Bringing you the recent scientific advancements in the field of Herpetology.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Freshwater crocs are classic predators of the water's edge - but when prey changes, can they keep up?
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Aiyer A, Shine R, Somaweera R, Bell T, Ward-Fear G. 2022. Shifts in the foraging tactics of crocodiles following invasion by toxic prey. Scientific Reports 12:1267. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03629-6.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Marques MP, Ceríaco LMP, Stanley EL, Bandeira SA, Agarwal I, Bauer AM. 2019. A new species of Girdled Lizard (Squamata: Cordylidae) from the Serra da Neve Inselberg, Namibe Province, southwestern Angola. Zootaxa 4668:503–524. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4668.4.4.
Other Links/Mentions:
Turtles making noise? - https://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/do-green-sea-turtles-make-noise/
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Sometimes turtles can get caught up in nets and other sticky situations. Rehabilitation can help out these injured or exhausted turtles… but how do they fare when they are released back into the big wide ocean?
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Robinson DP, Hyland K, Beukes G, Vettan A, Mabadikate A, Jabado RW, Rohner CA, Pierce SJ, Baverstock W. 2021. Satellite tracking of rehabilitated sea turtles suggests a high rate of short-term survival following release. PLOS ONE 16:e0246241. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246241.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
BM Marshall, CT Strine, CS Fukushima, P Cardoso, MC Orr, AC Hughes. 2022. Searching the web builds fuller picture of arachnid trade. Communication Biology. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03374-0
Szymura, J. M., Spolsky, C., & Uzzoll, T. (1985). Concordant change in mitochondrial and nuclear genes in a hybrid zone between two frog species (genus Bombina). Experientia, 41(11), 1469-1470.
Other Links/Mentions:
Bombina call from Explore Croatia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMYU8drjg0
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Thursday May 19, 2022
Thursday May 19, 2022
We’ve talked about ants being the victims of herpetofauna depredation, but what about snakes that are friends to ants? This episode we chat about a paper detailing the antics of an “ant-mother”.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Jono T, Kojima Y, Mizuno T. 2019. Novel cooperative antipredator tactics of an ant specialized against a snake. Royal Society Open Science 6:190283. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190283.
Species of the Bi-Week:
de Oca AN-M, Castresana-Villanueva N, Canseco-Márquez L, Campbell JA. 2022. A New Species of Xenosaurus (Squamata: Xenosauridae) from the Sierra de Juárez of Oaxaca, Mexico. Herpetologica 78. DOI: 10.1655/Herpetologica-D-21-00041.1.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Hodges, CW, Marshall, BM, Hill, JG, Strine, CT. 2022. Malayan kraits (Bungarus candidus) show affinity to anthropogenic structures in a human dominated landscape. Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-16. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11255-z
Knolle, F, Goncalves, RP, Morton, AJ. 2017. Sheep recognize familiar and unfamiliar human faces from two-dimensional images. Royal Society Open Science, 4(11), 171228. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171228
Other Links/Mentions:
Wolves and raven playing: https://www.yellowstone.org/naturalist-notes-wolves-and-ravens/
Ant video from Jono et al., - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6731735/bin/rsos190283supp2.avi
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
We find out what Burmese pythons get up to when no one is watching.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Whitney, N. M., White, C. F., Smith, B. J., Cherkiss, M. S., Mazzotti, F. J., & Hart, K. M. (2021). Accelerometry to study fine-scale activity of invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the wild. Animal Biotelemetry, 9(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-020-00227-7
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Studd, E.K., Derbyshire, R.E., Menzies, A.K., Simms, J.F., Humphries, M.M., Murray, D.L. and Boutin, S., (2021). The purr‐fect catch: using accelerometers and audio recorders to document kill rates and hunting behaviour of a small prey specialist. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12(7), pp.1277-1287.
Carroll, G., Slip, D., Jonsen, I. and Harcourt, R., (2014). Supervised accelerometry analysis can identify prey capture by penguins at sea. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217(24), pp.4295-4302.
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Are mountain kingsnakes multiple species? We try to decide.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available at: www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Myers, E. A., Rodríguez-Robles, J. A., Denardo, D. F., Staub, R. E., Stropoli, A., Ruane, S., & Burbrink, F. T. (2013). Multilocus phylogeographic assessment of the California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) suggests alternative patterns of diversification for the California Floristic Province. Molecular Ecology, 22(21), 5418–5429. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12478
Species of the Bi-Week:
Székely, P., Székely, D., Ordó ñez-Delgado, L., Armijos- Ojeda, D., & Vörös, J. (2021). Our unknown neighbor: A new species of rain frog of the genus Pristimantis (Amphibia: Anura: Strabomantidae) from the city of Loja, southern Ecuador. PLoS ONE, 16(10 October), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258454
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Chambers EA, Hillis DM. (2019). The Multispecies Coalescent Over-splits Species in the Case of Geographically Widespread Taxa. Systematic Biology:syz042. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syz042.
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
What’s the best way to explore toad mate choice… create hyper-realistic robo-toads of differing colours.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Gardner KM, Mennill DJ, Savi LM, Shangi NE, Doucet SM. 2021. Sexual selection in a tropical toad: Do female toads choose brighter males in a species with rapid colour change? Ethology 127:475–483. DOI: 10.1111/eth.13156.
Other Links/Mentions:
Incilius luetkenii call fromOrganization for Tropical Studies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9OoXAMrIYQ
Incilius luetkenii interacting with models from Gardner et al., 2021: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Feth.13156&file=eth13156-sup-0001-Videos1.mp4
Hylodes phyllodes call from AmphibiaWeb: https://amphibiaweb.org/sounds/Hylodes_phyllodes92.mp3
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
We take a look at a frog that bucks the classic frog diet, and explore the confusing world of small Australian pythons. A new python here, a lost python there.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
da Silva HR, de Britto-Pereira MC. 2006. How much fruit do fruit-eating frogs eat? An investigation on the diet of Xenohyla truncata (Lissamphibia: Anura: Hylidae). Journal of Zoology 270:692–698. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00192.x.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Esquerré D, Donnellan SC, Pavón-Vázquez CJ, Fenker J, Keogh JS. 2021. Phylogeography, historical demography and systematics of the world’s smallest pythons (Pythonidae, Antaresia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 161:107181. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107181.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
da Silva, H. R., de Britto-Pereira, M. C., & Caramaschi, U. (1989). Frugivory and seed dispersal by Hyla truncata, a neotropical treefrog. Copeia, 1989: 781-783.
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Snakes eat crabs, and they eat them in some pretty unusual ways.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Jayne, B. C., Voris, H. K., & Ng, P. K. L. (2018). How big is too big? Using crustacean-eating snakes (Homalopsidae) to test how anatomy and behaviour affect prey size and feeding performance. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 123(3), 636–650. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/bly007
Other Links:
Feeding videos of crustacean eating snakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtMR7I38s1U
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
This episode focuses on some confused sea snakes and their amorous intentions, with a wild Species of the Bi-Week.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Lynch, T. P., Alford, R. A., & Shine, R. (2021). Mistaken identity may explain why male sea snakes (Aipysurus laevis, Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) “attack” scuba divers. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94728-x
Species of the Bi-Week:
Lalronunga, S., Lalhmangaiha, K., Zosangliana, I., Lalhmingliani, E., Gower, D. J., Das, A., & Deepak, V. (2021). A new species of Stoliczkia Jerdon, 1870 (Serpentes: Xenodermidae) from Mizoram, India. Zootaxa, 4996(3), 569–580. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4996.3.9
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
What can we learn about Endangered Giant herpetofauna from observing their movements? We take a look at some monster tortoises and gargantuan salamanders from opposite sides of the world. Later on hear the calls of our very red Species of the Bi-week.
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights
FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Pike KN, Blake S, Cabrera F, Gordon IJ, Schwarzkopf L. 2021. Body size, sex and high philopatry influence the use of agricultural land by Galapagos giant tortoises. Oryx:1–10. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605320001167.
Zhang L, Zhao H, Willard S, Wang Q, Jiang W, Zhang H-X, Kouba A. 2019. Spatial distribution and seasonal movement patterns of reintroduced Chinese giant salamanders. BMC Zoology 4:7. DOI: 10.1186/s40850-019-0046-9.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Baptista NL, Pinto PV, Keates C, Edwards S, Rödel M-O, Conradie W. 2021. A new species of red toad, Schismaderma Smith, 1849 (Anura: Bufonidae), from central Angola. Zootaxa 5081:301–332. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5081.3.1.
Other Links/Mentions:
Archer A.M. 2016. 910 -- Schismaderma carens. Red Toad (Bufonidae). https://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=FrogMAP-6628
Baptista & Frommolt 2021. Advertisement calls of the toad Schismaderma branchi from Angola [Dataset]. Data Publisher: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. https://doi.org/10.7479/063t-ta10.
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com