Herpetological Highlights

Iguanas rock, and rock iguana’s doubly so. We check out the status of the Bahamas dwindling populations of Cay-dwelling rock iguana with stories of rampaging raccoons, troublesome translocations and polite pirates. Species of the Bi-week is a micro-endemic treat from Madagascar. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Hayes, W. K., Iii, R. A. E., Fry, S. K., Fortune, E. M., Wasilewski, J. A., Tuttle, D. M., … Carter, R. L. (2016). Conservation Of The Endangered Sandy Cay Rock Iguanas (Cyclura rileyi cristata): Invasive Species Control, Population Response, Pirates, Poaching, And Translocation. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 16. Hayes, W. K., Jr, S. C., Crutchfield, T., Wasilewski, J. A., Rothfus, T. A., & Carter, R. L. (2016). Conservation Of The Endangered San Salvador Rock Iguanas (Cyclura rileyi rileyi): Population Estimation, Invasive Species Control, Translocation, And Headstarting. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 17. Species of the

Episode 46 is a Patreon episode about...musk turtles! These endearing little monsters live in the waterways of the USA and we examine their unusual mouths and diet preferences. Species of the Bi-Week is a squishy chelonian. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Heiss, E., Natchev, N., Beisser, C., Lemell, P., & Weisgram, J. (2010). The fish in the turtle: On the functionality of the oropharynx in the common musk turtle Sternotherus odoratus (Chelonia, Kinosternidae) concerning feeding and underwater respiration. The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 293(8), 1416-1424. Wilhelm, C. E., & Plummer, M. V. (2012). Diet of radiotracked Musk Turtles, Sternotherus odoratus, in a small urban stream. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 7(2), 258-264. Species of the Bi-Week: Farkas, B., Ziegler, T., Pham, C. T., Ong, A. V., & Fritz, U. (2019). A new species of Pelodiscus from northeastern Indochina (Testudi

A surprise episode to tackle some of Patreon questions. A long ramble about ourselves changes into a chat about sea snake tongue flicking followed by rotating snake eyes. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com References: Banks, M. S., Sprague, W. W., Schmoll, J., Parnell, J. A. Q., & Love, G. D. (2015). Why do animal eyes have pupils of different shapes? Science Advances, 1(7), e1500391. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500391 Heath, J. E., Northcutt, R. G., & Barber, R. P. (1969). Rotational optokinesis in reptiles and its bearing on pupillary shape. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie, 62(1), 75-85. Munro, D. F. (1950). Vertical orientation of the eye in snakes. Herpetologica, 84-88. Simões, B. F., Sampaio, F. L., Douglas, R. H., Kodandaramaiah, U., Casewell, N. R., Harrison, R. A., … Gower, D. J. (2016). Visual Pigments, Ocular Filters and the Evolution of Snake Vision. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33(10), 2483–2495. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw148 van Do

All snakes all episode this fortnight, but not just any snakes. We are talking about snake-eaters. King amongst the snake-eaters is the king cobra, where do they roam and what threats are they facing? Jumping across to Africa we check out a newly described, and smaller, snake-eater. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Marshall, B. M., Strine, C. T., Jones, M. D., Artchawakom, T., Silva, I., Suwanwaree, P., & Goode, M. (2018). Space fit for a king: spatial ecology of king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) in Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Northeastern Thailand. Amphibia-Reptilia. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-18000008 Marshall, B. M., Strine, C. T., Jones, M. D., Theodorou, A., Amber, E., Waengsothorn, S., … Goode, M. (2018). Hits Close to Home: Repeated Persecution of King Cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) in Northeastern Thailand. Tropical Conservation Science, 11, 194008291881840. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940082918818401 Species of the Bi-Week: Portillo, F., Br

This episode is all about how hard it is to find herpetofauna, and the difficulty that causes when you try to understand their populations. We finish with a handsome web-footed new species. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Barata, I. M., Griffiths, R. A., & Ridout, M. S. (2017). The power of monitoring: optimizing survey designs to detect occupancy changes in a rare amphibian population. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 16491. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16534-8 Barata, I. M., Silva, E. P., & Griffiths, R. A. (2018). Predictors of Abundance of a Rare Bromeliad-Dwelling Frog ( Crossodactylodes itambe ) in the Espinhaço Mountain Range of Brazil. Journal of Herpetology, 52(3), 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1670/17-183 Ward, R. J., Griffiths, R. A., Wilkinson, J. W., & Cornish, N. (2017). Optimising monitoring efforts for secretive snakes: a comparison of occupancy and N-mixture models for assessment of population status. Scientific Reports, 7(1),

This fortnight is a real mix of papers. We cover Komodo dragon dispersal, newts crossing (or not) roads, and a paper looking at reptilian brains. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: De Meester, G., Huyghe, K., & Van Damme, R. (2019). Brain size, ecology and sociality: a reptilian perspective. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 1–11. Jessop, T. S., Ariefiandy, A., Purwandana, D., Ciofi, C., Imansyah, J., Benu, Y. J., … Phillips, B. L. (2018). Exploring mechanisms and origins of reduced dispersal in island Komodo dragons. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1891), 20181829. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1829 Matos, C., Petrovan, S. O., Wheeler, P. M., & Ward, A. I. (2018). Short‐term movements and behaviour govern the use of road mitigation measures by a protected amphibian. Animal Conservation. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Ciofi, C., Puswati, J., Dewa, W., de Boer, M. E., Chelazzi, G., & Sastrawan, P. (2

Discussions of the reptiles of Christmas Island(s) abound in episode 42. We kick off with a paper about juvenile snake sizes and follow up with some info about reptiles crossing oceans. The Species of the Bi-Week is a brand new reptile which takes it's name from a fluffy mammal. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Aubret, F. (2015). Island colonisation and the evolutionary rates of body size in insular neonate snakes. Heredity, 115(4), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2014.65 Oliver, P. M., Blom, M. P. K., Cogger, H. G., Fisher, R. N., Richmond, J. Q., & Woinarski, J. C. Z. (2018). Insular biogeographic origins and high phylogenetic distinctiveness for a recently depleted lizard fauna from Christmas Island, Australia. Biology Letters, 14(6), 20170696. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0696 Species of the Bi-Week: Wostl, E., Hamidy, A., Kurniawan, N., & Smith, E. N. (2017). A new species of Wolf Snake of the genus Lycodon H. Boie in Fitzinger