Field Herp Forum

Rye What a fantastic portfolio. I made several visits to Utah in the 1970s and 1980s, and your pictures inspired long lost memories. Your first photo of the painted turtle with the snowy mountains in the background reminded me of my first spring as a FS employee in the White Mountains of Arizona. I ...

Stevens Creek was not a place that I frequented (maybe twice), though I had some friends that spent time up there during the 1970s. In those days Stevens Creek was too far to bother by bike, so my associates (including Owen and El Garia) operated the three watersheds to the southeast. We spent a lot...

After 20+ years of living around the Santa Clara Valley/Santa Cruz Mountains, I seem to have missed one species.... Red-bellied Newts (Taricha rivularis) - native breeding population in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Here are the title and a link... S. Reilly et al. Discovery of a new, disjunct populatio...

The canthus rostralis is the angled slope anterior to the eye between the top and side of the snout - something both of those salamanders have. Both can have a dark, longitudinal mark on the canthus, and spring salamanders may have a pale line. The markings in both species tend to change with age, a...

Chris

Thanks for posting this. It seemed that the old Sociedad de Herpetologicos Mexicanos site had died.

Jeff

and I am one hundred percent sure that the red salamander is not a spring salamander I was with a herpetologist when I found it and she was the one who ided it I'm also a herpetologist, and I've seen larvae of both Have a look at these photos http://www.paherps.com/herps/salamanders/spring_salamand...

Trip to Iowa: Goals achieved: Eastern Massassauga, Smooth Greensnake Goals missed: Fox Snake, Blanding's Turtle Down here: No Rainbow Snake yet, but it's still summer I had a very ambitious goal list for 2014 and I made a lot of progress Are you done for the year? Also, your Red Salamander looks a l...

Tom

The mystery Dasypeltis looks like the orange form of D. atra, which occurs in the region from which you reported it.

Jeff

Andy Wow, fantastic assortment for a single trip. I've seen all of the species that you've shown, but only after numerous trips and living there during the 1970s-1980s. I enjoyed seeing places that I have not been to in 35 years. My great envy is the Spotted Skunk! I've seen badgers, fishers, hognos...

Kevin What a very informative and entertaining shift from China! I spent a good half-hour absorbing it. The sausage that ChrisH noted first looked like the biggest Megatyphlops schlegelii ever recorded. Jeff [As an aside your sandveld skink Nucras caesicaudata is a Rainbow Skink (Trachylepis margari...

do you have the full citation to the Walker paper describing P. welleri?

I scanned a copy today for BS Brown, and can send the same via personal e-mail to PM.

Jeff

Sherbrooke has at least two horned lizard books. Correct. The newer one, 2003, has 160 pages, and is exceptional in detail and coverage.... http://books.google.com/books?id=sWe-cPzyviAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sherbrooke+Horned+Lizards&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gF8GVJ6MCsvloATsgoDIBg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q...

I have a copy of the original "Proceedings of the Junior Society of Natural History" in which Plethodon welleri was formally described by Charles Walker (dated July 31, 1931). It also contains a brief Memorium about Weller that provides no additional information from what has has been presented on t...

If you fall to your death, you probably found the same spot. In Adler's "Contributions to the History of Herpetology Volume 2" it is stated that "...Weller's body was found lodged among boulders of rain-swollen Stonestack Creek." Supposedly, this would be at an elevation high enough to have Plethodo...

Very bizarre that the neonate cottonmouth lacks the yellow tail. That may be a first.

Horned Lizard disappearance in Texas seems linked to fire ants, not cats.

Jeff

In the southern half of Louisiana peepers peak about mid January to early February, but all depends on rain events. I'm the state NAAMP coordinator, and can provide you with numerous localities with routine "Code 3" choruses.

Jeff

Strange head shape -- nothing like East Texas/Louisiana corals. What county?

Jeff

RSM I listened to the crickets chirping for three days, so decided to offer a reply. Your inquiry is similar to this one... http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18133 ...though directed more toward favorite books that are canonical (indespensible ?). I believed that I could provi...

I also have the book, and can vouch that it is very informative regarding the biology of Anacondas, not just another "pets" book. (I'm keeping mine, see Zarkus)

Jeff

During the era in which she lived, and during the period of her performing activity, she could have been termed "innovative" and "ahead of her time" -- someone who researched the innate behavior of snakes that were armed and dangerous. Her observations could have been parallel to those of primatolog...

For those of us who don't do FaceBook....

Interpretation please?

Jeff

Relative size of dorsal scales, which is only obvious if one has many of both species in hand for comparison. There are other, subtle comparisons. And I must admit that #3 could be a tristichus as well.

Jeff

Sceloporus graciosus
Sceloporus tristichus
Sceloporus graciosus
Sceloporus tristichus
Urosaurus ornatus

Jeff

looks like Telescopus variegatus

Jeff

#2 looks like a young burti, especially if it came from Santa Cruz County
#3 is exsanguis, though old flagellicaudus is a possibility, depends some on locality

Jeff

#2 looks like a young burti, especially if it came from Santa Cruz County
#3 is exsanguis, though old flagellicaudus is a possibility, depends some on locality

Jeff

Here is a Stripe-necked Musk Turtle (Sternotherus minor peltifer), from the only stream in which it occurs in Louisiana. I caught this young male in a crab trap placed in a small, clear stream.

Zach The Mertensian model was discussed in a 1966 German paper by Robert Mertens. It was also discussed in the 1970s by Emsley, a zoologist in Trinidad (working with Coral Snakes and mimic Erythrolamprus). The model are Coral Snakes (dangerously venomous) and the mimics are various tricolor Colubrid...

Or am I just overthinking this? Maybe. If I'm just taking notes afield for the day, or on a trip of a few days, I just fold up an 81/2 X 11 piece of scratch paper into a 3X4 form that slips into my shirt pocket, and carry a ball-point pen. I record a shorthand of everything, then transcribe it at h...

The costal scute annuli (sides of the shell) can be counted with relative ease until the turtle matures, usually at about 6-8 years of age. After maturity, the turtle grows more slowly, and the annuli tend to pack together as narrow ridges. There can be secondary depressions or grooves to confuse ma...

Is there a copy of this paper floating around the internet

www.cnah.org has a pdf.

Jeff

That would be the same stretch of interstate, Jeff

Something fun was happening the 4th and 5th. I wish I knew what triggered them to move like that.

Jeff

Friday morning I drove down to St. Charles Parish to check on a rattlesnake (gone). The only thing noteworthy was that I counted 15 dead mudnakes on I-10 between Sorrento and the bridge west of Laplace (about 22 miles). They were fairly fresh, probably from last night and the night before. All were ...

I agree with Chris -- the Liophis is Ninia maculata,

and the juvenile Dendrophidion is a Mastigodryas melanolomus

These are noted for purposes of records only --- the photography and variety are spectacular.

Jeff

My only differences of opinion from those of Mike are
12 does look like S. dekayi minus the sometimes crossbars of wrightorum, similar to wrightorum here in Louisiana
27 looks like Ambystoma texanum


Jeff

Fro

Fantastic! Sabine Parish needs a lot of survey work. I've logged about 0.5 days there. Good work...

Jeff

Jeyroen The New Mexico Urosaurus is a typical U. ornatus. The intercalation of granular or small imbricate scales among the larger series exhibits some geographic variation, and was the primary basis for the ten or so subspecies that were formerly recognized in U. onatus. Sorry, not a U. graciosus. ...

Jeroen

All of your (?) Aspidoscelis whiptails are correct species as you presumed. One change is your first snake, which is Pantherophis spiloides, being east of the Mississippi River.

Jeff

My assignment to T. elegans was initially based on the intrusion of the dorsolateral dark blotches onto the vertebral stripe seen on the neck. That characteristic is typical of T. e. vagrans vs. T. ordinoides. Also, enlarging the photo shows 11 scale rows from lowermost scale row to vertebral stripe...

That's Thamnophis elegans nigrescens, a subspecies no longer recognized, that are now considered very dark Wandering Garters, Thamnophis e. vagrans.

Jeff

It is typical of Mississippi Valley Coluber constrictor latrunculus intergrades with C. c. priapus. Snakes of that color pattern occur from southern Louisiana to the lower Ohio River Valley.

Jeff

Elliot Sorry, incomplete wording -- I was referring to sirtalis being gone from southeastern San Mateo County, and that based on me not knowing of any post-1960s specimens. The Lagunita is the lagoon on Stanford University, next to Lagunitas Creek that separates San Mateo Co from Santa Clara Co. I'm...

There are intergrades, plus typical infernalis at Lagunitas and Lagunitas Creek. Their appearance is one of discontinuous red lateral stripes with downward-projecting red bars. One characteristic of typical tetrataenia is the alternating black and red squares on the sides of the tail. In infernalis ...

Lampropeltis nigra / Lampropeltis holbrooki....

He explained the split to me and it actually sounds logical

....forever etched in electrons


But back to garter snakes... I was provoked into a renewed sense that Owen gets it when it comes to inner Coast Range garters. The torch has been passed.

Does it have full accounts for all species (unlike the first version)?

Jeff

I don't have pictures, nor does this have anything to do with CA, but I have found "neonates" of three species of water snakes in Louisiana during the past several weeks. The appearance of neonates does not happen until at least late May down here. My speculative 'toss it in the air' guess is that t...

My guide Ale found it climbing up his cabin when we were checking in. Ale is guiding me as I write. But seriously, the guy that has logged in 863 hours with a torch in second growth Choco forest has yet to see one, but the chambermaid whacks one while dusting the drapes in his cottage. The crossban...

Very nice find and portrait. They are supposed to be truly rare.

Jeff

with Gerold S. today in a Baton Rouge Swamp area: 1 Gulf coast toad 1 mega Bullfrog, left a wake like a capybara a little over 100 Bronze frogs, mostly metamorphs 1 common snapper skeleton/shell 1 mud turtle 2 Gulf Coast box turtles, including a young debutante 7 redears 4 anoles 37 Broad-banded wat...

I have tried to be careful in regard to replacing cover, and usually move any animal beneath until I can safely replace the object. Sad Example: about 20 years ago I rolled back a long log, under which was a Marbled Salamander. The salamander never moved, and I carefully laid the log back in place, ...