Episodes
Tuesday Feb 20, 2018
021 Frugivorous Monitors
Tuesday Feb 20, 2018
Tuesday Feb 20, 2018
Monitor lizards are renowned savengers... or so is widely thought. There are a few species that have cast aside the scavenger ways of their compatriots, opting for more relaxed arboreal lifestyles, spending their days high in the tree tops foraging for fruit. These frugivorous monitor lizards are are joined by a serpentine Species of the Bi-week. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Bennett, D. 2014. “The Arboreal Foraging Behavior of the Frugivorous Monitor Lizard Varanus Olivaceus on Polillo Island.” Biawak 8 (1): 15–18.
Law, SJ, SR De Kort, D Bennett, and M Van Weerd. 2016. “Morphology, Activity Area, and Movement Patterns of the Frugivorous Monitor Lizard Varanus Bitatawa.” Herpetological Conservation and Biology 11 (3): 467–75.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Brown, RM, U Smart, AE Leviton, and EN Smith. 2018. “A New Species of Long-Glanded Coralsnake of the Genus Calliophis (Squamata: Elapidae) from Dinagat Island, with Notes on the Biogeography and Species Diversity of Philippine Calliophis and Hemibungarus.” Herpetologica 74 (1): 89–104.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Bennett, D. 2014. “A Dubious Account of Breeding Varanus Olivaceus in Captivity at the Paradise Reptile Zoo in Mindoro, Philippines.” Biawak 8 (1): 12–14.
Bennett, D, and T Clements. 2014. “The Use of Passive Infrared Camera Trapping Systems in the Study of Frugivorous Monitor Lizards.” Biawak 8 (1): 19–30.
Gunawardena, S. A. 2016. “Forensic Significance of Monitor Lizard Scavenging Activity on Human Corpses.” Biawak 10 (2): 45-47.
Koch, A., and E. Arida. 2017. “A coconut-eating monitor lizard? On an unusual case of frugivory in the melanistic Sulawesi water monitor (Varanus togianus).” Herpetological Bulletin 139: 41.
Sugiura, S, and T Sato. 2018. “Successful Escape of Bombardier Beetles from Predator Digestive Systems.” Biology Letters 14 (2): 20170647.
Sy, E. Y. 2012. “First record of Varanus bitatawa in the Philippine pet trade.” Biawak 6 (2): 73.
Other Links/Mentions:
Smallest monitor lizard article/video: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2015/05/australian-lizard-the-worlds-smallest-monitor
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday Feb 06, 2018
020 The Magnificent Vipers
Tuesday Feb 06, 2018
Tuesday Feb 06, 2018
Vipers, vipers everywhere. In this episode we muddle our way through some venom research, and learn about the methods employed working out how widespread bushmasters are. Species of the bi-week is a frankly outstanding forest dweller from Costa Rica.
If you enjoy our podcast please vote for us for Reader's Radio Show of the Year on the Reptile Report! http://awards.thereptilereport.com/radio-show-of-the-year-2017/
FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
González-Maya, José F., Fernando Castañeda, Rufino González, Jesús Pacheco, and Gerardo Ceballos. 2014. “Distribution, Range Extension, and Conservation of the Endemic Black-Headed Bushmaster (Lachesis melanocephala) in Costa Rica and Panama.” Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9 (2):369–77.
Roodt, Adolfo Rafael de, Leslie Victoria Boyer, Laura Cecilia Lanari, Lucia Irazu, Rodrigo Daniel Laskowicz, Paula Leticia Sabattini, and Carlos Fabián Damin. 2016. “Venom Yield and Its Relationship with Body Size and Fang Separation of Pit Vipers from Argentina.” Toxicon 121 (October):22–29.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Doan, Tiffany M., Andrew J. Mason, Todd A. Castoe, Mahmood Sasa, and Christopher L. Parkinson. 2016. “A Cryptic Palm-Pitviper Species (Squamata: Viperidae: Bothriechis) from the Costa Rican Highlands, with Notes on the Variation within B. Nigroviridis.” Zootaxa 4138 (2):271.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Dias, Lourdes, Mariana A.P. Rodrigues, André L. Rennó, Alessandra Stroka, Bruna R. Inoue, Patrícia C. Panunto, Anibal R. Melgarejo, and Stephen Hyslop. 2016. “Hemodynamic Responses to Lachesis Muta (South American Bushmaster) Snake Venom in Anesthetized Rats.” Toxicon 123 (December):1–14.
Fenwick, A. M., Gutberlet, R. L., Evans, J. A., & Parkinson, C. L. (2009). Morphological and molecular evidence for phylogeny and classification of South American pitvipers, genera Bothrops, Bothriopsis, and Bothrocophias (Serpentes: Viperidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 156(3), 617-640.
Maritz, Bryan, Johannes Penner, Marcio Martins, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović, Stephen Spear, Laura R.V. Alencar, Jesús Sigala-Rodriguez, et al. 2016. “Identifying Global Priorities for the Conservation of Vipers.” Biological Conservation 204:94–102.
Quillfeldt, Petra, Jan O. Engler, Janet R.D. Silk, and Richard A. Phillips. 2017. “Influence of Device Accuracy and Choice of Algorithm for Species Distribution Modelling of Seabirds: A Case Study Using Black-Browed Albatrosses.” Journal of Avian Biology 48 (12):1549–55.
Rogalski, Aymeric, Christoffer Soerensen, Bianca op den Brouw, Callum Lister, Daniel Dashevsky, Kevin Arbuckle, Alexandra Gloria, et al. 2017. “Differential Procoagulant Effects of Saw-Scaled Viper (Serpentes: Viperidae: Echis ) Snake Venoms on Human Plasma and the Narrow Taxonomic Ranges of Antivenom Efficacies.” Toxicology Letters 280 (June):159–70.
Other Links/Mentions:
Birds deliberately spreading fire – Bonta, Mark, Robert Gosford, Dick Eussen, Nathan Ferguson, Erana Loveless, and Maxwell Witwer. 2017. “Intentional Fire-Spreading by ‘Firehawk’ Raptors in Northern Australia.” Journal of Ethnobiology 37 (4):700–718. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-37.4.700.
Orca talking, The Guardian – https://youtu.be/hqB1jRVw7Bw
Bushmaster video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIERce2M30
King cobra vs reticulated python photo – https://www.facebook.com/TheReptileReport/posts/1469028556542349
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com