Huachuca Area Herpetological Association

The barred shark skink (Eugongylus albofasciolatus) is a giant predatory skink species found on the Solomon Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, parts of Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia. Photo by Reptiles4all. TRR is made possible by Reptile Basics

Hellbenders continue to reproduce in southern Missouri rivers, showing hope for species Two clutches of Ozark hellbender and eastern hellbender eggs have been discovered in less than a year.

American crocodiles are spreading north in Florida. That’s a good thing. The reptile, less aggressive than the American alligator, has been spotted 200 miles north of the Florida Everglades, suggesting it's reclaiming its former territory.

Happy birthday Jonathan! Good luck with the candles…🎂

The “Age Of Snakes” – How Dinosaur Mass Extinction Let Snakes Feast On New Diverse Diets They slithered into all sorts of ecological niches left behind by their extinct competitors.

Olive-headed Sea Snake,
Hydrophis major

The Olive-headed Sea Snake is just one of the beauties in our waters. A cathemeral sea snake, they can be found in waters over both coral reefs and rocky areas as well as sandy inlets, estuaries and seagrass beds north of Sydney NSW to Bunbury in WA. The top of this snake's body is cream to white in colour, with grey to black elongated cross-bars, in the pale inter-spaces thin dark bands are present. The belly colour is similar. Juveniles are much brighter, with clear black markings. They reach a a TL of 1.6m Their diet consists of small fish. They are live bearers, giveing birth to 6-12 live young. If bitten Sea Snake antivenom neutralises the bite from this species. On land they are quite sluggish, and are usually only washed up if there is a problem. If you encounter a Sea Snake, please call a licenced snake catcher - do not attempt to handle them yourself as they are dangerously venomous and require special handling.

Dr. Chris Wiese Talks Tortoise!

Next month at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Dr. Wiese from the Turner Endangered Species Fund and Turner Biodiversity Divisions will talk about the establishment of Bolton Tortoises at Sevilleta!

Did you know? When the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) sneezes, salt comes out! Because this species feeds almost exclusively on sea algae, its diet has a high concentration of salt. To balance its system, the iguana filters its blood at the nose and sneezes out excess salt. As a result, it’s often seen with salt crystals on its snout!

Photo: Victor Fazio, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, flickr

¡𝐋𝐨𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐬! 🦎

El género Abronia perteneciente a la familia Anguidae, incluye 30 especies: 20 se distribuyen en México, 18 de ellas son endémicas.

• Comúnmente llamados “dragoncitos”.

• Son lagartijas adaptadas a vivir en árboles principalmente en bosques de niebla, tienen una cola prénsil ligeramente más grande que el cuerpo.

• No son venenosos.

⚠ Se encuentran amenazadas, por el comercio ilegal para su venta como mascotas, deforestación, cambio de uso de suelo, entre otros.

✅Referencias:
• Sánchez Herrera, O., Solano-Zavaleta, I., & Rivera-Téllez, E. (2017). Guía de identificación de los dragoncitos (lagartijas arborícolas, Abronia spp.) regulados por la CITES. CONABIO, México.
• SEMARNAT. (2018). Programa de Acción para la Conservación de las Especies Abronia (Abronia spp) en México, SEMARNAT/CONANP, México (Año de edición 2018)
• Clause, A. G., Luna-Reyes, R., & De Oca, A. N. M. (2020). A New Species of Abronia (Squamata: Anguidae) from a Protected Area in Chiapas, Mexico. Herpetologica, 76(3), 330-343.
• Campbell, J. A., & Frost, D. R. (1993). Anguid lizards of the genus Abronia: revisionary notes, descriptions of four new species, a phylogenetic analysis, and key. Bulletin of the AMNH; no. 216.

¡PROHIBIDO SU USO CON FINES DE LUCRO!

Los invitamos a revisar uno de nuestros artículos más recientes: HERPETOFAUNA DE LA RESERVA “EL MINERAL DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA CANDELARIA”: UN TESORO BIOLÓGICO EN SINALOA, MÉXICO. Consulta en https://herpetologia.fciencias.unam.mx/index.php/revista/article/view/801

Vipera transcaucasiana
Georgia

Photo: Serpenti del Ticino

Old video of giant ancient salamanders discovered in southwest China cave sparks conservation concerns The Chinese Giant Salamander is 5.9 feet in length and weighs 140 pounds with a large head, small eyes, and dark, wrinkled skin.

So Many of Baby Crocodile

From:

Harlequin gecko - Tukutuku rakiurae
Rakiura, New Zealand

Photo: Dave Laux

𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘢 is a highly arboreal neotropical salamander native to parts of Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. Due to its arboreal nature this salamander is commonly known as the Mexican Climbing Salamander. Other common names include the Mexican Mushroomtongue Salamander, Galliwasp and the Black-and-Gold Salamander (Schmidt and Köhler 1996; Walker et al. 2008)

While currently listed by the IUCN as “Least Concern,” 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘢 is under special observation in Mexico due to declining numbers (Walker et al. 2008; Frías-Alvarez et al. 2010).

𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵: 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝘏. 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/

It's Meet the Species Monday! This week's species is the Oaxacan small-headed rattlesnake (Crotalus intermedius gloydi).

This small species of rattlesnake is endemic to the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Puebla. It can be found at high elevations within pine-oak forests. Local communities are working to protect one of the most biodiverse forests in the world! This subspecies was named after American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd who described several new species and subspecies of snakes, among other accomplishments.

ID Tips: This subspecies is best differentiated from the other C. intermedius by range. They have small heads, small rattles, a distinctive dark eyestripe, and blotches down their back.

Photo (lightly cropped) by R.J. Adams

Let’s share some Texas-sized ♥️ for the Texas blind salamander! A most interesting (and interesting looking) little critter ever.
• A cave dwelling salamander
• Blind and eyeless
• No lungs and breaths through gills
• External red gills
• A transparent pale color.
• Grows up to about 4 – 5 inches long.
This salamander is listed as an endangered species and is only found in the Edwards Aquifer in Texas. Though no eyes, the Texas blind salamander is an active predator. It moves its head from side to side as it searches for food and hunts by sensing water pressure waves created by prey in the still underground waters where it lives. Prey items include amphipods, blind shrimp, daphnia (water fleas), tiny snails, and other invertebrates.

Want to look impressive! You can call yourself a motel/hotel owner and property mogul with a few hours and with minimal investment.

There are 240 frog species listed as occurring in Australia but frog habitat is declining due to the pressures of urbanisation and land clearing. More than 26 frog species are currently listed as endangered or vulnerable to extinction before 2040.

Frogs need our help!

Provide a supplementary habitat for frogs in your backyard by building a frog hotel. Frog hotels are a great way to encourage more frogs to visit your garden while giving them a safe space to live in.

What’s more, building a frog hotel is easy and fun and you’ll be rewarded with a croaky chorus of little guests in no time!

BFV/BigFella Videography has a great Youtube channel about frog accomodation and this photo is proof of how good they are at it .

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3NZ61PXCHsA8XqGD1HN7GQ The channel is a guide on how to make a hotel, maintenance and care for them as well.

Let's get wild frog adoption and support in every environmentally freindly home.

𝗡𝘂𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲 de lagartija espinosa para México 🦎🇲🇽

🦎 Su nombre científico es 𝘚𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘴, descrita por Campillo-García y colaboradores (2023).

⛰ Esta nueva especie habita bosques de pino, encino y enebro, en los estados de San Luis Potosí, Querétaro e Hidalgo, siendo una especie endémica para el país 🇲🇽

👉 Puedes consultar la descripción completa de la especie en el articulo científico original: https://brill.com/view/journals/amre/aop/article-10.1163-15685381-bja10163/article-10.1163-15685381-bja10163.xml

Tortugas Marinas 😀🐢🌊
En el mundo se han descrito 7 especies de Tortugas Marinas; Superfamilia Chelonioidea

De ellas, 6 anidan en México y 1 más es endémica del litoral Australiano.

🐢🌊Tortuga Lora (Lepidochelys kempii)🇲🇽
🐢🌊Tortuga Golfina (Lepidochelys olivacea)🇲🇽
🐢🌊Tortuga Carey (Eretmochelys imbricata)🇲🇽
🐢🌊Tortuga Caguama (Caretta caretta)🇲🇽
🐢🌊 Tortuga Franca (Natator depressus)🇦🇺
🐢🌊Tortuga Verde (Chelonia mydas)🇲🇽
🐢🌊Tortuga Laúd (Dermochelys coriacea)🇲🇽

Ilustración: Diver Mon Art

Know Your Malacochersus!
The Malacochersus genus is monotypic and contains only the Pancake Tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri). This small turtle is native to southern Kenya, northern and eastern Tanzania and part of Zambia along the border with Tanzania. A population has also been introduced to Zimbabwe. The species lives in arid savannas and scrublands near rocky outcrops. Its flat shell allows it to wedge itself in tight cracks or gaps in rocky crevices as a form of defense and to escape the intense heat of mid day. While it is quite small, it big on speed and considered one of the fastest tortoise species. The pancake tortoise is crepuscular, and is most active at dawn and dusk. It feeds on grasses, most vegetation, succulents and fallen fruit, but always stay close to nearby shelter among the rocks. Breeding season is in January and February. Females will lay one egg at a time in loose, sandy dirt from June to August. The s*x of the offspring is temperature dependent like many other reptiles. Hatchlings are born with a more doomed shape shell, which flattens as the tortoise grows. Now You Know Your Malacochersus!

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