Herpetological Highlights

Latest Episodes:

117 Predation Liberation - Shine on Chameleons Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

Jackson's chameleons are famous for their bright colours and fancy horns. But can a lack of predators make them even jazzier?

Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights

Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper Reference:

Whiting MJ, Holland BS, Keogh JS, Noble DWA, Rankin KJ, Stuart-Fox D. 2022. Invasive chameleons released from predation display more conspicuous colors. Science Advances 8:eabn2415. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn2415.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Gordon, S. P., Reznick, D., Arendt, J. D., Roughton, A., Ontiveros Hernandez, M. N., Bentzen, P., & López-Sepulcre, A. (2015). Selection analysis on the rapid evolution of a secondary sexual trait. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1813), 20151244.

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com

116 The Unfamiliar Scent of Death Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

Can the smell of predators put lizards off their lunch?

Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights

Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper Reference:

Webster C, Massaro M, Michael DR, Bambrick D, Riley JL, Nimmo DG. 2018. Native reptiles alter their foraging in the presence of the olfactory cues of invasive mammalian predators. Royal Society Open Science 5:180136. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180136.

Species of the Bi-Week:

Oliver PM, Rittmeyer EN, Torkkola J, Donnellan SC, Dahl C, Richards SJ. 2020. Multiple trans-Torres Strait colonisations by tree frogs in the Litoria caerulea group, with the description of a new species from New Guinea. Australian Journal of Zoology 68:15.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Apfelbach R, Parsons MH, Soini HA, Novotny MV. (2015) Are single odorous components of a predator sufficient to elicit defensive behaviors in prey species? Frontiers in Neuroscience. 9, 263. (doi:10. 3389/fnins.2015.00263)

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

115 Tag! You’re Envenomated Jun 24, 2022

Show notes

Venoms are complex, and researchers are constantly discovering new intriguing uses. But this episode we look at a fascinating new venom use for the snakes themselves.

Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights

Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Saviola AJ, Chiszar D, Busch C, Mackessy SP. 2013. Molecular basis for prey relocation in viperid snakes. BMC Biology 11:20. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-20.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Teshera MS, Clark RW, Wagler AE, Greenbaum E. 2021. Foraging and scavenging behaviour of the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis): no evidence that envenomation cues facilitate kleptoparasitism of struck prey. Amphibia-Reptilia:1–11. DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10073.

Other Links/Mentions:

Indian purple frog call from Thomas A, Suyesh R, Biju SD, Bee MA. 2014. Vocal behavior of the elusive purple frog of India (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), a fossorial species endemic to the Western Ghats. PloS one, 9(2), p.e84809: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vocal-Behavior-of-the-Elusive-Purple-Frog-of-India-(Nasikabatrachus-sahyadrensis)-a-Fossorial-pone.0084809.s005.ogv

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com

114 Not All Retics Are The Same Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

A phylogenetic paper focused episode looking at the longest snake of them all: Reticulated pythons. Are all reticulated pythons part of one big happy whole, or do the hundreds of islands they inhabit mean pythons represent just as many sub-species? Species of the Bi-week is a wonderfully lemon-soaked lizard.

Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights

Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Murray-Dickson G, Ghazali M, Ogden R, Brown R, Auliya M. 2017. Phylogeography of the reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus ssp.): Conservation implications for the worlds’ most traded snake species. PLOS ONE 12:e0182049. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182049.

Species of the Bi-Week:

Pavón-Vázquez CJ, Esquerré D, Fitch AJ, Maryan B, Doughty P, Donnellan SC, Keogh JS. 2022. Between a rock and a dry place: phylogenomics, biogeography, and systematics of ridge-tailed monitors (Squamata: Varanidae: Varanus acanthurus complex). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 173:107516. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107516.

Other Links/Mentions:

Tom’s appearance on BBC Springwatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCP2w5CVbkY

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com

113 Bearded Dragons Dodgy Dinners Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

Bearded dragons love to eat bugs, but pesticide use means they aren't always as good as they look.

Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights

Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Contador-Kelsall I, Maute K, Story P, Hose GC, French K. 2022. Sublethal pesticide exposure influences behaviour, but not condition in a widespread Australian lizard. Conservation Physiology 10:coac024. DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coac024.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Entiauspe‐Neto, O. M., Reichle, S., & Dos Rios, A. (2022). A case of playful interaction between Bolivian River Dolphins with a Beni Anaconda. Ecology, e3724.

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

112 Intoxicated Crocs Jun 01, 2022

Show notes

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

111 Steps Towards Turtle Rehabilitation May 24, 2022

Show notes

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

110 Snakes - Ant-mothers or Ant-Eaters May 19, 2022

Show notes

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

109 Accelerating Python Research May 10, 2022

Show notes

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

108 In The Hall of The Mountain Kingsnake May 03, 2022

Show notes

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

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