Search found 205 matches
- April 12th, 2017, 7:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Treefrog eggs help
- Replies: 0
- Views: 3439
Treefrog eggs help
A new postdoc here at UCSB is studying the effects of Bd in tadpoles, and so is in need of about 20 clutches worth of freshly-laid Pseudacris regilla eggs. Treefrogs are really done with it at low elevations here, so I agreed to post a request for help on her behalf. If you have a place where they a...
- November 19th, 2016, 2:22 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Salamanders.
- Replies: 8
- Views: 6381
Re: Salamanders.
Really nice collection of photos, makes me miss the Ozarks a lot. Your Desmognathus larvae are Eurycea bislineata.
- November 1st, 2016, 4:14 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Arroyo Toad ID Confirmation.
- Replies: 11
- Views: 6548
Re: Arroyo Toad ID Confirmation.
Trout don't seem to affect arroyo toads much, although trout fishermen do. Long ago (pre-listing) I sat and flipped tadpoles to foraging trout, and the fish ignored them. Sunfish in the daytime and bullheads by night, and sculpins any time all enjoy toad tadpoles, but trout seem to be in the clear. ...
- October 29th, 2016, 12:19 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Arroyo Toad ID Confirmation.
- Replies: 11
- Views: 6548
Re: Arroyo Toad ID Conformation.
Definitely an arroyo toad. New locality, just shows what's still out there for those willing to go look.
- September 18th, 2016, 10:03 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 28336
Re: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
A while back I posted an account of habitat enhancement by moving emergent vegetation into a pond that had abundant California red-legged frog tadpoles but barren shorelines http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23631 . We've kept watch on the place, and netted the pond yesterd...
- August 9th, 2016, 1:50 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why You Dont Collect
- Replies: 279
- Views: 1425229
Re: Why You Dont Collect
Funny, I don't know of any work based on "collecting" of any kind that has an impact factor equal to a tiny fraction of 1% of a paper claiming to explain cancer or reporting life on Mars. Seems like all the fraudulent scientists Ernie knows should be in fields other than herpetology.
- August 8th, 2016, 11:15 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 28336
Re: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
Here's a quick one that makes use of differences in species mating and dispersal patterns. In southern California creeks and rivers Arroyo toads breed when water temperature reaches about 15 C (so from Feb-March at low elevations, to early June at 3500 ft). Males select shallow edges of pools that a...
- August 7th, 2016, 2:03 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why You Dont Collect
- Replies: 279
- Views: 1425229
Re: Why You Dont Collect
Over the years, Ernie, you've made it clear that you have no concept of research, no respect for people who do it, and no understanding of its value. YOU don't need to know DNA sequences of birds, we all accept that. What makes you such a clown fool is that you imagine that anybody else wants to liv...
- August 5th, 2016, 8:59 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 28336
Re: When is habitat restoration for herps a good thing?
I agree that restoration is a mixed bag, and that many expensive projects fail because of lack of knowledge about the biology of the affected species, or shoddy implementation. Here’s what might be a simple, recent case. In sampling for newt larvae at a retired trout hatchery late last month, we use...
- July 3rd, 2016, 11:02 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Dishonesty in government
- Replies: 121
- Views: 40756
Re: Dishonesty in government
Each time a thread like this comes up the same issues are raised. Here’s another way to look at it -- there are well-qualified, sensible people who go to work for these wildlife agencies, then something happens to them. Why is that? Two case histories come to mind, the python fiasco and Juanita the ...
- May 22nd, 2016, 12:40 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: SPOTTED: 2nd and 3rd Specimens of Endangered Salamander
- Replies: 8
- Views: 6872
Re: SPOTTED: 2nd and 3rd Specimens of Endangered Salamander
This is great news! Between habitat loss and disease, the known-to-science lifespan of several of these wacko Guatemalan-Chiapan bolitoglossines has been way too short. Here is a short story that is not too widely known. I was laboring on my dissertation in Berkeley during the first summer that Paul...
- May 4th, 2016, 9:45 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Headless Giant Salamander Question (Beware - Gory Picture)
- Replies: 72
- Views: 45592
Re: Headless Giant Salamander Question (Beware - Gory Pictur
An owl or a weasel might have done this -- both tend to chew up heads then discard most of the item. Raccoons usually eat almost all of larger salamanders (like tigers), leaving only feet. The eggs are recently-ovulated Dicamptodon eggs -- they are released into the body cavity and pretty well fill ...
- July 3rd, 2015, 4:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Florida Keys Hemidactylus ID
- Replies: 6
- Views: 4725
Re: Florida Keys Hemidactylium ID
Dang weird looking salamanders, might be Hemidactylus.
- April 11th, 2015, 7:11 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Tadpole ID Please, San Diego California
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1956
Re: Tadpole ID Please, San Diego California
Funny joke. I get tadpole photos to ID all the time, but they have to show the animal. Next time bend over, OK? http://goannafan.com/users/sam/Impossible%20tadpole.jpg It looks to be Pseudacris cadaverina. Tadpoles in southern California streams change their appearance as they grow, and show pretty ...
- December 6th, 2014, 9:22 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: blackbelly slenders found in San Diego County
- Replies: 24
- Views: 6190
Re: blackbelly slenders found in San Diego County
There is a lot that still needs to be explained about Batrachoseps south of the LA basin. The most recent treatment (Martinez-Solano et al. 2012, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution) shows a significant genetic gap between northern and southern populations now assigned to B. major, certainly a spe...
- December 6th, 2014, 9:22 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: blackbelly slenders found in San Diego County
- Replies: 24
- Views: 3996
Re: blackbelly slenders found in San Diego County
There is a lot that still needs to be explained about Batrachoseps south of the LA basin. The most recent treatment (Martinez-Solano et al. 2012, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution) shows a significant genetic gap between northern and southern populations now assigned to B. major, certainly a spe...
- November 8th, 2014, 7:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Florida Herping
- Replies: 22
- Views: 8882
Re: Florida Herping
Can we have some cottonmouth and coral snake photos?
- October 28th, 2014, 9:50 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Episode VI: Return of the Clarkii
- Replies: 22
- Views: 9666
Re: Episode VI: Return of the Clarkii
This is why I didn't want it deleted. Nice post!
- September 14th, 2014, 8:57 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Zoo destroying Alameda Whipsnake habitat for Bison exhibit
- Replies: 55
- Views: 26380
Re: Zoo destroying Alameda Whipsnake habitat for Bison exhib
Who could imagine a zoo being a profit-driven business? Get real, the hilltop theme park selling stuffed animals made in Chinese sweatshops is as "zoo" as zoos get. Oh, and the current species of bison never occurred in the Bay Area, but instead entered California only in the far NE corner...
- September 2nd, 2014, 10:33 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Weller's Doom
- Replies: 24
- Views: 15089
Re: Weller's Doom
I haven't seen anyone post a particular bit of advice about herping in the Blue Ridge, so in the interests of avoiding Wellerismo I'll mention it. The granite outcrops up there tend to be nicely rounded, and there is just enough loose material in the form of little rounded grains and a film of water...
- July 23rd, 2014, 6:48 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Pattern variant C. oreganus
- Replies: 22
- Views: 9710
Re: Pattern variant C. oreganus
Only the photo came to me, I did not see the snake. While there is certainly some influence of the translucent white tub it's in, the fence lizard is a pretty good indicator of how far the white balance is skewed. Based on that I'd say that the snake would still get your attention on sight.
- July 21st, 2014, 6:58 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Petition to List P. mcallii as Endangered
- Replies: 21
- Views: 6728
Re: Petition to List P. mcallii as Endangered
I see that the Bridge Troll has told me what I think about CBD. It's actually a little more complicated, Brian. In my view CBD has done a lot of good in the past, but it has now evolved towards pure advocacy at a cost in credibility. When you consider what they are up against with agribusiness, Big ...
- July 21st, 2014, 11:19 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: What Species of Turtle is This?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2132
Re: What Species of Turtle is This?
Chinemys reevesi, moderately common in the specialty turtle trade.
- July 13th, 2014, 10:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Pattern variant C. oreganus
- Replies: 22
- Views: 9710
Re: Pattern variant C. oreganus
I am told that the snake was released.
- July 11th, 2014, 9:25 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Pattern variant C. oreganus
- Replies: 22
- Views: 9710
Pattern variant C. oreganus
This fella turned up in Humboldt County near Garberville. I don't recall having seen a snake with a longitudinal fade-in pattern transition like this before.
- June 24th, 2014, 2:56 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Vomeronasal Organ and Analogous Senses?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2233
Re: Vomeronasal Organ and Analogous Senses?
I don't know a lot about vomeronasal organs, but I think your basic concepts are correct. Originally discovered by a Dutch morphologist, Jacobson, it is a region or outpocketing of the nasal cavity accessible via either the nostril or through the roof of the mouth. Chemoreceptive cells there form a ...
- June 10th, 2014, 8:07 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Western Pond Turtles Now 2 Species
- Replies: 23
- Views: 5034
Re: Western Pond Turtles Now 2 Species
I got in the s*** here once before on a thread titled "Taxonomy: Science or Religion" when I observed that to my knowledge taxonomy had never started wars or enslaved women, so it was by default a science, if not always a good one. Even garbage may get published if you shop it around aggre...
- April 16th, 2014, 4:20 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why do Tiliqua have blue tongues?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3912
Re: Why do Tiliqua have blue tongues?
Northern bluetongues are reasonably common in Kakadu NP east of Darwin, and there is a local story on this topic, centered on Koongarra Saddle on the road S of Gubara. A short rock pillar at roadside there is Gurrihdjadjan, Bluetongue Dreaming, with a painting of Gurrih himself. In the beginning whe...
- February 28th, 2014, 3:44 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
- Replies: 154
- Views: 67343
Re: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
People need a sky hero to give them hope in an incredibly f**ked-up world? How did it get that way, except by people dodging personal responsibility on millions of occasions because their sky hero had it covered? Yeah, run the 20 red lights, sheesh.
- February 25th, 2014, 11:24 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
- Replies: 154
- Views: 67343
Re: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
I believe that Mick Jagger (of all people) had the correct response to Gerry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyK1bZZ7E-s
20 red lights indeed.
20 red lights indeed.
- February 17th, 2014, 7:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
- Replies: 154
- Views: 67343
Re: What I Learned About Life from Field Herping
1. The "dumb luck principle": Always take at least one complete amateur. They have nothing to match your exquisitely-tuned "herper eye" and will look in the wrong places and find the best herps. 2. The "5 minute rule": If you find something great in the first five minut...
- February 15th, 2014, 11:21 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: So how bad is this drought really?
- Replies: 22
- Views: 4795
Re: So how bad is this drought really?
I have to say, it's pretty bad. I went out yesterday to the Huasna area E of Arroyo Grande, and there is almost no green in the hills after maybe 2" of rain total since October. The road we took follows a small creek for about 7 miles, to headwaters, and there was one (1) wet spot at a road cro...
- February 3rd, 2014, 7:43 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why It’s Not Raining
- Replies: 29
- Views: 10422
Re: Why It’s Not Raining
Don't make me embarrassed to post here.
- February 2nd, 2014, 8:02 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Frog ID Help
- Replies: 44
- Views: 8928
Re: Frog ID Help
You forgot to tell me how you were sending the bribe Brian.
- February 1st, 2014, 9:16 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Frog ID Help
- Replies: 44
- Views: 8928
Re: Frog ID Help
I'm going with hypochondriaca based on head proportions, small toepads and the eyestripe, sorta symmetrical dorsal pattern, interocular triangle and short lmbs. Ain't a hybrid, just an unusually heavily patterned 'regilla'. I think if you saw it move, Jim, you'd switch your opinion. The photo angle ...
- February 1st, 2014, 8:57 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Frog ID Help
- Replies: 44
- Views: 8928
Re: Frog ID Help
Looks like Rana onca.
- February 1st, 2014, 9:29 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why It’s Not Raining
- Replies: 29
- Views: 10422
Re: Why It’s Not Raining
The explanation that I've seen is that the predominant surface winds shift between NW and SW off the coast of British Columbia. Winds from the SW bring warmer surface water closer to shore (positive phase), while NW winds encourage upwelling of colder subsurface water. This is relative, it's still t...
- January 29th, 2014, 6:57 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why It’s Not Raining
- Replies: 29
- Views: 10422
Re: Why It’s Not Raining
"Mostly" is an excellent answer. A core fact about the weather is that you can describe exactly what happened, with thousands and thousands of data points on temperature, wind speed, humidity, air pressure, cloud heights, thermal, wind, and water vapor vertical profiles, radar and satellit...
- January 27th, 2014, 5:08 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Why It’s Not Raining
- Replies: 29
- Views: 10422
Why It’s Not Raining
Just about everybody is sick of the lack of useful rainfall along the lower Pacific Coast this year (and last), and the projections are not very promising. Normally you make it rain by scheduling an outdoor event like a wedding or picnic, or by washing a car. I have heard that none of these things i...
- January 18th, 2014, 7:43 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Rattlesnake Armor!
- Replies: 40
- Views: 17033
Re: Rattlesnake Armor!
The armor of course belonged to Ned Kelly, a colorful fellow but not a herper insofar as is recorded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly "After the shootout there were five bullet marks on the helmet, three on the breast-plate, nine on the back-plate, and one on the shoulder-plate." Sh...
- January 18th, 2014, 12:35 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Rattlesnake Armor!
- Replies: 40
- Views: 17033
Re: Rattlesnake Armor!
Once there was this Australian guy who didn't want to get punctured and he came up with this famous solution http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubBZK6Mrlyw/URjPL9gHtcI/AAAAAAAACbg/QNJqaKufyho/s1600/AlissaCallen-Ned%2BKellysArmour.jpg . But he was just the opposite of this fella here and didn't protect his le...
- January 7th, 2014, 11:26 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: List for California Herps
- Replies: 28
- Views: 7910
Re: Standardizing a List for California Herps
Scientific names use Greek roots for the genus name, Latin roots for the species name, with the Greek terms spelled in Latin characters. So I hate to correct Brian Jubbs again, but Masticophis is derived not from Latin but from the Greek mastigio , a lash or whip, and ophis , a snake. Thus, Uromasti...
- January 7th, 2014, 9:47 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: List for California Herps
- Replies: 28
- Views: 7910
Re: Standardizing a List for California Herps
Looks good.
- January 7th, 2014, 9:30 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Invasive species.
- Replies: 55
- Views: 9603
Re: Invasive species.
I recommend that everyone kill every bullfrog they can, anywhere outside of their native range. In addition to their role as predators, bullfrogs are basically immune to chytrid fungus and often have extremely heavy loads, shedding thousands of infective larvae daily and maintaining consistently hig...
- January 7th, 2014, 1:39 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Invasive species.
- Replies: 55
- Views: 9603
Re: Invasive species.
*((#@^ site dropped my log-in, I will retype later.
- December 28th, 2013, 12:40 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Garden or Blackbelly?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2057
Re: Garden or Blackbelly?
Those fellas all look to be B. major, being pretty much the same color all around, and definitely pale ventrally. Down there, B. nigriventris will have a black belly, with the underside of tail being dark gray. This diagnosis breaks down in San Diego Co., where Will and others have found black-belli...
- December 27th, 2013, 10:53 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Snake Entry #3,000 for me
- Replies: 19
- Views: 4608
Re: Snake Entry #3,000 for me
Great job, Brian -- congratulations and good luck finding the next 3,000!
Sam
Sam
- December 22nd, 2013, 6:51 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: 38 New Species of Slender Salamanders
- Replies: 34
- Views: 7691
Re: 38 New Species of Slender Salamanders
That's a common misunderstanding, Todd, and like everything else in biology it isn't absolutely true every time. Just almost always. Prior to secondary contact populations are isolated, and they will diverge because there is no gene flow. They can do that either on the basis of neutral alleles, by t...
- December 19th, 2013, 1:32 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: This Should Make Hubbs Happy...
- Replies: 54
- Views: 12823
Re: This Should Make Hubbs Happy...
Let's talk about California vineyards specifically for a bit, and see how benign they are. In general the habitat types they replace are grassland and open oak woodland where soils are at least 6-8 feet deep and tend towards sandy textures rather than heavy clays. These used to be grazing lands, and...
- December 19th, 2013, 10:04 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: You thought the milksnake changes were bad?
- Replies: 32
- Views: 8835
Re: You thought the milksnake changes were bad?
Is there anyone else who is slightly embarrassed to admit to knowing Hubbs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cey35bBWXls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cey35bBWXls