Herpetological Highlights Herpetological Highlights

Anoles are adaptable creatures, but can they make the most of artificial light?
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Main Paper References:
Taylor LA, Thawley CJ, Pertuit OR, Dennis AJ, Carson IR, Tang C, Johnson MA. 2022. Artificial light at night alters diurnal and nocturnal behavior and physiology in green anole lizards. Physiology & Behavior 257:113992. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113992.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Alex – https://www.fiverr.com/alexanderroses
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Hibernation is a pretty extreme biological process that shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Bearded dragons are one of many beasts that have it perfected, and in this episode we look at how. Species of the Bi-week is back with a new strange skinned snake.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Capraro A, O’Meally D, Waters SA, Patel HR, Georges A, Waters PD. 2019. Waking the sleeping dragon: gene expression profiling reveals adaptive strategies of the hibernating reptile Pogona vitticeps. BMC Genomics 20:460. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5750-x.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Li H, Zhu L-Q, Xiao B, Huang J, Wu S-W, Yang L-X, Zhang Z-Q, Mo X-Y. 2024. A new species of the genus Achalinus (Squamata, Xenodermatidae) from southwest Hunan Province, China. ZooKeys 1189:257–273. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1189.112784.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Natusch D, Lyons J, Mears L, Shine R. 2021. Biting off more than you can chew: Attempted predation on a human by a giant snake (Simalia amethistina). Austral Ecology 46:159–162. DOI: 10.1111/aec.12956.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Alex – https://www.fiverr.com/alexanderroses
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Tortoises return to an island in the Galapagos and prove themselves to be solid ecosystem engineers.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Tapia Aguilera W, Gibbs JP. 2023. Rewilding giant tortoises engineers plant communities at local to landscape scales. Conservation Letters 16:e12968. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12968.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Loconsole M, Stancher G, Versace E. 2023. Crossmodal association between visual and acoustic cues in a tortoise (Testudo hermanni). Biology Letters 19:20230265. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0265.
Starck, J. M., Schrenk, F., Schröder, S., & Pees, M. (2022). Malformations of the sacculus and the semicircular canals in spider morph pythons. Plos one, 17(8), e0262788.
Other Links/Mentions:
Scinax crospedospilus by Mario Sacramento from https://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Scinax&where-species=crospedospilus
Charles Darwin Foundation. Studying the ecology and distribution of the invasive treefrog Scinax quinquefasciatus https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/research/projects/invasive-treefrog
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Caecilians, the strange underground amphibians, are known to let their babies eat their skin. But the full benefits of this practice are only now becoming clear.
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Main Paper References:
Kouete MT, Bletz MC, LaBumbard BC, Woodhams DC, Blackburn DC. 2023. Parental care contributes to vertical transmission of microbes in a skin-feeding and direct-developing caecilian. Animal Microbiome 5:28. DOI: 10.1186/s42523-023-00243-x.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Li S-Z, Liu J, Ke X-C, Cheng G, Wang B. 2024. A new species of Amolops (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae) from Guizhou Province, China. ZooKeys 1189:33–54. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1189.115621.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Starck, J. M., Schrenk, F., Schröder, S., & Pees, M. (2022). Malformations of the sacculus and the semicircular canals in spider morph pythons. Plos one, 17(8), e0262788.
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

A wildly ambitious study which fundamentally alters the ecology of islands? Count us in.
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Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Lapiedra O, Morales N, Yang LH, Fernández‐Bellon D, Michaelides SN, Giery ST, Piovia‐Scott J, Schoener TW, Kolbe JJ, Losos JB. 2023. Predator‐driven behavioural shifts in a common lizard shape resource‐flow from marine to terrestrial ecosystems. Ecology Letters:ele.14335. DOI: 10.1111/ele.14335.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Kim KS, Lockley MG, Lim JD, Bae SM, Romilio A. 2020. Trackway evidence for large bipedal crocodylomorphs from the Cretaceous of Korea. Scientific Reports 10:8680. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66008-7.
Other Links/Mentions:
Amos J. 2020. Fossil tracks left by an ancient crocodile that “ran like an ostrich.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53011567 
Barbados frogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LdK6JQUNyw 
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

More evidence of social behaviour in snakes, this time from snakes that live underwater. Then we chat about a new species of alligator-looking lizard.
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Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop
Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:
Somaweera R, Udyawer V, Amarasinghe AAT, De Fresnes J, Catherall J, Molchanova G. 2023. Apparent coordinated and communal hunting behaviours by Erabu sea krait Laticauda semifactiata. Scientific Reports 13:21471. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-48684-3.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Clause AG, Luna-Reyes R, Mendoza-Velázquez OM, Nieto-Montes De Oca A, Solano-Zavaleta I. 2024. Bridging the gap: A new species of arboreal Abronia (Squamata: Anguidae) from the Northern Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. PLOS ONE 19:e0295230. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295230.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Shine, R., Shine, T., Shine, J. M. & Shine, B. G. Synchrony in capture dates suggests cryptic social organization in sea snakes (Emy docephalus annulatus, Hydrophiidae). Austral Ecol. 30, 805–811 (2005).
Editing and Music:
Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com