” said Austin.

With more than 60,000 vertebrates currently known to man, the largest being the blue whale with an average size of more than 25 meters (75 feet) and the smallest previously being the small Indonesian fish averaging around 8 millimeters, there was originally some thought that extreme size in vertebrates might be associated with aquatic species, as perhaps the buoyancy offers support and facilitates the development of extremism. However, both new species of frogs Austin described are terrestrial, suggesting that living in water is not necessary for small body size.

“The ecosystems these extremely small frogs occupy are very similar, primarily inhabiting leaf litter on the floor of tropical rainforest environments,” said Austin. “We now believe that these creatures aren’t just biological oddities, but instead represent a previously undocumented ecological guild – they occupy a habitat niche that no other vertebrate does.”

Citation
Rittmeyer EN, Allison A, Gründler MC, Thompson DK, Austin CC (2012) Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate. PLoS ONE 7(1): e29797. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029797

The Rediscovery of Chelonoidis elephantopus

2012-01-10T04:45:00.000-06:00

'Extinct' for 150 years, an iconic Galápagos giant tortoise species lives.

Representatives of a giant tortoise species that had apparently been driven to extinction by humans more than 150 years ago must be alive today, if in very small numbers. Researchers reporting in the January 10 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have come to this conclusion based on the "genetic footprints" of the long-lost species Chelonoidis elephantopus in the DNA of their hybrid sons and daughters.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report of the rediscovery of a species by way of tracking the genetic footprints left in the genomes of its hybrid offspring," said Ryan Garrick of Yale University. "These findings breathe new life into the conservation prospects for members of this flagship group."

The Galápagos tortoises are famous for their influence on Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution by natural selection. But they are also impressive in their own right: individuals can weigh nearly 900 pounds, reach almost six feet, and live for more than 100 years in the wild. Today, several of 13 remaining species are considered highly endangered.

C. elephantopus was originally found only on Floreana Island, where they were presumed extinct soon after Darwin's historic voyage to the Galápagos Islands in 1835. Still, genes from recently extinct species can live on in the genomes of individuals of mixed ancestry. The Yale group had earlier detected the first traces of the "extinct" C. elephantopus within eleven individuals that otherwise belonged to another species, C. becki, living on an active volcano on Isabela Island.

In fact, movement of tortoises from one island to another by pirate and whaling ships was not uncommon during the 1800s, Garrick says, and his team suspected that individuals from Floreana had been translocated to northern Isabela years before. Those eleven hybrids appeared to be the last genetic vestiges of a unique evolutionary lineage in the wild.

That earlier finding inspired Garrick and his colleagues to take a closer look at what was happening on Isabela Island's Wolf Volcano, home to a large population of perhaps 7,000 tortoises, mostly C. becki. They've now sampled about 2,000 of those tortoises to find evidence that purebred C. elephantopus must live.

Comparisons of living tortoises and museum specimens indicate that the genomes of 84 of the newly sampled individuals can only be explained if one of their two parents were C. elephantopus. Those purebreds apparently exist at numbers so low that researchers would have to be incredibly lucky to sample one of them, Garrick says.

Even if purebred individuals of C. elephantopus are never found, their direct descendants could prove to be key in the giant tortoises' conservation. "Hybridization is considered largely deleterious to biodiversity conservation," Garrick says. "But in this case, hybrids may provide opportunities to resuscitate an 'extinct' species through intensive targeted breeding efforts."

Citation
Garrick, R. C. 2012. Genentic rediscovery of an 'extinct' Galapagos giant tortoise species. Current Biology 22:R10-R

Python molurus Can Survive Brackish and Salt Water for Extended Periods

2012-01-04T19:22:00.000-06:00

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Invasive Burmese python hatchlings from the Florida Everglades can withstand exposure to salt water long enough to potentially expand their range through ocean and estuarine environments, according to research in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.

This recent study, based on lab experiments conducted by researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, provides initial evidence that pythons may be able to survive in marine and estuarine environments such as bays, inlets and open seas. The results raise concerns that the invasive constrictor may invade nearby islands, such as the Florida Keys, said Kristen Hart, a USGS research ecologist and lead author of the study.

“Because reptiles, in general, have poor salinity tolerance, it was hoped that salt water would naturally hinder pythons’ ability to expand their range beyond the Everglades,” Hart said.” Unfortunately, our results suggest salt water alone cannot act as a reliable barrier to the Everglades python population.”

Before the study, Burmese pythons had been found in brackish margins of the Everglades, the expansive and predominantly freshwater wetland that is home to the only known wild-breeding population of Burmese pythons in the United States. Yet, no information was available to indicate how long the snakes could persist in saline environments.

The issue of salinity tolerance is critical for understanding the risks of the giant constrictors spreading beyond the Everglades, given the Everglades location on the southernmost end of the South Florida peninsula.

"The fact that this study has ruled out one of the most hoped-for forms of physical barriers, salt water, as preventing the spread of invasive pythons in Florida puts even more onus on human action to prevent the spread of these damaging reptiles," explained USGS director Marcia McNutt. "This study demonstrates the distinct possibility that pythons could spread to new suitable habitats one estuary at a time.”

In the lab, researchers tested how long hatchling pythons could survive with only salt water to drink. They found that, when given access only to water with salinity levels equivalent to full marine water, hatchling pythons straight out of their eggs lived about a month. At salinity levels comparable with estuaries, the hatchlings survived about five months.

The USGS research demonstrated, however, that varying salinity levels did affect the snakes, as reflected in significant survival differences between pythons exposed to freshwater, marine, and estuarine salinities in the lab. However, because hatchlings are considered the most vulnerable stage of the python’s life, it’s likely that adult snakes could persist even longer in saltwater environments, Hart and her colleagues noted.

By comparison, pythons in the study displayed a saltwater tolerance level near that of the native mangrove snake, a salinity-tolerant native snake found in high-salinity environments in and around the Everglades.

Although the study didn’t account for the effect that access to food in saltwater environments would have on survival, lab conditions were designed to provide a conservative estimate of snake tolerance to salinity, by not allowing for the possibility that snakes could access freshwater from rain.

CITATION
Hart, KM, Schofield, PJ, and Gregoire, DR. 2012. Experimentally derived salinity tolerance of hatchling Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) from the Everglades, Florida (USA). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 413:56-59.

Suzio Report- Unplugged

2012-01-04T18:54:00.001-06:00

Howdy Herpers, 4 January 2012

First off, my HUGEST apologies for signing up on Facebook. I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into. And now that I've done it, I have NO IDEA how to get back out of it. I knew not what I did, and know not what I'm doing now that I did it!

For now, I'm ignoring the problem. So, if you asked to be my friend, and I haven't responded, please don't get all butt hurt. As soon as I find someone else to blame for this,it will be behind me.

Jeez Louise! Who has time for this stuff? 8-)

Ok, the very cold and wet winter weather finally broke, and we faced a gradual warm up. By 30 December, we were approaching 80 degree F temps. While I was sincerely wishing for more rain, mother Repp never raised a child so foolish as to waste a perfect day.

On 30 December, I decided to go to the Suizos unplugged." That is, leave the tracking gear behind, and see what can be gooned up without it. Like me, the herps did not waste a gorgeous day either.

Pics 1 and 2: I checked a known Gila Monster den that resides in the west center of the Suizo Range proper. Some of you may remember some images I sent out of Hans-Werner Herrmann dragging a Gila Monster out of a hole by its lips. This would be that honey hole. I was astounded to see this HUGE monster. Yes, he's sleeping, and he never knew I was there.

Pic 3: A visit to AD4 on Iron Mine Hill yielded this atrox out basking in a well known lean-to near the den. My fondest memory of this lean-to is of me asking Kent Jacobs to stick a thermometer into this spot. Kent dumbly proceeded to try to what was asked of him, and nearly jammed the thermometer into the snout of an unseen snake. "YEOW! There's a rattlesnake in here Roger!"

Pic 5: A visit to AD5 yielded this atrox packing the narrow crevice. There is actually a transmittered tiger rattlesnake in that crevice, somewhere behind him.

Pic 6: Is actually from another unplugged trip made on 2 January 2012. My wife Dianna, and our friends Patti and Gene accompanied me to Hill 97. we said hi to the Lazy M monster, and got this image of an atrox basking on the apron of a den we call "The Main Den." This den also contains an active beehive. This photo was achieved with great potential for peril!

There was much more that happened this weekend, but that will have to do for now.

Best to all, and Happy New Year!
roger

More on Invasive Pythons & Legislation to Control Them

2012-01-03T06:34:00.000-06:00

This morning's Miami Herald is carrying the following story by Curtis Morgan. It does a good job of discussing the issues surrounding invasive constricting snakes.

When Burmese pythons began slithering across Everglades levees in increasingly alarming numbers, state water managers petitioned the federal government to crack down on the pet trade's sale of the giant snakes. In the five years since, a string of studies, congressional hearings, articles and nature shows - not to mention bad sci-fi movies - have painted the python as a monstrous ecological menace that threatened to spread to other states. But the proposal to ban the import and interstate sale of Burmese pythons and eight other large exotic snakes has stalled, swallowed up in White House bureaucracy for nearly a year. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has written letters urging the Obama administration to approve the snake ban. Despite the pressure, the effort to declare the snakes "injurious species" through a cumbersome administrative process called the Lacey Act remains in doubt. The proposal has been buffeted by surging anti-regulatory fervor in Washington and scientific controversy over whether the snakes really pose much of a risk beyond South Florida. The fact that the snakes acquired lobbyists may explain a few things as well. The U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, backed by a small but passionate group of snake breeders and collectors and a New York law firm, has mounting a campaign shrewdly positioning the python restrictions as "job-killing" federal red tape based on shaky science. "This thing has tons of problems and no redeeming qualities," said ARK President Andrew Wyatt. "A Lacey Act listing isn't going to change one thing on the ground in South Florida now. It is going to put people out of work." The Obama administration's delay has befuddled and frustrated proponents of a measure supported by Everglades National Park managers, federal wildlife agencies, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and many scientists and environmental groups. "What this has shown is that any little segment of industry can hire a lobbyist, get an economic study done and hold up just about any regulation," said Peter Jenkins, an attorney for the National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species, comprised of environmental and science groups. "If we can't push this over the finish line, what the hell can we regulate?" No one - including reptile breeders - disputes Burmese pythons are a big problem in South Florida. In the Everglades and its surrounding farm and wild lands, a population estimated in the thousands has eaten everything from alligators to endangered wood rats. Two months ago, in the latest gruesome find, South Florida Water Management District workers captured a 16-footer swollen with a 76-pound deer inside. Florida wildlife managers have moved swiftly on the snake threat, last year effectively banning personal ownership of Burmese pythons and seven other constrictors as pets. Snakes whose owners had obtained $100 annual licenses and implanted them with microchips before July 2010 were grandfathered in. Reptile breeders, dealers, researchers and exhibitors also can continue operating under a separate permit program, as long as they agree to strict storage and transport rules. But it's proven far more difficult to secure sweeping nationwide curbs on the pet trade, which many scientists blame for first unleashing pythons into the Everglades. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that more than 1.8 million of the nine species of large constrictors - pythons, boas and anacondas - that it wants declared "injurious" were imported between 1999 and 2008. The agency also estimated that more than 50,000 domestically bred snakes had been sold during the same period. A 2009 bill to ban Burmese python imports filed by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., never got far - though he clearly got his colleagues' attention when he unrolled the skin of a 17-footer killed in the Everglades during one hearing. Now, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Lacey Act proposal to declare the seven species "injurious" - which could be enacted without congressional approval - has been hung up since March in the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Meg Reilly, a spokeswoman for the OMB, which analyzes the economic impacts of proposed administrative rules, said in an email that the office doesn't comment on pending rules but extended reviews aren't "uncommon." Parties on both sides believe the snake ban has lost steam in a Washington political climate that has cooled to new environmental rules. "I think the White House got jittery that somehow this was fitting into a frame of regulatory over-reaching," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, which has joined environmental groups in lobbying for approval of the python import ban. With continuing pressure led by Florida lawmakers, Pacelle said he is optimistic the OMB will back the snake restrictions. "I think we've turned a bit of a corner on this," he said. Wyatt, ARK's president, disagrees. "The White House is sitting on it," he said. "They're kind of hoping it will just go away." By Wyatt's estimate, ARK has spent more than $400,000 on its lobbying campaign over the last three years - a huge sum for a North Carolina-based group that claims only 12,000 members but a fraction of what proponents have poured into vilifying the constrictors, he said. "Basically, we were getting killed on this thing because we didn't have an advocate," he said. ARK's New York law firm, Kelley Drye & Warren, produced an economic study claiming the injurious species listing would cost the $1.4 billion reptile industry about 10 percent of its revenue every year - $104 million - and cost thousands of cottage industry jobs. Jenkins, the environmental coalition attorney, dismissed the data as "completely bogus." A federal analysis, for instance, predicted far less impact - no more than 300 jobs and $11 million in losses, a figured dwarfed by $100 million a year that one agency alone, the U.S. Interior Department, was spending on controlling the pythons and a host of other invasive species. Eleven Florida lawmakers, joined by 14 other congressional members, have written the White House, saying the delay was costing taxpayers millions of dollars annually and exposing wider areas to colonization by large, powerful snakes. In her letter, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., cautioned against weakening the restrictions on dangerous snakes that are difficult and expensive to control in the wild, can disrupt the natural balance of the Everglades and from time to time prey on their owners. The invasive species coalition has pinpointed 13 deaths from pet pythons over 20 years. "To offer a half measure, by restricting just a small number of the snakes, would result in the trade shifting from one dangerous species to another and would not achieve any lasting policy solution," she wrote. Python dealers have their champions as well. In a July letter, four Republicans, including Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, urged the OMB to dump the proposal they described as overkill, a "generalized solution to a localized problem." In September, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee - whose chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has long railed at environmental regulation - pointed to the python proposal as prime example of "broken government" manipulated by environmentalists, lawyers and others. Critics have also attacked studies critical to seeking the nationwide ban - particularly a risk assessment produced by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2009. It found that based on climate alone, South Texas and tropical islands like Hawaii and Puerto Rico were at high risk but a few of the hardier species also could potentially make a go of it in the warm southern belt of the U.S. David Barker, a Texas breeder and python expert who sells expensive color "morphs" to collectors around the country by mail, has been among the most savage critics, accusing a "rogue band" of federal scientists of exaggerating the threat to secure millions of dollars in research support and scoffing at the idea of snakes somehow learning to survive outside South Florida. Barker also believes Hurricane Andrew's destruction of breeder facilities in South Miami-Dade is the most likely suspect in the Everglades invasion - a theory federal scientists have rejected. "There is just no evidence that there is a steady stream of release animals from pet owners," Barker said. It's not just breeders who have questioned the federal risk assessment. Other scientists also have been skeptical about the climate analysis. Frank Burbrink, a biology professor at City University of New York, co-authored one paper concluding that the python threat was likely confined to South Florida or very small, very hot spots and that there nothing to suggest they could adapt to more northern climes. "Over 90 million years they haven't done it in their home range," Burbrink said, "So why would you expect them to do it after 10 years in the United States?" Florida's record cold snap in 2010 provided more ammunition, knocking back - though not out - the Glades population of pythons by an estimated half or more. The 130 captured through October this year are only about a third of the pre-freeze 2009 total captured. That same 2010 freeze also killed 10 pythons that were part of a climate experiment in South Carolina, as well as seven of nine in another experiment in Gainesville. Still, Gordon Rodda, a USGS biologist who co-authored the risk assessment and follow-up study rebutting critics, said nothing has emerged to invalidate its findings. "There isn't a serious map out there as far as I know that doesn't show all of Florida at risk," he said. Rodda acknowledged on-going debate about the potential national impact of the snake. Scientists are still trying to understand its impact on Glades wildlife. "Are there people in the community that have a different sense of the climate match? Undoubtedly," he said. "You don't get three scientists together and not have three different opinions." Michael Dorcas, a biology professor at Davidson College in North Carolina who has authored science journals and a book about invasive pythons, said critics focus too much on the end result of the cold studies. In the South Carolina study, which he oversaw, snakes that had adapted to the steamy Everglades managed to survive a dozen nights no warmer than 41 degrees before dying in a freeze that also killed native animals. That suggests, he said, a potential range for hardier constrictors beyond South Florida. He laughed at suggestions scientists were hyping the threat to free up funding. "I just find it ironic that people who talk about our 'money-driven' agenda are the one who make their living selling pythons," he said. "The fact remains the pythons are here because of the pet industry. Whether they were released accidentally or intentionally - at this point, it really doesn't matter."

Giant Constricting Snakes Now Archived Here

2012-01-01T09:32:00.001-06:00

The posts and comments from my Giant Constricting Snakes Blog have now been moved here. Giant Constricting Snakes, The Science of Large Serpents is still in place.

Cryptic Frogs Locate Their Respective Mates by Calls

2011-12-30T05:38:00.000-06:00

A member of the Hyla versicolor Complex. JCM

Columbia, MO – When it comes to love songs, female tree frogs are pretty picky. According to a new study from the University of Missouri, certain female tree frogs may be remarkably attuned to the songs of mates who share the same number of chromosomes as they do. The discovery offers insight into how new frog species may have evolved.

Carl Gerhardt, Curators Professor of Biological Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science and doctoral student Mitch Tucker studied two closely related species of grey tree frogs that live in Missouri, the eastern grey tree frog (Hyla versicolor) and the Cope’s grey tree frog (H. chrysoscelis).

“To the naked eye – human and frog – the two frogs look exactly alike,” Gerhardt said. “The frogs differ only in the number of chromosomes. The eastern grey tree frog has double the number of chromosomes.”

To the ears of potential mates, the two species differ in their vocal performances.

“The males are both singing the same love song – just one frog is singing it slower. It’s kind of like the difference between Eric Clapton’s original and unplugged versions of Layla,” Tucker said.

In previous studies, the scientists found that tree frogs with more sets of chromosome have larger cell sizes, which slows down the trill rate. What was not known was whether the calling preferences of females are similarly linked to chromosome number.

To answer this question, Tucker simulated the chromosome duplication event by replicating spring temperatures early in the frog development. Females were grown to maturity and then exposed to computer-generated, synthetic male calls that differed by trill rate. They found that the females hopped toward the calls with the trill rate of the males with matching chromosome numbers, which indicates female preference.

“This shows that chromosome number alone can control the behavior that keeps the species separate,” Gerhardt said. “In turn, as chromosome number increases, so does the size of cells, which is probably the immediate cause of the changes in calls and preferences.”

In animals, the origin of species is often associated with geographic barriers. A large body of water or range of mountains, for example, splits a large population and prevents mating. The eastern grey tree frog, according to Gerhardt, may represent a rare case of rapid evolution occurring by chromosome duplication, changes in behavior and reproductive isolation.

The report, titled “Parallel changes in mate-attracting calls and female preferences in autotriploid tree frogs,” was published by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. The study was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the University of Missouri Research Board.

Citation
Tucker, M. and C. Gerhardt. 2011. Parallel changes in mate-attracting calls and female preferences in autotriploid tree frogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1968

New Hypothesis on Limb Evolution

2011-12-30T05:37:00.000-06:00

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Dec. 27, 2011) -- A small fish crawling on stumpy limbs from a shrinking desert pond is an icon of can-do spirit, emblematic of a leading theory for the evolutionary transition between fish and amphibians. This theorized image of such a drastic adaptation to changing environmental conditions, however, may, itself, be evolving into a new picture.

Romer's desert hypothesis, left, and Retallack's flooded woodland, right.

Image courtesy of University of Oregon.

University of Oregon scientist Gregory J. Retallack, professor of geological sciences, says that his discoveries at numerous sites in Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania suggest that "such a plucky hypothetical ancestor of ours probably could not have survived the overwhelming odds of perishing in a trek to another shrinking pond."

This scenario comes from the late Devonian, about 390 million years ago to roughly 360 million years ago. Paleontologist Alfred Romer, who died in 1973 after serving on the faculties at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, saw this time as a period of struggle and escape -- and important in fish-tetrapod transition -- to ensure survival.

Reporting in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Geology, Retallack, who also is co-director of paleontological collections at the UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History, argues for a very different explanation. He examined numerous buried soils in rocks yielding footprints and bones of early transitional fossils between fish and amphibians of Devonian and Carboniferous geological age. What he found raises a major challenge to Romer's theory.

"These transitional fossils were not associated with drying ponds or deserts, but consistently were found with humid woodland soils," he said. "Remains of drying ponds and desert soils also are known and are littered with fossil fish, but none of our distant ancestors. Judging from where their fossils were found, transitional forms between fish and amphibians lived in wooded floodplains. Our distant ancestors were not so much foolhardy, as opportunistic, taking advantage of floodplains and lakes choked with roots and logs for the first time in geological history."

Limbs proved handy for negotiating woody obstacles, and flexible necks allowed for feeding in shallow water, Retallack said. By this new woodland hypothesis, the limbs and necks, which distinguish salamanders from fish, did not arise from reckless adventure in deserts, but rather were nurtured by a newly evolved habitat of humid, wooded floodplains.

The findings, he said, dampen both the desert hypothesis of Romer and a newer inter-tidal theory put forth by Grzegorz Niedbwiedzki and colleagues at the University of Warsaw. In 2010, they published their discovery of eight-foot-long, 395-million-year-old tetrapods in ancient lagoonal mud in southeastern Poland, where Retallack also has been studying fossil soils with Polish colleague Marek Narkeiwicz.

"Ancient soils and sediments at sites for transitional fossils around the world are critical for understanding when and under what conditions fish first walked," Retallack said. "The Darwin fish of chrome adorning many car trunks represents a particular time and place in the long evolutionary history of life on earth."

Retallack. GJ. 2011. Woodland Hypothesis for Devonian Tetrapod Evolution. The Journal of Geology, 2011; 119 (3): 235 DOI: 10.1086/659144

Suizo Report -- The King Doth Beg Again!

2011-12-29T21:07:00.000-06:00

Howdy Herpers, 12/28/11

Well, typing boy here stepped squarely upon his Richard by stepping up to be the speaker for the 17 January 2012 THS meeting.

My subject is going to be on herps that hole up communally. I PROBABLY am a big enough boy to pull this off without help. But it would sure be nice to showcase some of the stuff so many of you are doing in herpland.

I've sent a few samples images to show what I'm after. If you are willing to share, send me some images, and state how you would like to be acknowledged.

A standard 1024 x 768 pixel image is fine.

I will not share use any images of yours for any other purpose but this presentation.

And, FYI, I need to have anything you're willing to share by next Friday, 6 January 2012.

Hope you can help out!

Best to all, roger

Suzio Report, Fall 2011

2011-12-29T21:02:00.000-06:00

28 December 2011

Howdy Herpers,

Those who are text challenged can feel to skip the ~3 pages of rambling that follows, and go straight for the brief descriptions that compliment the attached images below. Go for the asterisks (*****). This year has taught me from all directions, (read: it isn’t just me!), that inserting images into the text of emails isn’t the best way to fly. Nor are website images the answer. Where this typing boy is concerned, attaching .jpgs to these Suizo Reports is the best way to assure that images of at least minimal quality arrive on the screens of you, the recipients. Anything else is sub-par, and when delivering images that are already sub-par, one must do their best to polish the turds that one offers.

For over 15 years, Thanksgiving has become the official traditional beginning of the winter herping season for the Herp King of Southern Arizona. The art of waiting until that glorious holiday before striking took many years to master. As hard as it must be to imagine, there was a time when there was no Herp King of Southern Arizona. (These were the darkest days of herpetological history in Arizona.) Prior to hoisting the weighty crown to its lofty perch, a mere mortal would foolishly begin scouring the hillsides in early October. He did this with hopes of discovering the winter lairs of various types of herps. As always, when he found something, there was great excitement and jubilation. And a week later, when that find was revisited, it would be long gone.

Nope, the lesson that was eventually learned here is that good things come to those who wait. While most herps commit to their winter homes by early November, it is best to just give them a few weeks to settle in before visiting them. By doing this, one assures that the animal being watched is usually dug in enough to endure flashing mirrors and cameras without being scared clean out of the county.

As some of you may remember, Thanksgiving 2011 recently descended upon us. On Wednesday, 23 November, the Director of NOAO sent us an email that dismissed us for the long holiday weekend at noon. Ever the dedicated company man, I took that to mean it was ok to leave at 1130. Whap! I was out of thereand heading for my first-ever winter playground. Back in 1991, I found my first “repeating herps,” (that is, herps that demonstrate fidelity to winter sheltersites), at Ragged Top.

With but limited time on my hands, I headed straight for a ridge where chuckwallas (Sauromalus ater) have been observed through the years. I first visited a crevice where a lone large adult chuckwalla has been observed, off and on, since 1996. The big guy was home, and looking good! I eventually worked my eastward to a place that I call “The White Rocks.” I have been visiting this particular rock structure since 1992, when I first found a chuckwalla there. It has been hit-or-miss at the white rocks through the years, but there has been a streak of one or more chucks hanging out here since 2009. And today, there was one present. The crevice where the chucks over-winter is extremely difficult to get a camera into. But I was lucky enough to get something to share. I was lathered in sweat from the effort to get this image, and questioned why taking a picture on a cool fall afternoon would cause this. I broke out my thermometer, and took a temperature on the rock face. It was 39 C, or 102 degrees F! Wow! The chucks know how to find a hot spot!

Thus endeth the Ragged Top adventure. Thanksgiving transpired, and it was learned that Jameson whiskey, Captain Hornitos, and the elixir of the world’s most interesting man doesn’t allow one to effectively mix with republicansor anybody else for that matter. The day after Thanksgiving became “Misgiving,” but there was no way that a whopper of a hangover was going to stop the Herp King of Southern Arizona. Off he went on a visit to Hill 97, leaving a trail of toxic sweats and partially-digested turkey with all the trimmings in his wake. In all, the king saw, or at least hallucinated, eight diamond-backed rattlesnakes, a desert tortoise (Gopherus hardtospellit), and four Gila Monsters (Heloderma suspectum). A hog-nosed skunk was observed lying beside a rattlesnake in one of the dens. Faced with the spastic side-effects of the DTs, the king’s camera grew a mind of its own, and tried to twitch itself out of his grasp every time he tried to use it. The only image worth sharing from this day of Misgiving is of the “Lazy M” Gila Monstera monster that has overwintered in the same Gila hole for eleven years now.

In a Suizo Report last year, the king made a big deal out of the Lazy M HESU, calling it the monster of the decade. He showed images of it from November of 2000, and again, November, 2010. I think we’ve done this enough without using comparative images again. The short story, for those who missed it, is that this monster was an adult when found in 2000, and is still with us today. One fine day, I expect we will know how long Gila Monsters live in the wild. For now, an estimate of 20 years is not unreasonable, and longer is certainly possible.

Bringing it all back home, the Suizo Plot has also been well-monitored this fall. We begin with an accounting of the western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) dens. Atrox Den #1 (AD1), has had three atrox viewed inside the crevice this fall. There are likely more. We have been monitoring AD1 since 1999. AD5 holds two atrox, AD6 holds one, and AD7 has had as many as six visible. We have been watching AD5 since 2001, AD6 since 2002, and AD7 since 2003. This fall, female CRAT #121, “Tracy,” surprised us by settling into AD6, which was the former home of the “Barbie Twins.” (The Barbie Twins were two female atrox, CRAT # 44 and 46. They were in our study from 2003-2007. The fact that they shared the same winter den, and dogged each other during the active season, led us to speculate that they are sisters. The time will come when their DNA will yield that information.) Our newer female CRAT #87, “Julie” settled into the upper crevice of AD7. (#87 in AD7 forces us to carefully enunciate our words, lest confusion arise when discussing either.) Female CRAT #133 has crossed the big wash, and has settled into a man-made boulder pile near the top of the southwestern flank of the Suizo Mountains proper. It is quite the climb to track her every week. Each time we make the trek, we gleefully cuss John Slone for finding this wayward snake.

The tiger rattlesnakes (Crotalus tigris) have been somewhat predictable, but fun to watch. Female CRTI #8 “Zona” ended her yearly migration in the exact boulder that she started from last April. Male CRTI #10 “Jeff” snagged a big meal in Mid-October, and settled under a west-facing boulder jumble on the northwest side of Iron Mine Hill. Male CRTI #11 “Steven” ended exactly where Blake and Gordon predictedAD5! Commensal overwintering between tigris and atrox is normally not a common situation. But there have been several instances of such behaviors on the upper east side of Iron Mine Hill.

On 10 December, “Steven” gave us a big surprise by being discovered basking in 100% direct sunlight. The transmitter revealed his body temperature to be 22.3 C. By comparison, the two non-basking tigers had body temps of 13.8 and 8.7 C on this day. We have yet to really do much with all the micro-climate data we’ve collected, and these three points may point to how difficult that data will be to fathom. Getting back to Steven, this is only the second time that I’ve ever seen a tiger rattlesnake out basking in December. The first time was with a non-transmittered tiger on Hill 97 in 1998. Perhaps not-so coincidentally, this Hill 97 tiger was also sharing a den with atrox.

On 19 November, our scrawny female Gila Monster female HESU #13, “Farrah” moved into a Gila hole that she occupied during the same period last year. She surprised us by making a three meter mini-move downslope between 10 December and 17 December. Her new location is a place where during the winters of 2006 through 2008, I would often see an unknown Gila Monster. As we did not actually catch/process Farrah until May of 2008, it is possible that this “unknown” monster was her. In her current location, she is poised to go downslope to a place she hibernated in 2009 and 2010, or she could head upslope to the communal Gila dens, as she did last year at this time. Time will tell.

I will be doing a blow-by-blow accounting of our female black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) in the next report. For now, it is enough to say that female CRMO#10 “Susan” has entered a currently inactive beecave that resides about four meters directly above CRTI #10’s hibernaculum. (Which is also near an inactive beecave). There are still honeycombs visible in both hives, and it is possible that either hive will rejuvenate soon. (Both hives were explosively active during the winter of 2008. Beecaves tend to wax and wane depending on weather circumstances, and we are heading toward an ideal “waxing” situation this winter). A waxing hive does not fall under the category of “none of our beeswax.” An active hive could be the death of us, as we have to get close to the hives to collect the data. And a vibrant hive is equally scary for the snakes, as we speculate that our local “killer bees” (sons of bees) will not hesitate to merrily sting anything to death that they deem a threatincluding snakes.

We will leave our wayward Mojave Rattlesnake "Blake the Snake" out in the middle of the flats, where he belongs. We'll stick to Iron Mine Hill for the remainder of this report. In much the same fashion that Ragged Top and Hill 97 have become hands off monitoring places, so has Iron Mine Hill. To be sure, we're sticking transmitters in some of the animals and following them around. But there are many animals that we are content to admire from a distance. Many times I put the receiver away and just hike our little hill, checking known sweet spots, as well as potential new honey holes. This fall has thus far been a little lean in terms of finding winter herps, but that could change shortly. Thus far, I have two Gila Monsters, a tortoise, and a Lyresnake under observation.

We have reached the point where the images should do the rest of the talking:

**************

Pic 1: Ragged Top. (Grin) I don't want to give away too many secrets, but the two chuckwallas pictured below were found somewhere within the framework of this image. Can you find them?

Pic 2: The first chuckwalla mentioned in the text above. He's a dandy!

Pic 3: The "White Rocks." Chuckwallas have been under observation in this formation since 1992.

Pic 4: The current occupant of the White Rocks.

Pic 5: "The monster of the decade" reaches year #11

Pic 6: "Farrah" looking out at you!

Pic 7: Good old tortoise #505 basking on 10 December. Although he was processed in March of 2005, he has been under watch since 1998.

Pic 8: #505 has consistently chosen a winter sheltersite that is open at two ends. This permits one the rare photo op of shooting a basking tortoise from behind.

Pic 9: CRTI #11, "Steven" found basking on 10 December 2011. This is only the second time this herper has seen a tiger basking in December.

Pic 10: Iron Mine Hill Lyresnake #7. My first attraction to Iron Mine Hill were the lyresnakes that could be found there. In 1992, I found four different crevices that were producing. Through the years, I have managed to find an even dozen crevices. Considering that this involves a time span of almost 20 years, one can understand how scarce they can be. Crevice #7 was first discovered in February of 2000. The last time a lyresnake has been seen here was 2006.

Pic 11: Iron Mine Hill as viewed from CRAT #133's hibernaculum.

Pic 12: Looking west from Iron Mine Hill. Fog smothering Picacho Peak, 4 December 2011. The rains have been generous thus far this fall. We hope for more this winter. Well, that was probably more than enough for the likes of all of you. Thanks to the two of you who hung in there!

Here's to wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year. roger

A Bite from Naja mossambica

2011-12-24T10:18:00.000-06:00

news24 in Johannesburg is reporting on the condition of Mikayla Robbertse, a 5-year-old girl from Limpopo bitten by a Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica). The girl was going to sleep in the family home in Ellisras on Monday night when she was bitten on the hand by the snake in her bed. On Friday her health suddenly deteriorated, her grandmother, Charmaine, reported her liver enlarged and doctors are concerned about her kidneys, her chest tissue had also been affected by the snake's venom. Doctors warned that her condition could worsen at any time. According to the girl's grandmother Mikayala is weak and only weighs 15kg.

The molecules in the venom of a Mozambique spitting cobra moves faster through tissue than those in the venom of other snakes, Graham Alexander, a snake expert at the University of Witwatersrand, told the newspaper. It can necrosis away from the bite area and in the worst cases people can continue to lose tissue for months after being bitten.

Snakes Can Hear

2011-12-23T12:13:00.000-06:00

Python regius. JCM

A paper just published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, again confirms that snakes can indeed hear. Snakes are sensitive to most stimuli, but the lack of ears, an auditory meatus, a tympanum, has produced the mis-belief that they cannot hear. Despite the absence of sound detection mechanisms, snakes do have an inner ear connected to the jaw by a single middle ear bone, the columella auris. Christian Christensen, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard, Christian Brandt and Peter Madsen inverstigated if snakes detect sound via sound pressure or sound-induced mechanical vibrations through the body.

Playing sounds ranging in pitch from 80 to 1000 Hz at volumes between 50 and 110 dB re. 20 μPa to 11 royal pythons, Christensen recorded electrical responses in one of the snakes' cranial nerves and their brain stems. Increasing the sound volume until he recorded a measurable electrical signal in the brain stem, he found snakes could hear very loud airborne sound (10,000 times louder than the softest sounds heard by humans) and that they were sensitive to low frequencies between 80 to 160 Hz with their sensitivity decreasing at higher frequencies, falling from 78 dB re. 20 μPa at 160 Hz to 96 dB re. 20 μPa at 800 Hz.

But how were the sounds transmitted to the snake's vibration-sensitive inner ear? As low-frequency sounds are efficiently carried by solid materials, the researchers wondered whether sound vibrations might be transmitted from the ground into the snake's body.

Christensen measured vibrations generated in the surface upon which the snakes were lying by a loudspeaker suspended above the platform. Meanwhile, he recorded the animals' auditory electrical response to the vibrations. He found that the animals responded well to 80 Hz vibrations, but at higher frequencies, the vibrations produced in the surface by the airborne sound were too weak for the snake to respond.

So, how were the snakes able to sense the higher pitched sounds that they hear? ‘Some suggested that they could use the lung as fish use the swim bladder. Also, we humans still hear by bone conduction in water, that would be another way of sending the sound’, says Christensen. So the team decided to test whether the animals could sense their own skulls' vibrating in response to airborne sounds.

Attaching minute vibrometers to the snakes' heads, Christensen measured the mechanical vibrations induced in the head by loud airborne sounds that were just above the snakes' hearing thresholds. He found that these skull vibrations were the same intensity as the minimum mechanical vibrations that the animals could sense. So instead of responding to sound pressure, snakes respond to vibrations transmitted directly from the air to the skeleton.

Having shown that snakes are sensitive to sound-induced vibrations rather than sound pressure, the team is interested in investigate the hearing of other earless animals.

Citation
Christensen, C. B., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Brandt, C. and Madsen, P. T. (2012). Hearing with an atympanic ear: good vibration and poor sound-pressure detection in the royal python, Python regius. J. Exp. Biol. 215, 331-342

Captive Breeding, Biodiversity, and Sustainabiliy

2011-12-22T14:18:00.001-06:00

Deep Sea World in North Queensferry, Scotland has annouced they have bred the Golden Mantella, an endemic forest frog from eastern Madagascar, for the firts time. They have about 50 tadpoles that will metamorphose into froglets after about 60 days of development. Mantella aurantiaca is a group of species threatened by habitat fragmentation, it is also an attractive frog, and a prime candidate for zoos, aquariums, and private collectors to use for display. But, the Golden Mantella can also be used to get people's attention about the environment.

Madagascar's herpetofauna is disappearing due to human activity but documenting those extinctions is difficult at best.Species most at risk are those that remain in small populations in fragmented habiat, like small patches of forest that still support frogs, but once those framents of forest are logged, the species are gone, and it is unlikely anyone is going to be their to document it. Surveying habitats for species often miss small, cryptic species - we really have no idea how many species exsist - and we are pushing them into extinction before we even know they exist. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red Lists include
a few dozens of species from Madagascar, but the very rich and unique fauna is poorly known and disappearing before our eyes - but is out of site.

Captive breeding projects, like the one at Deep Sea World, are useful. They provide knowledge that can be used to held species from becoming extinct. However, once the habitat is gone, captive breeding projects can re-establish new populations - or at least that is the thought. But really, long term projects like these are as unstainable as Noah's Ark. Temporarly they can be quite usefull, but it is impossible to save all of the species that humans are pushing into extinction through captive breeding projects. The only real sustainable approach to stop the declines in biodiversity is for humans to slow their reproduction, live sustainably, and stop habitat fragmentation and start habitat restoration - this does not seem likely. Recently the human population is thought to have exceeded 7 billion.

Hellbender Salamanders, Micro-organisms & Global Amphibian Decline

2011-12-20T19:49:00.000-06:00

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new study co-authored by University of Florida researchers on the endangered Ozark Hellbender giant salamander is the first to detail its skin microbes, the bacteria and fungi that defend against pathogens.

Published today in the online journal PLoS One, the study details changes in the salamander’s declining health and habitat, and could provide a baseline for how changing ecosystems are affecting the rapid decline of amphibians worldwide.

“Scientists and biologists view amphibians as kind of a ‘canary in the coal mine’ and their health is often used as a barometer for overall ecosystem health, including potential problems that may affect humans,” said study co-author Max Nickerson, herpetology curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.

More than 2 feet long, the Ozark Hellbender is the one of largest salamander species in the United States. Its unusual biological characteristics include the ability to regenerate injured or missing body parts.

In the new study, lead author Cheryl Nickerson, a professor at Arizona State University, along with NASA and UF scientists, cultured and identified microorganisms from abnormal and injured tissue on the salamanders searching for pathogens that may be causing the lack of regeneration and population decline.

The researchers found several potentially dangerous pathogens, including Aeromonas hydrophila, a bacterium scientists believe is associated with disease and death in both amphibians and fish.

While many different pathogens were found in the injured tissue, no single organism was found to be responsible for the lack of regeneration. Researchers believe the occurrence of abnormalities and injury in the Ozark Hellbender may have many contributing factors, including disease and habitat degradation, and say further study is needed

“If you don’t understand an amphibian’s skin you don’t understand the amphibians,” Nickerson said.

Scientists have known about the remarkable powers of salamander regeneration for more than 200 years, but beginning in the 1980s, researchers noticed a sharp decline in the Ozark Hellbender population. They also found a specific population from the North Fork of Missouri’s White River was declining dramatically and losing the ability to regenerate.

“We were finding animals with no legs that were still alive with flesh wounds or bones sticking out of limbs,” Nickerson said.

“Looking at the microorganisms on their skin can help us understand why these animals aren’t regenerating at the rate we’re used to seeing, and may lead to conclusions about population declines,” he said.

In November, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the Ozark Hellbender to the federal endangered species list. Its species name is Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi.

Stanley Trauth, curator of amphibians and reptiles in the department of biological sciences at Arkansas State University, said public awareness of the species is increasing, and Hellbenders have recently been successfully bred for the first time in captivity at the St. Louis Zoo.

“There has been a dramatic decrease in the population and there are a number of factors that contribute to that,” Trauth said. “But these types of studies will help provide more consistent results on the impact of microorganisms and animal health.”

“In the last 20 years we have been finding a tremendous number of injuries on these animals and those injuries are not healing,” Nickerson said. “Now the population is down to almost nothing and we are very worried about the species and the environmental changes around them.”

The Ozark Hellbender’s fossil record goes back 161 million years and it represents one of the most ancient lines of amphibian life.

“This is about as far, in phylogeny, as that type of regeneration goes, this is the most ancient group of salamanders that we know of,” Nickerson said. “They have been through a lot and we want to find out what these changes mean.”

“The animals in the river systems in that area, just like in Florida, where we have these huge amounts of spring water you have to worry about it,” Nickerson said. “That’s a big dome of fresh water and it has implications on human health as well.”

Figure 2. Representative samples of normal and abnormal lesions on Ozark Hellbenders, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi.All individuals sampled were captured from the North Fork of the White River, Ozark County, Missouri on 17 August 2007. A shows a normal left back foot (NFWR 138), B shows lesion on palm of right back foot (NFWR 136), C shows lesion on toes of left front foot (NFWR 136), D shows lesion on right back limb with all toes missing (NFWR 135), E shows lesion on right back limb with all toes missing (NFWR 139), and F shows lesion on lower lip (NFWR 139).

Citation
Nickerson CA, Ott CM, Castro SL, Garcia VM, Molina TC, et al. (2011) Evaluation of Microorganisms Cultured from Injured and Repressed Tissue Regeneration Sites in Endangered Giant Aquatic Ozark Hellbender Salamanders. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28906. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028906

Old & New Species

2011-12-18T19:13:00.000-06:00

Two new dwarf homalopsid snakes of the genus Myron described in 2011. A. Myron karnsi from the Aru Islands in eastern Indonesia. B. Myron resetari from Western Australia. Both species have been long confused with Myron richardsonii, a species from northern Australia.These are small (less than 400 mm), coastal species that probably hunt fish in marine environments. They are two of a small number of snakes, other than true sea snakes and file snakes, that have been able to adapt to saltwater. M. karnsi is known from a single specimen, M. resetari was known from two specimens when described, but other specimens have been found in the last few months. JCM

This is the time of year for retrospection and it is everywhere. One of the re-occurring stories is the number of new species described during the year. One press release from the California Academy of Sciences reports CAS researchers discovered 140 new species in 2011, including 72 arthropods, 31 sea slugs, 13 fishes, 11 plants, nine sponges, three corals, and one reptile (a tortoise).

A press release from 27 June of 2011 reports scientists discovered 1,060 previously unknown species during a decade of research in New Guinea, the world's second largest island; the majority of new species listed are plants and insects, but the inventory includes 134 amphibians, 71 fish, 43 reptiles, 12 mammals, and 2 birds. A similar, more recent, press release pertaining to the greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports 1068 species were discovered or newly identified by science between 1997 and 2007 – which averages two new species a week and includes 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad.

Using AmphibiaWeb and the Reptile Database it is possible to tract the number of species of amphibians and reptiles described during a given year. Despite the week or so left in 2011 it is of interest to note that as of now (December 17) 84 new species of reptiles were described during 2011 (one turtle, 21 snakes, and 62 lizards) and 134 species of amphibians (one caecilian, five salamanders, and 128 frogs). Combined that works out to 218 species, or about 0.59 new species per day. So, we can expect another five or six new species of amphibians and reptiles to be described this year.

What is more difficult to track is the number of species rescued from synonymy. During the late 19th century, and well into the mid to late 20th century it was popular to lump species, thus many species described during the 200 years after Linnaeus were considered mistakes and their names were placed in the synonymy of other names. Reviewers of species and genera often find old names placed in the synonymy of even older names are in fact valid species. Thus, 20th century zoologists were led to believe that the diversity of life on earth, in this case, the diversity of amphibians and reptiles was much less than what we know it to be today. So, while new names are easy to count, old names become more of a challenge - but they still count because they represent real species that have been misplaced and overlooked for decades, or in some cases centuries.

Citations

Murphy, J. C. 2011. The Nomenclature and Systematics of Some Australasian Homalopsid Snakes (Squamata: Serpentes: Homalopsidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 59(2):229-236.

ShalinIndia Launches Snake Charmers’s Music Instrument Pungi on Global Online Marketplaces

2011-12-17T05:52:00.001-06:00

ShalinIndia Launches Snake Charmers’s Music Instrument Pungi on Global Online Marketplaces

ShalinIndia, an online shopping store from India, has launched snake charmer’s pungi music instrument in the international online marketplaces. This may help India’s large number of snake charmers gain an alternative vocation of making and selling their unique music instrument.

New Delhi, India (PRWEB) December 16, 2011

India shopping store ShalinIndia has launched the pungi's music instrument on the online marketplaces. Pungi is a traditional folk music instrument used by the snake charmers of India to make snakes dance to their tunes. This flute like music instrument has intrigued westerners. They have often wondered how snake charmers make the deadly cobras sway to the tune of their pungi music. Actually the cobra is deaf to the snake charmer's pipe, but follows the visual cue of the moving pipe and it can sense the ground vibrations from the snake charmer's tapping.

As a seller of Indian culture products, we are happy to do a commercial launch of the pungi, on the global online marketplaces. Two months ago we began to test market this Indian music instrument. When we found that a good number of people were not only attracted, they had also begun to buy these pungis, we decided to launch them on a commercial scale.

"Besides having clear business goals, we are trying to sell Pungis to achieve certain social objectives too. Snake charmers are no longer allowed to catch snakes. So this community is now looking for alternative sources of income. Selling their music instruments is one of them. Most of the snake charmers make their own Pungis using dried and hollow gourd. If we succeed in achieving scale economies, we would be able to buy pungis from large number of snake charmers", said Shalini Verma.

We have launched two varieties of Pungis, one made from gourd, and the other made from coconut shell. Snake charmers generally use pungis made from gourd. However, this is very delicate and risks breaking at the joints with the flute like pipe. Pungis made from gourd often produce better quality sound than the one made with coconut shell. Pungis made from coconut shell are stronger and last longer. However, they produce inferior quality sound and are used only by the hobbyists.

ShalinIndia, one of the premier online India shopping stores, specializes in selling handmade gifts, silver and gemstone jewelry, clothing accessories like men scarfs and scarves for women to customers around the world. Through an arrangement with Amazon, ShalinIndia keeps its inventory in five countries US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan. This enables ShalinIndia to reduce not only delivery time but also shipping costs for its customers. ShalinIndia has maintained consistently high feedback ratings from its online customers.

ShalinIndia Launches Snake Charmers’s Music Instrument Pungi on Global Online Marketplaces

Funding Progress

2011-12-17T05:42:00.002-06:00

Howdy Herpers, 12/16/11

He stands now at $550.00. I hope to see something more by Monday AM, but am happy to have this much.

Who needs to track sidewinders anyhow?

Have a good weekend, roger

Suizo Report, December 16

2011-12-17T05:41:00.000-06:00

Howdy Herpers, 16 December 2011

We first begin with some very good news. We have been receiving steady and consistent rain since November. Our local weather guru is calling the phenomena "the rain train." I call these systems "Seattle Storms," as we are blessed with a jet stream that is dipping down from the Pacific Northwest.

These Seattle Storms are the kind where it rains gently all day long, allowing the top soil to get good and moist without washing away. I can already see the annuals starting to pop up on the landscape, which is quite the contrast to what we've seen lately down here. When the weather books are finally closed on 2011, I suspect that this will be the year of fire and rain.

If these storms continue, by mid-March, we can expect a quiet riot of lush flowers and greenery to carpet our desert.

We faced a severe drought through most of the summer months of 2011. By late July, we were bummed to the point of surrender with the Suizo study. We had six transmitters to use, and couldn't BUY a snake to put them in. We thought we were done. But a couple roundups later turned the tide.

The first cool thing to happen was finding our first Mojave Rattlesnake. We decided to rock with him. He was not exactly a homeboy, as we lost him for a month. We stayed with him, and eventually through intensive (and very enjoyable) effort, found him again. By the end of summer, he had led us 3.6 miles away from his capture spot.

The place he led us is magnificent. It is out in the flats, in the middle of nowhere. The ground is so infested with rodent holes that at times, we drop through the soil and into the networks. The saguaros are massively majestic on his turf, and the hedgehog cactus are waist high. I'm quite sure there will be more Mojave Rattlesnakes out his way, and I'm equally sure there is a good population of sidewinders in the vicinity--not to mention some "flat dwelling" diamondbacks. If we can find some of each, we hope to be able to shift some of our operation out that way.

Meanwhile, back at the rocky hillsides, we were lucky enough to score a new tiger rattlesnake, as well as the snake that sealed our enthusiasm for the upcoming year. We speak of a female black-tailed rattlesnake. We expect that the boys will be all over next year, and that will likely help us to start beefing up our N on them.

When all is said and done, I hope that by this time next year, we will be tracking FIVE species of rattlesnake, as well as a Gila Monster or two.

There has been some incredible activity on the plot lately, likely brought about by the rains.

I will be sending some pictures out next week.

Best to all, roger

The Mr. Snake Fundraiser

2011-12-17T05:38:00.002-06:00

Howdy Herpers,

12/16/11

I don't wish to detract too much from the Susan show with my words. But I will say that I'm grateful to her, and equally grateful for the kind words about the Schuett/Repp Suizo Mountain study that have come from you.

On the heels of this email, I will send a brief report of what we hope to do in 2012. We are set up to play a brand new game, and MAN do we ever want to play!

Somebody has already bid $500.00 for Mr. Snake. Hence, it makes cents (ha! a play on werds...) that the minimum bid would be something above that--eh?

The bidding process is simple. Simply reply to this email, and write your bid above the "Howdy Herpers" line. (Please don't put your bid in the subject line.) Indicate whether you wish to melt some plastic (credit card/pay pal), or pay by check/money order/or cash.

Tonight, I will send out what the high bid is at that point. Monday morning, (12/19) I will do the same.

Are we paying attention? Good! When I crack open my computer on Tuesday morning at 0630 MST, whoever has submitted the highest bid gets the prize.

I will contact this person at that point in time, and see if they wish to remain anonymous. Following that, I will announce what the winning bid was.

And now, it's the Susan show. Please refer to the attached .pdf file to see the effort that Susan put into making this one-of-a-kind, showcase piece. If you wish to see more of Susan's craftsmanship, check out her website at the link below:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/wiredlotus

Best to all, and thanks to all! roger

"What are rattlesnakes good for? Good enough for themselves, and we should not begrudge them their share of life." John Muir, 1901

Another Note from Roger

2011-12-17T05:36:00.000-06:00

Howdy Herpers, 15 December 2011

Attached one wrong thing, I did!

Attached is the image of Mr. Snake.

Off to drink the drain cleaner!

roger

A Special Edition of the Suizo Report

2011-12-17T05:33:00.000-06:00

Howdy Herpers,

15 December 2012

Welcome to a special edition of the Suizo Report!

I want to begin by quoting from the last regular Suizo Report, sent on 18 October, 2011. It closed with these words:

"Also in peril is our ability to continue our study. By January of 2012, we will face an expense of $2,000.00 for PIT tags and transmitters. It is at that point where the final decision will transpire. But regardless of that decision, we will at least be out there tracking until the end of September 2012. We look forward to where our new friends will take us, as well as developments with the old."

Thank you to all who wrote in encouragement of the Suizo Study. People, some of whom I've never met, are willing to help us continue. Your willingness to support our scientific endeavors was very heartening.

The suggestion that we pass the hat for help came from many directions – and then right in the thick of all this angst about funding, my talented niece, Susan Barzacchini, sent me images of a three-dimensional snake necklace and a pair of snake shed-skin embossed earrings she created. In her own unselfish fashion, she offered them as a fundraiser for the Suizo Study -- and this, in the wake of hearing that Art Jewelry Magazine will run a feature on the necklace in an upcoming issue! (For those unfamiliar with Art Jewelry, it is a flagship publication in the world of creative jewelry design.)

The last two weeks have been quite exciting, with Susan and the magazine getting a photo shoot done so that the necklace and earrings can be offered for sale this Christmas. More information about the creation of the necklace and the bidding process will be sent shortly.

Susan has asked me to share more about the Schuett/Repp Suizo Study, since this announcement will go out to many who are not on the Suizo Report email list. As I was compiling information for Susan, I was amazed at how much has happened over the years with our Study:

In March of 2012, we will have completed year number 11 with our radio telemetry study involving 4 species of rattlesnakes and Gila Monsters. The ability to follow individual snakes and monsters around all year long is a dream come true to this herper.

Between Gordon and myself, we have over 300 herp-related publications. We complement each other in this regard, as Gordon mainly centers on peer review venues, whereas I focus on herp society newsletters. We both spread the word about herps via public speaking engagements.

As for the work coming from the Suizo Mountains, we currently have eight peer review publications, two more in review, and the almighty kinship paper is in the hopper. With the latter, for over ten years, we collected blood samples from over 200 Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox). Many of these were from aggregate situations, that is, what we hypothesize are family units. (The Jones family over-winters here together, the Smith clan over there, etc.) But we have more than blood/DNA from these animals. The blood is backed by the behaviors of many of individuals that were followed for years. I expect that when the results are all in, we will see things like brothers and sisters keeping tabs on each other through the course of the year. We will know the mothers and fathers of many of the baby snakes that were nesting under our watch. We have noted that pregnant female atrox, who normally tend to avoid each other during the active season, visit each other just prior to giving birth. Are these females related? Time will tell! These things and perhaps many other surprises are on the horizon.

The educational benefits from the study are numerous. Ever since 2003, we have led students from the U of A herp class to our plot. We teach them radio-tracking techniques, which is a valuable skill to learn if one is to move on in the wildlife studies arena. In addition to the U of A, we have had classes from five other academic institutions out to our plot. In all, we have trained over 200 individuals on the fundamentals of radio tracking, as well as the science of collecting data. We have also shared the mysteries of our beloved Suizo Mountains with hundreds of visitors from all over the country, as well as internationally. We've never sought or accepted funding for doing this important educational work.

On top of all this are the Suizo Reports, sent out to a list-serv with heavy hitter professional herpers as well as people who have but a passing interest in herps. These reports are unique, in that herpers are by nature taciturn and secretive. It is for this reason that we hear so little about the natural history of the animals that we love. This in turn leads to ignorance about what these creatures have to do to survive, and this ignorance leads to minimal public education on animals that are greatly misunderstood.

To all of you who love these animals as much as Gordon and I do, thank you for your encouragement over the past many years. A special thanks to Susan, for offering this spectacular necklace and earrings in financial support of our research! ALL of the money generated by this necklace will go into transmitters and equipment upgrades needed to continue our study.
(Not gas money, not salary--equipment!).

Without further adieu, just to tantalize the snake lovers among us, I will attach two images of "Mr. Snake."
Lastly, for those who have never been there, I attach an image of the patch of ground that we love so.

Created exclusively for a fundraiser for private herpetology research this silver sheet-wire fusion fanged snake is designed by fabricating sterling silver sheet, embossed with snakeskin with a rolling mill, into a dimensional structure of a rattlesnake head. The tongue is tube-set with a faceted garnet and is hinged to the internal mouth allowing movement. The eyes are competition glass taxidermy eyes that have been bezel set. Each component was patinaed with liver of sulfur and buffed before assembly.

Susan Barzacchini

In 24 hours, I will send an email that explains the bidding process, as well as more information from Susan about Mr. Snake.

My heartfelt thanks to all who have been with us through the years. Here is to hoping we can enjoy the ride together for years to come!
Cheers, roger

Claw Use in Dinosaurs & the Origin of Flight

2011-12-14T18:30:00.000-06:00

Figure above from article. RPR “ripper” behavioural model, illustrated by a small dromaeosaurid.A) grasping foot holds on to prey. (B) hypertrophied D-II claw used as anchor to maintain grip on large prey. (C) predator's bodyweight pins down victim. (D) beam-like tail aids balance. (E) low-carried metatarsus helps restrain victim. (F) “stability flapping” used to maintain position on top of prey (see Supporting Information Videos S1 and S2). (G) arms encircle prey (“mantling”), restricting escape route. (H) head reaches down between feet, tearing off strips of flesh (may explain unusual deinonychosaurian dental morphology). Victim is eaten alive or dies of organ failure.

BOZEMAN -- New research from Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies has revealed how dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus used their famous killer claws, leading to a new hypothesis on the evolution of flight in birds.

In a paper published Dec. 14 in PLoS ONE, MSU researchers Denver W. Fowler, Elizabeth A. Freedman, John B. Scannella and Robert E. Kambic (now at Brown University in Rhode Island), describe how comparing modern birds of prey helped develop a new behavior model for sickle-clawed carnivorous dinosaurs like Velociraptor.

"This study is a real game-changer," said lead author Fowler. "It completely overhauls our perception of these little predatory dinosaurs, changing the way we think about their ecology and evolution."

The study focuses on dromaeosaurids; a group of small predatory dinosaurs that include the famous Velociraptor and its larger relative, Deinonychus. Dromaeosaurids are closely related to birds, and are most famous for possessing an enlarged sickle-claw on digit two (inside toe) of the foot. Previous researchers suggested that this claw was used to slash at prey, or help climb up their hides, but the new study proposes a different behavior.

"Modern hawks and eagles possess a similar enlarged claw on their digit 2's, something that hadn't been noted before we published on it back in 2009," Fowler said. "We showed that the enlarged D-2 claws are used as anchors, latching into the prey, preventing their escape. We interpret the sickle claw of dromaeosaurids as having evolved to do the same thing: latching in, and holding on."

As in modern birds of prey, precise use of the claw is related to relative prey size.

"This strategy is only really needed for prey that are about the same size as the predator; large enough that they might struggle and escape from the feet," Fowler said. "Smaller prey are just squeezed to death, but with large prey all the predator can do is hold on and stop it from escaping, then basically just eat it alive. Dromaeosaurs lack any obvious adaptations for dispatching their victims, so just like hawks and eagles, they probably ate their prey alive too."

Other features of bird of prey feet gave clues as to the functional anatomy of their ancient relatives; toe proportions of dromaeosaurids seemed more suited for grasping than running, and the metatarsus (bones between the ankles and the toes) is more adapted for strength than speed.

"Unlike humans, most dinosaurs and birds only walk on their toes, so the metatarsus forms part of the leg itself," Fowler said. "A long metatarsus lets you take bigger strides to run faster; but in dromaeosaurids, the metatarsus is very short, which is odd."

Fowler thinks that this indicates that Velociraptor and its kin were adapted for a strategy other than simply running after prey.

"When we look at modern birds of prey, a relatively short metatarsus is one feature that gives the bird additional strength in its feet," Fowler continued. "Velociraptor and Deinonychus also have a very short, stout metatarsus, suggesting that they had great strength but wouldn't have been very fast runners."

The ecological implications become especially interesting when dromaeosaurids are contrasted with their closest relatives: a very similar group of small carnivorous dinosaurs called troodontids, Fowler said.

"Troodontids and dromaeosaurids started out looking very similar, but over about 60 million years they evolved in opposite directions, adapting to different niches," Fowler said. "Dromaeosaurids evolved towards stronger, slower feet; suggesting a stealthy ambush predatory strategy, adapted for relatively large prey. By contrast, troodontids evolved a longer metatarsus for speed and a more precise, but weaker grip, suggesting they were swift but probably took relatively smaller prey."

The study also has implications for the next closest relatives of troodontids and dromaeosaurids: birds. An important step in the origin of modern birds was the evolution of the perching foot.

"A grasping foot is present in the closest relatives of birds, but also in the earliest birds like Archaeopteryx," Fowler said. "We suggest that this originally evolved for predation, but would also have been available for use in perching. This is what we call 'exaptation:' a structure evolved originally for one purpose that can later be appropriated for a different use."

The new study proposes that a similar mechanism may be responsible for the evolution of flight.

"When a modern hawk has latched its enlarged claws into its prey, it can no longer use the feet for stabilization and positioning," Fowler said. "Instead the predator flaps its wings so that the prey stays underneath its feet, where it can be pinned down by the predator's bodyweight."

The researchers suggest that this 'stability flapping' uses less energy than flight, making it an intermediate flapping behavior that may be key to understanding how flight evolved.

"The predator's flapping just maintains its position, and does not need to be as powerful or vigorous as full flight would require. Get on top, stay on top; it's not trying to fly away," Fowler said. "We see fully formed wings in exquisitely preserved dromaeosaurid fossils, and from biomechanical studies we can show that they were also able to perform a rudimentary flapping stroke. Most researchers think that they weren't powerful enough to fly; we propose that the less demanding stability flapping would be a viable use for such a wing, and this behavior would be consistent with the unusual adaptations of the feet."

Another group of researchers has proposed that understanding flapping behaviors is key to understanding the evolution of flight, a view with which Fowler agrees.

"If we look at modern birds, we see flapping being used for all sorts of behaviors outside of flight. In our paper, we are formally proposing the 'flapping first' model: where flapping evolved for other behaviors first, and was only later exapted for flight by birds."

The researchers believe their new ideas will open multiple new lines of investigation into dinosaur paleobiology, and the evolution of novel anatomical structures.

"As with other research conducted at the Jack Horner paleo lab, we're looking at old paleontological questions with a fresh perspective, taking a different angle," Fowler said. "Just as you have to get beyond the idea that feet are used just for walking, so we are coming to realize that many unusual structures in modern animals originally evolved for quite different purposes. Revealing the selection pathways that mold and produce these structures helps us to better understand the major evolutionary transitions that shaped life on this planet."

Citation

Fowler DW, Freedman EA, Scannella JB, Kambic RE (2011) The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychusand the Origin of Flapping in Birds. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28964. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028964

The World's Small Frogs - New Guinea Microhylids in the genus Paedophryne

2011-12-13T05:28:00.000-06:00

These are images of specimens of Paedophryne

dekot (A) and (B), and P. verrucosa (C), and

(D). Photos by Fred Kraus.

Field work by researcher Fred Kraus from Bishop Museum, Honolulu has found the world's smallest frogs in southeastern New Guinea. This also makes them the world's smallest tetrapods (non-fish vertebrates). The frogs belong to the genus Paedophryne, all of whose species are extremely small, with adults of the two new species - named Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa - only 8-9 mm in length. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Previous research had led to the discovery of Paedophryne by Kraus in 2002 from nearby areas in New Guinea, but the genus was not formally described until last year (Kraus 2010, also in Zookeys). The two species described earlier were larger, attaining sizes of 10-11 mm, but the genus still represents the most miniaturized group of tetrapods in the world.

“Miniaturization occurs in many frog genera around the world,” said the author, “but New Guinea seems particularly well represented, with species in seven genera exhibiting the phenomenon. Although most frog genera have only a few diminutive representatives mixed among larger relatives, Paedophryne is unique in that all species are minute.” The four known species all inhabit small ranges in the mountains of southeastern New Guinea or adjacent, offshore islands. Their closest relatives remain unclear.

The members of this genus have reduced digit sizes that would not allow them to climb well; all inhabit leaf litter, and their reduced digits may be a corollary of a reduced body size required for inhabiting leaf litter and moss. Habitation in leaf litter and moss is common in miniaturized frogs and may reflect their exploitation of novel food sources in that habitat. The frogs' small body sizes have also reduced the egg complements that females carry to only two, although it is not yet known whether both eggs are laid simultaneously or at staged intervals.

Citation
Kraus, F. At the lower size limit for tetrapods, two new species of the miniaturized frog genus Paedophryne (Anura, Microhylidae). ZooKeys, 2011; 154 (0): 71 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.154.1963

Reticulated Python Predation on Humans in the Philippines

2011-12-12T17:14:00.000-06:00

A 6.9 m reticulated python, shot by

Kekek Aduanan, on the right, on

June 9, 1970, Luzon, Philippines.

Photo by J. Headland.

In a forth coming article, published early on-line today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Thomas Headland and Harry Greene document the frequency of python attacks on a tribe of hunter-gatherers in the Philippines, this is the only study to quantify the danger that snakes pose to humans. Anthropologist Headland lived among the Agta Negritos since 1962, and interviewed 58 men and 62 women regarding their interactions with reticulated pythons. Fifteen of the men (26 percent) and one of the women (1.6 percent) had been attacked, and the interviews recalled six fatal attacks that occurred between 1934 and 1973, although Headland could only confirm two fatal attacks on children. The attacks usually occured on men while they walked in the forest, but 15 of the individuals interviewed remembered a python entering a dwelling at sunset and killing two of three children, swallowing one of them. The data compiled suggests that one tramatic or fatal attack occurs every two to three years in the Agta tribe. The report also focuses on the complex interaction between humans and snakes, so while pythons prey on humans, humans also prey on snakes. Headland documented a 6.9 m reticulated python killed, dressed in less than an hour that provided about 25 kg of meat (see photo).

Citation:
Headland T. N. and H. W. Greene. 2011. Hunter–gatherers and other primates as prey, predators, and competitors of snakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, early on-line doi:10.1073/pnas.1115116108

A New Bush Viper & The Strategy to Save it from Extinction

2011-12-11T07:00:00.004-06:00

Atheris ceratophora, a species related to
A. matildae. Photo Credit Al Cortex.

Fourteen species of the arboreal viper genus Atheris (subfamily Viperinae), sometimes called bush vipers, are distributed over much of central Africa but seem to reach their greatest diversity in east Africa's sky island complex. The Atheris ancestor originated in Africa's Oligocene and they all use an ambush foraging strategey to capture food. Bush viper have frequently evolved in patches of forest on a mountain top and have stayed put, so most recognized species have limited distributions. Because they depend on forests, many of these snakes are threatened by habitat destruction, but they are also threatened by collectors who feed the wildlife market of developed countries.

This week the journal Zootaxa published the description of a spectacular new species of Atheris, Matilda’s Horned Viper, Atheris matildae which was discovered during a biological survey in southern Tanzania. Superficially It resembles the Usambara bush viper, Atheris ceratophora, but it is larger, has distinct scalation and a genetic divergence of 3.18% in one mitochondrial gene, suggesting the two species separated about 2.2 million years.

Atheris matildae was discovered in a remote montane forest fragment in southwest Tanzania, a remnant of a more widespread forested landscape that was interspersed with plateau grasslands and other naturally isolated forest islands. The Menegon et al. (2011) suggest that A. matildae is a range-restricted forest species, limited to an area smaller than 100 km2 in an area of declining habitat quailty.

Wildlife trade is estimated to be US$159 billion a year business and reptiles play a large part in the exotic wildlife trade that is having a devastating effect on wild populations. So much so, that in many parts of Africa it is the single biggest threat to the existence of many wild species. The colourful, Atheris are popular pet snakes in many countries, however, their natural habitat is seriously threatened and the numbers of wild caught animals destined for the pet trade continues to be unsustainable.

Newly discovered bush viper species can bring a high price and this can have a very damaging impact on the population. In the case of Matilda’s Horned Viper, a sudden rush to collect as many specimens as possible could actually extirpate the species in the wild. To avoid the unsustainable collection of such a rare snake, the authors of the species have agreed with the editor of Zootaxa – where the species description is published – to keep the locality as vague as possible, with the possibility of more specific information provided by the authors on request, scientific purposes only. The authors suggest this practice should be taken into consideration by taxonomists every time a new, rare species of potential commercial interest is described.

While collection from the wild is mostly unsustainable and has reached a level whereby it represents perhaps the biggest threat to Tanzania’s amphibians and reptiles, the authors have propsed a conservation strategy to save the new snake and provide a new conservation opportunity. The authors have initiated a breeding program for the new viper in Tanzania. This will act as an ‘insurance population’ to protect the new species from overexploitation, and begin the conservation of its threatened habitat so that this unique animal can persist in the wild. The first few dozens of babies will n\be placed into the market to produce a commercial population that won't depend upon the wild population. This is an attempt to flood the market with specimens of the new species in order to lower the price and to encourage the captive breeding in the most highly demanding countries, and raise funds to establish an in situ community based forest conservation, programme, including environmental education and wildlife management. The authors will also ask CITES to list the wild population of the species in the Appendix 1 and the captive population in the Appendix 2. Find out more about this strategy at: http://www.atherismatildae.org/

Citation
Menegon, M. T. R.B. Davenport and K M. Howell. 2011. Description of a new and critically endangered species of Atheris (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, with an overview of the country’s tree viper fauna. Zootaxa 3120: 43–54.

Largest USA Dinosaur

2011-12-10T16:47:00.000-06:00

It is difficult to estimate body sizes from only fragmentary
remains, but overlapping skeletal material indicates similar
maximum sizes for the biggest dinosaurs. Image courtesy
of Denver Fowler.

BOZEMAN -- New research from Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies and the State Museum of Pennsylvania has unveiled enormous bones from North America's biggest dinosaur.

In a paper published Dec. 6 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, MSU researcher Denver W. Fowler and coauthor Robert M. Sullivan from Harrisburg, Pa., describe two gigantic vertebrae and a femur that the team collected in New Mexico from 2003 to 2006. Carrying the vertebrae alone took most of a day and was a "killer" because the paleontologists carried them 1.2 miles through 100-degree heat, Fowler said.

The bones belong to the sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus sanjuanensis: a long-necked plant eater related to Diplodocus. The Alamosaurus roamed what is now the southwestern United States and Mexico about 69 million years ago.

"Alamosaurus has been known for some time; its remains were first described in 1922 from the Naashoibito beds of New Mexico. Since then, more bones have been discovered in New Mexico, Utah, some really nice material from Texas, and Mexico, including a few partial skeletons," Fowler said.

The sheer size of the new bones caught the researchers by surprise, however.

"We used to think that a fully grown Alamosaurus measured around 60 feet long and weighed about 30 tons; but a 2009 study by another MSU researcher, Dr. Holly Woodward, found that a femur thought to belong to an adult was still growing," Fowler said. "This told us that Alamosaurus got even bigger, but we didn't imagine that it could get quite this big."

How big? The enormity of the new bones puts Alamosaurus in the same size league as other giant sauropods from South America, including Argentinosaurus which weighed about 70 tons, and is widely considered to be the biggest dinosaur of all.

"Over the past 20 years, Argentinean and Brazilian paleontologists have been unearthing bigger and bigger dinosaurs, putting the rest of the world in the shade," Fowler said. "However, our new finds not only show that Alamosaurus is newly recognized as the biggest dinosaur from North America, but also that it was right up there with the biggest South American species: the US is back in the fight for the No.1 spot."

Although comparison of the new Alamosaurus bones with the South American species gave the researchers an idea of size, giant specimens of sauropods like Alamosaurus and Argentinosaurus are only known from very fragmentary remains offering only a tantalizing glimpse of what a complete Alamosaurus might look like, Fowler said.

"We'd love to find more complete material," Fowler continued. "Fortunately, Alamosaurus bones are quite common in the Naashoibito of New Mexico, so we have a good chance of going back and finding more, but in order to dig up one of the world's biggest dinosaurs you need one of the world's biggest dinosaur digging teams and large digging equipment."

The Pennsylvania State Museum field crew is typically just two or three people, so there are limits on how many bones can be collected in one season, Fowler said. Even so, many new and important specimens have been recovered over the past 10 to 15 years, including new species, and other members of the fauna including the iconic carnivore Tyrannosaurus.

"We found a shed Tyrannosaurus tooth with another Alamosaurus neck bone that we were excavating," Fowler said. "The Tyrannosaurus may have lost its tooth while feeding on an Alamosaurus carcass."

The Alamosaurus discovery goes beyond just "size" bragging-rights, and may have important implications for other dinosaurs, Fowler said. Recent discoveries by paleontologist Jack Horner's paleo lab at the Museum of the Rockies have emphasized the importance of understanding growth and ontogeny in interpreting dinosaur evolution.

"Increasingly, we're finding that very large or small individuals often look very different, and are often described as different species," Fowler said. "Our findings show that Alamosaurus was originally described based on immature material, and this is a problem as characteristics that define a species are typically only fully gained at adult size. This means that we might be misinterpreting the relationships of Alamosaurus and possibly other sauropod dinosaurs too."

To keep up with the latest research from the Horner Paleo Lab at the Museum of the Rockies, go to Facebook.

Odorrana Frogs as a Source for New Antibiotics

2011-12-09T06:14:00.000-06:00

The Chinese Odorrana tormota. Photo Credit

Albert Feng

About 45 species of ranid frogs are currently recognized in the genus Odorrana, they inhabit high-gradient streams in Asia from Myanmar and Thailand and Malaya southward through the Sunda Shelf (Sumatra to Borneo) and eastward into China and Japan. And at least some species use ultrasonic sound to communicate through the noise of running water. Now, Yang et al. (2011) find that they may produce the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances known, and that they hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections. The dorous frogs have been described as smelling like decomposing flesh. Zhang's research group at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, of the Chinese Academy worked to identify the specific antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for developing new antibiotics. They identified more than 700 of these substances from nine species of odorous frogs and concluded that the AMPs account for almost one-third of all AMPs found in the world, the greatest known diversity of these germ-killing chemicals. Interestingly, some of the AMPs have a dual action, killing bacteria directly and simultaneouly activating the immune system. Their results sugest that identical AMPs were widely distributed in odorous frogs; 49 known AMPs can be found in different amphibian species. Purified peptides showed a strong and effective antimicrobial activity against four tested strains of microbe. They synthesized another 23 peptides and evaluated their antimicrobial, antioxidant, hemolytic, immunomodulatory and insulin-releasing properties. Their research demonstrates the extreme diversity of AMPs in amphibian skins and provides numerous templates for developing novel peptide antibiotics. Thus, we have yet another reason to protect biodiversity.

Citation

Xinwang Yang, Wen-Hui Lee, Yun Zhang. 2011. Extremely Abundant Antimicrobial Peptides Existed in the Skins of Nine Kinds of Chinese Odorous Frogs. Journal of Proteome Research, 2011: 111118134814004 DOI: 10.1021/pr200782u

Climate Modeling With Rattlesnakes

2011-12-08T04:52:00.000-06:00

The following is a press release from Indiana University. The link to the entire article on-line can be found at the bottom. There are some very nice videos that show predictions in changing geographic distributions for a number of rattlesnake species that can be downloaded from the article.

Species, like this Crotalus basiliscus will be greatly impacted by climate change over the next few hundred years. JCM

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The ranges of species will have to change dramatically as a result of climate change between now and 2100 because the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt, according to a newly published study by Indiana University researchers.

The study, which focuses on North American rattlesnakes, finds that the rate of future change in suitable habitat will be two to three orders of magnitude greater than the average change over the past 300 millennia, a time that included three major glacial cycles and significant variation in climate and temperature.

"We find that, over the next 90 years, at best these species' ranges will change more than 100 times faster than they have during the past 320,000 years," said Michelle Lawing, lead author of the paper and a doctoral candidate in geological sciences and biology at IU Bloomington. "This rate of change is unlike anything these species have experienced, probably since their formation."

The timber rattlesnake could be displaced from much of its range in the eastern U.S. by climate change projected to take place by 2100.

The study, "Pleistocene Climate, Phylogeny, and Climate Envelope Models: An Integrative Approach to Better Understand Species' Response to Climate Change," was published by the online science journal PLoS One. Co-author is P. David Polly, associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.

The researchers make use of the fact that species have been responding to climate change throughout their history and their past responses can inform what to expect in the future. They synthesize information from climate cycle models, indicators of climate from the geological record, evolution of rattlesnake species and other data to develop what they call "paleophylogeographic models" for rattlesnake ranges. This enables them to map the expansion and contraction at 4,000-year intervals of the ranges of 11 North American species of the rattlesnake genus Crotalus.

Projecting the models into the future, the researchers calculate the expected changes in range at the lower and upper extremes of warming predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- between 1.1 degree and 6.4 degrees Celsius. They calculate that rattlesnake ranges have moved an average of only 2.3 meters a year over the past 320,000 years and that their tolerances to climate have evolved about 100 to 1000 times slower, indicating that range shifts are the only way that rattlesnakes have coped with climate change in the recent past. With projected climate change in the next 90 years, the ranges would be displaced by a remarkable 430 meters to 2,400 meters a year.

Increasing temperature does not necessarily mean expanded suitable habitats for rattlesnakes. For example, Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake, is now found throughout the Eastern United States. The study finds that, with a temperature increase of 1.1 degree Celsius over the next 90 years, its range would expand slightly into New York, New England and Texas. But with an increase of 6.4 degrees, its range would shrink to a small area on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. C. adamanteus, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, would be displaced entirely from its current range in the southeastern U.S. with a temperature increase of 6.4 degrees.

The findings suggest snakes wouldn't be able to move fast enough to keep up with the change in suitable habitat. The authors suggest the creation of habitat corridors and managed relocation may be needed to preserve some species.

Rattlesnakes are good indicators of climate change because they are ectotherms, which depend on the environment to regulate their body temperatures. But Lawing and Polly note that many organisms will be affected by climate change, and their study provides a model for examining what may happen with other species. Their future research could address the past and future effects of climate change on other types of snakes and on the biological communities of snakes.

Lawing AM, Polly PD (2011) Pleistocene Climate, Phylogeny, and Climate Envelope Models: An Integrative Approach to Better Understand Species' Response to Climate Change. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28554. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028554

Snakebite Victims Consult Traditional Healers, In Place of Modern Medicine

2011-12-05T16:57:00.000-06:00

The global problem of fatal snakebites and promising solutions such as motorcycle ambulances, rapid diagnostic tests and new antivenoms highlighted at ASTMH meeting

Philadelphia, Pa. -- Fatal snakebites are a bigger-than-acknowledged global health problem that has been vastly under-reported, according to research presented today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's (ASTMH) annual meeting.

A key reason for the low count is that many snakebite victims are treated or die without seeking or reaching health facilities. A Bangladeshi study, for example, found that only 3 percent of those treated went directly to a physician or hospital. Rather, 86 percent saw a "snake charmer." Snakebite victims often do not go to hospitals because they have to travel too far, antivenom is scarce in many regions, or the treatment can be too expensive.

"People are dying in their villages without 'bothering' the health system," said Ulrich Kuch, head of the Emerging and Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit at the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. "They simply don't show up in the statistics."

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 5 million people suffer from snakebites each year, resulting in 300,000 cases of permanent disability and about 100,000 deaths. But two recent studies reveal that the magnitude of the problem is far greater than official statistics show. One survey, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2011, found that 46,000 people die every year in India from snakebites, compared to the official figure of 2,000. A second survey found 700,000 snakebites and 6,000 deaths annually in Bangladesh alone, far higher than previous estimates.

"In the 21st century, snakebite is the most neglected of all the neglected tropical diseases," said David Warrell, emeritus professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and one of the study's authors. "The deaths and suffering from venomous snakebites remain largely invisible to the global health community."

While just a handful of people in the United States die each year from snakebites, venomous snakebites greatly afflict the most impoverished people in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries. As many people die from snakebites as from several recognized neglected tropical diseases, and, similarly, snakebites also lack the support of major foundations, development agencies and global leaders, according to Warrell. If the bitten survive, they often are permanently disabled by the effect of the toxins in the venom.

"Neglected tropical diseases too often hold people and their families and communities hostage to poverty," said Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, president of ASTMH and a noted tropical disease expert. "Investing in research for answers that will bring an end to needless suffering, through adequate cures and life-saving health programs, is a smart investment for funders, both private and public."

Volunteer Motorcycle Ambulances, Rapid Diagnostic Tests, New Antivenoms

In the absence of significant global initiatives, scientists, research institutions and community-based organizations are taking it upon themselves to develop solutions in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the world's most-affected regions. These latest developments were presented at the symposium.

One successful program uses volunteer motorcycle drivers to rush victims in southeastern Nepal to a community-based snakebite treatment center. Data presented at the conference showed that the program substantially reduced the snakebite death-rate—from 10.5 percent to 0.5 percent, compared to no decrease in other villages surveyed. "It actually seemed too good to be true," said François Chappuis, Associate Professor in the Division of International and Humanitarian Medicine at Geneva University Hospitals.

The program began in 2003 after a study found that 80 percent of deaths due to snakebites in villages surveyed occurred outside a medical center and that half of those victims died on the way to the health facility. So researchers established a program where volunteer motorbike owners race snakebite victims 24-hours-a-day to the Damak Red Cross Health Center for fast medical care. They also launched an educational campaign where Nepalese residents met with villagers and community health workers and distributed leaflets in the most affected villages. "The message was extremely straightforward: you get bitten, you call a motorcycle volunteer and you go as fast as possible to the medical center," Chappuis said. The program was expanded to 40 villages and in 2011 began in south central Nepal with hopes of it being replicated in India.

Scientists also presented promising data on rapid diagnostic tests being developed to allow physicians to make fast decisions on whether to give antivenom and which type to use. Currently, standard practice is to wait until symptoms of envenomation appear before giving antivenom because it can have serious side effects and supply is scarce. This is reasonable in many cases. However, the venom of certain species irreversibly destroys parts of the nervous system before envenomation becomes clinically apparent, making the resulting life-threatening paralysis resistant to antivenom treatment. With a 20-minute strip test that shows if venom was injected and by which species, doctors can give antivenom immediately after such bites, before patients become severely ill or die. The tests are easy to use in rural, poor settings.

The tests discussed at the forum would detect bites from two deadly snakes—the Russell's viper and the krait. The krait test is in preliminary stages for potential use in South Asia. The Russell's viper test successfully completed preclinical testing with a clinical trial expected in 2012. It has been designed for Burma with plans to adapt it for wider use throughout South and Southeast Asia.

In addition, researchers discussed their progress on the development of cheaper, effective antivenoms, which are scarce or nonexistent in some parts of the world, or are too expensive.

The nonprofit Instituto Clodomiro Picado (ICP) of the University of Costa Rica has teamed up with governments, manufacturers and world-renowned universities and research institutions—including Oxford, the University of Melbourne, Instituto de Biomedicina of Valencia, Spain, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine—to develop new antivenoms for sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

One is for the taipan of Papua New Guinea, one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Though a good Australian antivenom exists, it is scarce in Papua New Guinea because of its very high price. The new antivenom for Papua New Guinea, at a fraction of the cost, successfully completed laboratory and animal testing, with the results published in 2011 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. A clinical trial will start this year.

This comes on the heels of two new effective antivenoms panelists worked on that are starting to be distributed in Nigeria—one for the saw-scaled viper and a "polyspecific" antivenom that works for three snakes. One is being manufactured in the UK and the other at ICP in Costa Rica, which would also produce the antivenom for Papua New Guinea.

But a new project presented at the ASTMH forum takes a different approach. The ICP will help formulate a polyspecific antivenom for five snakes in Sri Lanka and then transfer the technology to Sri Lanka for local production. The ICP is collaborating with the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and a US-based non-profit, Animal Venom Research International, said José María Gutiérrez, PhD, head of the Research Division of ICP and Professor at the University of Costa Rica.

"These new antivenoms show how international partnerships between organizations that have different strengths can work together and solve problems in diverse parts of the world," he said.

The December 5th symposium, Snakebite Envenomation: From Global Awareness to Best Practice Implementation, will feature leading snakebite authorities from Bangladesh, Germany, the UK, Nepal, Nigeria and Costa Rica.

On December 6th, Warrell will present findings on new medical symptoms documented in people bitten by certain snake species in his talk, Newly Recognized Clinical Syndromes of Snakebite Envenoming.

Indigo Snake Survival Demographics

2011-12-04T06:13:00.000-06:00

The Indigo Snake, Drymarchon couperi JCM

The Eastern Indigo snake, Drymarchon couperi has been federally listed as threatened since 1978. It is one of the largest North American colubrids (if not the largest) reaching 2.63 m and has been the focus of intensive research and conservation efforts throughout its range in the southeastern United States. Indigo snakes frequently encounter humans because they actively forage for food during the day. They prey on a wide range of vertebrates and have been reported to act as scavengers. Breeding occurs from October to March when the snakes are using sandhill habitats. Gestation lasts 100–150 days and a single clutch of 4–12 relatively large eggs are normally laid in May or June, and they hatch about 90 days later. Drymarchon couperi exhibits male-biased sexual size and require 3 to 4 years of growth before they reach sexual maturity. Indigos often the use xeric sand ridge communities (or sandhills), especially during the fall-winter breeding season and frequently inhabit burrows of the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus for protection from environmental extremes, fires, and predators.

Hyslop et al. (2011) examined indigo snake demographic data collected over 11 years of capture-mark-recapture (CMR) studies as well as 2.5 years of radiotelemetry data from snakes in southeastern Georgia, to estimate apparent survival, capture and transition probabilities, and evaluate the factors that influencing these parameters. They estimated the annual survival probability is 0.700 (±0.030 SE), a number comparable to a knonw fate analysis (radiotelemetry) done at the same site. Body size positively influenced survival, regardless of sex, with larger snakes having a greater chance of surviving a year. Their model averaged estimate of annual adult survival was 0.738 ± 0.030 and 0.515 ± 0.189 for subadults. Population growth rate ranged from 0.96 to 1.03 depending on the value of the probability of transitioning from subadult to adult stage. Their results suggest that protecting adult snakes and their habitats will result in the highest likelihood of long-term population stability and growth. This is excellent news for a species that has been greatly reduced in numbers over the last 50 years. Now, if we can just keep its habitat intact.

Citation

Hyslop N, Stevenson D, Macey J, Carlile L, Jenkins C, et al. 2011. Survival and population growth of a long-lived threatened snake species, Drymarchon couperi (Eastern Indigo Snake). Population Ecology: 1-12.

Earthquakes, Rock Chemistry, & Toad Behavior

2011-12-04T05:23:00.000-06:00

Common European Toad, Bufo bufo. JCM

In a follow up study in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Grant et al. (2011) describe a mechanism whereby stressed rocks in the Earth's crust release charged particles that react with the groundwater. Animals that live in or near groundwater are highly sensitive to any changes in its chemistry, so they might sense this days before the rocks finally "slip" and cause a quake. The new reasearch led by Friedemann Freund from Nasa and Rachel Grant from the UK's Open University want their hypothesis to inspire biologists and geologists to work together, to find out exactly how animals might help us recognise some of the elusive signs of an imminent earthquake. The L'Aquila toads are not the first example of strange animal behavior before a major seismic event;there are stories throughout history about reptiles, amphibians and fish behaving in unusual ways just before an earthquake struck. In 1975, in Haicheng, China, people observed snakes emerging from their burrows a month before the city was hit by a large earthquake. Observation was unsusal because it occurred during the winter when snakes were hibernation, and with sufreezing temperatures leaving the ground was suicide for the snakes.

After the 2010 paper in the Journal of Zoology, Grant was contacted by NASA. US space agency scientists had been studying the chemical changes that occur when rocks are under extreme stress, and suspected a link to the mass exodus of the toads. Nasa geophysicist Friedemann Freund demonstrated that rocks under very high levels of stress release charged particles. The charged particles become ions at the earth's surface. Positively charged ions are known to cause headaches and nausea in humans and increase the level of serotonin, a stress hormone, in the blood of animals. They also react with water to form peroxides. Thus, there is now a possible mechanism for explaning animal behavior prior to seismic events.

Literature

Grant, RA. & T. Halliday 2010. Predicting the unpredictable; evidence of pre-seismic anticipatory behaviour in the common toad.. Journal of Zoology, 281: 263–271

Grant , RA., T. Halliday , W. P. Balderer , F. Leuenberger , M. Newcomer , G. Cyr and F. T. Freund 2011. Ground Water Chemistry Changes before Major Earthquakes and Possible Effects on Animals.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8, 1936-1956; doi:10.3390/ijerph8061936

World's first captive breeding of Ozark hellbenders at Saint Louis Zoo

2011-12-01T16:40:00.000-06:00

Ozark hellbenders after hatching. Photo credit
Mark Wanner/Saint Louis Zoo

Decade-long collaboration of zoo and federal, state scientists yields 63 baby hellbenders

The Saint Louis Zoo's Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation and the Missouri Department of Conservation announced on Nov. 30, 2011, that Ozark hellbenders have been bred in captivity—a first for either of the two subspecies of hellbender. This decade-long collaboration has yielded 63 baby hellbenders.

The first hellbender hatched on Nov. 15, and currently there are approximately 120 additional eggs that should hatch within the next week. The eggs are maintained in climate- and water quality-controlled trays behind the scenes in the Zoo's Herpetarium. For 45 to 60 days after emerging, the tiny larvae will retain their yolk sack for nutrients and move very little as they continue their development. As the larvae continue to grow, they will develop legs and eventually lose their external gills by the time they reach 1.5 to 2 years of age. At sexual maturity, at 5 to 8 years of age, adult lengths can approach two feet. Both parents are wild bred: the male has been at the Zoo for the past two years and the female arrived this past September.

Rivers in south-central Missouri and adjacent Arkansas once supported up to 8,000 Ozark hellbenders. Today, fewer than 600 exist in the world—so few that the amphibian was added in October 2011 to the federal endangered species list.

Due to these drastic declines, captive propagation became a priority in the long-term recovery of the species. Once the captive-bred larvae are 3 to 8 years old, they can then be released into their natural habitat—the Ozark aquatic ecosystem.

Also known by the colloquial names of "snot otter" and "old lasagna sides," the adult hellbender is one of the largest species of salamanders in North America, with its closest relatives being the giant salamanders of China and Japan, which can reach five feet in length.

With skin that is brown with black splotches, the Ozark hellbender has a slippery, flattened body that moves easily through water and can squeeze under rocks on the bottom of streams.

Like a Canary in a Coal Mine

Requiring cool, clean running water, the Ozark hellbender is also an important barometer of the overall health of that ecosystem—an aquatic "canary in a coal mine."

"Capillaries near the surface of the hellbender's skin absorb oxygen directly from the water – as well as hormones, heavy metals and pesticides," said Jeff Ettling, Saint Louis Zoo curator of herpetology and aquatics. "If there is something in the water that is causing the hellbender population to decline, it can also be affecting the citizens who call the area home."

"We have a 15- to 20-year window to reverse this decline," added Missouri Department of Conservation Herpetologist Jeff Briggler, who cites a number of reasons for that decline from loss of habitat to pollution to disease to illegal capture and overseas sale of the hellbender for pets. "We don't want the animal disappearing on our watch."

Reversing A Decline

In 2001, the Ozark Hellbender Working Group of scientists from government agencies, public universities and zoos in Missouri and Arkansas launched a number of projects to staunch that decline. These included egg searches, disease sampling and behavioral studies.

In 2004, funding from private donors, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the United States Fish & Wildlife Services and the Zoo covered the cost of building sophisticated facilities including climate-controlled streams to breed the hellbender.

The hellbender propagation facilities include two outdoor streams that are 40 feet long and six feet deep. The area is landscaped with natural gravel, large rocks for hiding and artificial nest boxes, where the fertilized eggs were discovered. A nearby building houses state-of-the-art life support equipment used to filter the water and maintain the streams at the proper temperature.

In addition, two large climate-controlled rooms in the basement of the Zoo's Charles H. Hoessle Herpetarium are the headquarters for the program. The facilities recreate hellbender habitat with closely monitored temperatures, pumps to move purified water, sprinklers synced to mimic the exact precipitation and lights that flick on or dim to account for brightness and shade. The largest room includes a 32-foot simulated stream, complete with native gravel and large rocks for hiding. It houses a breeding group of adult Ozark hellbenders from the North Fork of the White River in Missouri; offspring from these hellbenders will eventually be released back into the wild.

You can see video of the hellbender larvae on You Tube

The Center for Biological Diversity Calls on Georgia to End Rattlesnake Round-Ups

2011-12-01T13:34:00.000-06:00

Georgia Officials Called on to End Cruel, Dangerous Rattlesnake Roundups

ATLANTA— The Center for Biological Diversity and allies today sent a letter to Georgia wildlife officials urging them to enforce laws that protect both animals and people at “rattlesnake roundups” — annual contests in which hunters bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year to be milked for venom, butchered, then sold for meat and skin. Two roundups take place every year in Georgia — one in Whigham in January, the other in Claxton in March. The letter was sent to local law-enforcement officials, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and roundup sponsors.

Georgia state law requires that anyone who possesses a wild rattlesnake obtain a “wild animal license” from the Department of Natural Resources. For the sake of both animal welfare and public safety, the law requires those who keep wild rattlesnakes to buy liability insurance and treat the snakes humanely. The groups’ letter, sent by the Center, Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy, and One More Generation, asks that appropriate law-enforcement measures be taken before and during the roundups to make sure sponsors and participants carry insurance and give the snakes humane treatment.

“Possession of wild rattlesnakes without a license is against the law in Georgia for good, common-sense reasons, and the state needs to make the law real by enforcing it,” said Collette Adkins Giese, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity who works to protect rare and vanishing reptiles and amphibians. “But the best way to stop the abuse of animals, make sure no one gets hurt, and save the eastern diamondback from extinction is to just cancel these roundups. The bottom line is, they’re cruel.”

Rattlesnake roundups are depleting populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes: Analysis of data from four roundups in the southeastern United States shows a steady decline in the weights of prize-winning eastern diamondbacks and the number collected. This once-common species is being pushed toward extinction not only by hunting pressure but also by habitat loss and road mortality. In August, the Center and allies filed a petition to protect the snake under the Endangered Species Act.

“Georgia is blessed with a rich natural heritage of animals and plants. All of these species — even the rattlesnakes — should be allowed to exist and play their intended roles in our wild places,” said Adkins Giese. “It’s time to replace rattlesnake roundups with festivals that celebrate wildlife and educate folks on the importance of saving native species.”

In response to dwindling rattlesnake populations and public pressure, the town of Fitzgerald, Ga., has replaced its rattlesnake roundup with a wild chicken festival, which organizers report has been an enormous success.

For a link to photos of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, please see: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/eastern_diamondback_rattlesnake/photos.html.

Sign the Petition to Stop Rattlesnake Round-Ups!

2011-11-29T18:02:00.000-06:00

Here is an opportunity to help stop rattlesnake round-ups.

Rattlesnake Roundups are festivals that are held annually across the United States. The snakes used in these roundups are captured from their natural habitat. In many cases gasoline is poured into dens to force out the snakes. During the roundups the snakes are subjected to brutal torture, including being kicked, stomped on, whipped, burned, and skinned alive. Snakes are then callously killed by decapitation. False information on snakebites are given out at roundups to inspire fear and the justification of the barbaric animal cruelty and disregard of life that is carried out. According to the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), roundups account for the annual take of over 100,000 rattlesnakes.

This makes roundups a huge conservation concern, as well as an immense animal cruelty issue, and a concern of environmental degradation.

Roger comments: Howdy All,

My friend Peter Lawrence from the UK was kind enough to send me something which was under my very nose for quite a while. Well, it's better late than never.

I hope that you will take a moment to at least look at the link that Peter sent me. I have followed his advice, signed it myself, and now sending it along to you. It was painless to sign.

I was amazed and mostly ashamed that roughly 20 signatures to one were all from foreign countries. We have the power to turn that around.

I'm also ashamed that I misspelled "butchering" with my comments! I hope that they don't take points off for bad spelling........

If you haven't already done so, please consider signing and forwarding.
Thanks, roger

>very good, a moving letter and images. Thanks, I am shipping it
>around. Looking up Melissa I found this, can you ship it to your
>friends, or already maybe you have done so?
>http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/929/570/991/
Peter

Attempted Predation on a Human by Python sebae

2011-11-29T16:55:00.000-06:00

Python sebae, JCM Natural History Photography

The following story is being reported today by The Standard, Kenya's Bold Newspaper.

50-year-old woman is admitted in hospital after she was attacked by a python in a maize plantation in Siaya County.

The woman fought for nearly ten minutes with the huge reptile that had coiled around her in Ginga Village in Gem district.

She sustained serious bite wounds from the python—which is not among poisonous snakes.

Roseline Akinyi was on her way from a neighbour’s house where she had taken her mobile phone for charging barely 100 metres from her house when she was attacked by the snake.

On her way back through a maize plantation, the huge snake pounced and bit her coiling itself around her but she put up a spirited fight and managed to free herself from the python.

She raised alarm screaming at the top of her voice but neighbours could not hear her due to heavy rain.

She said she managed to hold the python's neck, which she kept on squeezing tightly until it uncoiled and slithered into the maize plantation.

She managed to call a neighbour and was rushed to Yala sub-district hospital.

The hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Bob Awino confirmed that the patient was closely being monitored and that her condition was stable.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake Maternal Care

2011-11-29T10:13:00.000-06:00

Howdy Herpers,

Before I launch into the meat of the missive, I want to first describe Melissa Amarello's mentality in the early days of our association. Our first solo outing together occurred in March of 2004. I was poised to take her to some of my "hands off" atrox dens. But she put the kabong on that idea when she indicated that she wanted to go somewhere where we could actually grab and process snakes.

That left me only one option: The Suizo Mountains. Anything and everything else under my watch was, and mostly still is, hands off.

And so our first mission was one of war on the snakes. On that day, Melissa earned the nickname "Hurricane Melissa," for she found three atrox and a female tiger rattlesnake. I found two tortoises.

The atrox she found were to become males CA54 and CA55--also known as "Doublenicks," and later, "The Road Warrior." Some of you may remember Doublenicks as the snake that eventually became a DOR. The female atrox that Melissa found became CA56. All three snakes were PIT tagged and released. Only CA55 was ever captured again.

I've attached a photo that Melissa took from that day. It is of Doublenicks perched on top of CA56, in a behavior called "Stacking." It remains to this day the best image I've ever seen of the behavior. Stacking is in essence a male's way of "hiding" a female from other male interlopers.

Melissa, her partner Jeff Smith, Young Cage and I all share a secret in the blackest parts of our hearts. Young had an atrox den that was known as "Jason's Den." Melissa and Jeff were starting to turn the corner on their mentality towards processing rattlesnakes. They wanted to study a den in hands off fashion. The four of us met, discussed strategy, and off they went to do their study on Jason's Den.

This den "was" a Cinderella kind of den. It "was" a wide open affair, where as many as 14 atrox could be observed all winter long. In terms of a den that "was" easy to study, this "was" the best to ever cross my path.

The key word is "was." Jason's Den no longer exists. Some murderous swine found the den, and in an act of senseless and wanton slaughter, ripped some bloody geysers through the snakes with their shotguns.

A few were left. They came back and got the rest. It was all carefully documented, but none of us can bear to show the pictures, or write about the heartbreak of it all. I still tear up thinking about it, but like so many things in life, I'm powerless to do anything about it.

Every year, atrocities that make this seem like kissing a pretty girl occur in this not-so-great country of ours. This is because of ignorance, and greed. While we can't do much to combat greed, we can at least educate the public to the fact that snakes do much, much more than just sit around and look at each other. If we can do everything in our power to cast snakes in a better light, perhaps one day the rest of the world will catch on.

Melissa and Jeff are doing this very sort of thing with Arizona black rattlesnakes. I think the time has come to share some of this with you. Please click on the link at the bottom of this email, watch the video, and look at the stills. Do click one more link off to the side, the one under October that is entitled "A Rattlesnake Helper."

In closing, in many ways, some of those who study rattlesnakes are the rattlesnakes' worst enemy. People doing these studies cringe at the thought of presenting snakes as anything more than primitive wind up toys, the key being a physiological chemical reaction to queues around them--a hard-wiring at birth--instinct driven.

The ability to actually think can not happen, it's all instinct. This is the type of thinking that is never going to advance rattlesnakes in the eye of the public. It is also the type of thinking mostly done by those who have never actually taken the time to watch them.

I hope you all enjoy this video as much as I did. It is by far the best observational work I've ever seen.
We can only hope for more of this sort of thing in the future.

Best to all, roger

http://socialsnakes.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-in-life-of-rattlesnake-family.html

Atrazine, Gender & Frogs

2011-11-28T18:09:00.000-06:00

Above: Both of these African clawed frogs are genetically male, but lifelong exposure to the herbicide atrazine transformed the frog on the bottom to female. The frog reproduced with normal males twice. Photo Credit: Tyrone B. Hayes.

The following is a press release from the University of Illinois at Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — An international team of researchers has reviewed the evidence linking exposure to atrazine – an herbicide widely used in the U.S. and more than 60 other nations – to reproductive problems in animals. The team found consistent patterns of reproductive dysfunction in amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals exposed to the chemical.

Atrazine is the second-most widely used herbicide in the U.S. More than 75 million pounds of it are applied to corn and other crops, and it is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of groundwater, surface water and rain in the U.S.

The new review, compiled by 22 scientists studying atrazine in North and South America, Europe and Japan, appears in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The researchers looked at studies linking atrazine exposure to abnormal androgen (male hormone) levels in fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals and studies that found a common association between exposure to the herbicide and the “feminization” of male gonads in many animals.

The most robust findings are in amphibians, said University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Val Beasley, a co-author of the review. At least 10 studies found that exposure to atrazine feminizes male frogs, sometimes to the point of sex reversal, he said.

Beasley’s lab was one of the first to find that male frogs exposed to atrazine in the wild were more likely to have both male and female gonadal tissue than frogs living in an atrazine-free environment. And in a 2010 study, Tyrone Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley and lead author of the review, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that atrazine exposure in frogs was associated with “genetic males becoming females and functioning as females,” Beasley said.

“And this is not at extremely high concentrations,” he said. “These are at concentrations that are found in the environment.”

The new review describes the disruptions of hormone function and sexual development reported in studies of mammals, frogs, fish, reptiles and human cells exposed to the herbicide. The studies found that atrazine exposure can change the expression of genes involved in hormone signaling, interfere with metamorphosis, inhibit key enzymes that control estrogen and androgen production, skew the sex ratio of wild and laboratory animals (toward female) and otherwise disrupt the normal reproductive development and functioning of males and females.

“One of the things that became clear in writing this paper is that atrazine works through a number of different mechanisms,” Hayes said. “It’s been shown that it increases production of (the stress hormone) cortisol. It’s been shown that it inhibits key enzymes in steroid hormone production while increasing others. It’s been shown that it somehow prevents androgen from binding to its receptor.”

The review also consolidates the evidence that atrazine undermines immune function in a variety of animals, in part by increasing cortisol.

“Cortisol is a nonspecific response to chronic stress,” Beasley said. “But guess what? Wildlife in many of today’s habitats are stressed a great deal of the time. They’re stressed because they’re crowded into little remnant habitats. They’re stressed because there’s not enough oxygen in the water because there are not enough plants in the water (another consequence of herbicide use). They’re stressed because of other contaminants in the water. And the long-term release of cortisol causes them to be immuno-suppressed.”

There also are studies that show no effects – or different effects – in animals exposed to atrazine, Beasley said. “But the studies are not all the same. There are different species, different times of exposure, different stages of development and different strains within a species.” All in all, he said, the evidence that atrazine harms animals, particularly amphibians and other creatures that encounter it in the water, is compelling.

“I hope this will stimulate policymakers to look at the totality of the data and ask very broad questions,” Hayes said. “Do we want this stuff in our environment? Do we want – knowing what we know – our children to drink this stuff? I would think the answer would be no.”

Citation

Tyrone B. Hayes, Lloyd L. Anderson, Val R. Beasley, Shane R. de Solla, Taisen Iguchi, Holly Ingraham, Patrick Kestemont, Jasna Kniewald, Zlatko Kniewald, Valerie S. Langlois, Enrique H. Luque, Krista A. McCoy, Mónica Muñoz-de-Toro, Tomohiro Oka, Cleida A. Oliveira, Frances Orton, Sylvia Ruby, Miyuki Suzawa, Luz E. Tavera-Mendoza, Vance L. Trudeau, Anna Bolivar Victor-Costa, Emily Willingham. Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: Consistent effects across vertebrate classes. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2011; 127 (1-2): 64 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015

Bungarus Bites in Thar Desert

2011-11-25T16:47:00.000-06:00

Photo Credit Amar Guriro.

The following story is on Pakistan Today's web site. Note that it has some considerable mis-information, there is no snake repellent known to work! The snake in the story is probably Bungarus sindanus Boulenger, 1897, or something related to it.

KARACHI - One of the most ecologically diverse areas in the country, the Thar desert is home to several exotic species of wildlife, especially Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), Chinkara (Gazella bennettii), hog deer (Hyelaphus porcinus), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), apart from quite a few other members of the canine family, birds of prey and reptiles.

But among the many wildlife species, a typically shy resident of the desert area is grabbing all the attention these days.

Of the many snakes, including the famed Indian cobra (Naja naja) and the dreaded vipers (locally called Lundi), the nocturnal Sindh krait (Bungarus sindanus) is sowing fear in the hearts of the desert dwellers this time round.

Locally referred to as the ‘Phookani Bala’, myth has it that the snake sucks the air out of its victim during his sleep and breathes out its toxin-laced breath inside the prey.

The locals believe that the snake sits near the mouth of a sleeping person and sucks in its breath while returning its own poisonous breath inside the victim. The throat of the victim swells to such an extent that he dies within a few hours.

As a snake repellent, the people of Thar eat onion at night and spread pieces of onion around their sleeping places.

Experts say that the Sindh krait does actually bite the victim but the bite is so light that the victim seldom comes to know of it as he may be dead even before he wakes up.

Kraits are highly nocturnal and often hide in rodent holes, loose soil, beneath debris and are rarely seen during the day. During the rainy season, the snake often comes out of its hiding place to find dry refuge and enters houses.

Kraits are many times more poisonous than cobras or vipers while the Sindh krait is the most dangerous of the Bunguarus species. Its venom is highly toxic and causes haemorrhage of capillaries. When bitten, a person can feel violent abdominal pains, as breathing becomes difficult and paralysis sets in, which is followed by death.

The Phookani Bala varies from a dark steely blue black to a pale bluish grey with narrow white bands across its body. The average length ranges between two and three feet but some have been reported to have reached lengths up to five feet.

Snake bites are a routine in Sindh, but this year due to more than average monsoon rains, Sindh krait bite cases are on the rise.

According to figures collected by Association for Water, Applied Education and Renewable Energy (AWARE) – a non-governmental organisation working in Thar Desert, 27 bite cases of Sindh krait have been reported from six villages in the Chachro taluka during the past two months.

Talking with Pakistan Today, AWARE Executive Director Ali Akbar Rahimoo said that this year the area has seen an unusual rise in the number of people being bitten by the snake. “Sindh krait bite cases in Thar have risen by almost 200 percent as compared to the previous years.”

“Absence of anti-venom and the required medicines [for treatment] at the state-run healthcare facilities is resulting in immense inconvenience,” he said. “Many people have died after falling victim to this poisonous snake.”

Rahimoo urged the provincial government to take the issue seriously and help the people of Thar Desert on humanitarian grounds.

“We have contacted several international snake experts, who recommended a special powder that is used as a krait repellent across the world,” he said. “We cannot afford the repellent and therefore request the Sindh government to import it and also arrange anti-venom for the treatment of Tharis.”

Sixty percent of Sindh’s total livestock population is scattered across the vast Thar Desert, spread along the Indian border. The area has a long history of suffering from severe droughts, acute water shortage, epidemics, lack of civic facilities and seasonal migrations.

Without basic healthcare facilities, many people die every year as snake bite cases are widespread in the area.

World Health Organisation (WHO)’s surveillance officer at Mirpurkhas, Dr Wali Mohammad, thinks that most people believe it is the Sindh krait but it is difficult to confirm the exact type of snake from the bite.

“No official data is available on how many people are bitten by the Sindh krait or how many of them die every year,” he said. “Even then, this is a serious matter and should be taken seriously.”

Mohammad said that anti-venom is not available locally and a detailed study is needed on this particular snake to determine the exact treatment of its bite.

Reward Offered for Sightings of South Florida Rainbow Snake

2011-11-23T06:38:00.002-06:00

Farancia erytrogramma seminola.

Photo credit:: J. D. Wilson

The following is a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity. Did the Federal Government prematurely declared the species extinct? The $500 reward is intended to spur rediscovery.

TAMPA, Fla.— The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Snake Conservation announced today that they are offering a $500 reward for the first person to document the existence of the South Florida rainbow snake. Both conservation organizations believe that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month prematurely declared the species extinct without conducting targeted surveys and despite several unconfirmed sightings.

“Declaring the South Florida rainbow snake extinct without adequate search effort is scientifically irresponsible,” said Cameron Young, executive director of the Center for Snake Conservation. “We hope that by offering a reward, we can rediscover this amazing reptile and implement conservation measures to ensure its survival into the future.”

The South Florida rainbow snake is a harmless aquatic snake that feeds exclusively on the American eel. It is known from just three specimens, the last of which was collected in 1952 near Fisheating Creek in Glades County, Fla. In early October, the Service declared the snake extinct, thereby denying it protections under the Endangered Species Act. The Service made its determination without conducting any focused surveys for the reclusive reptile and despite anecdotal evidence of snakes eating eels in the Fisheating Creek area.

“It’s heart-wrenching to think the South Florida rainbow snake could be lost forever,” said Collette Adkins Giese, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney focused on the protection of imperiled reptiles and amphibians. “But if we can find these snakes, they’d be very likely to get protection under the Endangered Species Act — the most powerful tool in the country for saving plants and animals from extinction.”

The Service announced the extinction of the South Florida rainbow snake in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the snake and more than 400 other aquatic species in the southeastern United States. If rediscovered, the rainbow snake would receive an in-depth scientific review along with 374 species from the petition (including 114 in Florida), which the Service found may warrant protection under Act.

The South Florida rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma seminola) is a subspecies of rainbow snake known only from a single population in Fisheating Creek, which flows into the western side of Lake Okeechobee. Fisheating Creek remains relatively pristine and could still support the snakes. But potential habitat in other parts of Florida has been severely degraded by channelization and pollution, especially agricultural runoff. The snake is believed to be nearly entirely aquatic and active only at night, making detection difficult without extensive and specialized survey effort, although there were multiple unconfirmed sightings of the snake in the late 1980s. It’s a beautiful animal, with three red stripes along its iridescent bluish-black back and a belly that is yellow and red with black spots on each scale. Adult snakes can be over four feet long.

Snakes and other reptiles are among the most imperiled vertebrate species on the planet. Globally, nearly one-quarter of all evaluated reptile species are endangered or vulnerable to extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2011 Red List. Also, scientists currently lack sufficient information to assess the status of nearly 20 percent of the world’s reptiles. Many species are disappearing faster than scientists can study them.

Concern for Vipera berus in the UK

2011-11-23T06:37:00.000-06:00

The following story is on the Daily Mail website go to the website for the complete article, my summary follows. The adder (Vipera berus) is endangered and Britain's only poisonous snake is in urgent need of help. more so than any other reptile or amphibian species in the UK. A conservation conference at the Greenwich University campus in Chatham, Kent, met over the weekend to discuss ways of saving the once common snake from extinction. The conference attendees supported a plan to create a website for a survey project using volunteers to monitor snake numbers locally. Adders are in decline and already extinct in some counties such as Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire. Damage to hibernation sites, such as rabbit holes and tree roots is one of the major threats. 'The adder is an enigmatic snake, steeped in history and folklore, from the druids to Shakespeare and Arthurian legend" said herpetologist Dr Chris Gleed-Owen told the Daily Telegraph, and 'It would be tragic to see it disappear.' Despite the decling numbers, there is anecdotal evidence increased bites in people and pets for this year. In July, two dogs died in Essex after being bitten by poisonous adders that were out in unusually large numbers because of the hot weather. There have been 14 known fatalities among humans in Britain since 1876. The most recent was a five-year-old child who died in 1975. Antivenom is now available, which reduces the damage caused by the venom.

Parental Care in Horned Dinosaurs

2011-11-22T07:44:00.001-06:00

KINGSTON, R.I. – November 21, 2011 – A nest containing the fossilized remains of 15 juvenile Protoceratops andrewsi dinosaurs from Mongolia has been described by a University of Rhode Island paleontologist, revealing new information about postnatal development and parental care. It is the first nest of this genus ever found and the first indication that Protoceratops juveniles remained in the nest for an extended period.

The findings were reported in the most recent issue of the Journal of Paleontology.

David Fastovsky, URI professor of geosciences, said the bowl-shaped nest measuring 2.3 feet in diameter was found in the Djadochta Formation at Tugrikinshire, Mongolia.

“Finding juveniles at a nest is a relatively uncommon occurrence, and I cannot think of another dinosaur specimen that preserves 15 juveniles at its nest in this way,” he said.

The analysis of the 70-million-year-old nest by Fastovsky and his colleagues found that all 15 dinosaurs – at least 10 of which are complete specimens – were about the same size and had achieved the same state of growth and development, suggesting they represent a single clutch from a single mother. The discovery also indicates that the young dinosaurs remained in the nest through the early stages of postnatal development and were cared for by their parents.

Protoceratops grew to about 6 feet long and may have taken as long as 10 years to reach full size. Those Fastovsky found in the nest were likely less than one year old when they died.

“I suspect that the preserved animals were rapidly buried by the shifting, accumulating sands that must have constituted the bulk of sedimentation in this setting,” he said. “Death likely occurred during a desert sandstorm. My guess is that the initial and present-day dryness contributed significantly to the superb preservation, not just of Protoceratops, but of all the fossils from this unit.”

Fastovsky calls Protoceratops “a fascinating and unexpected mass of contradictions.” It is an herbivore that lived in a sand sea much like the Sahara Desert and likely bestowed significant parental care on a relatively large number of offspring, perhaps because it lived where mortality was quite high.

A wide variety of theropod dinosaurs lived in Mongolia at the time, some of which, including the notorious Velociraptor, probably ate young Protoceratops’.

“Juvenile Protoceratops mortality may have been rather high, not only from predation but from a potentially stressful environment, and large clutches may have been a way of ensuring survival of the animals in that setting,” he said. “Nonetheless, if preservation is any indicator of abundance in life, then during the time represented by the Djadochta Formation, Protoceratops were a very common feature of Mongolian Late Cretaceous desert landscapes.”

Photo courtesy of Dr. Kh. Tsogtbaatar.

Fastovsky, D. E., D. B. Weishampel, M. Watabe, R. Barsbold, Kh. Tsogtbaatar & P. Narmandakh. 2011. A Nest of Protoceratops andrewsi (Dinosauria, Ornithischia). Journal of Paleontology, Nov 2011 DOI: 10.1666/%u200B11-008.1