A melanistic Sceloporus in our woodpile amongst the hot- burning “pitchwood” pinon logs picked for fire starters, far from any black lava. Must ask Harry Greene if this is just the natural variation selected for on black Malpai rock…
Tag: Herps
Bufo exsul
Black toad of Deep Springs, only species of toad restricted to one college/ ranch, where it thrives. I think it is the handsomest toad in the US as well. Photo by Jackson Frishman. It lives in the pond at the low point ahead here (almost invisible at the foot of the wall), period. We were …
New Lizards
Not one but FOUR new lizard species discovered in California! “Throughout the history of lizard evolution, several lizard lineages have lost their legs, James Parham of Cal State Fullerton said. Snakes are the best-known and most diverse of these lineages, but more than 200 other types of limbless lizards exist throughout the world. “In California, …
Baby Lizards 1
The heavier and later local rains have led to lush greenery and a profusion of insects (the only one in 30 years I have been bothered by mosquitos here); as well as their predators. I had never before see the babies of the abundant local fence lizard (Sceloporus), as well as the more ground- dwelling …
Wildlife In Your Yard
In the depths of the drought (which is real, even if our town well crisis is man- made), wildlife comes to town. Human activity tends to make a green oasis composed of the non- native plants that come with civilization, not to mention gardens, flowers, leaky wells, and other sources of plant nourishment. Deer and …
Snake Alphabet
Tom McIntyre’s Ophidian Abecedarium (story below with “Gun Alphabet”). Pix, anecdotes, suggestions all encouraged. Right click photo to enlarge… SNAKE ALPHABET–A to Z AspBoomslangCottonmouthDeath AdderEastern Diamondback RattlerFlying SnakeGarter SnakeHognose SnakeIndigo SnakeJapanese Striped SnakeKing SnakeLyre SnakeMamba (Jonathan Hanson’s friend Neels with pet)Night SnakeOlive Sea SnakePythonQueen SnakeRat SnakeSidewinderTaipanUrutuVine SnakeWater MoccasinX (Equis in Spanish, another name for the …
Cladistics
From the always reliable XKCD, via Jonathan who just emailed that he was in Nairobi impatiently waiting to go out in the bush. We should all be so lucky as to have THAT cause for impatience!
Bill Haast dead at 100…
The legendary reptile man Bill Haast died in Florida last week at 100. According to the NYT: “Mr. Haast was bitten at least 173 times by poisonous snakes, about 20 times almost fatally. It was all in a day’s work for probably the best-known snake handler in the country, a scientist-cum-showman who made enough money …
Crotalia 2: Hot Snake
After the last post LabRat linked in Comments to a pic of the delightful little Crotalus lepidus, the neurotoxic but sweet- natured banded rock rattler. Around here they live at elevations from about 7500 feet and up, in talus slopes, and have a very short “growing season”. Because of this they may be less picky …