tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21980314135982070192024-03-14T08:10:18.095-07:00The Texan HerperSometimes you choose herpetology and sometimes herpetology chooses you...B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-62713846695110067342012-07-20T13:24:00.003-07:002014-01-18T17:46:07.298-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Welcome!</span></b></div>
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<b>( ترحيب benvenuto bienvenu bienvenido boas-vindas willkommen अभिनंदन maligayang pagdating добро пожаловать sveiciens ความยินดีต้อนรับ verwelkomen velkommen välkommen tervetuliaistoivotus kuwakaribisha selamat datang καλωσόρισμα خوش آمدید vítejte </b><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">fáilte roimh chách velkomin</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>You are here perhaps, by intention or even by mistake, but no less once you leave, hopefully you'll have not only a better understanding but a respect for the animals discussed.</b></span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Herpetology covers a broad field of animals from caecilians to snakes and from frogs to amphisbaenians. A little bit of who they are and why they are is covered in this website.</b><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are buttons on both sides of this article. On the right side, the button labelled 'Reptiles I' covers the opening reptilian discussion and tuataras, crocodilians, turtles and amphisbaenians. The 'Reptiles II' button covers lizards and snakes, while all amphibians are covered under the 'Amphibians' button. To the left are numerous short articles and the button 'Quick Facts' that has various short articles and quick facts concerning herpetology.</b><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hope that you enjoy your time spent here in learning or studying the animals that make-up herpetology, for to instill knowledge concerning our environment and the other animals that we share it with...only enhances our knowledge of more about ourselves.</b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Been nice yakkin' at ya!<br />Best of Regards,<br />BJA </span></b></div>
B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-76745281047118895982012-07-20T11:37:00.000-07:002014-02-11T13:33:30.611-08:00Reptilian II<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Lizards:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Listed under the order, <i>Squamata,</i> which also includes snakes and amphisbaenians, the rather large lizard group comprises the suborder, <i>Lacertilia</i>, which is being pushed to be changed to <i>Sauria</i>. Currently there are around 3,800-4,765 species with 19 families, but stick around, this changes frequently.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hough lizards are in abundance in the tropics and numerable in temperate zones, their range extends beyond the Arctic Circle to the tips of South America, Africa and Australia. The United States is filled with 115 species of lizards spread under eight families which include the only two true venomous lizards. Strangely though, in NW Pennsylvania where I reside, there are no lizards. In fact, there are only four species, the eastern fence lizard and three skinks that call the state home at all. Three of these Pennsylvanian lizards are even considered threatened as two of them are listed as species of special concern with the remaining one as a candidate of concern.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ypical lizard characteristics are reptilian tetrapods with external ears, movable eyelids and a long tail. Also, lizards in general have excellent near vision, including color and night vision. However, there are no true distinguishing features unique to lizards and as always there are exceptions to their typical physical traits. Many lizard families contain legless forms, such as: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anguidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gerrosauridae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gymnophthalmidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Most geckos have no movable eyelids, with the gecko genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nephrurus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> having no more than a knob for a tail.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> To top the exception rule off, all 22 species members under the family, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dibamidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are legless, have no external ears, are basically blind and have a very short tail</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Nephrurus levis</i> ~ knob-tail</span> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Size is diverse among this reptile group, ranging from the diminutive 29mm/1.1in chameleon, <i>Brookesia micra</i> that is no larger than a match head, to the dragon-sized varanid, <i>Varanus komodoensis</i> surpassing lengths of 3m/9.9ft. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Dibamus dalaiensis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first known reptile was <i>Hylonomus</i>, appearing in the fossil record 315 mya. From this point reptile<i> </i>species diversified with one branch known as the <i>Eolacertilia</i> that were the earlist fossil lineage leading to <i>Lepidosauromorpha</i>. Evolving from lepidosauromorphan reptiles, primitive lizards first made their appearance during the Upper Triassic some 215 mya. From these basal lepidosaurmorphans, three crown subgroups appeared during the Middle Jurassic that led to three of the four extant lizards found today and are known as Anguimorpha, Gekkota and Scincomorpha.<br /><br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nguimorphs are a large group that includes, among others, today's alligator lizards, Gila monster, glass lizards and monitors. One anguimorph group that is now extinct are the marine mosasaurs. Geckos originated from <i>Gekkota</i> and skinks found their lineage through <i>Scincomorpha</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he fourth extant group of today's lizards did not appear until the Lower Creataceous when the crown subgroup, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Iguania</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> first occurred. This group contains the iguanas. All other lizard groups became extinct by the end of the Creataceous.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JIVut6IsWtOKEdwbVAi_YHFrVXzapocZF8y76QGhXIukBnC1L8h6KqvIKvLhCVEspO-VuCsQ6QbwWeWqOPaMN2hXJVe4k-VBGCjrJuVT9mSUGppsMa29cW4RU9I-2I_kzld9Lw3tyywS/s1600/Icarosaurus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JIVut6IsWtOKEdwbVAi_YHFrVXzapocZF8y76QGhXIukBnC1L8h6KqvIKvLhCVEspO-VuCsQ6QbwWeWqOPaMN2hXJVe4k-VBGCjrJuVT9mSUGppsMa29cW4RU9I-2I_kzld9Lw3tyywS/s200/Icarosaurus.jpg" height="135" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Icarosaurus</i> lived 228 mya </span></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;"> </i> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One eolacertilian that was not in direct lineage, but was a close relative to the evolving lizards was <i>Icarosaurus</i>. A small animal in being no more than 10cm/4in from skull tip to hips, but with wings made of skin membrane supported by extended ribs, could effortlessly glide short distances in the Late Triassic cycad forests 228 mya. The extant lizard <i>Draco</i>, though only distantly related to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Icarosaurus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> glides today basically in the same way</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />It</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> would be worthwhile in mentioning here that for a period since its discovery in 2006, the fossil remains of <i>Tikiguania estesi</i> was widely thought to be the oldest representative of lizards. It was found in Triassic strata dating back to 220 mya. It was indeed found in Triassic material but it turns out that it was eroded material that was subsequently laid down over the exposed Triassic strata during the Miocene some 10-5 mya. The fossil material was washed onto the Triassic sediment then covered over and geologically recently eroded again exposing the fossil. The fossil is almost identical to the modern-day agamid lizards.<br /><br />O</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">riginally, all lizards were carnivorous. Today, there are omnivorous lizards and 3% are true herbivores, such as iguanas, although insects will be ingested that were on any plant material the lizard eats. The oldest known lizard herbivore was discovered in 130 million year old Cretaceous sediment in Japan. The remains have been named, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kuwajimalla kagaensis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Current day terrestrial herbivore lizards dine on soft plants and in particular angiosperms (budding & flowering plants). They are restricted to a softer plant diet due to their fragile dentition (teeth). </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">K. kagaensis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> had the same dentition. This poses a bit of a dilemma due to the fact that angiosperms only show up in the paleobotany record 125 mya, five million years later. So what did herbivore lizards munch on 130 mya when most plants of that period were tough and harsh? Perhaps, the angiosperm record goes back further, but just hasn't been discovered yet. Or just maybe, the tough tissue produced in guarding against all the big plant munching dinosaurids, when plant tissue was young or in sapling form, it was much softer making it more palatable for the lizard.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he diet of carnivorous lizards range from insects, other reptiles, rodents, birds, eggs and even wild goats and deer when it comes to the Komodo dragon, while the herbivores eat flowers, leaves and fruit</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. A sticky tongue and biting are the mode of acquiring and ingesting food. A few are true omnivores.<br /><br />Lizard size is diverse and ranges from the recently discovered minute gecko, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sphaerodactylus ariasae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> reaching an adult SVL of only 1.6cm/0.63in and once again, to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Varanus komodoensis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that may reach a length in excess of 3.03m/10ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or obvious reasons in not benefiting fossorial blind lizards, but for most, sight is the most important sense. It is what they primarily use in seeking prey, alluding predators and communicating among each other. Most lizards see very well in visible light, detect UVB and their color vision is excellent. Due to this, many lizard species, such as anoles have developed colorful dewlaps, while some have multi-colored bodies, others can change their body color in an instant. Hearing and smelling are also well developed and utilized</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />C</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hameleons have the ability to change color due to specialized chromatophore cells containing various colored pigments, such as xanthophores, iridophores and melanin. Chromatophores are located in three tiered layers holding their own color pigments just below the transparent top layer skin. Once the subconscious brain sends signals of color change, dispersion of color pigments commence and their particular arrangements give the chameleon's body its new color</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGOnjwRznHa3Ph0eL4XOUmBr2o-Ro6D4IuRq8rBcydST9ih1B06KRnz9qTUX29e3Sq_TEk4Yo5_LXN4gfhPVKiIyVhGQvGDK67CNLM1cIG4Df4p5UWksO1keHRrRB2hqtE7f4ugYagfIk/s1600/chameleon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGOnjwRznHa3Ph0eL4XOUmBr2o-Ro6D4IuRq8rBcydST9ih1B06KRnz9qTUX29e3Sq_TEk4Yo5_LXN4gfhPVKiIyVhGQvGDK67CNLM1cIG4Df4p5UWksO1keHRrRB2hqtE7f4ugYagfIk/s200/chameleon.jpg" height="139" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Chameleon ~ <i>Furcifer pardalis </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">pattern through reflection and refraction of light by the specific pigment alignment.<br /><br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s mentioned earlier there are only two true venomous lizards, the Gila monster and the closely related Mexican beaded lizard with both ranging in Mexico and the arid southwest of the United States. Recently though at the University of Melbourne in Australia and Pennsylvania State in the USA, research reveals that iguanas and monitors possess in their oral cavity a pair of venom glands that produces an array of venoms collectively called toxicofera</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hese venoms are very similar chemically to snake venoms, but are not administered through fangs; instead through chewing action as the helodermatids (the Gila monster and Mexican beaded lizard) do. This is not too surprising as recent DNA studies show a genetic relationship of anguimorphs, iguanas and monitors to snakes, which points to a common ancesto</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">r.<br /><br />In</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> particular in the bite of monitors, bacterial infection is the main concern, as many toxic bacterium in high culture amounts reside in these lizards' mouths. The venom appears to be in very low concentrations so there is no danger in killing an animal as large as a man, however swelling and excessive swelling may occur as a result of a venom flow into the wound. Even the chewing bite and induction of venom of an helodermatid is not enough to be lethal to a normal healthy adult, but their bites are still the most detrimental among lizards. W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ith a vice-like jaw grip and grooved teeth to guide the venom into the wound, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">helodermatids are more specialized in introducing their GTX neurotoxin into the wound in greater concentration</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Gila monster ~ <i>Heloderma suspectum</i></span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">izards share common traits with snakes such as having the lower jaw not joined directly to the skull, possess scales, have a paired hemipenis in males and a chemosensory organ (Jacobson's or vomeronasal where ducts connect the paired organs directly to the nasal cavity) in the mouth for molecular odor detection. Unique among lizards is that the jaws are less flexible than snakes and have an integumentary system comprised of scales which cover the external chordate body with the skull composed of quadrate bones.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Lizards set up home living on the ground surface, dwelling in trees, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in burrows </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">below the surface or spend most of their active time underwater only to come out onto the beach to rest. No matter where they live though, eggs are laid in the ground. Most are oviparous normally laying the typical leathery reptile egg, but some like, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gekko petricolus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lay hard shelled eggs in the crevices of rocks, while others like </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gekko gecko</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lay very soft shelled eggs that stick to what they were laid on while hardening through air exposure. A few in colder climes such as in Eurasia are viviparous. Although females of some skink species will often return to a nest to warm her eggs, virtually all young lizards just hatched or born are fully developed and must defend on their own from the outset.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Defenses are swift running, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">aggressive biting, bacteria ridden saliva, venom, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tail autotomy, body spiking, cryptic camouflage, gliding, loosened nuchal skin frills to appear larger and squirting foul blood from the squeezing of frail eye vessels.<br /><br />U</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nder the order, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Squamata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, the current lizard suborder, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lacertilia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is further divided into five infraorders. They are: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Iguania</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with three families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gekkota</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with three families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scincomorpha</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with seven families, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diploglossa</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with three families and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Platynota</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> containing three families. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Texas horny toad ~ <i>P. cornutum</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Texas Horny Toad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Phrynosomatidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Phrynosoma </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Phrynosoma cornutum</u></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 6-10cm/2.25-4in SVL; record: 18.1cm/7.13in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 24-36g/0.85-1.30oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 5-8yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i> ~ <i>Phrynos</i> & <i>soma</i> are both Greek meaning 'toad' & 'body' respectively; <i>cornutum</i> is Latin meaning 'crowned' in reference to this lizard's horned head; altogether refers to the 'toad-bodied horny-headed lizard'.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Although it has disappeared in east & central Texas and is decreasing in the southern & western portions of Texas, there still remain stable populations in northern Texas; as such this horned lizard is the officially recognized state reptile of Texas; populations elsewhere range from Colorado to Kansas, down into northern Mexico and westwards from New Mexico to southeastern Arizona; there are reports of isolated, but stable populations that were introduced in N. & S. Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida; also is possibly native to Arkansas and western Louisiana; prefers sandy areas near harvester ant mounds in grasslands, prairies, scrubland and deserts.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> In Texas, this lizard is referred to as a 'horny toad;' except during breeding season, this lizard is neither horny nor a toad, so in publications for obvious reasons, is referred colloquially as the 'horned lizard'; this description is much more accurate; <i>P. cornutum</i> possesses a forehead crest with 2 spikes, a neck frill ending in 2 spikes on each side with 2 large spikes in the center that look like horns; the dorsal surface is adorned with smaller spikes, also with 2 row sets running down each side of body ending at tip of tail; head spikes are part of skeletal structure, while body spines are attached to skin; has keeled non-mucronate (not sharp tipped) ventral scales; body is dorsolaterally flattened held up by short legs; dorsum coloration is tan or gray with random white & red or dull yellow markings; most specimens will also display black spot dorsal patterning corresponding where body spines erupt; ventrum is </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">normall</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lighter in coloration,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQWMV7n69Ptbap2WA9suewZhP5YoOja8YkhH71X-CvpFVzWikdZnaBWAR3e5eEYmsyM0pdP0fDtFzrcBCFO9aVLPoY1rwxlKYXXcIzdLGlz1kcJaYcGDH_QGW0dH5d2R9EIqgf0DOctgM/s1600/Phrynosoma+cornutum+vntrl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQWMV7n69Ptbap2WA9suewZhP5YoOja8YkhH71X-CvpFVzWikdZnaBWAR3e5eEYmsyM0pdP0fDtFzrcBCFO9aVLPoY1rwxlKYXXcIzdLGlz1kcJaYcGDH_QGW0dH5d2R9EIqgf0DOctgM/s200/Phrynosoma+cornutum+vntrl.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventral side</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">darkening more as they grow; there are ~ 15 species of horned lizards in the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phrynosoma</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and all can be easily recognized from their distinct spine arrangements on the head; populations of <i>P. cornutum</i> are specifically adapted to what its local habitat offers and has given way to genetically diverse isolated populations, however these genetically distinct populations are physically indistinct from one another in virtually appearing identical; for this reason, there are no current subspecies listed.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The diet is composed of 90% harvester ants with the remaining 10% occasionally supplemented by termites, small orthopterans such as crickets & grasshoppers, isopods (wood lice & pill bugs), beetles and their larvae; though adorned spikes create difficulties in swallowing this lizard, it still has many predators; birds (crows, bluejays, etc.) birds of prey (hawks, roadrunners) a variety of larger snakes, mammals (skunks, raccoons, opossums) and <i>Onychomys torridus</i> (grasshopper mouse) will take this lizard when detected, in particular juveniles by chewing the cranium around the orbit; numerous predators, such as shrikes will only get at and consume the internal organs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlegi8wNCVJkGckcAilPG9-yJyzyNETziC1wmSvTB5YAOXCEEVlaQ54mOhYGIxIcDGvpBdGh-uqW4hSq-NdrG_XUA-EVnSWBjww3s-MzpJUC9QUCTZR3qomZihrNig965bjlJopT0d-cJb/s1600/Phrynosoma-cornutum+skltn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlegi8wNCVJkGckcAilPG9-yJyzyNETziC1wmSvTB5YAOXCEEVlaQ54mOhYGIxIcDGvpBdGh-uqW4hSq-NdrG_XUA-EVnSWBjww3s-MzpJUC9QUCTZR3qomZihrNig965bjlJopT0d-cJb/s200/Phrynosoma-cornutum+skltn.jpg" height="108" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note head spikes part of osteology</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In appearance, this lizard is right out of the film clips of prehistoric B movies; this mobile thorn bush has other defenses besides the body spiking; when sensing a threat will first lay flat to the ground where cryptic coloration camouflages the lizard to terrain surface; if the threat ensues, either will make a quick sprint or if cornered will elevate and inflate the body with air; if captured, has ability to squirt blood; blood squirting is accomplished by restricting blood flow leaving the head, thus rupturing tiny eyelid vessels sending the blood out in a stream; from consumption of harvester ants (<i>Pogonomyrmex</i>), it is believed formic acid taints the lizards blood making it foul tasting; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">blood squirting is a context-dependent display in which elicitation of the practice is conducted by judgement of predator type; larger mammals such as a kit fox (<i>Vulpes macrotis</i>) induce the judgement of lizard to squirt, if the fox has the lizard in the mouth, the taste of squirted blood will make the fox drop the lizard; all predators of this lizard exhibit care, if not usually suffer for it by choking to death in consuming the lizard whole as its horns lodge in the throat or experiences the foul taste</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9jpBU0iuaKT0vMbKYlzfLYHWJ11p2n1kJXiCKeybToiHIMktRCC-pMDl7HdT30W6QrcTUFge6mdDpzGHZBJ1fkNprYEp0P3mSflE3IPGR8uoOq499hINS6cwTCt6920t6fEEj4MDuU0G/s1600/roadrunner_vs_phrynosoma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9jpBU0iuaKT0vMbKYlzfLYHWJ11p2n1kJXiCKeybToiHIMktRCC-pMDl7HdT30W6QrcTUFge6mdDpzGHZBJ1fkNprYEp0P3mSflE3IPGR8uoOq499hINS6cwTCt6920t6fEEj4MDuU0G/s200/roadrunner_vs_phrynosoma.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Young roadrunner's fatal mistake</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of the lizard's squirted blood abruptly ending an appetite;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> P. cornutum</i> thermoregulates by angling body to most direct dawn sun rays to warm up and either seeks shade or burrows down into soil with sideways head shoveling with inflated body; is strictly diurnal seeking refuge during dark hours; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">conducts water harvesting by collection of water originally from air in form of humidity, dew & rain or soil moisture; is performed by developed features of skin where water spreads and is soaked into a capillary system in between scales; water is then transported to mouth where it is drunk; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to hibernate, it burrows deeper into soil and remains in a torpid state not eating or drinking during cold months; emergence from hibernation is timed with harvester ant activity; after hibernation ends in late April, breeding commences; are oviparous and once internal fertilization has occurred, female will lay 12-40 eggs in May or June in a dugout chamber from </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-REGcuRIAHOCdUiEsOmjLYH6fHRr4AGxKQr5ysn__8lJHzMjh5Aseoyaoke1KNFT6hwkeaRUJz_eeBYj-58g2hHbGxH5SpW-zRlzQH6vttkn3NsHPminKGoSyQhoy51ZMZEr1wAOAkJ88/s1600/Phrynosoma_modestum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-REGcuRIAHOCdUiEsOmjLYH6fHRr4AGxKQr5ysn__8lJHzMjh5Aseoyaoke1KNFT6hwkeaRUJz_eeBYj-58g2hHbGxH5SpW-zRlzQH6vttkn3NsHPminKGoSyQhoy51ZMZEr1wAOAkJ88/s200/Phrynosoma_modestum.jpg" height="134" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Typical <i>Phrynosoma</i> neonate size</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">moist sandy soil, then cover eggs up and abandon the site; the flexible white </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eggs hatch in 45-55 days revealing miniature horned lizards around 3.2cm/1.25in long; neonates possess head spikes, but body is relatively smooth; upon hatching, neonates are on their own to defend and feed themselves; within 3 years juveniles are fully grown; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">no matter the age or size, this lizard does not attempt to bite in defense; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">though this species is in rapid decline in its natural range and is listed as threatened in the state of Texas, IUCN still list it as least concern; this lizard does not do well around human populated areas; the introduction of fire ants (genus: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Solenopsis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) exhibiting a competitive ferocity towards harvester ants along with pesticide decimation of harvester ants, this lizard's primary food, are reasons for this unique and docile reptile's decline.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Thorny devil ~ <i>M. horridus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Thorny Devil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Agamidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Moloch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Moloch horridus</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: 15-20cm/5.9-8in SVL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 70-95gm/2.5-3.4oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 20yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Moloch horridus</i> ~ <i>Moloch</i> is the name of an ancient Ammonite god who was offered child sacrifices and was portrayed as a god of evil in the Bible; <i>horridus</i> is Latin meaning 'dreadful' in reference to lizard's spiky appearance; altogether refers to, 'Moloch the dreadful lizard'.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Is endemic to central Australia's arid terrain of triodia (indigenous hammock forming grasses), </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scrubland and desert; prefers sandy soils over rocky terrain.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Lft: <i>P.cornutum</i> rt: <i>M. horridus</i></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This lizard appears as a <i>phrynosoma spp.</i> on steriods considering the more numerous and larger spikes; though distantly and remotely related, both species developed morphological horned armor through convergent evolution rather than genetically; adapting to an arid habitat & climate, both species also share similar methods in what they eat and how they collect moisture to drink; <i>M. horridus</i> is a monotypic species within the genus, <i>Moloch</i>; evolving spikes as anatomically different from phrynosomids, <i>M. horridus</i> head spikes are composed of dermal keratin whereas phrynosomids head spikes are boney spines; dermal spikes envelope the thorny devil's body covering the ventrum as well with short sharp conical scattered spikes; body maintains long spikes & elongated scales protruding in every direction and in rows extending down back to tail; intermingled in between long pointed scales are dispersed small rhomboidal scales; head possesses a large horned knob on top of neck composed of stored fatty tissue; on the head, a small conical spike guards each nostril, while a large spike neighbored by smaller ones exist above each eye; displays sexual dimorphism with female generally larger and tends to be duller in color; also, males tend to be redder; overall color is dependent on temperature; when warm and active are a pale </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Top: <i>P. cornutum</i> Bttm: <i> M. horridus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">yellow & red; when it is cold or </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">threatened, turns more of a drab dar</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">k</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">olive green; ventrum is color patterned much like the dorsum; hatchlings and neonate juveniles are black with white striping that turns more the adult's color as they age; although there is a concerted effort to discover even another </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">distinct <i>Moloch</i> species, there are currently no subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Almost exclusively consumes ants; in particularly is partial to the small ant species, <i>Iridomymex flavipes</i>; if chanced upon, gut contents have exposed termite consumption along with ant larvae & debris ants most probably had carried when the lizard ate them, such as their grubs and plant matter; local raptors (bustards & sparrow hawks) and certain species of lizards such as the sand goanna (<i>Varanus gouldi</i>) and racehorse monitor (<i>Varanus tristis</i>) appear to be main predators; aborigines have and do also consume this lizard; thorny devils are usually heavily infested with nematode worms; <i>Parapharyngodon</i> & <i>Abbreviata</i> nematode species infect the intestines with lizard being infected as final hosts in eating their ant prey acting as intermediate hosts. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9NJw9mGGhKezAuk_twaGQAOwtpeht49iE1sex-XrbDS7x_JuH7R9BXw7JQRdchG48NeWOrmfpV7FW5rwABQSrMys6PnvR5ZAYsUW5-eIKSz5dmlvnUkpJKzsmixtpj5vvu2JdYCT5emI3/s1600/Moloch+horridus+gerry+ellis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9NJw9mGGhKezAuk_twaGQAOwtpeht49iE1sex-XrbDS7x_JuH7R9BXw7JQRdchG48NeWOrmfpV7FW5rwABQSrMys6PnvR5ZAYsUW5-eIKSz5dmlvnUkpJKzsmixtpj5vvu2JdYCT5emI3/s200/Moloch+horridus+gerry+ellis.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Dorsal view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Besides weather affecting color change, the lizard has the ability to rapidly change color at any time by influencing reaction of pigmented dermal cells; are heliothermic relying on solar energy exposure to warm up and avoidance to cool down; leads a sedentary & solitary lifestyle and are not territorial; homesites are always near ant trails; during the summer & autumn months do not move no more than 6.1-9.1m/20-30ft away from their homesite; even in more active periods such as August-September (Australian winter & spring months) the lizards move no more than 76.2m/250ft from homesite; some thorny devils remain within 10.1m/33.33ft from where they originally were found 3 yrs ago; do not aestivate or hibernate, but will dig burrows or remain under shrub shade during hottest months of the year; are diurnal so are most active during daytime foraging for ants; on average will consume 750 ants per day, but sometimes up to 2500 ants may be consumed; once molecular energy and moisture has been collected from the ants in digestion, the ant exoskeletons are excreted as smooth surface fecal pellets; containing compressed ant parts, the pellets are spheroidal in shape; within homesite area thorny devils designate a latrine site and only go there to defecate; evidence indicates that these bathroo</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">m</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note fat storage hump</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sites are communal; once the lizard determines the latrine to be full, it will pick another site; like phrynosomids, collects moisture through capillary action generated by water's adhesion to tiny grooves in surface of scales, then moving interstitially through channels towards mouth; in addition, once a rare rain occurs, the feet can take up moisture embedded in the sand; besides body armor, elicits an array of predatory deterrents; if caught in the open by an encountered threat, the lizard performs a deliberate slow-motion walking-rocking gait</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; each leg first moves forward, then backward, then forward again essentially moving just one step; this is repeated many times until it feels it has reached a secure area; simultaneously in this 'start-retreat-start again' locomotion the tail is stiffened and held up; no one knows for sure, but this either confuses the predator or helps the lizard avoid detection by blending in more with the surroundings during slow gaiting; horny devils will also, like phrynosomids inflate extra air into the lungs appearing larger; if the head is touched, it will duck the head in between its shoulders making the neck hump appear as the head in possibl</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Locomotion when threatened</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">avoiding a fatal head attack; breeding occurs during most active time in August & September when possible encounters increase due to increased locomotion; males will head bob or head but females then attempt to mount her; if female is not impressed, will reject the male mount by doing a rapid 360</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° spin, then leave after the male was ejected; once internal fertilization has occurred, female will lay a clutch of eggs once a year in late September to early December; clutches consist of 8-13 eggs laid in an orange-sized chamber excavated by the female; she digs a tunnel in the sand 30.5-61cm /12-24in, then right-angles the tunnel into a chamber; once oviposting has taken place she carefully covers the tunnel leaving an air pocket within the chamber; she finally disguises the tunnel surface by scraping the sand even then leaves; much effort is put into this egg chamber by simultaneously digging with both legs on one side, then switching to the other side in continuous repetition; in manufacturing, carrying, excavating and oviposting, female loses up to 40% of body weight consuming her stored fat; incubation period is 90-132 days depending on temperature of chamber; newly hatched neonates will eat their egg shells for calcium content, then dig through the filled tunnel in exiting to the surface; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">consumption of discarded eggs by</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>M. horridus</i> neonates is an unique trait not found in any other lizard; this first meal of egg shell supplies needed calcium; both juvenile sexes grow at the same rate for the first year, after that period females significantly outpace males; currently, this lizard is not threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Scheltopusik ~ <i>P. Apodus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Scheltopusik</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Anguidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Pseudopus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Pseudopus apodus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Up to 135cm/53.25in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 300-450gm/10.58-15.87oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 20-25 yrs in wilds; up to 50 yrs for well kept captives</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Pseudopus apodus</i> ~ <i>Pseud</i> is rooted in the Greek word <i>pseudes</i> meaning 'false'; <i>opus</i> is Latin for 'a need'; <i>apodus</i>, incorporated since 1871 is a misspelled derivative of the Greek word 'apodos' meaning footless'; altogether means 'footless lizard with a false need' in reference to lizard's tiny & useless hind feet.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Including Russia, occurs in 17 European countries; also is found in Middle East & Near East countries; range is from the U.K. through the Balkans, along the Adriatic coast & Crimean coast, Caucasus, Transcaucasia & Central Asia; prefers lower altitudes of open woods, short growing grassy areas and loess soils with rocky outcrops and access to streams</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Any layman's first encounter with this lizard would consider it a snake due to the similar body plan; closer inspection though, would reveal external ears, eyelids and rudimentary hind feet, all features not found in snakes; though this lizard virtually has no functional limbs, it is rather large and is the largest lizard in most of the countries it inhabits; </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note bifurcate tongue</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The common name</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'Scheltopusik' is Russian meaning 'yellow-bellied'; utilized in same fashion as snakes, has a bifurcated (forked) tongue that is flicked out to pick up air molecules sending them back to Jacobson's organ in roof of mouth for detection by scent; front half of tongue is very dark blue tipped; small palatine teeth present in a single row; rudimentary hind legs are 2-4mm/.08-0.16in and are adactylous (toeless) located at end of lateral furrow adjacent to cloaca; present are lateral furrows going down each side separating dorsum from ventrum; all scales are carinated in shape being most carina (ridge-like structure) distinct in caudal scalation; body scales are</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Carinated scalation detail</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">connected to osteoderms and arranged in rings about the body; skin underneath scalation is quite hard containing a fair amount of chitinous material; sexual dimorphism is evident with male tending to be slightly larger, while males also have larger heads in being wider than body; female head width is indistinct from body; adult coloration for dorsal side is an overall general pale brown with darker brown displayed interstitially between scales; head is lighter brown with ventral side displaying a lighter yellowish tan brown; juveniles have a gray ventrum and very contrasting dorsal color patterns of brown shades that eventually begins to fade into adult coloration after 2-3 yrs; scheltopusik was previously listed under the genus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ophisaurus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and transferred to the monotypic genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pseudopus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> although it has not fully caught on; currently 3 subspecies are recognized in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. a. apodus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. a. durvilli</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. a. thracius</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>P. apodus</i> is an opportunistic and predaceous predator preying primarily on invertebrates, in particular gastropods (snails & slugs); also consumes a fair amount of insects and if opportunity presents itself will take small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, snakes, shrews, rodents & birds; fruits in season from wild plants are taken as well; in captivity have been observed consuming presented eggs raw or boiled, but this certainly does not mean eggs are consumed naturally in the wilds; as varied as its diet is, the lizard also has to contend with an array of predators that prey on it; birds of prey, larger snakes and various carnivorous mammals</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> Scheltopusik is a multitasking lizard in that not only can it display agility and sudden bursts of speed in reaching 5-10m/16.5-33ft in a matter of seconds on land, it is also exhibits arboreal adeptness at climbing and efficiently swims & dives remaining submerged for minutes at a time; smallness of pulmonary vessels permit this reptile to suspend respiration without arresting coursing blood during submergence; displays a form of intelligent behavior in captives being able to recognize and respond to handlers; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">two-thirds of total length consist of tail; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">belonging to the glass lizard group, it does have a tail that will break off, but the fracturing plane is not well defined for </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. apoda</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and regeneration of a new tail is poor; due to this, under threat or harassment, this lizard prefers to twist, hiss and at times bite hard rather than </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>P. apoda</i> tooth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">submitting to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">caudal autonomy; with conical serrated teeth, the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dentition is well suited for cracking shells of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">its favored snail pre</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y; prefers dry habitat, but after rains are particularly active due to optimizing contact with snails & slugs; is diurnal doing most of its activity during daylight, preferring to retire in rock or earth crevices or abandoned rodent burrows during darkness; though it will burrow through loose soil, is not fossorial; at dawn can be found on rocks or branches of trees or shrubs soaking up warmth of sun rays; in its colder range will hibernate from October to March and until May in the coldest climes; reinforcement of scales with osteoderms provides adequate protection, as many </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>P. apoda</i> juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scheltopusiks are found wit</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">h </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">damaged scales due to predator attacks, but nonetheless are unharmed and alive; breeding in the wilds takes place either in March or May, dependent when emerging from hibernation; after mating, the female retains her fertilized eggs for ten weeks then oviposits her 8-12 eggs in a suitable earth or rock crevice or under ground or ground debris such as a large piece of bark; she will remain at the nest site guarding her egg clutch until hatching in 45-55 days appearing from July to September; hatchlings are 10-15cm/3.94-5.9in; nourished from egg yolk, they begin feeding on their own after 4 days from hatching; after 4 yrs, young mature to become sexually active; though local populations are threatened and have decreased, due to tolerance of a wide range of habitat, it is currently listed as least concern.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mexican beaded ~ <i>H. horridum</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mexican Beaded Lizard </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">amily: Helodermatidae</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />G</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">enus: Heloderm</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a<br />S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">pecies: </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">Heloderma horridum</u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: 61-101.6cm/24-40in (SVL) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 3.18-4.54kg/7-10lbs<br />Longevity: Listed as 30yrs but handlers have specimens over 50yrs & are still breeding<br />Name Origin: <i>Heloderma horridum</i> ~ <i>Helos</i> & <i>derma</i> are both Greek meaning 'head of a stud' and 'skin' respectively; <i>horridum</i> is Latin meaning 'rough', 'rude' or 'horrible'; altogether refers to, 'rough skinned horrible studded lizard'. <br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> From latitude 25, this lizard is found throughout western & central Mexico</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> southward to Guatemala in northern Central America; prefers semi-arid rocky regions with ledges and sparse vegetation characteristic of Mexico's open forests, canyons and washes; found from sea level to 1500m/4,950ft asl; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heloderma spp.</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> were once more widespread with Miocene fossils of 17.6-17.5 mya found in Florida, 20 mya in Texas and Oligocene fossils in Colorado & Nebraska from 30 mya;</span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> 2 extant helodermatid species exist with the other, <i>Heloderma suspectum</i> (Gila monster) being smaller and appeared in the geological record later, therefore it appears <i>H. suspectum</i> evolved from <i>H. horridum</i>; helodermatids possess a muscular mouth with strong jaw muscles to maintain a strong biting grip; conical pointed teeth exist in both lower & upper</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. horridum </i> skull; note teeth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mandibles; in addition lower mandible teeth have a groove from the base extending ~ 1/8 up the tooth; groove acts as a feeder line for hemotoxin; toxin is produced in modified salivary glands located in lower lips and transported through ducts leading to the base of lower mandible teeth; with a vice like grip, the lizard holds its bite then accelerates chewing action which begins to inoculate the flowing venom into the bite wound site; venom is primarily used in defense than in capturing prey; prey is normally small and easily subdued; adversaries such as birds of prey, coyotes and humans are much larger, thus a </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVioKEptKXlYuB7gry9JSeSecouuXp8a1WvKZ7PrWTafItxcDiw8te-CvpfkL4vyM7jyZrrQhZ24g87qCOJaLoIVIbINQsYZJDuc7XcFaPnq-Um8-Epa2l9rlczbA_8m-pzmiHFDXQyxdd/s1600/Heloderma+horridum+s.b.+Mcdowell" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVioKEptKXlYuB7gry9JSeSecouuXp8a1WvKZ7PrWTafItxcDiw8te-CvpfkL4vyM7jyZrrQhZ24g87qCOJaLoIVIbINQsYZJDuc7XcFaPnq-Um8-Epa2l9rlczbA_8m-pzmiHFDXQyxdd/s200/Heloderma+horridum+s.b.+Mcdowell" height="200" width="108" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Note groove in tooth</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">defensive venomous and very painful bite gives leverage </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to the lizard's survival in thwarting</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">encounters;</span><span style="text-align: center;"> known as GTX, toxin is composed of several peptides belonging to glucagon group; glucagon peptide hormones are secreted naturally from pancreas in living vertebrate organisms to lower blood sugar; how venom causes havoc is that it binds to exindin receptors of pancreatic acinar cells thus blocking inhibitory effect of lowering blood sugar levels; head is wide & flat while body overall is cylindrical in shape; legs are short but strong ending in feet with long recurved claws resembling eagle </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">talons</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">; skin over entire body is covered by pimpled protrusions called beads; each bead contains a tiny piece of bone known as an osteoderm giving an armor plated appearance; osteoderms do not overlap; bifurcated tongue is pink while <i>H. suspectum</i> has very dark blue tongues; tail is long and thick used for fat storage; some sexual dimorphism exists with males being larger and heavier and have thicker heads & necks; overall body coloration is dark brown to black with many pink, yellow and/or orange spotting; head, tail and limbs are normally overall black with tail in certain subspecies exhibiting paired lighter colored rings of yellow, orange or white; legs are often marked with lighter colors; there are 4 recognized subspecies; they are: <i>Heloderma h. horridum</i>, <i>H. h. alvarez</i>, <i>H. h. charlesbogerti</i> & <i>H. h. xasperatum</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Diet:</b> Primary food source are contents of buried, ground and arboreal eggs; diet is also supplemented with young prey of birds, reptiles and smaller mammals; predators are large raptorial birds, larger venomous and constrictor snakes, large <i>Drymarchon corais</i>, which is neither venomous or a constrictor and mammals such as coyotes & foxes.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> This lizard is wholly carnivorous and is mostly crepuscular searching in twilight for its favored egg foods primarily from nests on ground or buried, but is not uncommon for it to climb trees and shrubs to locate nest<b> </b>contents; with strong muscled limbs, long curved claws</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBK3IisfySZ4q2Cu74m5oVjGPZ_axYHfvUi31hzSadOJSqyVFtIPSKsDPS8LEqVakVRHACTPUNCwwjWi8M_IEZ97GBP5sBzosSS3OKzt-eVh42hj4egq7Uc3hVP9cwP17miKyvP_p1TVip/s1600/Heloderma+horridum+clw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBK3IisfySZ4q2Cu74m5oVjGPZ_axYHfvUi31hzSadOJSqyVFtIPSKsDPS8LEqVakVRHACTPUNCwwjWi8M_IEZ97GBP5sBzosSS3OKzt-eVh42hj4egq7Uc3hVP9cwP17miKyvP_p1TVip/s200/Heloderma+horridum+clw.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note claws</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and semi-</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prehensile tail has arboreal traits; well adept in climbing trees or rocks; will at times sleep in trees or rock ledges; sleeps with limbs prostrate and ventrum fully on surface; when active appears as sluggish in movement; even eating is casually conducted; when threatened can react with lightning like reflexive speed; does not pursue mobile prey; uses keen sense of smell flicking tongue out to pick air molecules and transport them back into mouth for Jacobson's organ analysis; olfactory & vomeronasal senses are highly developed and is what aids in locating nest sites, even those buried; sight is used to consume nest contents; living off fat stored in tail can survive months without eating, but when food is available will gorge feed as much as stomach can hold; when threatened, will hiss with mouth open ready to bite; the bite is retained with a pugnacious muscular grip, though for humans the bite can be very </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">painful</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Adeptness at climbing</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the physical infliction along with</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> venom that seeps into the wound, it is never fatal to healthy individuals; it is now known that a few other monitor lizards, such as the Komodo dragon (<i>Varanus komodoensis</i>) possess mouth orifice venom, but helodermatids are the only lizards to have evolved an overt venom delivery system; this lizard is a leisure feeder and shows no apparent hostile </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">competition among each other if dining together; except for eggs, in which it breaks slurping out the contents, it eats its food whole; ~ 95% of time is spent resting and hiding in burrows, rock crevices, up to 6-7m/19.8-23.1ft in tree limbs or tree-hole shelters; possesses one of the highest sustained aerobic rates of any lizard; high aerobic activity is more pronounced in males than females and is most probably due to their wrestling during breeding seaso</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Neonate upon hatching</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in competition for breeding rights; mating begins from May to July in northernmost range and from September to November in southernmost range; males engage in wrestling matches during breeding season that can last up to hours at a time; during matches in process, males lever off ground with heads & tails forming an arch; from this position aim is to push opponent on his back onto the ground then bite the opponent on the mouth pinning jaws; competition is rarely if ever fatal for the loser and they are immune to the venom; the victor has sole rights to breed; the male mounts the female then begins rubbing his chin from side-to-side on top of her head; this causes her to submit where mating thus commences; copulation may last from several minutes to a few hours; gestation period for the </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. h. charlesbogerti</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">female is fro</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">m </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">35-65 days; when ready to oviposit, usually in late autumn, female will find suitable ground site that is not too dry or damp to commence digging a hole, then lay her clutch of 2-30 oblong white eggs; once laying her last egg, maternal instincts are over; incubation is from 6-12 months; upon hatching, known as pipping (pip), neonate will usually stay near its egg absorbing its yolk sac for 2-4 days; once sac is emptied, normally rest of egg shell contents is then consumed; in 2.5-3 yrs. juveniles become sexually mature; though some subspecies are imperiled, overall <i>H. horridum</i> is considered as not threatened; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">should note here that </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">H. h. charlesbogerti</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"> (Motagua Valley beaded lizard) is one of the most endangered lizard species listed worldwide with only a population of around 200; unfortunately, the critically endangered lizard species, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Ctenosaura palearis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"> eggs are an important food source for </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">H. h. charlesbogerti</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">, thereby forming a link to both their threatened status.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Chinese croc lizard ~ <i>S. crocodilurus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Chinese Crocodile Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Xenosauridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Shinsaurus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Shinisaurus crocodilurus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 40-46cm/16-18in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 200-300gm/0.4lb-0.6lbs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown in the wilds, but possibly exceeds 10 yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Shinisaurus crocodilurus</i> ~ <i>Shini</i> is in reference to Professor Shin of Sun Yat-sen University who discovered the reptile for science in 1928; <i>saurus</i> is modern Latin originating from Greek 'sauros' meaning lizard; <i>crocodilurus</i> is from Latin word, 'crocodilus' and is in reference to crocodile-like tail; altogether means 'Shin's crocodile-like lizard'.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Is found in southern China's remote Guilin region in mountainous part of Guangxi (Kwangsei) Province at elevations between 500-700m/1,650-2,310ft; In 2003, a small isolated population was found in northeastern Vietnam; prefers thick overhang growth habitat along shallow and clear streams & pools with sandy or rocky bottoms</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> After intensive anatomical studies were conducted in 1954, <i>S. crocodilurus</i> was placed in the <i>Xenosauridae</i> family linking trans-Pacific xenosaurid forms together based on continental drift; due to unique scale surface conversion of <i>S. crocodilurus</i> during ontogeny of its habitat into higher elevations, there has been a big push since 1999 to classify this lizard species into its own monotypic family, <i>Shinisauridae</i>; It's your choice, but I prefer keeping it under <i>Xenosauridae</i>, under the subfamily, <i>Shinisaurinae</i> as it highlights evolvement from</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pZiklCR3YsGZ-0q0tDN-S0YceRJgQUxsx5_jqDbQdcVeaOqPOTgoZS9b9ILiGZt71uS8P-BmmJUw7EfqDacIx-PvIsZXUy2usG_lb2YAWcoGZlNKyYJ-VYiur7Ok-APOG3zKUeEo_k_z/s1600/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+male" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pZiklCR3YsGZ-0q0tDN-S0YceRJgQUxsx5_jqDbQdcVeaOqPOTgoZS9b9ILiGZt71uS8P-BmmJUw7EfqDacIx-PvIsZXUy2usG_lb2YAWcoGZlNKyYJ-VYiur7Ok-APOG3zKUeEo_k_z/s200/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+male" height="149" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A male; note crocodile-like tail </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">species' morphological traits due t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> geological change; most distinguished feature is the crocodile-like tail bordered by four rows of ridged scales; tail is very muscular and is used in propelling while swimming; high ridged scales are oval shaped osteoderms merging with two rows of sharply keeled scales from tail base to tail tip; from neck to tail base lateral scales are bead-like interspersed with knobby scales; ventrum scales are flat, plated and arranged in transverse rows; head scales are plated with ridged scales behind eyes; no external ear openings exist; there is little sexual dimorphism with male being slightly larger, more brilliant in color during breeding season and normally having indiscreet color variation between sexes; males can have bright red on throats & belly, while female bellies are white or gray accented with darker striping; in general both sexes exhibit dorsal browns & greens as dominant shading; ventral shades are highly varied from yellowish tan off-white to light orange and red shades; tails are normally striped with alternate tones of browns and light grays; newborns are uniformly deep brown displaying a light yellowish tan forehead and snout; there are no recorded subspecies.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is a generalist predator preying on anything that its habitat provides from insects and their larvae, worms, mollusks, tadpoles, small fish, frogs, arachnids and very small rodents; stomach content studies from this lizard reveal that caterpillars and aquatic dragonfly larvae make-up a considerable part of its diet; adult food intake is 10% of body mass per week; gravid female intake is 41%, while growing juveniles reach 57% body mass per week of food intake; main predation is from raptors, carnivorous mammals, while humans also consume this lizard.<br /><br /><b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> This lizard is diurnal and can be found at anytime in water, on land near water or in bushes or trees usually no more than a meter/3.3feet of overhanging branches above water; likes basking in sunshine in overhanging branches or on a bank rock where it may jump into the water at first sign of alarm; tail propels the lizard through water; may remain submerged for over half an hour drastically slowing down respiration & metabolism as remaining motionless; when water temperatures drop below 15</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° C/60° F, the lizard will drown with metabolism shutting down; with short limbs and curved claws is adept at climbing; may remain motionless in tree limbs for hours at a time known as a metabolic pause, which suspends the animal from reacting even to encroaching threats; for this reason, indigenous Chinese call <i>S. crocodilurus</i> 'the lizard of great sleepiness'; this phenomena conserves calorie consumption,</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGgycG56_TB1P70fwUQbT7GemjW8eUnrGpNZ0O7tETka2YIrgIRMbQ8tU519Jk3Y-UjCnaUbPZJWU5-FDjFtA6Ul400lVzgJP7CaaWT1AOQTo19N6aHsEoquHfrL9NvHr-eBI5_426tzP/s1600/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+al+stotton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGgycG56_TB1P70fwUQbT7GemjW8eUnrGpNZ0O7tETka2YIrgIRMbQ8tU519Jk3Y-UjCnaUbPZJWU5-FDjFtA6Ul400lVzgJP7CaaWT1AOQTo19N6aHsEoquHfrL9NvHr-eBI5_426tzP/s200/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+al+stotton.jpg" height="190" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Favored hunting position</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but the downside is exposure to predation;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> climbing also affords shade from summer heat and nightly sleepin</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">g quarter</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s; normally hunts by ambush submerged with head just above shallow water intently looking for oncoming prey on shoreline or submerged; being semiaquatic, arboreal and terrestrial, gives this lizard ample latitude on diet; when resting on land will also take unsuspecting prey if not in torpid state of metabolic pause; uses teeth for seizing and holding onto prey and not for chewing prey, food is never bitten into chunks or pieces, but is rather swallowed wholly; teeth also aid in shoving captured prey into and down throat; shinosaurids hibernate for 4-5 months due to cold weather; hibernation starts usually in November ending in March once warming of poo</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">l waters</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrf9H3dI-jKbdb67zFGYj2z60LxYhMP7R8nn78sMLwOcVORM1wkVwFlGMlih6lBpESvn8mbwUD6q3jJY7fVi40pFyGsM4xJ1lmS7gbDqsTYg20tYV9hxCon0iLzVm9qp7HxvaVW6kEd80w/s1600/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+frog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrf9H3dI-jKbdb67zFGYj2z60LxYhMP7R8nn78sMLwOcVORM1wkVwFlGMlih6lBpESvn8mbwUD6q3jJY7fVi40pFyGsM4xJ1lmS7gbDqsTYg20tYV9hxCon0iLzVm9qp7HxvaVW6kEd80w/s200/Shinosaurus+crocodilurus+frog.jpg" height="182" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Consuming a frog</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">commence; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at times warming and burning off of mist briefly activates the lizard during hibernation; after emerging form hibernating, normally only one individual inhabits a pool, sleeping and performing activities alone; the only time they congregate in mas</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s is in treeholes and rock crevices just before and during hibernation; usually hibernating lizards begin to mate once emerging from hibernation; <i>S. crocodilurus</i> does not, preferring instead to wait for the warmest months of July & August to mate; besides a more brilliant coloration in males to attract females, there is minimum courtship behavior; mating takes place in or near water; the female will go through a 8-12 month gestation period mostly while hibernating; shinosaurids are viviparous and shortly after emergence from hibernation, in May-June female gives birth to anywhere from 2-7 neonates; newborns at birth are 10-15cm/3.94-5.91in in length and weigh from 3-5.5gm/0.11-0.19oz; after birth, female displays no parental</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuX976D_6BS-KT_0s7m30kaz5tr6faTBYWSZR_5wTacszBlgPe53basIrOPGWmwv0aSKI1aOSD3PvumKyZ-7IC-CBMGqksT4bFoc_JR8BPIJ0ow8GX2_NkKki_EEnu29pX6dYmwcU7rXC/s1600/Shinisaurus+crocodilurus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuX976D_6BS-KT_0s7m30kaz5tr6faTBYWSZR_5wTacszBlgPe53basIrOPGWmwv0aSKI1aOSD3PvumKyZ-7IC-CBMGqksT4bFoc_JR8BPIJ0ow8GX2_NkKki_EEnu29pX6dYmwcU7rXC/s200/Shinisaurus+crocodilurus.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A neonate</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">care of offspring, so neonates begin immediately fending for themselves in running, climbing, swimming and foraging for their first meals; in noticing that this lizard may remain motionless for hours and even for days on rarer occasion, indigenous people did and do not realize it is due to metabolic pause, so were led to believe that the lizard could cure insomnia; for hundreds of years, <i>S. crocodilurus</i> has been killed for inappropriate medicinal purposes in curing insomnia; since the 1980s, the pet trade has decimated wild population numbers; the small Vietnamese population is now in peril due to illegal logging; decimation of natural habitat destroys plant growth, making the lizard more visible and vulnerable to predation; logging erodes soil that murks the clear water the lizards depend on; due to a combination of all these elements the total estimated wild population is ~950; currently, <i>S. crocodilurus</i> is listed as threatened. </span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zNe3wsJp52NMnglky7Tv1zpHXqr0Mg1Wrzyw-MPh0escRs-hDkY6fE-FEIhIAK35KMlbTclYqSL6bncABB_Qoa1LiB68vq-Yh2OC1-mBoK_qMlPDn6otmfP9ZCWSzdKSxYtbuNex_Xoj/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zNe3wsJp52NMnglky7Tv1zpHXqr0Mg1Wrzyw-MPh0escRs-hDkY6fE-FEIhIAK35KMlbTclYqSL6bncABB_Qoa1LiB68vq-Yh2OC1-mBoK_qMlPDn6otmfP9ZCWSzdKSxYtbuNex_Xoj/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+2.jpg" height="139" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Blue iguana ~ <i>C. lewisi</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Blue Iguana</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Iguanidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Cyclura</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Cyclura lewisi</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 50.8-76.2cm/20-30in snout-vent length (SVL); 1.5m/5ft total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 14kg/30lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: In wilds 20-40yrs; a zoo captive named Godzilla in Brownsville, Texas lived 69yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Cyclura lewisi</i> ~ <i>Cycl</i> &<i> ura</i> are ancient Greek derivitives from the words, 'cyclos' (circular) and 'oura' (tail) referring to thick ringed tail; <i>lewisi</i> is the Latinized form in honoring the scientist Bernard C. Lewis who first described this lizard in the late 1930s; altogether refers to 'Lewis' ringed-tail iguana'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Endemic and currently restricted to the east interior of Grand Cayman Island with extremely rare occurrences south of the Queen's Highway; fossil and bone records indicate it was more widespread extending into dry shrublands and coastal habitats; prefers shrubland with rocky outcrops and the margins of forests</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Previously listed as a subspecies of <i>Cyclura nubila</i> as, C<i>yclura nubila lewisi</i>, through genetic analysis it has recently been upgraded to a distinct species making a total o</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuaEp9qQbsSqkKP_yPfKYLOKfSUI427_1qRyxOAp1_D6dlpenLng71MhcJxbfJjSEkjW68FfG8s_KsK_5FYVDkFP54LvzR6JhyZZTSsc-gTX6ImaFQ2410Mfrtz9RmQh00q9ODM4l4WToO/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+matt+reinbold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuaEp9qQbsSqkKP_yPfKYLOKfSUI427_1qRyxOAp1_D6dlpenLng71MhcJxbfJjSEkjW68FfG8s_KsK_5FYVDkFP54LvzR6JhyZZTSsc-gTX6ImaFQ2410Mfrtz9RmQh00q9ODM4l4WToO/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+matt+reinbold.jpg" height="146" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Detail of head</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10 </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cyclura</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> species</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; this large & stout iguanid is largest native animal to island; a dorsal crest of stiff spines runs from the back of head down the spine all the way to tip of tail; dewlap is spineless; there are modal differences in head scalation in contrast to other <i>Cyclura</i> species; <i>C. lewisi</i> has an extra pair of unique enlarged prefrontal scales immediately posterior to primary prefrontals; these second prefrontals are always smaller than first (primary) pair and are absent in other <i>Cyclura</i> species; tail & legs ending in feet with claws are muscularly powerful for aiding heavy body in terrestrial locomotion, digging & climbing; with a golden iris and red scelera, vision is acute in detecting long distant motion; though vision is poor in low light, double cone cells give sharp color distinction and enable ultraviolet wavelength detection; on top of head possesses a parietal eye (third eye) that cannot form images, but with a rudimentary retina & lens can detect movement and distinction between lightness & darkness; sexual dimorphism is evident with males normally being ~30% larger than females; both sexes have femoral pores males have more distinct dorsal crests and are more blue where females are more greenish; general overall coloration at rest is a bluish dark gray with males typically being more blue while females are more green; when excited can change color; during breeding season males take on a more brilliant turquoise blue; both sexes have contrasting black feet as compared to body color; neonates possess an intricate pattern of 8 dark dorsal chevrons from crest of neck to pelvic region; as they mature chevrons fade by the time is 1 yr old changing to mottled gray and cream colored that eventually gives way t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnYY6zBJNwypNKkda-P1z-JhZM_GcoiDbw5CypL2JgjVWHPjGsa8_Hueoypn3aNtqpELlCg52nZPI88LCvqKZoAaGK_ObaDJp9hA07-MtwMzK7ODymLXe6qFsw6o0iAmkJSzlYwupXL9p/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+feeding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnYY6zBJNwypNKkda-P1z-JhZM_GcoiDbw5CypL2JgjVWHPjGsa8_Hueoypn3aNtqpELlCg52nZPI88LCvqKZoAaGK_ObaDJp9hA07-MtwMzK7ODymLXe6qFsw6o0iAmkJSzlYwupXL9p/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+feeding.jpg" height="113" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>C. lewisi</i> feeding</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">characteristic adul</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">coloration after 3 yrs old; there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Essentially a herbivore, consuming leaves, stems, bark, seeds flowers & fruits from a host of over 45 plants and plays an important role in the dispersal of seeds; on rare occasion supplement diet from consumption of invertebrates such as insects, insect larvae, slugs and crabs; have been observed consuming fungi, bird carrion, feces, skin sheds and small pebbles; only real natural predator is the native racer snake, <i>Alsophis cantherigerus</i> that preys on young; introduced cats, dogs & pigs that went feral on the island have taken a heavy toll on lizard populations by killing juveniles, sub-adults and adults; introduced rats also maim and kill young; adults have no natural or native predators.<br /><br /><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This lizard is diurnal most active during bright daylight and seeks shelter and resting quarters in small limestone caves, rock crevices, hollowed out trees or tree limbs during darkness; vision is the most active sensory perception and relies on light for efficacy; chemoreception or chemical cuing is also important in communication with one another from pheromones released by the femoral openings; to thermoregulate body temperatures they do</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcO_ywFJu2jaR0H44XZ9WKNxQn6i8VG2LkFaZtoxTg4MZjIVbzO9a60etUD2CzoQwkJOis1thTLq7vY5oO2-WKKw7mwSDCuaaLDFa0VPqBX1QaUIsqsfMITnfMYHGo09I1fxFR_DFmI7WT/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+paddy+ryan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcO_ywFJu2jaR0H44XZ9WKNxQn6i8VG2LkFaZtoxTg4MZjIVbzO9a60etUD2CzoQwkJOis1thTLq7vY5oO2-WKKw7mwSDCuaaLDFa0VPqBX1QaUIsqsfMITnfMYHGo09I1fxFR_DFmI7WT/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+paddy+ryan.jpg" height="131" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Refuge in a hollowed tree trunk</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sunbathe in the open to warm up or seek shade to cool down;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> their leaf diet is less nutritional and contains more potassium than is needed; to osmoregulate their metabolism in not having capability to produce urine that is more concentrated than bodily fluids, they instead excrete nitrogenous wastes as uric acid salts through a salt gland much like birds; this developed lateral nasal salt gland supplements renal salt secretion by ridding the body of excess potassium and sodium chloride; it appears that its closest two relatives, <i>Cyclura nubila</i> of Cuba and <i>Cyclura cychlura</i> of the Bahamas had all 3 diverged from a common ancestor ~3mya;</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uA9ROM7g3NXQ6G79YzKTsSQtZlh8XHzK2JyhyphenhyphengUt69fUxy_qr7A4EmiOuGxMhM136PwV_CFmR4YgC6qZtboYrkr-goVFlvkbxGZWS4GpQzw9HzH48Jiwu9G9A1X4bTtNrjs9zsywao2N/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+fml+luke+wiki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uA9ROM7g3NXQ6G79YzKTsSQtZlh8XHzK2JyhyphenhyphengUt69fUxy_qr7A4EmiOuGxMhM136PwV_CFmR4YgC6qZtboYrkr-goVFlvkbxGZWS4GpQzw9HzH48Jiwu9G9A1X4bTtNrjs9zsywao2N/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+fml+luke+wiki.jpg" height="200" width="172" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female climbing </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this lizard, even the female, is very territorial and leads a solitary existence except during annual breeding season; females mark out a small turf of land to claim as their own and will encounter intruders; males do the same but map out a larger territory; encounters entail visual cues with head-bobbing and color changes; females are aggressive and will chase male intruders larger than themselves away from their marked territory; to escape predation, juveniles are more arboreal where adults are primarily terrestrial hanging out along karst limestone outcrops where body coloration blends in well with background; adults though will climb to rest or reach low hanging fruit or flowers; mating occurs from late May to mid June, where individuals begin to congregate; mating is generally polygamous where females are more receptive during the brief 2-3 week mating period; outside of short receptive period, females are intolerant of males and their advances throughout rest of year; during mating, male visual cues such as adorned breeding brilliant blue color intensities and proper head-bobbing entices female to mate; also his chemical pheromones aid in amorous encounters with female; males </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVyDXHhex2vNEfcNNz_7vP4iT7nBsdnYStrvvkRiqHhntp4KwwkVqGdQa1nH_dfLBI8LdXLf6VJYVm08DLukPTCZ7d_xC59q55cdcje-9_zzCcMbKNUetwdt8oXNF8zP370zs4jJoFk1_/s1600/Cyclura+lewisi+tai+haku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVyDXHhex2vNEfcNNz_7vP4iT7nBsdnYStrvvkRiqHhntp4KwwkVqGdQa1nH_dfLBI8LdXLf6VJYVm08DLukPTCZ7d_xC59q55cdcje-9_zzCcMbKNUetwdt8oXNF8zP370zs4jJoFk1_/s200/Cyclura+lewisi+tai+haku.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">perform a mating ritual before copulation by head-bobbing while circling around and behind the female; grasping the female by the nape of the neck the male attempts to restrain her; male then maneuvers his tail under hers putting him in position to copulate; copulation lasts between 30-90 seconds and may be repeated once more during the course of the day; after breeding season, males are emaciated from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">protecting their territory that was increased to include female turfs, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fighting with other males (sometimes bloody) for dominance and from constantly attempting to gain female's attention, all the while not eating during the whole process; depending upon age (older females produce more while younger ones less) gravid females carry between 2-22 eggs; the eggs are one of the largest for lizards and once nearing full term, the female quits eating due to pressure on her digestive tract applied from the massive eggs; after ~40 days from being fertilized, the female first goes to a sandy site and digs a few burrows as testing sites; once a spot is decided on she will dig a burrow exposed to direct sunlight down to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">40.6-152.4cm/16-60in; to turn around in for exiting and hold the eggs while incubating, she will then fashion a terminal nest chamber; once ovipositing is complete, she then buries the chamber & burrow making a mound on top and attempts to conceal the site by brushing debris on the mound surface</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; she will remain near the nest site to protect it from other laying females; inside the chamber the eggs will a</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bsorb moisture from sand with ambient chamber temperature remaining constant at 30-33</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° C/86-91.4° F; after an incubation period of 65-90 days the fully developed neonate begins hatching; it may take up to 2 hours for a neonate to fully hatch and it takes a concerted effort by nest siblings to dig out; once reaching the surface they are on their own and immediately seek out ground cover or trees or shrub to climb; in the wilds, juveniles reach sexual maturity anywhere from 3-9</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq00n0BE6EkugRDHJibm34_6sq6WyDNdQQRRbhaVoayYV9fBw6iENZ3TFwsKDFiXKvlE3bGPinfxrbW-r1mACNHXA21YdEWX_FCZIa68ldTn7DDRjgd8pIJLs5nrLcB0wCmydawd2g1ouo/s1600/Cyclura_lewisi+blk+ft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq00n0BE6EkugRDHJibm34_6sq6WyDNdQQRRbhaVoayYV9fBw6iENZ3TFwsKDFiXKvlE3bGPinfxrbW-r1mACNHXA21YdEWX_FCZIa68ldTn7DDRjgd8pIJLs5nrLcB0wCmydawd2g1ouo/s200/Cyclura_lewisi+blk+ft.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> One regal animal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">years of age in the wilds; in 2002 there were no more than 10-25 individuals in the wild; genetically speaking this lizard was extinct; but thanks to concerted efforts by groups under the 'Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Recovery Program' there are know up to 650 individuals; as the largest animal on Grand Cayman, this lizard prospered, but once European colonization came to the island clearing essential lizard ecosystems for cultivation and introducing domesticated animals that became feral along with bringing in rats unintentionally and indiscriminate killings, populations became decimated; today, road kills on high speed highways, roaming feral dogs, illegal captures for the pet trade and hunting for food continue to make populations decline; in 2008 a deliberate act of vandalism occurred at the sanctuary killing seven blue iguanas; since the most critical time in the life of <i>C. lewisi</i> is the first 2 years, all eggs are confiscated and cared for with the hatchlings not being released into the wilds until after their second year; these head-starting young have been a success story so far in the survival of the species; currently this lizard is listed as critically endangered.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg.png" /> <span style="color: blue;">Critically Endangered (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Kuhli's parachute gecko ~ <i>P. kuhli</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kuhli's Parachute Gecko</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Gekkonidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Ptychozoon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Ptychozoon kuhli</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 70-95mm/2.75-3.74in (SVL); 14-19cm/6-8in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 7.5-15.45g/0.26-0.54oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 3-5yrs in wilds; up to 10yrs for captives </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Ptychozoon kuhli</i> ~ <i>Pty</i> is Greek for 'fold' in reference to cutaneous fold; <i>cho</i> is from the Greek word <i>khos</i> stipulating a word as plural it follows such as 'fold(s)'; <i>kuhli</i> honors the German naturalist, Heinrich Kuhl (1797-1821) who studied & classified the Dutch East Indies fauna; altogether refers to, 'Kuhl's cutanaeous folds lizard'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Is an Indochina species with a range from Myanmar (Burma), southern Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Brunei, Sarawak, Sabah and various Indian Ocean Indonesian islands; prefers humid & warm primary & secondary tropical jungles.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Body plan of this lizard is geared for cryptic camouflage; body & tail is highly flattened with skin flaps running longitudinally down lateral sides of body, neck, head & limbs; these cutaneous membranous folds have no muscular or bone support; tail is serrated and fringed; feet & foot digits are broadly dilated and strongly webbed with undivide</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">d transverse</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8kX8mfIdgXYIljN5kxg7qBaXp9T4bLgoRXQXq9PDTwm6orxApdvg7zbJs7QNUUOK7jrBMZcgrTS9nO3rKBH5p2jwR070qq9K95fYTuF6BmCccxeG6KysWedNNCitqryJsiESOxFGpO03/s1600/Texan+herper+lizards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8kX8mfIdgXYIljN5kxg7qBaXp9T4bLgoRXQXq9PDTwm6orxApdvg7zbJs7QNUUOK7jrBMZcgrTS9nO3rKBH5p2jwR070qq9K95fYTuF6BmCccxeG6KysWedNNCitqryJsiESOxFGpO03/s400/Texan+herper+lizards.jpg" height="96" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> With flattened body & cryptic coloration <i>P. kuhli</i> is a master at camouflage </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thin scales (lamellae); terminal digits (phalanges) are united with dilated foot portion and extends beyond distal end; digits end in claws except inner toe is clawless; undersides of digits possess pads as in all geckos for clinging to substrate; eyes are vertically elliptical; dorsum is covered with small scales intermixed with tubercles; ventrum scalation is slightly larger; male</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqzs1wT0KByjjojjsmIvDnSoaeloaNSMeFjzUNaDV7bXLM6MxzxvlsM9oCsl5dkqNqrTFXcfBdHmNQtO8hy9z3_JW3Kf-iKNg5FlsJP2zlDKxByPQiBSGQG-f2z7b4wQlP1k4AO_NE9dw/s1600/Ptychozoon+kuhli++herve+st+dizier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqzs1wT0KByjjojjsmIvDnSoaeloaNSMeFjzUNaDV7bXLM6MxzxvlsM9oCsl5dkqNqrTFXcfBdHmNQtO8hy9z3_JW3Kf-iKNg5FlsJP2zlDKxByPQiBSGQG-f2z7b4wQlP1k4AO_NE9dw/s200/Ptychozoon+kuhli++herve+st+dizier.jpg" height="122" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note dorsal tubercles</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">possess preanal & femoral pores; tongues are typically pink, but some specimens display a black tipped tongue; overall dorsum coloration is a gray backdrop with patterns of browns with blackened disruptive border bands and interspersed with flecks of white; ventrum is a creamish white; has the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ability to change color in blending into the surface it's resting on; cryptic coloration is highly produced in color spectrum of light tans, browns & grays; each individual can be identified by their distinctive markings; belonging to a genus of 6 species there currently are no subspecies recognized in the whole of the genus, <i>Ptychozoon</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> These insectivore lizards scamper to collect smaller invertebrates such as insects and arthropods; is beneficial to man in that it is a natural predator to mosquitoes; main predation on this lizard are smaller raptors that can navigate forest canopies; snakes and other larger lizard species</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Characteristics of the unique body structures first evolved as an aid in camouflaging the animal; <i>P. kuhli</i> is nocturnal and in resting during the day in the open instead of hiding in nooks & crannies, it relies heavily on camouflage in avoiding predator detection; toe pads an</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">d</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cpXgIoTTDlPWFEDKzzC2hDknmJKbOrOt28eDnQxcZZ2iocItq7ke3rn4qbitmmMT-dTERZUXAwLJ_j-bwBn5Q1phBwuKnl00DNaq0nXvahfhgxkqstrmZb_2EBINS7r4bhrFj-W1_ArB/s1600/Ptychozoon-kuhli+peter+kollae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cpXgIoTTDlPWFEDKzzC2hDknmJKbOrOt28eDnQxcZZ2iocItq7ke3rn4qbitmmMT-dTERZUXAwLJ_j-bwBn5Q1phBwuKnl00DNaq0nXvahfhgxkqstrmZb_2EBINS7r4bhrFj-W1_ArB/s200/Ptychozoon-kuhli+peter+kollae.jpg" height="152" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventrum morphology </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">claws aid in remaining stationary and affixed to substrate; skin flaps blend the flattened body more into the substrate; cryptic coloration conceals the animal; the flattened body, feet webbing and skin flaps added a second benefit in their evolvement for concealment in that it gave the lizard the ability to parachute to safety whenever the need arises; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. kuhli </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is also commonly called the gliding or flying gecko, but I prefer parachute gecko, for that is what it really does when taking to the air; as the lizard becomes airborne the flaps are spread, the toes are spread out revealing the full extinct of the webbing while the depressed and stiffened tail may act somewhat as a rudder for control, it is mainly as the skin folds and webbing, acting as a breaker in a free-fall descent; all these evolved adaptations create a higher body surface area to air resistance and a controllable descent & landing; tubercles may form drag; once landing is accomplished, it remains perfectly still blending into the surface it's on; even if a raptor was following the lizard's descent, it is difficult to spot the lizard's landing pad as cryptic skin color matches the tree bark while the cutaneou</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKRqwjv27hdKHwb2b8-MFQAa0obZlmXR3E_JQtly073KiLJWIrkUrbqAHmm1cYIgrR_etKQNATwZFozWbTa71W2w1WeJkMkRA_1WPwHi9mMhd5tr15aCvILFmslqD2O635-rqkjCp5PV4/s1600/Ptychozoon+kuhli+tom+mchugh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKRqwjv27hdKHwb2b8-MFQAa0obZlmXR3E_JQtly073KiLJWIrkUrbqAHmm1cYIgrR_etKQNATwZFozWbTa71W2w1WeJkMkRA_1WPwHi9mMhd5tr15aCvILFmslqD2O635-rqkjCp5PV4/s200/Ptychozoon+kuhli+tom+mchugh.jpg" height="141" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Parascending</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">flaps break up the body's outline and act as a cloa</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">k preventing body from forming shadows; raptors rely on shadows in detecting prey; parachute geckos are invariably arboreal rarely if ever straying to ground level; mainly found from just above ground on tree trunks to the top of story canopy; there is a wide range of vocalization; both sexes sound off alarm calls when threatened; both sexes are territorial and aggressive; will attempt to bite any other parachute lizard that attempts to invade their turf; when captured, will also bite predators or careless human fingers, but bite is inconsequential and harmless never breaking skin; tails have a fracture plane and will break off; the regenerated new tail however will have a continuous flap around entire regrown tail replacing original tail's serration, resembling a leaf; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. Kuhli</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> will test animate & inanimate objects by flicking its tongue and tasting it; wild <i>P. kuhli</i> are commonly plagued by a red mite that proliferates under the membranous folds that serve as perfect housing for the ectoparasites; mites will also infect ear openings; they feed on the blood of the lizard; as shared in most geckos, chameleons and agamids, <i>P. kuhli</i> possess endolymphatic glands on the underside of the neck that are essentially sac reservoirs for diluted & liquified calcium carbonate; just prior to egg laying th</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female after laying her pair of eggs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">glands enlarge with the so called 'calcium milk' in females so that is visible as lumps; weather and climate, in particular temperature & humidity, rather than season seems to play more of a role in this lizard's breeding habits; breeds year round and more profoundly during light rains; after mating the female will carry the eggs 2-3 weeks then seeks gaps, usually in bark, to oviposit her pair of eggs; due to the female's 'calcium milk' the eggs are highly mineralized; immediately after laid, eggs are wet and soft; upon drying, they harden and adhere to substrate (using calcium carbonate as glue) and usually to each other; after 60-90 days of incubation, exact miniature replicas of adults hatch; neonates are 38.1mm/1.5in in total length and are right at home in the trees immediately after hatching; juveniles approach sexual maturity after 1 yr; currently, their is no endangered listing, but extensive logging in their home range has depleted adequate habitat.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Broad-headed skink ~ <i>P. laticeps</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Broad-headed Skink</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Scincidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Plestiodon (formerly of Eumeces)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Plestiodon laticeps</u></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: 14.3cm/5.6in SVL; 15-43cm/5.9-17in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 38gm/1.34oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 10yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Plestiodon laticeps</i> ~ <i>Plesti</i> is Old Church Slavonic meaning to 'plait', or may come from the Greek word <i>plesso</i> meaning 'to terrify'; <i>odon</i> derives from the Greek word, <i>odontos</i> meaning 'tooth'; <i>latus</i> is Latin for 'broad' and <i>ceps</i> is a Latin suffix for 'head'; altogether refers to 'plaited tooth (or terrible tooth) broad head lizard'.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Formerly included in the genus, <i>Eumeces</i>; due to divergent dating, gene partitioning & mtDNA analysis, species representatives of East Asia & North America were pulled from the African <i>Eumeces</i> clade and listed under the new <i>Plestiodon</i> skink genus; plestiodons first diverged from Africa into E. Asia, then migrated to N. America ~18-30mya via the Bering Strait (Beringia); <i>P. laticeps</i> is the basal <i>Plestiodon</i> representative in N. America; today's distribution is endemic to the southeastern states from the E. Coast between extreme southeastern Pennsylvania & north central Florida westwards to Kansas & eastern Texas</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; prefers moist wooded areas or more open spaces with plenty of ground litter shelter provided by leafy debris and rubble pile</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> After <i>Plestiodon obsoletus</i>, the broad-headed is N. America's second largest skink; typical of most skinks scales are very smooth, overlapping and shiny; exhibits tail autonomy where tail will break off at fracture zone near tip; legs are short in supporting </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjb-mtVfykA6ZVmPBwQYqrgpAbn_ycUQFx0QMpB2Qy-QUv1iCI94zgZPO1-VjDp9UlnFhLxUPQvFX2A8VE7i37RTfS3hTc5PtsKTmqMVTFVtPw64Iz25vHa0ddl95PzcntXrls4YsJqjG/s1600/Plestiodon+laticeps+jhn+k..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjb-mtVfykA6ZVmPBwQYqrgpAbn_ycUQFx0QMpB2Qy-QUv1iCI94zgZPO1-VjDp9UlnFhLxUPQvFX2A8VE7i37RTfS3hTc5PtsKTmqMVTFVtPw64Iz25vHa0ddl95PzcntXrls4YsJqjG/s200/Plestiodon+laticeps+jhn+k..jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Breeding male</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stocky body; possesses numerous sphenoidal teeth that are short, straight & conical; head is large and posteriorly broad; from the eyes the snout contracts rounding off at the nasal tip; external ear opening exists; tail has wide white scalation on ventrum; sexual dimorphism is evident with females tending to be larger and retain some vestiges of lateral body striping, while </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">males have wider heads; during breeding season, female may have some orange on head, but male head turns a brilliant fire-orange with temporals enlarging during breeding; overall coloration for both sexes is an olive brown to brown to sometimes grayish; female color is variable but normally display up to 5 faded stripes; ventrum is creme; juveniles possess a blue tail and 5 distinct lateral pale yellow lines on black dorsal background; females and juveniles </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWrYCFxRQsHgZSapEkl4D7F6hYJ5OuW46hbQYU-CdAKpjKnco8Rr6PEVDMYTcrexQk89ant7XtceXgtz-4bCBYu6jzyTUYjL0ZBuOy2gsGBIrnY4JehbW9IP6a9LFQQy6JSRAJFDq6AWA/s1600/Plestiodon+laticeps+jvnl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWrYCFxRQsHgZSapEkl4D7F6hYJ5OuW46hbQYU-CdAKpjKnco8Rr6PEVDMYTcrexQk89ant7XtceXgtz-4bCBYu6jzyTUYjL0ZBuOy2gsGBIrnY4JehbW9IP6a9LFQQy6JSRAJFDq6AWA/s200/Plestiodon+laticeps+jvnl.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">can easily b</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">confused with other sympatric plestiodonans, such as five-lined skink where conclusive identification has to be acquired by scalar row counts; there are currently no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Is mostly carnivorous consuming mainly invertebrates like insects, spiders, snails, slugs and amphipods along with invertebrate larvae; smaller lizards may also be taken with rare cannibalism having been observed in eating their own young; on occasion fruit and flower blossoms are also eaten; observers have witnessed this lizard shaking the nests of paper wasps, to get at the larvae; apparently the swarming wasps' sting cannot penetrate the scales of this skink; predators abound in other reptiles, crows, owls, hawks and small carnivorous mammals such as raccoons and skunks.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnH0uUvIk4wViKpJVz0Uh_sEMxTlIMiLeJmCb1yOD3h4_lnjo3h_K4-XXLD0X8nOHVGVVvfMf_mVqIHByskePMGvmB5WvXhVpjul_cpNI6G7WFNIRy1WY-lL6J3LQ7WldvMZYZBlfy10F/s1600/Plestiodon+laticeps+ml+cmbt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnH0uUvIk4wViKpJVz0Uh_sEMxTlIMiLeJmCb1yOD3h4_lnjo3h_K4-XXLD0X8nOHVGVVvfMf_mVqIHByskePMGvmB5WvXhVpjul_cpNI6G7WFNIRy1WY-lL6J3LQ7WldvMZYZBlfy10F/s200/Plestiodon+laticeps+ml+cmbt.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male combat</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is arboreal frequently among treetops and likes to perch on tree stumps and wooden fencing; adult males are very territorial, in particular during breeding season and will savagely fight when encountering one another; as mentioned, <i>P. laticeps</i> occurs in regional sympatry with other species in the <i>Plestiodon</i> genus such as <i>P. fasciatus</i> & <i>P. inexpectatus</i>; this territorial overlap with closely related species of similar phenotypes normally does not turn out too well under the competitive exclusion hypothesis due to over competition of prey resources; but due to <i>P. laticeps</i> larger size, larger prey is utilized where the other plestiodonans seek out the smaller, thereby available prey resources are partitioned out; also</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5nraM3xDfpTufJfHqP3nzkowivjGGIh0Db7qWbO4uwS30X78tQMUtIwlA8LJkVkIGjKb5LSI0UWuPg7H14iU6bB_artShqqNqU3O5MxsJT-Zs1bfQfLBZB94uHXt1vc13wKVarD9CcyLG/s1600/Plestiodon+laticeps+fml+w+eggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5nraM3xDfpTufJfHqP3nzkowivjGGIh0Db7qWbO4uwS30X78tQMUtIwlA8LJkVkIGjKb5LSI0UWuPg7H14iU6bB_artShqqNqU3O5MxsJT-Zs1bfQfLBZB94uHXt1vc13wKVarD9CcyLG/s200/Plestiodon+laticeps+fml+w+eggs.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female tending eggs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oxygen consumption in response to temperature differs within the species with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. laticeps</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> having a much lower metabolic rate in response to temperature sensitivities; this creates niches within the shared territories even though they all are diurnally active; adults court and breed in late spring usually in May; there is not much courtship as the male overpowers the submissive female by wrapping around her, holding her down, nipping her nuchal region and positioning himself for coitus; after mating, the gravid female in late June-early July begins seeking out a favorable spot to oviposit her clutch of eggs; nest site is usually underneath an object resting on the ground such as a fallen log or piles of leaf litter; underneath the chosen object th</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C8wafqIdxOd5_x4yfVPJ2cxjFIRqNUD0YhM-C7-b4Q82rjt1Qxnm3r2broTGmth0m_R0w9t_VbeMsQT9NzJIQpjwige06ne4lC2QaIwtQf3smAr6yKYZ-J_1ytSS9G0E7yVW4sKlLwwb/s1600/Plestiodon+Lasticeps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C8wafqIdxOd5_x4yfVPJ2cxjFIRqNUD0YhM-C7-b4Q82rjt1Qxnm3r2broTGmth0m_R0w9t_VbeMsQT9NzJIQpjwige06ne4lC2QaIwtQf3smAr6yKYZ-J_1ytSS9G0E7yVW4sKlLwwb/s320/Plestiodon+Lasticeps.jpg" height="104" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Hatchlings & neonates</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">female will hollow out a nest chamber and lay her clutch of eggs numbering from 5-20; she will remain with the clutch until they hatch in 1-2 months; upon hatching she then abandons the site and the neonates are on their own; hatchlings begin life at 6-8cm/2.4-3.1in in total length; these skinks are unjustifiably killed at times in people thinking that they are venomous; irregardless, most populations are healthy and the species as a whole is currently not listed as vulnerable. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Allison's anole ~ <i>A. allisoni</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Allison's Anole</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Polychrotidae/Iguanidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Anolis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Anolis allisoni</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: ♂ ~ 10cm/3.9in SVL; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">♀ ~ 7.5cm/3.0in SVL; 19.6-25.4cm/7.7-10in (TL) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 4.5gm/0.16oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Average ~ 4yrs but can double that up to 8 yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Anolis allisoni</i> ~ <i>Anoli</i> is Antillean native description; <i>allisoni</i> is in honor of Allison V. Armour by Thomas Barbour who first described the species in 1928; Armour was a naturalist who took Barbour to the West Indies on his research lab vessel the Utowana; altogether refers to 'Allison's anole'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Found native to Caribbean islands in particular central Cuba, Hispaniola & Bahamas and to Mesoamerica on Gulf of Mexico side on atolls and cayes off Belize coastline, Quintana Roo, Mexico and Central American nations on their eastern inland coastlines; is considered a trunk-crown anole preferring a diverse range from 1.5m/4.95ft off the ground on tree trunks & shrubs to as high as the tree canopies go in tropical to subtropical flora settings.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Depending on what authority your reading or speaking to, anoles are currently being pushed as listed under family <i>Polychrotidae</i>; National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) still list anoles under the family <i>Iguanidae</i>; there is still a strong geneti</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">c</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note male dewlap</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">relationship between anoles and iguanas no matter what family <i>Anolis</i> is categorized in; as in all iguanids, anolines possess a dewlap where males have ability to extend it for visual display in territorial rights and mating; dewlap is moved by hyoid apparatus that evolutionary derived from gill arches of fish; head of <i>A. allisoni</i> is much larger in relation to body than most anoles tapering to a point often with skin ridging evident on upper side; mouth rimmed with keeled scales; iguanid head bobbing is pertinent in communicating with distinct amplitude of head displacement specific to the species; hind limbs are longer than forelimbs; possesses subdigital lamellae toepads; anoles are evolving away from toepads relying more on claws for gripping; <i>A. allisoni</i> still retains a more efficient toepad </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yaFj98HD1Ovy-HUL6T5c2zZBZzOD8QvQxjzHfzCughzQRc-hG4wHuCT5yF3J1QsC5SaobwjLONtP__PAJW-vgPAcHNokmuu83za1D9Kh0KVhVU85FRcySHKMN4vRaLPEDut6q6kVobeF/s1600/Anolis+allisoni+wikimedia+commons.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yaFj98HD1Ovy-HUL6T5c2zZBZzOD8QvQxjzHfzCughzQRc-hG4wHuCT5yF3J1QsC5SaobwjLONtP__PAJW-vgPAcHNokmuu83za1D9Kh0KVhVU85FRcySHKMN4vRaLPEDut6q6kVobeF/s200/Anolis+allisoni+wikimedia+commons.JPG" height="200" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Brown color phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">among anoles, but is no where near the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">proficiency of gecko toepads; sexual dimorphism i</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">evident in size & color; males are larger with reddish mauve dewlap typically with head, forelimbs and frontal half of body being blue merging to green for the rest of body; female is normally fully green with a lighter shade midorsal line; both sexes have a pale white ventrum; both sexes can immediately turn brown; juvenile males grow quicker than their female siblings and is probably why adult males are larger; though there are other anole species <i>A. allisoni</i> is closely related to, there are no subspecies currently listed</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Is a generalist and opportunistic insectivore consuming invertebrates; will sit and wait to ambush, forage or actively pursue prey; small to medium various insects, spiders and moths make-up the primary diet; <i>A. allisoni</i> has a slew of predators that feed on it; birds such as egrets & trogons, jumping spiders, tarantulas, snakes, conspecific lizards, frogs, whip scorpions and scolopendomorph centipedes are a few animals that prey on this anole taking juveniles as well as adults</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> Adaptive radiation, microhabitat ecology, natural selection, sympatric species association and ecomorph diversity have all played a role in shaping this anole and other anole species' way of life; is diurnal with excellent eyesight relying on vision for intercommunication, spotting & fleeing predation and detection of prey; eyes set on sides of head give a 180</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° view</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1Jm_lWgspWUOPwJ28BCM2CYIikOKGiigBwBCeR8bxNAzqVG2rkfpDeq5dLPehinCyfFaxJEBPGhMWPqkzzysZe9jrw0z5AjmrXYGKz-WhJp8hORWThmdftm699Z8-tralTM4iuPcpIzO/s1600/Anolis+allisoni++chris+miller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1Jm_lWgspWUOPwJ28BCM2CYIikOKGiigBwBCeR8bxNAzqVG2rkfpDeq5dLPehinCyfFaxJEBPGhMWPqkzzysZe9jrw0z5AjmrXYGKz-WhJp8hORWThmdftm699Z8-tralTM4iuPcpIzO/s200/Anolis+allisoni++chris+miller.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> The bifoveal eye</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">range; has the ability to not only distinguish color but shades, hues & tones as well; also see well in ultraviolet range of electromagnetic spectrum; are able to independently move & focus eyes independently from each other; for acute sharpness & distinction of image, possesses bifoveal vision where one foveal is located near optic nerve as is case for most animals with binocular & stereoscopic vision, and second is in temporal region of eye; only other animal to possess bifoveal vision is a few other anoline species and certain birds, such as diurnal birds of prey, parrots, terns, swallows & doves; also relies on auditory efficacy utilized by its elongate ear opening; is diurnal and highly arboreal spending > 90% of its time on trees, shrubs and palm fronds; a favored position is on a tree trunk facing towards ground carefull</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqVEC_SM9fDPkgvdg29H5tGkUB5cJmzSkleG5cEyUj3pBRkT1UUXTuoiFugtj2ukrNaN8gT-FgxFCWK5PMvZ-Hm0mTFTF7Emv7VM97kMZVm-6VO8nPzKiuMk-nYEY4Vy2EQZeuJ290AEs/s1600/anolis+allisoni+t+m+dubois.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqVEC_SM9fDPkgvdg29H5tGkUB5cJmzSkleG5cEyUj3pBRkT1UUXTuoiFugtj2ukrNaN8gT-FgxFCWK5PMvZ-Hm0mTFTF7Emv7VM97kMZVm-6VO8nPzKiuMk-nYEY4Vy2EQZeuJ290AEs/s200/anolis+allisoni+t+m+dubois.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Favored position</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">watching for prey on ground surface; dentition is heteromorph and when capturing prey uses small, conical & sharp front teeth to seize prey, while multiple cusps in back of jaws crush food items; caudal autonomy exists and within 3-4 weeks will regenerate a new tail after losing original; regenerated tails have no vertebrae, only cartilage; both sexes are territorial but is very pronounced in males who will resort to fighting to defend his turf from other males and even other lizards; when an intruder is detected visual displays are first used such as extension of dewlap, head bobbing and push-ups; if visuals do not prove to be a deterrent, then defender will fight the trespasser beginning with vocalization, a few pushes then biting; normally by this stage the trespasser realizes he's not welcome and flees, but on uncommon occasions trespasser accepts the challenge resulting in both inflicting and receiving bite wounds before one leaves; in humid tropical settings this is dangerous due to infection and may prove lethal, so actual combat is usually avoided; on a really rare occasion, the biting duel will continue until the death of one of the combatants; this anole once shedding will consume the skin taking in its</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUHAJiFyImkC-fycpMwjqQMbMcDoal8Ar45CBUTmiONH4tNA_oORkHetydtPoeS0a4TaZ-Sg7x2NrVcZcs49vDLUaO1kaPV9HSw9Fehl9JRnCcK7KooJizSkgxnki87SoHncm2xi80iL5_/s1600/Anolis+allisoni+mt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUHAJiFyImkC-fycpMwjqQMbMcDoal8Ar45CBUTmiONH4tNA_oORkHetydtPoeS0a4TaZ-Sg7x2NrVcZcs49vDLUaO1kaPV9HSw9Fehl9JRnCcK7KooJizSkgxnki87SoHncm2xi80iL5_/s200/Anolis+allisoni+mt.jpg" height="135" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A pair mating</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">high proteinaceous content;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> mating is highly stereotyped and occurs at any time of year, although warmer weather and longer days induces growth of testes and ovaries; mating ritual begins with male locating a female then displaying his dewlap accompanied with head bobbing in a species-specific manner; this aids the female in recognizing the male as heterospecific as distinguished from conspecifics; if female accepts, she will head bob; male then proceeds swinging his tail around to female's underside in order to bring their cloacal openings together; he then inserts one of his hemipenes and internally fertilizes her; females produce only one viable egg for fertilization, but on an average interval of every 5-25 days; a nest site is probed by the female using her snout to check for moisture content; once an appropriate site is found, she will use her forelegs to dig; the egg is oviposited into the hole where the snout pushes the egg further into the hole's floor, then covers the hole with back-to-forward foreleg movement; incubation time is not documented; upon hatching, neonates are precocial and fend for themselves; due to population spreads this lizard is not listed as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkOu1uKtf8OwicY9eXm3_bmz11uSQ66leMuffcdCv3QkeQ7RdRDXimTmxr_HlH_AElk_b-g4d3rYCsV03lpFu8ByH5qf21kJF4JdLH3uGnkGXs0OqNmh_hyphenhyphenD6Aleistz1P-8o0pRoMDXF/s1600/Chaemeleo+calpytratusChris_Kadet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkOu1uKtf8OwicY9eXm3_bmz11uSQ66leMuffcdCv3QkeQ7RdRDXimTmxr_HlH_AElk_b-g4d3rYCsV03lpFu8ByH5qf21kJF4JdLH3uGnkGXs0OqNmh_hyphenhyphenD6Aleistz1P-8o0pRoMDXF/s200/Chaemeleo+calpytratusChris_Kadet.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Veiled chameleon ~ <i>C. calyptratus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Veiled Chameleon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Chamaeleonidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Chamaeleo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Chamaeleo calyptratus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: Ave: 35-45cm/14-18in total length (TL); </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">♂ ~ up to 60cm/24in TL; ♀ ~ up to 33cm/13in TL; tail length: 15.2-30.5cm/6-12in</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 0.91-1.81kg-2-4lb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Normally 5yrs for females, up to 8yrs for males in captivity; unknown in wilds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Chamaeleo calyptratus</i> ~ <i>Chamaeleo</i> derived from Latin word, <i>chamealeon</i> which is rooted from Greek word, <i>Khamaileon</i> akin to <i>chton</i> referring to 'earth' as opposed to sky; <i>calypt</i> is from Greek word, <i>kalyptein</i> meaning 'concealed' referring to color changes; <i>ratus</i> is Latin meaning 'fixed' in reference to lizard's slow movements; altogether refers to 'concealed & fixed earthy lizard'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Is native to Middle East within Yemen extending beyond the border into southern Saudi Arabia; is found on mountain slopes along the Yemeni coastline, where rains form from condensed Red Sea vapor and may exceed 203.2cm/80in per year; also are found more inland in arid wadis where year round water and vegetation occurs, on high dry Yemeni plateaus & grasslands and along Saudi Arabia's southwestern coast in small forested river valleys; prefer a temperature range of 23.9-35</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° C</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">/75-95</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° F, but unlike most chameleons, can tolerate wider temperature ranges; has been introduced in Florida & Hawaii where small wild populations have been established.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Is literally described as one of the most colorful & grumpiest of chameleons; is very territorial with males exhibiting particular aggression towards one another; posses</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note casque, feet & hyoid horn</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">typical chameleon morphology such as pigmented skin coloration change, feet specially adapted to wrapping around limbs & branches; eyes with 360</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° viewing vision independent from each other, a prehensile tail and ability to sit perfectly still for hours at a time; hollow chameleon tongues possess a long tapering cartilaginous hyoid horn running through the tongue and attached to center of the U-shaped hyoid bone anchoring the tongue; tongue is composed of retractor & accelerator muscles ending with a saliva induced sticky clubbed tip with abrasive grip; unique to this chameleon is the casque (helmet) composed of bone; on hatchlings, casque appears as a knob growing up to 5.1cm/2in in adult</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6CW2ExaxIcSFoTbQfxRYl58StoJEEG4YKr7eVXn9h4OqJtYCsTIqrMkwS8JJbmbVDdnNOkVxjvbczQ9cBvDwidGDvsrz_IHQphMpDZWPySz8MT8ZheC7hnyoQDXI1C4dim4nJP8tNG2Y/s1600/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+william+warby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6CW2ExaxIcSFoTbQfxRYl58StoJEEG4YKr7eVXn9h4OqJtYCsTIqrMkwS8JJbmbVDdnNOkVxjvbczQ9cBvDwidGDvsrz_IHQphMpDZWPySz8MT8ZheC7hnyoQDXI1C4dim4nJP8tNG2Y/s200/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+william+warby.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note eyes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">males appearing as a cranial fin; this chameleon has long cones on gular crest; the body overall is laterally thin with females generally appearing broader and more heavy bodied; sexual dimorphism exist in males able to reach double the size of females; male crests are larger and males from hatching possess heel spurs on the back of their hind feet while females do not; males in expressing current emotions & mood have the ability to change into multiple colors of arrays and patterns; overall coloration is virtually impossible to describe, for every color even beyond a rainbow may be displayed; typically males will display in stripes, spots and banding in hues of turquoise, blue, yellow, red, orange, black and</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoex-Rrd4e1691DIc4BOjK3wb_GxFxUp3k9tg_jqFoPvYopO4dHfQqTUCNT5B4ypDHu7EVOhQVHAB5r5p5uPPkPR4BpWp_9UmaFya_FyDjICc9nv_CP7bZOCEFzlLJZFjvowIBPVAd8PQb/s1600/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+grn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoex-Rrd4e1691DIc4BOjK3wb_GxFxUp3k9tg_jqFoPvYopO4dHfQqTUCNT5B4ypDHu7EVOhQVHAB5r5p5uPPkPR4BpWp_9UmaFya_FyDjICc9nv_CP7bZOCEFzlLJZFjvowIBPVAd8PQb/s200/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+grn.jpg" height="131" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>C. calyptratus</i> female</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">brown; general base background color for all sexes and ages is green; non-bred females and</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> juveniles remain a green shade usually with white markings that can intentionally vary from mood swings ranging from a bright lime green to a drab dark olive green; mated & gravid females turn and remain a very dark green with blue & yellow spotting announcing to males they are no longer receptive to mating; the more excited <i>C. calyptratus</i> gets the more brilliant in coloration, in particular from males; currently there are 2 recognized subspecies: <i>C. c. calyptratus</i> & <i>C. c. calcarifer</i> that inhabits arid coast of Saudi Arabia</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihKRqsS0jk51MEyXGz0Gpm6RHeYC1-HlW7jUaiwX-MWGIr5AbUAjXl3Jcj95fX-ZU5Pg9HkiwA8-KU6soX5OQU2o5v62-bY2HM3ru0Eiex-L4_QNAjw8vON5Kfc3Cred5s8QZ_ihVITNg5/s1600/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+gail+j.+worth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihKRqsS0jk51MEyXGz0Gpm6RHeYC1-HlW7jUaiwX-MWGIr5AbUAjXl3Jcj95fX-ZU5Pg9HkiwA8-KU6soX5OQU2o5v62-bY2HM3ru0Eiex-L4_QNAjw8vON5Kfc3Cred5s8QZ_ihVITNg5/s200/Chaemeleo+calpytratus+gail+j.+worth.jpg" height="193" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>C. calyptratus</i> male</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Although is primarily an insectivore consuming small invertebrates, is considered an omnivore, for it will supplant its diet with leaves, blossoms & fruit from various plants; one main contribution to a vegetable diet from a lizard that is equipped for snapping up insects with a projectile tongue, is that during arid and drought conditions, plants become a main water supply; year round diets consists mainly of insects; in being able to survive in more arid climates, locusts are a mainstay; <i>C. calyptratus</i> appears to be attracted to green insects; unlike most lizards that swallow food whole, chameleons chew food first before swallowing; natural predation comes from native birds of prey and snakes; local folklore developed from tribal ways persist and insist that throwing a veiled chameleon into a fire will bring good fortune</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Being an ambush predator, as mentioned under <b>Description</b>, they are capable of remaining motionless for hours on end; moving methodically and very slow they do not rely on speed to capture prey or flee threats; instead <i>C. calyptratus</i> relies on being unseen by blending into its background and standing still; if encountered will gape mouth and hiss;<i> </i>in walking as a rear foot is placed forward, the opposite fore foot is lifted advancing the anima</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">l</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpwmr6aZqvGiHDzwBZ0BDjbfy4k9sz7JxPxkMZbKMb_BM4n5dme5BvxsOBqXZ1MSJ26XcVOTOn8r1vIOLP_4t1nukxB9Es7Eq1hcPAGT2gatjm2hwD4fNgHJq0RCTMsAY8qaDeonErw_i/s1600/Chaemeleo-calpytratus+tng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpwmr6aZqvGiHDzwBZ0BDjbfy4k9sz7JxPxkMZbKMb_BM4n5dme5BvxsOBqXZ1MSJ26XcVOTOn8r1vIOLP_4t1nukxB9Es7Eq1hcPAGT2gatjm2hwD4fNgHJq0RCTMsAY8qaDeonErw_i/s200/Chaemeleo-calpytratus+tng.jpg" height="108" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Capturing a meal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">forward; the approximate 14cm/5.5in tongue can be extended fully within 1/16 of a second; that is fast enough to capture insects in flight; a tendon attached to tip of hyoid horn allows the lizard to gauge length of strike; retraction of tongue is not as fast and may be a bit sloppy much like a human slurps up spaghetti; same muscles that allow humans to move tongue and swallow is same musculature in chameleons; prey capture is frustrating when it is slugs or wet worms as their slime prevents the saliva tongue tip from adhering; for some reason has difficulty in recognizing bodies of water as a water source; depends on moisture condensating and collecting, such as dew in quenching thirst; in captives, this can prove fatal as an unknowing handler will set in the terrarium a dish of water instead of spraying and misting plants; the lizard will dehydrate and perhaps perish; though equipped to lead an arboreal lifestyle, for their arid environment it is not uncommon to find them on ground surface; both sexes of <i>C. calyptratus</i> lead solitary lives and will not tolerate each others presence, in particular males which become very aggressive during an encounter; </span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaTjHCTWt_YHhut5nIJ09An8j9e4mFLsFZXniM2-eorH13DiP3MidPGKv9kt-cZIoyuc1xIaPPif95mgNUjiNno2zvVwBL79JJp93a3CjjDxhgaJgftKsBZpFzvbhqplbKO1KIBEivybe/s1600/Chaemeleo+calpytratus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaTjHCTWt_YHhut5nIJ09An8j9e4mFLsFZXniM2-eorH13DiP3MidPGKv9kt-cZIoyuc1xIaPPif95mgNUjiNno2zvVwBL79JJp93a3CjjDxhgaJgftKsBZpFzvbhqplbKO1KIBEivybe/s400/Chaemeleo+calpytratus.jpg" height="81" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lft: hatchling; Middle: neonate; Rt: young juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">only </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">time there is</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tolerance is when the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">female becomes receptive during breeding periods; accepting a female ready to mate, the couple will copulate lasting 3-20 minutes and may be repeated within the following 3 days; able to store sperm, female may lay up to 3 clutches per year ranging from 20-70 eggs per clutch; gravid female is ready for ovipositing after 20-30 days from fertilization; female seeks out appropriate sand to dig a 20.3-25.4cm/8-10in hole for nest site; if she cannot find suitable soil she will become egg bound and may die; is a 6-9 month incubation period; after hatching, neonates at 2-2.5cm/0.8-1in long are on their own, but grow rapidly reaching sexual maturity in 4-5months; though they are currently listed as not threatened, these chameleons very slow movements do not allow them the luxury to migrate or flee to other regions when their habitat is bulldozed over for development.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDeah9XtaW3gYTiRStZA49trmsgdwxdAa_YBwmLNcYdvnhtVjjfOz69elPgKXN2HveRj32MPzEOrnxG1lSNHzmTnOJ4IyYnkLi6WR95C4o40m-69SKbU5A9PA0FCtK0HT8g3JPhtP4TiB/s1600/Varnus+indicus+peter+bonser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDeah9XtaW3gYTiRStZA49trmsgdwxdAa_YBwmLNcYdvnhtVjjfOz69elPgKXN2HveRj32MPzEOrnxG1lSNHzmTnOJ4IyYnkLi6WR95C4o40m-69SKbU5A9PA0FCtK0HT8g3JPhtP4TiB/s200/Varnus+indicus+peter+bonser.jpg" height="104" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mangrove monitor ~ <i>V. indicus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mangrove Monitor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Varanidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Varanus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Varanus indicus</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: Size varies from various geographic locations ranging from .2-1.5m/.66-4.92ft TL </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 0.5-1.9kg-1.10-4.19lbs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Ave: 10-12yrs, but can just exceed 17yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Varanus indicus</i> ~ <i>Varanus</i> is derived from Arabic word, <i>waral</i> which translates in English to 'monitor'; <i>indicus</i> is Latin for the country of 'India' although reference is to its native Indonesia, for it is not found in India; altogether refers to 'monitor lizard of Indonesia'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> <i>V. indicus</i> is widely distributed most probably first arising from East Indies (Indonesia); currently is found in eastern sector of Indonesia, portions of Queensland & Northern Territory, Australia, New Guinea and its adjacent islands, Timor and numerous Pacific tropical islands such as Marshall, Marianas, Solomon, Aru & Kei Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago; introduced by man into Micronesia & Japan; always near a water source, prefers inhabiting mangrove stands, the rims of damp forests near coastal rivers and more inland around periphery of lakes and swamps.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><b>Description:</b> A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cross the huge expanse in range of hundreds of km/mi in distance between islands inhabited, physiology has changed greatly for this one species; for this reason, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">V</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaO0M-9X8aP6iARm2AhGliUeD3I2UDIgL1FofRNcBv6Q-6kvS0jOpmaxBlJCWZCYDuX1Y9Nb9olH0a13Te7BZvr_FM0bWZl3WHBy3S2WN4o23tRAFVMTGUZf7bHzCkyzo7S8yr3HhAsRZ/s1600/Varanus+indicus+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaO0M-9X8aP6iARm2AhGliUeD3I2UDIgL1FofRNcBv6Q-6kvS0jOpmaxBlJCWZCYDuX1Y9Nb9olH0a13Te7BZvr_FM0bWZl3WHBy3S2WN4o23tRAFVMTGUZf7bHzCkyzo7S8yr3HhAsRZ/s200/Varanus+indicus+1.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note gold eye</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">indicus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is considered a cryptic species as one of 4 varanian species; possesses typical monitor traits such as distinct long neck, very strong musculature in well developed limbs & tail; efficient claws and have a relatively high metabolic rate for reptiles; with a 45mya fossil record, monitors are oldest extant lizard group; <i>V. indicus</i> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tail is highly compressed and nearly double the length of body; body is covered in oval-shaped & keeled scales; smooth large scales cover face giving a glassy appearance; dark brown iris is encircled by a golden ring; mouth is outlined in red due to a mixture of saliva & blood; bifurcated tongue is a dark purplish functioning as a chemical sensor picking up air molecules then transferring to roof of mouth where Jacobson's organ is located to interpret smells; teeth are serrated along whole plane of edges; dentary teeth are positioned laterally slightly, while maxillary teeth are vertically; males are larger than females and may weigh more than double the female; background coloration is black or very dark brown; dorsum is marked with white to yellowish scales irregularly arranged; ventrum is light usually a creme white to pale yellow with indistinct banding; throat is void of patterns; post-ocular stripe is absent in <i>V. indicus</i>; due to extensive range and<i> indicus</i> species taxonomy, this lizard has had 25 different species names since its discovery and perhaps this species will geographically be further broken down into distinct species; <i>V. indicus</i> is definitely a smorgasbord for the starving taxonomist; currently there is much debate on authorized subspecies; subspecies recognized by some taxonomic authorities are <i>V. i. indicus</i>, <i>V. i. rouxi</i>, <i>V. i. spinulosus</i> & <i>V. i. kalabeck</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Diet:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Is an opportunist carnivore consuming anything available; general diet is associated with what relevant environment offers; consists mainly of invertebrates (worms, snails, insects, crabs), frogs, fish, lizards, snakes, birds, juvenile crocodilians, carrion and reptile & bird eggs; on islands where it was introduced by man as an invasive species to control ant, beetle and rat populations; in domesticated urban settings attacks poultry, eggs, piglets and garbage; i</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRpaW7EDsM7aAJqruppRIox5qKg-5Esua3GhGBEBeDltQ2KCkNgfIkXYaDkJVqEVx3807A2GAMcUZaKY41c0Ah8pAEIT_I9Zv6ABnnvcKOilpn7fUxs74z4HbV6ok6XhEF9SMONw3EMnQj/s1600/Varanus+indicus+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRpaW7EDsM7aAJqruppRIox5qKg-5Esua3GhGBEBeDltQ2KCkNgfIkXYaDkJVqEVx3807A2GAMcUZaKY41c0Ah8pAEIT_I9Zv6ABnnvcKOilpn7fUxs74z4HbV6ok6XhEF9SMONw3EMnQj/s200/Varanus+indicus+2.jpg" height="135" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>V. indicus</i> actively seeking prey</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guam where it has at least inhabited since the arrival of islanders, will attack and consume the invasive 2m/6.6ft brown tree snake, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boiga irregularis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and its eggs when opportunity presents itself; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">V. indicus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> can adapt and change prey selection based on abundance & availability;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> will either sit and wait in ambush or actively seek out prey; is the only known lizard to dive in deep waters in order to catch fish; predators include larger boids, crocodilians and large birds of prey will especially consume juveniles; man has been known to use it for meat</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This ubiquitous monitor lizard is unparalleled when it comes to survival behavior; although primarily a coastal marine animal, it is found at home in jungle perimeters, in the open, in coconut plantations, mangrove marshes and inland swamps; accepting a highly varied prey diet, it will chase, climb, dig underground, swim and dive or simply rest in ambush for prey items; they are comfortable resting or taking shelter in trees or water; jumping from the highest</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKRKKN4LKCxBEFn-Y4CGYhoc-2VvgzxIA5EINh5FmATDdA9ezc0JuQsgP7kdPl1osfuitN2YbmmXWUhr-N-6nu9dBSQ47_b2zb69Q0bxiN2JbcJ6hEwdH1S1mU96Lhj4TK1acXaIGw1u6/s1600/Varanus+Indicus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKRKKN4LKCxBEFn-Y4CGYhoc-2VvgzxIA5EINh5FmATDdA9ezc0JuQsgP7kdPl1osfuitN2YbmmXWUhr-N-6nu9dBSQ47_b2zb69Q0bxiN2JbcJ6hEwdH1S1mU96Lhj4TK1acXaIGw1u6/s320/Varanus+Indicus.jpg" height="132" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Scaling & resting in trees</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">treetops appears to not phase the animal nor diving to deep depths in oceanic water; along with <i>V. semiremex</i>, <i>V. indicus</i> is one of the only 2 monitors that possess salt excreting nasal glands; its vision and auditory abilities are very proficient; the powerful muscular tail in defense can produce whip-like action dropping a threatening foe; although this lizard prefers to defecate on animals that are threatening, its bite definitely is capable of inflicting painful wounds and it is now known monitors possess a oral gland that produces a bevy of toxins, nine being shared with venomous snakes; the dagger-like 5 claws on each foot are not only well fashioned for digging and climbing, they can also easily lash through flesh; reproduction is evident throughout the year in the tropical zones this lizard lives in; however females' ovarian mass and fat content is greatest during the dry season, so are more prone to mating successfully during this period; male testicular sperm and body fat remains constant</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Note hind & fore claws</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">yea</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">r </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">round; prior to mating, males perform a nonlethal combat for the rights to mate; in an upright position, males fight by posturing, grappling and tangling with one another; the victor of the duel will then mount the female and while copulating orients himself head to head with female; the pair then slowly moves in a 360</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° rotation all the while with male on top; after copulation there is a ritual of male rubbing the top of head and forequarters of female with his chin; females are oviparous and will lay a clutch of 2-12 eggs in a dug out burrow; the white oblong eggs measure 3.5-5cm/1.38-1.97in; incubation period is 7-8 months; once hatchlings are out of the egg they are immediately scurrying for prey; this monitor lizard is currently not threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mountain boomer ~ <i>C. collaris</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mountain Boomer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Crotaphyidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Crotaphytus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Crotaphytus collaris</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">/<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 10-14.5cm/3.9-5.7in snout-to-vent (SVL); 20-30cm/12-14in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 40gm/1.41oz </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 10yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Crotaphytus collaris</i> ~ <i>Crotaphytus</i> is derived from Greek word, <i>krotaphos</i> meaning 'head temple' in reference to presence of small polygonal scalar plates; <i>collaris</i> is Latin for 'collared' referring to dark neck bands; altogether refers to 'polygonal temple plated & collared lizard'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Are limited to south central United States and northern Mexico along the U.S. border; states it occurs in is from central Texas up to extreme southwest Illinois westwards to eastern Utah and down into Baja Califronia & Arizona going back eastwards through Mexican border to Texas; prefers arid scrublands and plains (up to 2,575m/8,500ft in Southwest) with rocky outcrops</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Common name is more aptly collared lizard, due to the 2 black neck bands, but as a kid growing up in north west Texas, we called them mountain boomers; theory goes that the colloquial name, 'mountain boomer' arose from early settlers heading west for the California gold rush, heard winds blowing through canyons or as echoes through mountain valleys and mistakenly thought it was an animal making the noise; since this lizard was one of the most common animals encountered on their sojourns,</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXbQtjtjWDa7TI7g3cPbDHRpiGrf6VgZkoXTFd6NItkOyUiSYS4CAzebxtIz85YW1epVi2wO96a_F7af-lWU6N6QYgQ0XnxntqVQNYnbNVRGcVnhffJ1BcUHbIbqL1f6uRvqsgVcznkaq/s1600/Crotaphytus+collaris+tom+brennan+fml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXbQtjtjWDa7TI7g3cPbDHRpiGrf6VgZkoXTFd6NItkOyUiSYS4CAzebxtIz85YW1epVi2wO96a_F7af-lWU6N6QYgQ0XnxntqVQNYnbNVRGcVnhffJ1BcUHbIbqL1f6uRvqsgVcznkaq/s200/Crotaphytus+collaris+tom+brennan+fml.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female, note brown coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the settlers deemed these lizards as the source of the booming canyon wind & echoing noise; rather a plump-bodied lizard with a large head and mouth equipped with strong jaw muscles; palatal teeth are affixed to pterygoid bone with a substantial amount of tissue; inside of mouth & throat are often a very dark blue or black; muscular hind limbs are double the length of forelimbs; 5 toes on each foot are equipped with slender claws; tail is usually more than double length of body; tail has no fracture plane to automonize; body scalation is small, compact and granular; in overall dimorphic coloration, females have a brown background ending normally in a yellowish brown on feet and with dull orange dorsal striping that brightens just prior and during oviposition; dorsal body and hind limbs possess light spotting whereas on tail it's reversed with darker brown spotting; dorsal male coloration is tints of blue and green </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwdIN51wVozgbVps4i8LjsfENAe0CR_yNnGaq8X3wzTefcZYE-4dUjVha-Ss39eHpWmyGKNL33oyiA0lD8hRCulfV0l7vMjaM-ZBri7EoHrom3c8MdTaPrHIgmEfpE6MIUW33A-zQBt5F/s1600/Crotaphytus+collaris+william+wells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwdIN51wVozgbVps4i8LjsfENAe0CR_yNnGaq8X3wzTefcZYE-4dUjVha-Ss39eHpWmyGKNL33oyiA0lD8hRCulfV0l7vMjaM-ZBri7EoHrom3c8MdTaPrHIgmEfpE6MIUW33A-zQBt5F/s200/Crotaphytus+collaris+william+wells.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male scouting his turf</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">interspersed with yellow markings</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">yellow bands and yellow feet; male also has whiter spotting on back with brown spotting on tail; during breeding season, male coloration heightens in intensity; both sexes have the 2 dorsal black neck bands with both exhibiting a pale white ventrum; juveniles are overall a greenish brown highlighted with large dark brown spotting; crotaphytids are a small group of desert dwelling lizards made up of the 2 genera, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crotaphytus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gambelia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (leopard lizards) that received the new family upgrade in being removed from the</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Iguanidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> family; this was due to Frost & Etheridge's 1989 iguanian systematics analysis; in 2009; the formerly recognized subspecies: <i>C. c. collaris</i>, <i>C. c. auriceps</i>, <i>C. c. baileyi</i>, <i>C. c. fuscus</i> and <i>C. c. melanmaculatus</i> were upgraded and designated as distinct species; this grouping is now recognized by most authorities including American Museum of Natural History (AMNH); for now, there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is a diurnal hunter and stalker; chases down or pounces on prey capturing it with its large mouth and muscular jaws; consumes larger insects such as grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles and will take spiders, smaller lizards & snakes; on occasion will supplement diet with leaves, blossoms and berries; is a true carnivore and cannot maintain a sustaining weight mass strictly from plant material; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">primary predators are hawks, larger lizards & snakes and smaller carnivorous/omnivorous mammals such as skunks, raccoons & fox if they can catch them</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> Growing up in West Texas, <i>C. collaris</i> was my favorite lizard; not only for its color, but it was a true boyhood challenge in catching them and a honor when the feat was accomplished; this lizard will vigorously bite and may draw blood;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> it is a lively lizard darting to and fro when in chasing after prey, or fleeing from alarm; as kids we sometimes called it the 'cat lizard' for if observed as undisturbed long enough, at times when it saw prey, it would crouch and slightly wiggle its tail before pouncing, just like a cat; is always on or near rock outcroppings it utilizes for seeking shelter in crevices, to sit atop the highest rock to perch and survey its surroundings or to bask; preferred basking temperature range is rather high at 41-43</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">° C/105-110° F; ideal temperature for all other activities is 27° C/80° F;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> males are solitar</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y and very</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdLxd_eWta3PDwnvJ5OJ9omA6DZIOpm4RPrJgAoadzqvVHkyawJGme_PtC53lrUQI-5lZ6w0zgM9nuwbFK2ZfGcxhiiWzaQKHz6EB0fReQf197rc07PBhtWMYsOc_0umVTNdXPF7Zh7Ui/s1600/Crotaphytus+collaris+phil+myers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdLxd_eWta3PDwnvJ5OJ9omA6DZIOpm4RPrJgAoadzqvVHkyawJGme_PtC53lrUQI-5lZ6w0zgM9nuwbFK2ZfGcxhiiWzaQKHz6EB0fReQf197rc07PBhtWMYsOc_0umVTNdXPF7Zh7Ui/s200/Crotaphytus+collaris+phil+myers.jpg" height="162" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female pals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">territorial; if are in a confined space together will fight until one is mortally wounded; females don't necessarily congregate, but are seen more in same proximity; with powerful hind legs, have ability as a few other lizards, such as basilisks & frilled lizards to run upright on their hind legs; can readily reach speeds of ~ 26 km/h or 16mph; this bipedalism most likely derived from saltatory locomotion in jumping from boulder to boulder as they currently do; are diurnal, so at night, as they do in hibernating, will burrow under rock and seal off opening by pushing up soil to plug entrance thereby maintaining absorbed solar energy for core body mass heat; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">during colder months will hibernate emerging in late March; upon emergence, female ovaries are underdeveloped; follicular development commences and within 1-2 weeks by mid April, females begin ovulating; mating begins in late April and into early July in more temperate zones; the 'nuptial blush' appears on females to signal receptiveness; male coloration heightens in intensity and begi</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the typical iguanid head bobbing and push-ups aggressively to ward off other males and passionately to impress females; to discourage male suitors, a non-receptive female will flatten and sway her back while walking on toe tips; if this does not deter the male's advances and he mounts her, she will avoid copulation attempts by rolling onto her back thus thwarting insertion; for receptive females, they develop a voracious appetite within the 2 weeks following a successful mating; after feeding frenzy tapers off, the oviparous and gravid female begins looking for a site to deposit her clutch of eggs 21-24 days from copulation; she first scratches surface around her selected site for 2-3 days before actually ovipositing; once she decides the proper place to burrow, she begins digging; she may immediately lay her clutch of eggs and leave or remain burrowed disappearing up to 3 days before exiting; in this case, female emerges from nest burrow as haggard appearing shrunken with loose skin folds and pelvic bones showing through skin; typical clutch sizes are from 5-9 eggs, but can range anywhere from 3-14 eggs; female may oviposit from 1-3 times per year; initially eggs are soft and susceptible to desiccation, so female strives for moist nesting soils; incubation period is from 53-94 days with hatchlings appearing in late August and early September; once hatched the neonates, ~ 6cm/2.5in in TL are on their own; young grow quickly and by the fourth month may be sexually mature; though <i>C.collaris</i> has been extirpated from former ranges due to human development and over 50% of individuals in populations do not live beyond 5 yrs, it is not currently considered as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Snakes:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snakes are nature's youngest reptile experiment, but the serpentine fossil record is poorly known. The complex but frail and fragile skeletal structure of snakes is ultimately destroyed long before being ideally fossilized. Therefore, the origin and evolution of snakes has been very difficult in piecing together and classifying</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />C</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">otylosaurs are the oldest of known reptiles appearing ~315 mya as evolved labyrinthodonts. They were the first to oviposit on land cleidoic (shelled) eggs. A cotylosaur living 312 mya was from a genus known as <i>Hylonomus</i>. As mentioned in the 'Reptilian Discussion,' from the fossil record we do know that the lizard-like reptile <i>Hylonomus</i> was an indirect ancestor to lizards, giving rise to various clades of lizard-like reptilians that eventually evolved into primitive lizards proper occurring some 215 mya. Cotylosaurs began diversifying from the earliest anapsid skull structure into the other two skull structures of being synapsid and diapsid in nature. While the remaining anapsid cotylosaurs gave rise to turtles, the synapsid cotylosaurs gave rise to mammal-like reptiles that eventually formed the mammal group. The diapsid cotylosaurs diversified that eventually led to six groups of animals; one group extinct with the other five extant. The groups are the extinct dinosaurs, birds directly arising from theropod dinosaurs, tuataras, crocodilians, lizards and snakes deriving from lizards. <i>Hylonomus</i> had a diapsid skull, in which all its lineage of lizards and snakes arose from using the structuring for jaw muscle attachment. The actual holes of extant lizard skulls today show one hole as regressed, while both have fused altogether in snakes. Nonetheless, their skulls are diapsid in origin. From this we can ascertain that snakes are close relatives to lizards, but no less are distant evolutionary cousins to crocodilians and birds as well</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Out</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of the true lizard group arose the varanoid or monitor-like lizards in the late Jurassic some 180 mya. Varanoids were primarily semi-aquatic or fully aquatic lizards that gave rise to the largest lizard ever in the 17.5m/57ft mosasaur, <i>Hainosaurus</i>. True monitor lizards (varanids) from the family <i>Varanidae</i>, were primarily terrsetrial originating in northern Asia 90 mya</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />Monitor lizards are set apart from other lizard clades in that varanids have a relatively high metabolic rate for reptiles, have developed sensory adaptations for hunting live prey (forked tongue, Jacobson's organ), have the unique ability to distend jaws due to a lowered hinged jaw enabling them to swallow large prey whole and recently scientists have discovered that varanids possess venom. Of the genus <i>Varanus</i>, species are morphologically conservative, but when it comes to body mass, species vary five orders in magnitude. This is comparable to comparing the body mass between an elephant and a mouse, which of course are both mammals but each entirely in a different genus</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rom varanus is a varanoid sister group from the monophyletic family, <i>Lanthanotidae</i> known as the earless monitor. Lanthanotids today are rare consisting of a single extant species, <i>Lanthanotus borneensis</i> found only on the island of Borneo. Along with the typical physiology traits of monitors, in addition they lack an external ear, possess knobby scales, shed body skin wholly and have a lower transparent eyelid that could possibly be a precursor to the brille (transparent eye scale). They burrow and swim by means of serpentine motion. Lanthanotids are fossorial and semi-aquatic and it is </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">most probable </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from this burrowing reptile group that the lizard transitioned into snakes during the mid to late Cretaceous</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />There is current argument, that proposes snake origins as deriving from the lizard suborder, <i>Iguania</i>. But until credence is more detailed and specific, here, we're staying with the monitor transition</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s in all aspects to life through natural selection, snakes are a product of evolution. For snakes and also for a few other convergent animals such as caecilians and amphisbaenians, a tessellated evolution occurred in the skull versus the post-cranial skeletal osteology</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he snake skeleton is comprised basically of a skull, vertebrate column and ribs. Their are no neck vertebrae, only the body's thoracic, abdominal and caudal region are covered in backbone The skull portion housing the braincase is fully ossified with numerous snout and jaw regions jointed such as the distension of the quadrate and maxillary to allow the swallowing of large prey. The skeletal body portion has evidenced pachyostosis, where solid bone structure has formed with little or no marrow</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />E</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">volving from burrowing varanoids, through gene expression the reptiles began losing their limbs with forelimbs going first before the hind limbs. It is not a matter of more new genes but in the rearrangement of existing gene construction. Limb building in the fetal stage was decommissioned. Limb loss was an adaptation to living a fossorial existence causing limb development to slow, stop early then be reabsorbed altogether</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t times in animal embryological growth, dormant gene expression may reawaken and express a primitive trait. This is why at times a dolphin may exhibit a limb instead of a fin or a human have an extended tail beyond the body, but as far as snake limbs go, there will never be another forelimbed snake, for the blueprint was lost due to HOX genes. In vertebrates, forelimb development occurs to the most anterior domain of Hoxc-6 gene expression, but only with Hoxc-8 present. In combination with Hoxc-6 and Hoxc-8, gene expression determines thoracic vertebrae. With snakes, Hoxc-8 in the earliest of embryological development has been permanently taken out in expression, so Hoxc-6 does not express in the absence of Hoxc-8. Therefore the earlier forelimb development does not occur. When Hoxc-8 does later appear, longer thoracic vertebrae development instead occurs. There is no neck because with no forelimbs, there is no neck vertebrae gene domain</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he first of the primitive snakes began displaying pachyostosis and limb degeneration in fossil finds. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">True snakes began to appear in the Cretaceous some 130 mya. Fossilized snake vertebrae of <i>Lapparentophis defrenni</i> was found in the Saharan desert dating back to this time. Unfortunately, most of the oldest fossils are composed of only a few vertebrae, but we do know for a fact that the first snakes were at least hind limbed due to later finds of more complete serpentine fossilization</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />E</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">arly snakes were unquestionably hind-limbed, or to dare say bipedal, such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pachyrhacis problematicus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (which was at least semi-aquatic if not fully)</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, <i>Haassiophis terrasanctus</i> (also aquatic) and <i>Eupodophis descouensi</i> which fossil remains were also found in shallow marine <i> </i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgFGTotPHbf0m13MXZtUblBkYIOo87JD25ELLBEVhtrqBsHMhYwo-b-NruwXHB2UufbWxXvAUFr1UguZH2ZI89w1FS_V4t9mhbpkQbkCW-uIAjl1UJAKBrg94gbtkfwcMxSawSB9AhE27/s1600/Pachyrhachis_problematicus+karen+carr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgFGTotPHbf0m13MXZtUblBkYIOo87JD25ELLBEVhtrqBsHMhYwo-b-NruwXHB2UufbWxXvAUFr1UguZH2ZI89w1FS_V4t9mhbpkQbkCW-uIAjl1UJAKBrg94gbtkfwcMxSawSB9AhE27/s200/Pachyrhachis_problematicus+karen+carr.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>P. problematicus</i> re-creation</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">limestone deposits. The hind limbs of these snakes were still fully functional possessing the pelvic girdle, femur, tibia and ankle, feet and phalange bones. Moving into water encouraged even greater less cell development on the embryonic limb buds. Already inheriting a serpentine form of locomotion from their burrowing lizards ancestry, it was an efficient form of swimming as long as degenerating limbs were continually shortening producing less drag through water</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hese hind-limbed snakes occurred 92-99 mya during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Until more preserved earlier fossils of primitive snake anatomy are discovered, one cannot exclude that limbs were lost, then might have been regenerated, then lost agai</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. terrasanctus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKyoWtzIiq4nrqYlit1d6IwlM6zN7MfPkEs7HcknWFUtwGF45Nr4icfmAGTLN5AYn-Hinvdw_0U3fuWB3RsTTDL_QWG5CALgNf_RcfFeUU1IjNkD_VmPlCy88d__ZHTAKyeIK91TTgcsLj/s1600/Haasiophis+terrasanctus+BBC+news+onln.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKyoWtzIiq4nrqYlit1d6IwlM6zN7MfPkEs7HcknWFUtwGF45Nr4icfmAGTLN5AYn-Hinvdw_0U3fuWB3RsTTDL_QWG5CALgNf_RcfFeUU1IjNkD_VmPlCy88d__ZHTAKyeIK91TTgcsLj/s200/Haasiophis+terrasanctus+BBC+news+onln.jpg" height="116" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. terrasanctus</i> limb</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hroughout their paleontological history. But for all intents and purposes, here, we are going to follow the gradual degeneration to total loss of limbs for snake evolution. As snakes' evolution progresses, total absorption occurred, but left vestigial remnants of hind limbs with most extant snakes still possessing a rudiment pelvic girdle</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>E. descouensi</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By the end of the Cretaceous during the Coniacian stage 89-86 mya, terrestrial forms begin to appear in the fossil record. <i>Dinilysia</i>, an extinct genus of snake, was fully terrestrial, with not only hind limbs, but well developed. Though very small as compared to the 2m/6.6ft body, these legs were stout enough to be used for burrowing</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />By</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 70 mya, snakes were possessing very reduced or only rudiments of hind limbs. One of these serpents was <i>Sanajeh indicus</i> found in 67 million year old Indian gravelly limestone outcroppings. The fossil is an exceptionally euphoric discovery as the snake was in a sauropod nest composed of titanosaur eggs and hatchlings. A landslide immediately covered the nest site and snake freezing that exact moment in time. The 3.48m/11.5ft snake was coiled around a broken egg and a hatchling beside two other eggs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uO_h8WRDzHqIGJEdZZ_msZAlnRGD4g8BGVTwH1HnFaMuh4UF7RA9EChyphenhyphenDpaKIaA-2ljb3ojzr0KobBJ3Qy-PVG42KwpX9mKu2ajVEjQ438VYP6Drnelvh5tflDX8fBWBP8zZU0KGBMwY/s1600/Sanajeh+indicus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uO_h8WRDzHqIGJEdZZ_msZAlnRGD4g8BGVTwH1HnFaMuh4UF7RA9EChyphenhyphenDpaKIaA-2ljb3ojzr0KobBJ3Qy-PVG42KwpX9mKu2ajVEjQ438VYP6Drnelvh5tflDX8fBWBP8zZU0KGBMwY/s200/Sanajeh+indicus.jpg" height="126" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Re-created <i>S. indicus</i> in titanosaur nest </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Between 55-40 mya during the Eocene, a whole group of booid-type snakes predominated. The hind legs had been reduced to fine stubs while mid thoracic verterbrae were present. Some of these archaic booids were <i>Boavus idelmani</i>, <i>B. affinis</i>, <i>B. agilis</i>, <i>B. brevis</i> and <i>B. occidentalis</i>. These snakes formed the basal clade of boine members. Occurring during the early Eocene some 52-55 mya, <i>B. idelmani</i> still has an extant and direct relative in the currently living <i>Boa dumerili</i> that is found isolated on the islands of Reunion and the southwest quadrant of Madagascar</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dumeril's boa lacks heat sensitive pits that other boids possess and for the most part is a ground dweller in not living an arboreal or fossorial existence</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZfJDBqLTwO2HVlI2QH3m4GM6_B258blsd_L8wEZ8SoW47UnoDqwIyAvfjpvp2n-EXwE6C5N3P0josNuSrp6y7XRAtkIirk2mw0gPdadoCiyLnqO2SUPs_lttXCncORtw-_6-tTKO8Mbc/s1600/Boavus+idelmani+zoltan+sylvester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZfJDBqLTwO2HVlI2QH3m4GM6_B258blsd_L8wEZ8SoW47UnoDqwIyAvfjpvp2n-EXwE6C5N3P0josNuSrp6y7XRAtkIirk2mw0gPdadoCiyLnqO2SUPs_lttXCncORtw-_6-tTKO8Mbc/s200/Boavus+idelmani+zoltan+sylvester.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Near perfectly preserved <i>b. idelmani</i> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NzVjNeBBrAWCMZH2M8MQuEo8Xbrnfffh8uqH2VZEqJvV0aMKWO60yJB4Os8_U8f9_p7FGNqkLjVBqHUqVdpONj42qMcZth9TgaGOqi6e-splLg16oeyXBi_O3x8yl1SMdGVua-tDhVh1/s1600/spurs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NzVjNeBBrAWCMZH2M8MQuEo8Xbrnfffh8uqH2VZEqJvV0aMKWO60yJB4Os8_U8f9_p7FGNqkLjVBqHUqVdpONj42qMcZth9TgaGOqi6e-splLg16oeyXBi_O3x8yl1SMdGVua-tDhVh1/s200/spurs1.jpg" height="131" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note spurs (remnant thigh bones)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The extinct genus, <i>Boavus</i> abounded wherever there was warm year round tropical settings and boids today still maintain that requisite. True boids began appearing around 50 mya, but still retained a vestigial pelvic girdle with a thigh bone known as a spur protruding (male spurs extend more than females) on each side of the cloacal opening. Just as currently living pythons and boas, they retained the primitive characteristics of a somewhat rigid lower jawbone with coronoid elements and a bigger left lung nearing 75% of the size of the right lung, where the left lung is almost defunct in all other more modern snake families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Boids were dominant until around 36 mya when another group of successful snakes, known as colubrids began spreading out. They were different from the boids in that they had developed a wider mouth gape to feed on larger prey. These early colubrids all possessed aglyph maxillary dentition as boids, but in addition, in losing the lower jaw coronoid bones, both jaws now were flexible able to dehinge at joints. Initially, colubrids were out-competed by boids and remained small as a group until around 20 mya. This is about the time continental drifting reached current positions. As tectonic plates took continents away from the equator, climates cooled on once equatorial lands, boids were unable to cope. From many regions they were once common, boids began to disappear and were greatly reduced in number where they were still surviving. From this episode, colubrids quickly filled in the voided niches and in evolving through hibernation, surpassed boids as the dominant snake group.<br /><br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">round 15 mya a family of colubrids began appearing with greatly enlarged rear teeth that became fanged as a venomous delivery system. This group of rear-fanged colubrids are called opisthoglyph. For snakes, a tooth is technically a fang if it acts as a delivery system for venom. Boid species possess some of the longest teeth in the snake world and although they appear fang-like, they are not because there is no venom involved. The venom from these early rear-fanged snakes was highly modified saliva enriched with proteins that destruct instead of sending information to construct cellular maintenance. The proteins are composed of phospholipases, phosphodiesterases and proteases, which gives inference to a pancreatic source as these proteins are enzymatic for digestive purposes. Duvernoy's gland is the reservoir for the venomous secretions. The fluid filled gland's original sole function was as an aid to swallowing by secreting the fluid into the mouth and down the throat</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />R</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">idges and grooves may be present on all aglyph dentition. For opisthoglyph dentition, grooves became dominant on posterior or medial enlarged </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">maxillary </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">teeth. Two or more maxillary teeth can form too close in proximity and in between a groove is formed. Opisthoglyph snakes must first gain a strong hold with the rear fangs on whatever they have bitten to allow the venomous secretions that are traveling down the groove to enter the wound. As a condensed drop on the outside of a glass filled with iced water slides down the glass, surface tension allows venom to trickle down the groove. Once the venom flows down the groove it enters the victim's tissue much like a sponge soaking up water as the open wound tissue behaves as an attractant. This new venom system was a novel food capture giving the snake a great advantage in subduing prey without risking physical harm from the struggling victim. A secondary advantage was its usage as an effective defense mechanism against predators</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Opistoglyphous</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A lot of colubrids today we don't think of as venomous actually are. They're considered harmless due to the fact that their venom is very mild to the stature of a human or they simply prefer to not bite humans, instead choosing other defensive strategies such as feigning or defecating. Some venomous colubrids we consider harmless are species of <i>Thamnophis</i> (garter snakes), <i>Diadophis</i> (ringneck snakes) and <i>Heterodon</i> (hognose snakes)</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ater, around 13-12 million years ago, proteroglyph dentition appeared from opistoglyph fangs migrating forward in the mouth. Proteroglyph fangs were still fixed, but were hollow from grooved fangs filling over and around the grooved channel. With the tip of the fang remaining opened, this fang arrangement is much like an hypodermic needle. In addition to a newer fang and delivery system that could inject more advanced neurotoxic venom in one strike, these snakes gained respect from most other animals, including primates. Humans still carry an early innate primate fear of snakes; in particular the venomous ones. The mandible became set back with a shorter but stronger quadrate bone. Thus arose the family of elapids and from the family <i>Elapidae</i> branched off the subfamily, <i>Hydrophiinae</i>, sea snakes that are viewed by most as holding the most concentrated and toxic venom</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">9.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Solenoglyphous</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y 10 mya, dentition modified further in some species ushering in a new fold of snake known as viperids. Preliminary molecular evidence indicates vipers did not come from proteroglyphs, but directly from boid stock. This new venom delivery system is known as soleonglyph and can be folded inwards (recoiled) when at rest and sprung into immediate erection to deliver a deep strike into tissue where it can immediately activate. Solenoglyphs use a rotating maxillary bone to recoil or erect the fangs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rom viperines (vipers lacking pit organs) the newest snake kid on the block evolved that we call pitvipers, due to a pair of facial pits that sense infrared radiation and also thermoregulate. Viperines utilize thermal cues for striking, but do not thermoregulate. The pits also aid in sensing and sizing predators. A member of pitvipers is the famed crotalines best known as rattlesnakes. Due to the heat sensing pair of pits, a blind rattlesnake not only would know the size and location of an intended prey, it would know right where to strike the most vulnerable part of the prey's body. Facial pit heat sensing has had parallel and direct evolvement, as boids possess the facial pits</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">10.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A. Aglyph B. Opisthoglyph C. Proteroglyph D. Solenoglyph</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he above description of snake evolution is very generalized as the fossil record of serpents is incomplete and at best patchy. With new approaches in studying evolutionary relationships such as DNA techniques and immunological response methodologies, a sort of rough outline is beginning to emerge in the genetic variation and order of evolvement for snakes</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><i>And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly thou shalt go; and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Genesis 3:14</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />This biblical verse was perhaps meant to be metaphorical or to play on natural fears, for to be taken literally, it is errant reading. The long transverse ventral scales are very efficient in propelling snakes through any terrain from heavy vegetation to sands and rocky outcrops. But of course, snakes not only crawl on grounds, they are also arboreal, aquatic, aerial (as one genus glides through the air) and as we have just read, once possessed legs. Dirt, they do not eat...they are strictly carnivorous. As not seemingly cursed, they are very accomplished as a specie</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snakes are essentially quasi cylindrical with a body plan for swallowing large prey whole. Many of the skull bones are loosely attached, in particular the jaw bones which may separate away from each other independently and unhinge from their joints. For more room in swallowing prey, the left lung has become vestigial or absent altogether with the right lung extending generally, to half the length of the body. There is no diaphragm and due to this the heart is able to move around encased in a sac called the preicardium. Paired organs, such as kidneys, stagger one another to make room for whole food. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he nostrils lead into the mouth cavity just behind the upper maxillary teeth. When ingesting a large meal air passage may be blocked, but snakes counter apnea for very long periods in being poikilothermic, therefore demanding only a low oxygen supply. In addition, the anterior portion of the right lung can extend into the throat during airway compression, while the posterior end acts as an air reservoir</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The digestive system of snakes, among the most complex in the animal kingdom allows the snake to swallow whole prey as much as 50% and even up to 160% in some cases more than their own body weight. The ingested feeding stimulates the rapid growth of the intestinal lining allowing the weight of the small intestine to double in weight to accommodate the meal. On the other hand, when a snake has extended fasts for various reasons, the mucosa lining of the small intestine atrophies conserving energy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />The digestive enzymes are very efficient in extracting and assimilating nutrients and in some cases completely digests bones. Adapted to intermittent feeding behavior, the snake rests during digestion of a big meal, but when threatened just after consumption, can readily regurgitate the undigested contents to be more alert and agile.<br /><br />The skin is entirely covered in scales which may be smooth or keeled while in addition, keeled scales may possess a pair of pits. Ventrum scales, except in a few cases such as aquatic <i>Acrchordus</i> species, are always elongated and smooth utilized for gripping surfaces and developing friction for mobility. Caudal scales beyond the cloaca are either single or doubled. Since snakes have no eyelid, each eye is covered with a transparent ocular scale called a brille</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snake skin is keratinized and impermeable, therefore unlike cutaneous amphibian respiration, snakes are only pulmonary in their breathing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Shedding of skin or ecdysis is performed up to four times within their first year of life due to rapid growth. From then on, shedding occurs once or twice a year. Shedding allows for growth and gets rid of worn out skin and ectoparasites. Ecdysis is normally done wholly as opposed to in parts and transpires when connective tissue between the outer old skin and inner new liquefies</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here are several methods of snake mobility. The most common is serpentine lateral undulation where sinusoidal movement is performed on land and in swimming. A second and third form of mobility by arboreal snakes is concertina and branching locomotion. Lateral undulation or sidewinding is employed by xenophidian snakes to move across loose or slippery substrates. Concertina is where a snake in succession will vertically crawl up a trunk with a convoluted body acting as a brace against the bark then extending its anterior end forwards. The anterior end then anchors allowing the posterior end to move forward. Branching involves grabbing a branch with the posterior end as a set anchor to thrust the anterior end forward to another branch. This is also a repetitive procedure. Rectinlear or horizontal locomotion, where there is no lateral body motion, is performed in a straight line. In this movement, a series of skin ripples, caused by the lifting and moving forward of ventral scales, propels the snake forward. This is slow motion and is usually a method chosen to not alarm potential prey with sudden or quick movement. The last form is gliding as displayed by </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chysopelea</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Philodryas</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> species. These snakes, by extending the vertebrae and flattening the body, creates a concave winging giving lift due to a ventral increase in air pressure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />All snakes utilize internal fertilization with most being oviparous, although ovoviviparity is not uncommon where the eggs are retained and hatched inside the mother, then born live. The common anaconda, <i>Eunectes murinus</i> and <i>Boa constrictor</i> are viviparous in having a placenta and give live birth just as mammals do.<br /><br />Size ranges from the extinct <i>Titanoboa cerrejonensis</i>, which was 12-15m/39-49ft, and the extant <i>Python reticulatus</i> measuring up to 9m/30ft. The heaviest extant snake is <i>Eunectes murinus</i> weighing up to 97.5kg/ 215lbs growing to 7.5m/25ft long. On the other hand the smallest snake is <i>Leptotyphlops carlae</i> with a length expanding no more than 10cm/4in. On average snakes range around 1m/3.3ft.<br /><br />Biotopes are varied ranging from the equator to the Arctic, from desert to rainforests and from sea level and sea to 4,850m/16,000ft in Tibet.<br /><br />Current snake species number anywhere from 2,600-3,000. All snakes are grouped under the order, <i>Squamata</i> and further under the suborder, <i>Serpentes</i> that is being pushed aside in favor of naming the suborder as <i>Ophidia</i>. <i>Colubridae</i> is still the predominant family, but due to monophyletic studies of mitochondrial DNA and differing morphological characteristics, colubrid members are being whittled down with species gaining their own respective new families.<br /><br />For further reading on snake descriptions, if you like you may go to my other website <a href="http://theponderinggulch.com/">theponderinggulch.com</a> and look to the side as you scroll for the science articles. Once science articles are found, click on 'Frontyard Sense/Backyard Science II,' then when on the article, scroll down until you reach the snake chapter.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Texas blind snake ~ <i>L. dulcis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Texas Blind Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Leptotyphlopidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Leptotyphlops</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Leptotyphlops dulcis</u></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17.8-27.9cm/7-11in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 1.2-2.0g/.04-.07oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: No data </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Leptotyphlops dulcis</i> ~ <i>Leptos</i> is Greek for 'thin'; <i>typhlos</i> is Greek for 'blind', while <i>ops</i> is also Greek for 'eyes'; <i>dulcis</i> is Latin for 'pleasant'; altogether refers to 'slender blind-eyed charming snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Is found in the Southwest of U.S. from south central Kansas down through Oklahoma and into Texas westwards through south New Mexico into southeast Arizona ending through northern Mexico bordering Texas, New Mexico & Arizona; habitat is where there is moisture and sandy or loamy soils in semiarid deserts, grass prairies and mountain slopes; inhabits terrain from sea level to 1,500m/5,000ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Is vermiform (worm-like) in appearance with dorsum & ventrum uniform sized glossy scales surrounding body, ventrum has no elongate scales for gripping surfaces; tail is extremely short ending in a scaled spike; vestigial eyes are buried underneath a translucent brille; to keep dirt out of mouth while burrowing, lower jaw is countersunk in contrast t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o upper;</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note vestigial eye</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dentition consist only of a few mandibular teeth set in lower jaw; upper maxillary teeth are absent; most all snakes transport prey from the oral cavity to the esophagus utilizing an unilateral jaw ratcheting system; mechanics involve left & right upper jaw arches advancing over prey in alternating one-sided ratcheting fashion pulling whole prey inwards; leptotyphlopids do not ratchet prey; instead use the only teeth in lower jaw in raking fashion, in which bilaterally synchronous flexing of lower jaw rakes prey into mouth and down the throat; closely related typhlopids also rake, but only have a few maxillary teeth in upper jaw, so are asynchronous as they rake in reverse of leptotyphlopids; extremely close resemblance to Trans-Pecos blind snake (<i>Leptotyphlops humilis</i>); main difference are 3 scales located on top of head between degenerate eyes exist on <i>L. dulcis</i>, where only one scale is present in <i>L. humilis</i>; snouts are shovel-like; overall, they are puce in coloration with an iridescent sheen and eyes appearing as two black dots; when first captured, may appear silvery due to raising of scales on one end hinge-style revealing silver underlying skin; currently, there are 2 recognized subspecies being <i>L. d. dulcis</i> & <i>L. d. dissectus</i>; some authors list <i>Leptotyphlops myopicus</i> as a distinct species while others define it as a subspecies, <i>L. d. myopicus</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Most writings suggest these snakes exclusively dine on termites and ants along with the pupae of these insects; while it is true that both adult and larvae ants and termites make up the bulk of <i>L. dulcis</i>' diet, they will readily consume other insects and spiders when the opportunity arises; snakes eat whole prey as do blind snakes, but only most of the time; <i>L. dulcis </i>will not eat the heads of termites or will only chew out the juices of certain insects; predators abound in ophiophagous snakes such as the rear-fanged night snake, <i>Hypsiglean torquata</i>, smaller raptors such as the elf owl, <i>Micrathene whitneyi</i> and rodents</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Consuming ant pupae - note mouth underbite </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Habits:</b> This snake is primarily fossorial or crevice dwelling in damp soils or rocky outcrops; if damp enough, on occasion may be found under ground objects such as fallen logs or rocks; is nocturnal actively coming to the surface under darkness, but during torrential rains may be seen on the surface at daytime due to being flooded out; because of certain ideal conditions such as moisture retention and adequate soils for burrowing in, occurs also under house foundations where a storm may drive them inside homes seeking shelter; with a stout rostral scale, smooth uniform body scalation and a spiny tail that is spiked for anchoring to aid in forward thrusts, this snake is built for burrowing; when on a flat surface the snake ha</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Living within rock crevices</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">difficulty in locomotion as, it cannot grasp the surface substrate nor adequately anchor the tail which it tries to in vain attempts; this has created myths that the snake attempts to sting once it is handled; though the tail ends in a spike, there is no stinging mechanism; the snake will wiggle and writhe endlessly attempting to move from one's hand and will constantly be trying to anchor the tail as it does so in burrowing, but not to sting; Texas blind snakes are attracted to ant secretions that are not necessarily wholly composed as ant pheromones; these ant secretions are picked up as scent molecules by the snake's bifurcated tongue, analyzed by the chemoreceptive Jacobson's organ, then sends the snake down the secretion deposited ant trail; for other insectivorous and ophiophagous snakes, the secretions repel, not attract; in particular the ant secretion, skatole acts as a very good snake repellent; in skatole and other ant secretions attracting L. dulcis, it benefits the snake two-fold; first, it leads the snake to the ant bed where it may feast upon virtually unlimited worker ants and ant larvae; secondly, the ant secretion deterrent keeps snake eating snakes and insect eating snake competitors at bay; in addition, L. dulcis has a cloacal sac that leads to the cloaca vent for dispersing a foul liquid on itself; this dispersant repels attacking soldier and worker ants, but also serves as a repellent to other snakes; the snake will reveal its silvery underskin and writhe to allow the liquid, along with defecation, to be smeared throughout the body; the coating adequately protects the snake from ant or termite attacks when it is invading their nests; this method is also a defense procedure against predatory threats; once L. dulcis reaches an ant bed, it will go into a feeding</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A. Raking in prey; B,C&D. Skull Morphology</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">frenzy, easily consuming over 100 of the proteinaceous ant larvae & pupae; besides mating, this snake will also group together when feeding on ant or termite nest sites; one curious note: the eastern screech owl (<i>Megascops asio</i>, formerly <i>Otis asio</i>) will grab a Texas blind snake and take it back to its nest not to consume but to keep it; the owl brings these snakes back to its nesting site to rid it of ectoparasites; this is a sympatric relationship where the owl benefits by getting rid of parasite infestation and the snake by being introduced to a food source and protected from predation; mating occurs during the spring months where the snakes group together then pair off; after mating the female will oviposit 2-7 eggs in a clutch within a burrow; female tends the eggs by coiling around them; often several females have laid their clutches in proximity to one another forming a small rookery; the eggs hatch by the end of August with the hatchlings measuring 6.6-7.6cm/2.6-3in; once hatching the young are on their own finding small invertebrates to consume; the imported fire ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta</i> has been detrimental to populations as their defenses do not deter fire ants; regardless, this snake is not considered as threatened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Plainbelly ~ <i>N. erythrogaster</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Plainbelly Water Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Colubridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Nerodia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Nerodia Erythrogaster</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">♂ ~ 76cm/29.9in SVL; ♀ ~ 122cm/48in SVL; Record: ♀ ~ 157.5cm/62in<br />Weight: Mean Ave: ♂ ~ 286g/0.63lbs; ♀ ~ 516g/1.14lbs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 14.5-15 yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Nerodia erythrogaster</i> ~ <i>Nerodia</i> is in honor of the Greek sea nymph, 'Nereis'; <i>erythrogaster</i> is derived from the Greek words, <i>erythros</i> for 'red' and <i>gaster</i> meaning 'belly' or is a combination of the 2 Greek words <i>neros</i> for 'flowing' and <i>dia</i> meaning 'through'; altogether refers to, 'Nereis' red belly water snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> With subspecies is widely distributed ranging from southern Michigan, southeast Iowa & Delaware through sections of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, all the southeastern states, Oklahoma, from central to eastern Texas and down into Mexico in the states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Zacatecas & Durango; within this range is absent in the Appalachians and the Florida peninsula; species of <i>Erythrogaster </i>frequent permanent or semi-permanent bodies of slow water and is ubiquitous in aquatic habitat choice ranging from wetlands, rivers, creeks, streams, floodplains and seasonally flooded bottomlands, wet meadowlands, lakes, ponds and man made tanks.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> All dorsal scales are rough and heavily keeled; anal plate divided; eye pupils are rounded; due to strong and protruding muscle jaws, the neck is seen as distinct from head; sexual dimorphism is exhibited only in size with females being larger; the genus, <i>Erythrogaster</i> lumps all water snakes together essentially with uniform venter scale coloration, hence the common name of the group as plainbelly; this group of water snakes is </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>N. e. transversa</i> Note distinct neck</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">further broken </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">down into 6 subspecies with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">N. e. erythrogaster</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> being the basal species; subspecies are basically differentiated by ventrum coloration; with <i>N. e. erythrogaster</i> known colloquially as the redbelly;<i> </i>the other 5 are: <i>N. e. flavigaster </i>(yellowbelly), <i>N. e. neglecta</i> (copperbelly), <i>N. e. transversa</i> (blotched) and 2 disjunct subspecies found in Mexico in, <i>N. e. alta</i> & <i>N. e. bogerti</i>; should note here as well that in Kentucky & Tennessee where authors list the the presence of <i>N. e. flavigaster</i> & <i>N. e. neglecta</i>, they are not found there; instead, the region is dominated by morphs intermediate between once existing <i>N. e. flavigaster</i> & <i>N. e. neglecta</i>; dorsal color variation exists between subspecies and even individuals within subspecies, but generally is a uniform black, brown, gray, olive gray, & pinkish; while some show faint dorsal crossbars, in <i>N. e. transversa</i>, the crossbars are more evident in blotchy patterns; ventrum coloration in <i>N. e.</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqKtVrG6weKOGd6MNwxfqGCH_Q4pdKICgiIRevqDsZ5LcgFXJddkcJgNsJJul7ctDPdQpyFTVQftx_8HW3-ilIwqFKVM1u_a_f5o6qINNtMzOJAVT3uquw0cM4JGgGgXL_D0QRieat7Jg/s1600/Nerodiaerythrogaster+j.d.+wilson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqKtVrG6weKOGd6MNwxfqGCH_Q4pdKICgiIRevqDsZ5LcgFXJddkcJgNsJJul7ctDPdQpyFTVQftx_8HW3-ilIwqFKVM1u_a_f5o6qINNtMzOJAVT3uquw0cM4JGgGgXL_D0QRieat7Jg/s200/Nerodiaerythrogaster+j.d.+wilson.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>N. e. erythrogaster</i> red ventrum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>erythrogaster</i> is red to orange-red; ventral coloration in <i>N. e. flavigaster</i> ranges from pale yellow to orangish yellow; <i>N. e. neglecta</i> venter coloration is copperish red to scarlet with dark dorsal colorations possibly extending to ventral scales; <i>N. e. transversa</i> ventrum is yellow to yellowish orange; <i>N. e. alta</i> has a pale yellow to orange ventrum while <i>N. e. bogerti</i> has yellow to pink-yellow ventral scales; neonates to sub adults of all subspecies are more vividly patterned exhibiting mid-dorsal blotches alternating with lateral blotching; ventral scales are always a uniform color</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Feeds exclusively on ectotherms, primarily frogs, toads and tadpoles, but other amphibians such as sirens are also consumed; will consume fish if they are in stranded pools, but do not go after fish in open waters as other water snake genera do; crawdads are also taken; will pursue prey if escape is attempted; juveniles feast primarily on invertebrates such as aquatic insects, tadpoles and small fish; predators abound in small carnivorous mammals such as raccoons and opossums, turtles, other snakes such as <i>Agkistrodon piscivorous</i> (water moccasin) & <i>Lampropeltis getula</i> (king snake) and crocodilians where present; shore and wading birds, <i>Buteo jamaicensis</i> (red-tailed hawk) & <i>Buteo lineatus</i> (red-shouldered hawk) and numerous larger fish will also prey on this snake.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> As a youth, my favorite snake to catch was <i>N. e. transversa</i> in creeks and stock tanks; I don't know why, as it can be very foul tempered when cornered; it prefers first to flatten its body and hide cryptically or to slither off into tall grass near the banks or in fields instead of retreating into water; if cornered though, it becomes ill tempered repeatedly attempting to bite; it is without doubt the snake I have been most biten by; once held, as it wiggles and writhes, it will defecate exuding a foul smell; I also had them regurgitate their recent meal on me as well; one meal was a ranid bullfrog tadpole that was in the last stages of metamorphosing; with its similar coloration, triangular shaped head due to the jaw muscle protuberance, keeled scales and nasty disposition, many mistake it for the cottonmouth (<i>Agkistrodon piscivorous</i>) and unfortunately kill it; it can be readily identified by the round pupils and divided anal scale as opposed to the cottonmouth's elliptical pupils and single anal scale, but who wants to observ</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1tTpZbJnkY6v9ZrkmIwfQ-4GCVakUfSCCCvUFzKH30j2OIuJjFmPpek2TNMgbftTJzx2Z00tq2knbXh87WOzk0N2kBBVu92aLzsia-V0Yd_tEUEWCIqf_ndikN3CcyG3qiAM8uwq3GXq2/s1600/Nerodia+erythrogaster+transversa+utdallas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1tTpZbJnkY6v9ZrkmIwfQ-4GCVakUfSCCCvUFzKH30j2OIuJjFmPpek2TNMgbftTJzx2Z00tq2knbXh87WOzk0N2kBBVu92aLzsia-V0Yd_tEUEWCIqf_ndikN3CcyG3qiAM8uwq3GXq2/s200/Nerodia+erythrogaster+transversa+utdallas.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>N. e transversa</i> grouping to bask</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that closely with an untrained eye; back in the day the genus was </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Natrix</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> instead of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nerodia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and is still what I prefer calling it; Old World water snakes are still classified in the genus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Natrix</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> which literally means 'water snake' in Latin; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">N. erythrogaster</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are heterothermic and love to bask singly or in groups and always near water; when starled while basking, will drop into the water and swim to the opposite shoreline of the threat retreating onto terrain shelter; one peculiar activity concerning this snake in water with current, in particular </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">N. e. neglecta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is its habit to anchor the tail to a large rock in or above water, or to an overhanging limb, then hang in the water facing the current with mouth agape fishing for anything that might swim by; this snake also is less aquatic than most other water snakes; will wander far from water during warm wet weather; is not only aquatic but arboreal; is primarily diurnal, but does forage at night; is active from March to October in northern range, while active all year in southern range except during cold snaps; hibernates normally near water, but is not uncommon for individuals to hibernate in uplands away from water; uplands are the choice ground for aestivating in environmental ranges that call for it; when hibernating or aestivating, chooses abandoned animal burrows such as rodents or crawdads, or rock piles; after hibernation ends mating begins in April through June; a lot of tongue flickering and following of the female by the males; courting is conducted in cords (groups), with on average 1 female to 7 males; when mating actually occurs, the successful male aligns with female, then both coil around each other with tails entwined; mating occur</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj675KHk0iDaC2DTVWISwbjhxJXObiP4k7DuC7BsJRkzJLmH31XZHaoOVFdN1swN7n_rQhgQd8tg6-ftJmJydzyUgsFa-beGVX6aKkfYTVO3FstR64wcTTAIHmxYs5ZZa6INPLMO43OpkxW/s1600/Nerodia+erythrogaster+neonate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj675KHk0iDaC2DTVWISwbjhxJXObiP4k7DuC7BsJRkzJLmH31XZHaoOVFdN1swN7n_rQhgQd8tg6-ftJmJydzyUgsFa-beGVX6aKkfYTVO3FstR64wcTTAIHmxYs5ZZa6INPLMO43OpkxW/s200/Nerodia+erythrogaster+neonate.jpg" height="158" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>N. e. neglecta</i> cryptic neonate</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">usually in very shallow water near shore; female mates only once a year;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as mammals, the female is viviparous having a gestation period of 3-4 months giving birth to 2-55 neonates; average litter size is ~18; tropical Mexican litter sizes are significantly smaller than northern range litters; measuring 18-34cm/7.09-11.81in, neonates immediately after birth are on their own to fend for themselves; neonate color patterns are very bold for cryptic camouflage; juveniles become sexually mature between 3-4 yrs of age; habitat destruction and pollution have decimated northern populations to the point of extirpation in northeastern states to being listed as endangered; in particular, N. e. neglecta is no longer found in regions of Michigan, Illinois and Iowa; currently though, it is estimated that all subspecies make up over 100,000 individuals, so is not listed as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Calabar python ~ <i>C. reinhardtii</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Calabar Python</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Boidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Charina (Calabaria)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Charina reinhardtii</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: .80-1m/2.6-3.3ft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 195-240g/6.88-8.4oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~ 20-30 yrs in wild</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Charina reinhardtii</i> ~ <i>Charina</i> is derived from the Greek word, <i>charicis</i> (<i>charis</i>) for 'graceful'; <i>reinhardtii</i> honors Danish herpetologist, Johannes T. Reinhardt (1816-1882); altogether refers to, 'Reinhardt's graceful snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to western and central Africa widespread in tropical regions of Sierra Leonne, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, DRC (Formerly: Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon & Equatorial Guiena including Bioko Island; prefers rain forest, swamp forest and overgrown banana plantation habitats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> This snake has been a nightmare for taxonomic classification; is listed under the boid subfamily Erycinae, but classifying it as a erycine boa is conjectural; physically and morphologically it appears more as a blind snake or even an amphisbaenian on steroids; just in 1993 it was removed from the <i>Eryx</i> genus and added to <i>Charina</i> by Kluge based on phylogenetic analysis; currently, there is a strong push in removing it from <i>Charina</i> leaving that genus to the N. American boas, <i>Charina bottae</i> & <i>Charina umbratica</i> (rubber boas) and <i>Charina trivirgata</i> (rosy boa), while putting it under the monophylic genus, <i>Calabaria</i>; the body is shaped much like all fossorial animals in being cylindrical, possessing weak eyes and a likeness of appearance in a blunt head and blunt tail, unlike boas; Unlike all other boids, no palatal teeth are present and the compacted skull, modified for a fossorial digging lifestyle has a prefrontal bone; head is covered in large scalar shields and there are no thermoreceptiv</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTF1PNwhjRMumAbroO8-WfUQgmHku0SgIEaceoCi2YzqULwEIVKWhm6MRh_0ItlmIl-iiWMVafJcSucEnLFUobro232UdlTz93ZL_GQ6xZ3DoPfueQEM8995jG2qTscsUu8sSL6yk2d2Ei/s1600/Charina+reinhardtii+wht+tl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTF1PNwhjRMumAbroO8-WfUQgmHku0SgIEaceoCi2YzqULwEIVKWhm6MRh_0ItlmIl-iiWMVafJcSucEnLFUobro232UdlTz93ZL_GQ6xZ3DoPfueQEM8995jG2qTscsUu8sSL6yk2d2Ei/s200/Charina+reinhardtii+wht+tl.jpg" height="116" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note white markings on tail</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">labial pits; body is equipped with strong contracting muscles; unlike all boas & pythons, the eye pupils are round being a reddish brown; overall color pattern consists of dark brown to black ground color speckled & splashed with lighter browns, red, yellow and/or gray; ventrum or dorsal half of tail commonly marked with cropped white bands; head & tail usually darker than rest of body; hatchlings are similar to adult markings; there are no current subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Almost wholly consists of rodent and shrew nestlings, in particular while still in early fur-less stages; in turn rodents make-up one of the major predators for juvenile <i>C. reinhardtii</i> mortalities; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a detailed dietary analysis did reveal in an individual rat's regurgitation of charina snake egg contents;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> erycines appeared and diversified around the same geological period as rodents did suggesting the interdependence bound between these 2 groups; other predation apparently is not well documented, but the stress placed on a <i>C. reinhardtii</i>, once picked up from above and hand held, suggests that raptors may be a major predator</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Habits:</b> Is a very shy, non aggressive and elusive snake; when confronted or even held never attempts to bite; defensive behavior is to coil tightly into a knotted rope-like ball; in the ball configuration head may be shielded in center or the tail; will undulate the tail appearing likely as the head of a snake about to strike; upon continual handling, captives will discontinue bal</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">l</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkeOZrTdZsCS5zs47VxNxOxduvefx1JFj5ADo9RF3TuzC6YXIKcgzbLx1lO5gWhWxVMSYnhRGs2m72JJHZgBMsoFzCgD9gq8dkInb1luUIDzr2KBXEWaaqx1wrq_bkt4xNy1b3smxf3wr/s1600/calabaria+heinhardtii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkeOZrTdZsCS5zs47VxNxOxduvefx1JFj5ADo9RF3TuzC6YXIKcgzbLx1lO5gWhWxVMSYnhRGs2m72JJHZgBMsoFzCgD9gq8dkInb1luUIDzr2KBXEWaaqx1wrq_bkt4xNy1b3smxf3wr/s320/calabaria+heinhardtii.jpg" height="132" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lft: Head in center; Rt: Head outside center</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">coiling; is not a true burrower in the sense that it does not burrow deep into soils, burrows through forest litter or just under the surface of humus ground; primarily is nocturnal, but is not uncommon to be found active during daylight; is a constrictor continually foraging for rodent nests; will rob a nest of rodent pups of 4 or more at a time either by constriction or pressing them up against the walls of nest site; is the only snake I know of that will consume multiple prey simultaneously; also has been observed keeping the female rodent adult parent at bay with the tail; at times when a nest has bee</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU56OgZOK8ksLBE_ignpHI5xrsCI0HSDxcDpIPaEcjiIbcE3XnRAanPSA6ekCOong3qu8PGQ-XcHmD0ui4bPIAbL-oFkusJt07qnqYov_N5zspSqbsBI_D2hwLA1EXf0Anf-PHjAR3bLtq/s1600/calabaria_reinhardtii++E+Osterman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU56OgZOK8ksLBE_ignpHI5xrsCI0HSDxcDpIPaEcjiIbcE3XnRAanPSA6ekCOong3qu8PGQ-XcHmD0ui4bPIAbL-oFkusJt07qnqYov_N5zspSqbsBI_D2hwLA1EXf0Anf-PHjAR3bLtq/s200/calabaria_reinhardtii++E+Osterman.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Climbing ability</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">found, will not enter until adult rodents have left; if hungry enough will also take adult rodents; females are more voracious in consuming multiple prey; although is normally no more than 1 meter or 3 feet above the ground, this snake will readily climb brush, bushes, tree trunks, fallen logs and rocks; as found only in tropical or rain forest terrain, appear to require moist environments as opposed to other erycine boas that inhabit semi-arid to arid terrain; mean daily movement appears to be higher in males than females; gravid females may be observed year round, but individual females seem to be biennial in breeding; weather effects breeding cycles; mating is initiated during dry seasons, specifically starting in end of November, ending in early February; female gorges herself during breeding cycle t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o maintain a</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4cyDNLuZRVUiHJEO3XevMuH0GO0f0u0or_kPAxOKrKghSx7XHg8UkrZHFJBmQWqG3iQt3vAGza2fSpsTGQxeHeRhL-pp08wwNIgix_Ndh7TiLQ9DrKmDw-2NCFMFSD5BKuXxW6fHD_xu/s1600/calabaria+heinhardtii+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4cyDNLuZRVUiHJEO3XevMuH0GO0f0u0or_kPAxOKrKghSx7XHg8UkrZHFJBmQWqG3iQt3vAGza2fSpsTGQxeHeRhL-pp08wwNIgix_Ndh7TiLQ9DrKmDw-2NCFMFSD5BKuXxW6fHD_xu/s400/calabaria+heinhardtii+2.jpg" height="92" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lft: Female incubation; Middle: Hatching; Rt: Hatchling</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">minimum breeding mass of ~ 500g/1.10lb; females are oviparous and will carry her fertilized eggs for 110-144 days before ovipositing; a nest site is chosen on or just in the ground surface and must be void of moisture but high in ambient humidty of 85-95%; eggs are flaccid and very thin prone to fungal infection if on damp or moist substrate; clutch size is anywhere from 1-6 eggs that measure 9-11.5cm/3.54-4.53in and weigh ~ 50g/20z each; egg clutch may weigh up to or just over half female's body weight; egg weight is due more to water content as hatchlings weigh only ~45% of original egg weight; though many authors relegate that female <i>C. reinhardtii</i> does not incubate eggs, at some point many females indeed do; incubation period is 6 weeks with hatchlings measuring 26-32cm/10.24-12.60in; hatchlings will not feed until until shedding usually on the third day of life; <i>C. reinhardtii</i> is not listed as threatened but is under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species due to concerns of over harvesting for the pet trade and destruction of tropical forests in its range.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Tar pot python ~ <i>A. melanocephalus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Tar Pot Python</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Boidae (Pythonidae)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Aspidites</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Aspidites melanocephalus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">/<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Ave total length (TL): 1.5m/4.93ft; Max TL: 3m/10ft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~16kg/35.27lb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 15-20yrs in wilds; 20-30yrs in captivity</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Aspidites melanocephalus</i> ~ <i>Aspidites</i> is Greek meaning 'shield bearer' in reference to large dorsal head scales; <i>melan</i> is Greek root word for 'black', while <i>cephalus</i> is Latin derived from the Greek word, <i>kephalos</i> meaining 'head'; altogether refers to, 'snake with shield bearing black head'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to Australia as broadly distributed from east to west in northern third of country; range includes majority of Northern Territory, Queensland's northern latitudes and Western Australia's northern third; the Pilbara population is isolated in the western range and may be disjunct from gene pool of rest; habits a wide range of habitats from wooded savannas & open forests to the arid northern coast, rocky outcrops, grasslands and along dry water courses.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Most pronounced feature is the black head & neck as its scientific name refers to; dorsal portion of head is covered with large symmetrical scales; Unlike most other pythons, there are no heat receptor pits located in labials (lip scales); due to this it was thought <i>A. melanocephalus</i> was either a very primitive python or due to a more fossorial evolvement, lost the labial pits; as it turns out in recent analysis, the tar pot indeed does have a heat sensor pi</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOG4UZp7Mz7XQIXIyKYcjWT8X1xVZySTR4B6g5podqCESPxgIMQTqvyTH6Fz3ybojH_aOdWU8i6A_VlgJpTkDfCi6M4K2E8vx5hUjWdoKkc4vfjNep-CQ-zEJO_N3N0DyLA6o_syKx4dr2/s1600/Aspidites+melanocephalus+paul+looyen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOG4UZp7Mz7XQIXIyKYcjWT8X1xVZySTR4B6g5podqCESPxgIMQTqvyTH6Fz3ybojH_aOdWU8i6A_VlgJpTkDfCi6M4K2E8vx5hUjWdoKkc4vfjNep-CQ-zEJO_N3N0DyLA6o_syKx4dr2/s200/Aspidites+melanocephalus+paul+looyen.jpg" height="142" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note large head scales</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">located ventrally under the rostral (snout tip) scale; rostral area also tapers into a somewhat sharp leading edge to accommodate burrowing; head overall is small & indistinct to neck; scales are smooth & glossy; anal scale is single followed by 60-75 mainly single subcaudals; sexual dimorphism exists in female being ~ 10% larger than males and the female tail tapers off sooner past cloaca due to males' hemipenes being stored within tail just beyond cloaca; size of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. melanocephalus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> increases progressively eastwards in populations; east-west incongruousness also reveals the larger eastern species are less aggressive in dispositon than the more ill-tempered western species, while the eastern</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvhfGzWNFK2Iiyo9QCIlkp32L_7T5CN237nveBWuK3oL3ZpwRlSTqoElzyRTbB0p26WOTLKlpa_rH5yjufceLiCZhNQODVyvqv-6Wvg4uBAc3CD8O_LpkR_9B7blaxhjo-ZHXu4IZv0xE/s1600/Aspidites+melanocephalus+pit2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvhfGzWNFK2Iiyo9QCIlkp32L_7T5CN237nveBWuK3oL3ZpwRlSTqoElzyRTbB0p26WOTLKlpa_rH5yjufceLiCZhNQODVyvqv-6Wvg4uBAc3CD8O_LpkR_9B7blaxhjo-ZHXu4IZv0xE/s200/Aspidites+melanocephalus+pit2.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventral view of rostral pit</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">trend also shows species darker in background body coloration than their western Pilbara counterparts; coloration also varies greatly due to geographic distribution & isolation; body ground color trends from darker browns to almost white where the eastward populations are darkest and the westward populations are lighter with the middle populations holding a color in between; Western Australian specimens are much lighter without the reddish brown overtones found in those in more easterly ranges; all possess the characteristic black cranium that extends down the neck & throat approximately 20 scales back from the head; rest of body ranges from a hue of colors from pale white to yellowish brown to very dark brown; irregular dark brown to black bands may blend together along mid-dorsal line creating the striped appearance; darker blotching may also exist in specimens on sides between the striping; ventrum is normally white to pink with dark spotting; age plays a factor in coloration as well, with older specimens tending to be paler in distinctive markings, where in juveniles markings are more intense; most authors and writings do not include subspecies, but with the disjunct species some are beginning to recognize 2 subspecies as <i>A. m. adelynensis</i> & <i>A. m. davieii</i>; separation from other tar pots is due to scale counts; the proposed subspecies have no suboculars, 1 loreal and a single pair of large parietals, while all other tar pots possess 1-2 suboculars, 2-4 loreals and 2-4 parietals; once more genetic analysis is conducted, results will verify the need or not for the subspecies listing.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Color morphing from east to west</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Tar pots almost exclusively feed on other reptiles, mainly lizards and other snakes; they are immune to the venom of venomous snakes that share habitat; on occasion they will take amphibians; while only on rare occasion will they take birds or mammals; snake keepers, due to lack of access to this snake's natural food, will train captives to accept rodents, by smearin</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">g</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDT_H6dG_QACRHdcMYz9pxEN1Et93fh8gW2SDW60TI_fCijDHryvWv0i_evrYjFPXF1Y2dewwUI_u44c5rqnnjgZZGWFEIuzYxuCZL-NoWiuoEW-kkvUUpSdA2hzTxHxnIvS-8vwKTBpQR/s1600/aspidites+melanocephalus+devouring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDT_H6dG_QACRHdcMYz9pxEN1Et93fh8gW2SDW60TI_fCijDHryvWv0i_evrYjFPXF1Y2dewwUI_u44c5rqnnjgZZGWFEIuzYxuCZL-NoWiuoEW-kkvUUpSdA2hzTxHxnIvS-8vwKTBpQR/s320/aspidites+melanocephalus+devouring.jpg" height="320" width="86" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Devouring a lizard</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lizard smells onto the mammals; the photos to the right show a tar pot devouring a racehorse goanna; these lizards live up to their name in being fast & quick; the much slower tar pot must have ambushed it; the ordeal took a few hours; desert death adders, along with other venomous elapids are a prominent food source; besides dingoes and humans, adults have no natural predators; juveniles may be taken by other reptiles and birds of prey; since <i>A. melanocephalus</i> readily consumes reptiles, on occasion adults have been observed practicing cannibalism by consuming juveniles; ticks are a constant ectoparasite nuisnace in the wilds</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> This nocturnal snake burrows preferring sand banks of dried out streams, termite mounds, hollow logs or large crevices in rocks or deep soils where it rests during daytime heat; males in seeking females are active a lot of the time during the day; tar pots have a high metabolism and during colder months have a peculiar way of basking by only protruding the black head from the burrow to absorb heat; they may also bask in the open by raising the head from the coiled body; to cool off, a habit is to bury their head; native aboriginals depicted this snake as part of their 'Dreamers' rituals in spirituality beliefs; tar pots for defensive measures rarely bite when cornered, but hiss loudly and strike normally with the mouth closed; when they do bite, it can make a severe wound from their large recurved teeth; main defense is to move off from the disturbance; as all pythons, tar pots constrict their prey to death prior to ingestion; due to lack of natural predators, most <i>A. melanocephalus</i> die due to a combination of starvation and/or internal parasites; mating takes place predominantly in late winter or early spring (July-September); males participate in combat fighting over females and may bite each other; in breeding, the male performs 'tactile stimulation' in crawling over female pressing his tail under hers while raking his larger spurs over one of her sides to stimulate her and align their cloacas together, where he can then insert a hemipenis into her cloacal opening; mating may last from 20 minutes to 6 hours and can be more than once for the pair; multiple partner matings have not been observed; females are oviparous; once a suitable site is picked will lay her egg clutch after a gestation period of 2 months; mean clutch size is 8, with clutch sizes ranging from 5-10; female will quit feeding to incubate her eggs becoming aggressive during this period; typical python 'shivering thermogenesis' is performed through muscular contractions stimulating production of metabolic heat; eggs hatch in 2-3 months from oviposition with hatchlings measuring 50-70cm/19.69-27.56in; once hatched, fend for themselves and begin feeding 2 days afterwards; although the IUCN has not had an official evaluation of population trends, this snake is not listed as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Amazon tree boa ~ <i>C. hortulanus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Amazon Tree Boa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Boidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Corralus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Corralus hortulanus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Length: 1.5-2.0m/5.0-6.5ft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 400-600g/14.11-1lb 5.16oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Wilds ~ 12-15 yrs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Corralus hortulanus</i> ~ Originally rooted from Greek word, <i>korallium</i>, <i>corralus</i> is from the Latin word, <i>corallium</i> meaning coral in reference to snakes multicolored patterns; <i>hortulanus</i> is derived from Latin word, <i>hortus</i> in reference to head color pattern resembling a flower garden; altogether describes, 'variety colored flower garden snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Natural distribution is endemic to South America; found within a broad range in Bolivia, Amazonian Brazil, southern Colombia east of Andes, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela; typically found no higher than 300m/990ft, this snake is basically arboreal in neotropical jungle settings</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Uncommon melanistic phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Due to arboreal way of life, is much thinner and smaller than other more terrestrial boids; tail is highly prehensile; bodies are laterally compressed with slender necks attached to much wider massive heads; teeth are long and recurved for grasping and holding onto prey while moving it to the back of the throat for swallowing; eyes are vertically elliptical; possesses heat sensor pits located between supralabial & infralabial scales; sense of smell in Jacobson's organ is highly developed, where tongue picks ambient environment molecules to be analyzed by the organ; this snake exhibits the whole hue of the color spectrum from blacks, grays and browns to shades of blue, red, yellow & orange; may b</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Gray garden phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">patterned or exempt of markings as wholly one solid color; genetically, there are 2 color phases, but the 'garden phase' and 'colored phase' are not ontogenic, therefore many colors & patterns result; 'garden phase' usually refers to more drab coloration but patterned, where colored phase is more of bright coloration with little or no patterning; gene flow disruptions as a result of habitat change due to natural events such as river coursing diversions or man made habitat destruction, created isolated pockets of this snake's populations, thus the varied colors and pattern variables; no matter the color variability, there is little mtDNA sequence differences to justify designating subspecies; however, due to slight morphology differences, such a</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Blue garden phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">meristic characteristics in number of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dorsal scale counts and scale differences in loreal region, some authors recognize 2 subspecies; they are, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. h. hortulanus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. h. cooki</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In the wilds natural food prey items are birds (such as <i>Chloroceryle inda</i>, <i>Coereba</i> & <i>Elaenia</i>), bats (such as <i>Phyllostomus bicolor</i>, <i>Rhynchonycteris naso</i> & <i>Myotis</i>), lizards (such as <i>Anolis</i>, <i>Basilicus</i> & <i>Iguana</i>), microhylid frogs such as <i>Elachistocleis</i>, rodents (such as <i>Akodon</i>, <i>Mus</i> & <i>Rattus</i>) and marsupials such as <i>Marmosa</i>; juvenile diets also consist almost wholly of small vertebrates as well taking tree frogs, small lizards, birds & bats; neonates may take large insects and tree frogs; being one of the larger predators within tropical canopies, motionless stances, cryptic coloration and with a</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Garden phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">very aggressive nature when encountered, this snake as an adult doesn't have too many predators to contend with; main predators are birds of prey such as <i>Harpia harpyja</i> & <i>Pulsatrix perspicillata</i>; big jungle cats on uncommon </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">encounters may kill the snake.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Habits:</b> <i>C. hortulanus</i> is solitary, arboreal and primarily nocturnal most of its life; at times though, may be observed as active during daylight and on the ground; most of life is spent in tree canopies hanging motionless in sit and wait ambush strategy, where prehensile tail is anchored around a limb or twigs giving leverage for a possible two-thirds body thrust to strike and capture prey or bite an adversary; this ca</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Defense & ambush positioning</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be a very aggressive snake, but for good reason; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">it's enlarged thermo-sensor labial pits for infrared temperature variant detection are highly active; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">deep labial scale depressions that are zig-zag shaped in formation and neuro-calcium ion channels (TRPA1), allows detection differences in heat of 0.5 celsius or 0.9 fahrenheit; also gives an infrared image; sense of smell in chemical signals is also keen; when a captive is in hunting mode and sensors are on high alert, heat from the handler's hand (which is size range of a rat and gives off same amount of heat), excites the snake & the hand will readily be bitten, until chemical sensors aids snake in realizing it is a mistake, then will ease off the stricken bite; with long thin, sharp teeth and strong jaw muscles, can inflict a bad wound; the spurs of males are also used in defense; when on ground the favored postion is in</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> 3 red phases Lft: stonewash, Mid: garden, Rt: calico</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a coiled ball utilizing sight more for detection; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">active foraging is performed more by juveniles; humidity plays an important role in this snake's hydration as snake's internal body seal is more permeable to external environmental moisture than most snakes; this maintains moisture balance within body; humidity to an extent also aids in locomotion; most water intake by mouth is from collected dew drops on body or canopy material; for internal water balance, moisture is exited through exhaling breath; temperature is also vital in this snake's survival and seeks out an open spot for basking within 1-2 degrees of 32</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> °C/90 °F; more time is spent</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lft: orange phase, Mid: yellow phase, Rt: paradox phase</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">basking after eating a heavy meal or when females are gravid; in mating, increments in temperature differences between night & day and overall slight temperature decreases starting in November trigger sexual responses; shorter daylight hours also initiate courting during winter months; courtship consists of a behavior by the male known as 'tail writhing' which initiates ovulation in the female if she is responsive; males frequently shed just before courtship as it increases his chances to mate; females are more responsive to freshly shed males; <i>C. hortulanus</i> will mate multiple times during the breeding period and a female may be bred by other males; males also use their spurs to stimulate females cloacal region; full ovulation in female occurs several weeks after copulation where the stored sperm then fertilizes her eggs; gestation period is 175-225 days; females are ovoviviparous giving birth to a litter of up to 12 live young; neonates are on their own from time of birth; first shedding occurs 8-14 days after birth; juveniles have a habit of knotting their tails due to not yet mastering the very prehensile tail; on rare occasion this can cause a necrotic effect with the tail rotting then falling off; both sexes are sexually mature at 3 years of age; though habitat is being destroyed, with its wide range in distribution this snake is not considered endangered yet.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Arafura file snake ~ <i>A. arufurae</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Arafura File Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Acrochordidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Acrochordus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Acrochordus arafurae</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: ♂ ~ 1.2m/3.96ft; ♀ ~ 1.5m/4.95ft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ♂ ~ 700g/1.54lbs; ♀ ~ 1.5kg/3.4lbs <br />Longevity: Ave: ~ 9yrs; up to 19-20yrs</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Acrochordus arafurae</i> ~ <i>Acrochordus</i> is from the Greek word, <i>acrochordon</i> meaning 'wart'; <i>arafurae</i> is in reference to the Arafura Sea; altogether refers to, 'Wart snake of the Arafura Sea'</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Found in coastal regions and adjacent waterways of the Northern Territory & western portion of North Queensland in Australia, while also in southern New Guinea; prefers shallower rivers, streams & billabongs (Aussie description for small lakes) or any permanent bodies of water with fish; has also been observed in estuaries and swimming in the sea on occassion; this almost exclusive aquatic snake prefers freshwater and only on rare occasion travels via land to go to more viable water sources.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> The Arafura file snake belongs to the genus, <i>Acrochordus</i> which has 3 species; all 3 are only distantly related to the rest of all other extant snakes; closer family relations are extinct such as <i>Anomalopheidae</i>, <i>Nigerophiidae</i> & <i>Paleopheiadae</i> that died out during the Paleogene (Tertiary) period 35 mya; they were intermediate between primitve & advanced snake groups; <i>A. arafurae</i> is a large to heavy bodied snake with adaptations geared for a fully aquatic lifestyle; skin is loose & baggy covered with highly keeled non-lapping scales; scales are small, rugose & granular giving a warty appearance; sensor bristles appear on small outgrowths interstitially from skin; lacks the typical enlarged transverse scales typically found on terrestrial snakes; compared to body, head is small with small eyes placed dorsally on top</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Close-up; note dorsal eye, scales & bristles</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of head; teeth are solid and snake is nonvenomous; nasal plugs or valves are present for submergence; skull is modified to swallow larger prey with elongate quadrates and a quadrate-columellar articulation; there is no mid-ventral fold; tail is prehensile; this snake is not only sexually dimorphic in morphology with female being larger along with larger head, it is dimorphic in behavior in occupying different aquatic niches; females prefer deeper waters where male remains in more shallow; males also have longer tapering tail to accommodate the storage & housing of hemipenes; coloration may vary, but generally dorsum is a dark gray to light brown with reticulations of dark brown or black; reticulations are vertebral extensions to ventral surface; ventrum is normally whitish; coloration is more distinct & patterned in juveniles that dulls over time; there are no recognized subspecies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Essentially is piscivorous feeding almost exclusively on fish relishing the eel-tailed catfish (<i>Tandanus tandanus</i>); are a few reports that it will also accept eels and carrion, in particular dead fish; as unusual for snakes, possesses a convoluted intestine much like quadrapeds; digestion is very efficient in even digesting, assimilating and utilizing scales & bone; contends with many predators including fork-tailed catfish (Ariidae), saltwater crocodiles (<i>Crocodylus porosus</i>), whistling kites (<i>Haliastur sphenurus</i>), black-necked storks (<i>Xenorynchus asiaticus</i>) and most significantly white breasted sea eagles (<i>Haliacetus luecogaster</i>); aboriginal people also consume this snake by flushing then capturing them in the water and throwing them onto land where they do not move well.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Rare photo in capturing a catfish</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> this is a very passive snake and usually never bites even when provoked or injured; mainly nocturnal foraging at night; female in deeper water will use prehensile tail to hold fast to aquatic plants waiting for fish to swim by; male is more active in shallower water in swimming searching for prey; both sexes will also crawl along the bottom and may travel up to 68m/224.4ft in the dry season and up to 166m in the wet season crawling or swimming; loose skin aids in swimming acting as a finned foil; another oddity for snakes is it will not capture prey until it is touched; bristle sensors aid in sensing prey; when prey is detected, the snake immediately coils around victim with granular scales aiding in firmly gripping slippery prey in water; coiling is not for constriction as in boids, but more so in securing prey to maneuver mouth into place of prey's head where the snake places a firm bite hold; in this coiled and head bite position the snake then if in deep enough water, will hold the prey vertically upright to create an hypoxic condition for the fish victim; once prey is stilled and totally subdued, the snake begins to consume the meal head first; females may eat a fish up to 1kg/2.21lbs; males eat smaller sized fish; in dry season, <i>A. arafurae</i> concentrates in density into backwaters & the billabongs; upon arrival of wet season they then move back to streams, flooded grassland and mangroves; after a few gulps of surface air, can remain submerged for hours at a time; this snake has most extensive vascular respiratory system of any known snake; right lung stretches just to cloaca and is vascularly parenchymal (having functional parts) throughout length; also possesses supplemental cutaneous respiration abilities; has a very slow metabolic rate and can survive eating only 3-5 times a year; another snake oddity of this snake is thermal acclimation; unlike ectothermic snakes, <i>A. arafurae</i> is homeothermic and can maintain average body temperatures between 26-30 degrees Centigrad</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female r</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">esting on the bank</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or 78.8-86 degrees Fahrenheit; in being a low energy specialist, <i>A. arafurae</i> exhibits a very low rate of reproduction normally reproducing only once in a 8-10yr period; like mammal females possess a placenta, so are viviparous giving birth to live young; males' inverted paired hemipenis is fitted within tail and can store sperm for years; hemipenes are everted for intromission; mating occurs during the dry season and female will carry fetuses until the mid to ending of wet season, when she gives birth to anywhere from 6-30 neonates; Dubach et al. (1997) reported a captive female giving birth that had not been around a male for 7 years; this suggests that female <i>A. arafurae</i> are parthenogenetic or have capability of storing sperm for years; equal numbers of females & males usually occur during birth; neonates average 36.6cm/14.41in in SVL length and 26g/0.92oz in mass; due to predation there is a high mortality rate in juveniles; females show substantial growth in first 16 yrs and become sexually mature between 7-12 yrs; males sexually mature within 5 yrs and show a sharp decline in growth rates after maturing; on average within snake species, <i>A. arafurae</i> mature very slowly; though pressures are being applied to populations of this snake such as low reproduction rates, sought after in New Guinea for its hide, water pollution and looked upon as an important traditional food item for aborigines that highly prize and seek out pregnant females, <i>A. arafurae</i> is not currently listed as threatened.</span></div>
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ceylonese pipe snake ~ <i>C. maculatus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ceylonese Pipe Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Cylindrophiidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Cylindrophis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Cylindrophis maculatus</u></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Length: 30-65cm/11.81-25.59in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Weight: ~19.5g/0.69oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: Unknown</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Name Origin: <i>Cylindrophis maculatus</i> ~ <i>Cylindr</i> originates from the Greek word, <i>kulindros</i> meaning 'cylinder'; <i>ophis</i> is Greek for 'snake'; <i>maculatus</i> is Latin for 'spotted' in reference to large reddish brown spots; altogether refers to 'cylindrical spotted snake'.<br /> <br /><b>Distribution</b>: Endemic to island of Sri Lanka up to 1,000m/3281ft asl; inhabits island's all 3 climate zones; prefers closed forests with loose packed ground, leaf litter, felled logs and rocks to shelter or hide under. <br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Known as 'Depath naya' in Sri Lankan technical circles; closest relation is the extinct Cretaceous snake, <i>Kelyophis hechti</i>; both snake species are listed under the suborder, <i>Alethenophidia</i>, but in differing families with genus, <i>Kelyophis</i> listed under <i>Nigerophiidae</i>; general physical characteristics are smooth dorsal, glossy, iridescent, & overlapped scales with a broadly rounded snout, no neck distinction and a very short tail, in particular for snakes which begins at cloaca ending at tip; though tail is broad, tail tip is pointed arising myths that snake can falsely sting; body gives appearance of a cylinder or tube; has small eyes with pupils slightly vertically elliptical; a pair of nostrils each sitting in </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">a</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note short tail beyond cloaca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">single scale</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">; cloaca scale is divided; possesses maxillary, palatine, pterygoid and mandibular teeth that are anododont in dentition; overall coloration has dorsum colors of either an opaque brick red or brownish orange with a black network enclosing 35-55 rowed spots usually with 2 dominant lighter nuchal spots that may be totally ringed; dorsal head & tail normally black; ventrum is either creamish, white or pink with black barring creating a variegated pattern; juveniles are similarly patterned, but lighter in shades; currently there are no listed subspecies.<br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This snake cannot articulate and distend its mouth in accommodating larger prey as most snakes can, so preys on less bulky but long and thin prey; utilizes backbone in consuming prey; while swallowing, part way with some of victim still hanging out from mouth, snake will shut the mouth, curve its backbone back and forth causing head to shoot forward engulfing more of prey; main food items are fossorial such as earthworms, caecilians & amphisbaenids; also consumes scincid lizards and smaller colubrid (Aspidura) & uropeltid (Rhinophis) snakes; juveniles take insects and small amphibians; will consume prey longer than themselves; is a constrictor but only fully constricts larger prey; smaller prey it will coil around, but only to hold until the mouth can reach the head to begin swallowing victim still alive; predation comes from birds of prey, shorebirds, larger lizards and snakes, in particular the Ceylon krait snake, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bungarus ceylonicus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiel1-igxVp4ofXAv4gyxqqL7DHVqcIs50b64NhwKjIZfp87sYuOuFqkRneakzyd1nmJGu9vj1dNMeeEtr8QRQAvmKZvTSLcHACQrub_E1A31vWM-MESppFeK9OXUNU_8mO65b194QqdYx9/s1600/Cylindrophis+maculatus+chaminda+jayaratne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiel1-igxVp4ofXAv4gyxqqL7DHVqcIs50b64NhwKjIZfp87sYuOuFqkRneakzyd1nmJGu9vj1dNMeeEtr8QRQAvmKZvTSLcHACQrub_E1A31vWM-MESppFeK9OXUNU_8mO65b194QqdYx9/s200/Cylindrophis+maculatus+chaminda+jayaratne.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Tail raising & curling</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> C. maculatus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in general is an unusual</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> snake, but one of its more odd behaviors is its defense tactics; has ability to distend posterior ribs flattening the back half of body; simultaneously raises and curls tail displaying underside, then waving posterior end as cobras do in defense warnings; the tail appears as a false head and can confuse predators; if so much as touched by a perceivable animal threat, will exude a yellow acrid semiliquid viscous fluid from paired anal glands; other than these defensive moves will passively hide its real head beneath its lowest coil, but does not attempt to escape and does not utilize teeth to defend; is semi-fossorial and burrows with its stout rostral scale; burrows wide enough to enable it to turn around; can swiftly tunnel in moist loose soils; forages mostly at night so is nocturnal; spends daylight hours either burrowed or underneath ground litter on surface; after heavy rains will frequent surface actively; when mobile on surface can </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRxzwBWvuGSGS8e7fLQD5QczxI5UX8S23eYibCRU8WBbpe-RwS2TM1bpe-rdiRfS_lowQW1EK3hzEFJHpLCZODG97KRbZzTE4vcShp1HQSd84VX_wYQiSnl3yhuuV8JCG3oPBZC1mNFJe/s1600/Cylindrophis+maculatus+w'+yng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRxzwBWvuGSGS8e7fLQD5QczxI5UX8S23eYibCRU8WBbpe-RwS2TM1bpe-rdiRfS_lowQW1EK3hzEFJHpLCZODG97KRbZzTE4vcShp1HQSd84VX_wYQiSnl3yhuuV8JCG3oPBZC1mNFJe/s200/Cylindrophis+maculatus+w'+yng.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female with 2 neonates</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">travel just as fast going backwards a</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">s </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">forwards; on surface movement is erratic and awkward due to not possessing long ventral scales for gripping; this snake is viviparous with female possessing a placenta and egg yolk to accommodate fully developed fetus; young are retained until reaching a very unusual degree of development; period of gestation is not known; litters consist of 2-7 young; at birth, neonates are 127-137mm/5-5.40in; in first year of life these snakes grow rapidly reaching 272mm/10.71in; being endemic and isolated to an island while exposed to pollution and dumping grounds, <i>C. maculatus</i> populations are potentially being threatened, although this snake is not currently listed under any threatened category.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Trans-Pecos rat snake ~ <i>B. subocularis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Trans-Pecos Rat Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Family: Colubridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Bogertophis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Bogertophis subocularis</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />Length:</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1.0-1.7m/3.3-5.61ft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~178-302.5g/6.28-10.67oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: Ave: 10yrs, but up to 20-25yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Name Origin: <i>Bogertophis subocularis</i> ~ <i>Bogertophis</i> honors Charles Mitchill Bogert, an herpetologist who worked on the systematics of colubrids; all Latin rooted <i>sub</i> means 'below', <i>oculus</i> refers to 'eye', <i>aris</i> meaning 'in having'; altogether refers to, 'Bogert's snake having lorilabial scales below eyes'.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ranges in south-central New Mexico, within the Trans-Pecos and Big Bend areas of Texas southwards into the state of Durango, Mexico; prefers arid-semi arid zones in agave, creosote bush, ocotillo slopes and rocky areas dominated by low growth shrubs and trees</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><b>Description:</b> Is an elegant long & slender snake belonging to the New world <i>Elaphe</i> (rat snake) group; scales slightly keeled and anal scale is divided; possesses subocular scale row lying in contact with eye and directly below between eyes and upper labial lip scales; has large</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note large eye & suboculars</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eyes that slightly protrude; pupils are rounded; iris is silvery blue; most snakes have no more than 32 chromosomes, while <i>B. subocularis</i> is unique in having 40; males are slightly larger than females by .1m/.5ft; dorsum background is of yellowish browns from yellow, tan & brown; has 2 long bold dark brown or black lines extending full length of neck that forms an 'H' shape; 'H' pattern is followed by dark motifs or squarish patterns further down the back; ventrum is a creamish opaque tan with a defined sheen; variable colors from brown hues to yellow shades naturally exist; there are also isolated populations with a very light yellow coloration and are termed a blonde variant; a smaller isolated population is whitish and is termed the silver variant; currently, there is one recognized subspecies in th</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventrum showing sheen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">extreme southern range in Durango, Mexico; it is </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. s. amplinotus.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Once designated under the genus <i>Elaphe</i> or rat snakes due to rodents being the main course of consumption, it was later found that lizards are the major food item for <i>B. subocularis</i> in the wilds; Besides lizards, will also take rodents such as deer mice & white throated wood rat, sciurids such as ground squirrels, young birds such as cliff swallows & roadrunners and has been observed capturing bats as the mammals fly out from cave entrances or probing nooks & crannies where bats roost; juveniles chiefly feed on lizards; may feed on very large animals, but apparently the ingested hump does not hamper locomotion or the ability to climb in adults; juveniles develop habit of eating large prey and they do have difficulty in maneuvering and may simply just roll from side to side with the large lump until digested; natural predators are birds of prey such as owls & roadrunners; where ranges intersperse, helodermatids may locate nest sites and dig up eggs to consume</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lft: blonde variant; Mid: mixed coloration; Rt: silver variant</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Habits:</b> I was fortunate enough to find a Trans-Pecos rat snake in Big Bend at the base of the Chisos Mountains; Unfortunately, it has been the only instance; due to desert midday heat this snake is nocturnal burrowing or hiding under shaded cover during daylight; this individual I found though was active in sagebrush during the day; they are quick and efficient climbers as this one glided effortlessly through the bushes' tangled limbs; can vertically climb rock cliffs; in capturing prey, like all rat snakes <i>B. subocularis</i> is a constrictor; if in a rodent nest or with lizards in confinement may constrict multiple prey simultaneously; if prey is small enough may</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefPDdjNokJjT6kYiZxcaVUv08nGpCQbXSIyz0r3v20K7iJy2uQlbHVQ9zXqmbaJFLTMA97qovyeXUzb7krhXmmBxmH4odztDm1YK6I3ycJ4MicSfHhrOVFC1lKyX2TOXizvCFLGNDAdbL/s1600/Bogertophis+subocularis+oOBrieOo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefPDdjNokJjT6kYiZxcaVUv08nGpCQbXSIyz0r3v20K7iJy2uQlbHVQ9zXqmbaJFLTMA97qovyeXUzb7krhXmmBxmH4odztDm1YK6I3ycJ4MicSfHhrOVFC1lKyX2TOXizvCFLGNDAdbL/s200/Bogertophis+subocularis+oOBrieOo.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> An adept climber</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">forego constriction, simply consuming prey alive; does so by grabbing each victim in with mouth then in succession shifts first victim down to posterior body coils to grab and wrap next victim; even when finding single prey will actively forge for a second; this snake is noticeably docile and normally does not display aggressive tendencies when first caught in the wilds; though virtually all snakes lack tapetum lucidum to create eyeshine when reflecting back light, <i>B. subocualris</i>' protuding & large rounded pupils </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">causes focused light to be deflected appearing as eyeshine;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> has short hibernation or dormant period beginning in late November ending in mid to late January; breeding season starts in May; is oviparous with females producing a clutch of 2-13 eggs (ave: 5) from mid June to early July, but may extend into September; females oviposits underground; in particular for warmer climes egg incubation is protracted lasting for a good 3 months; eggs hatch during winter months, where hatchlings measuring 5.1-7cm/2-2.75in may remain underground until warmer weather occurs; as near replicas of adults, juveniles only vary in color being a paler yellow or pinkish; become sexually mature after 2 yrs.; though Texas provides protection due to restricted range, this snake is not listed as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Sonoran shovel-nosed ~ <i>C. palarostris</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sonoran Shovel-nosed Snake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Family: Colubridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Chionactis </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Chionactis palarostris</u><br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 25-43cm/9.84-17in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 6.6-25.8g/0.23-0.91oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Estimate: 4.5-9yrs in wilds </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Chionactis palarostris</i> ~ <i>Chion</i> is Greek for 'snow'; <i>aktis</i> is also Greek meaning 'ray of beam'; <i>pala</i> is Latin for 'shovel' and the Latin root word <i>rostris</i> (<i>rostrum</i>) is in reference to 'nose' or 'beak'; altogether refers to, 'beam of ray in snow shovel nosed snake' alluding to snake coloration and upper jaw overbite</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Distribu</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>tion:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ranges up to the extreme south central portion of Arizona in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and adjacent area, extending south down through Mexico along Gulf of California to southern extreme of Hermosillo, Mexico in central Sonora; prefers sandy to sandy-gravelly soils and is commonly found in silty washes, hilly terrain and rocky bajadas from elevations of sea level to 760m/2500ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Scales smooth & glossy; small rounded pupil; snout is slightly convex and flatter than seen in most snakes; jaw is countersunk; possesses nasal plugs; belly is slightly concave; these attributes equip the snake for tunneling through loose sandy & gravely soils; dorsal scales in 15 rows; caudal plate scale divided; ventral scales number between 140-160 while caudal scales (scalation past anus) number 42-48; body ground coloration is from cream yellow to light yellow with up to 20 black crossbands interrupted by soft-edged red saddle bands that do not extend past sides to ventrum; last 1-5 anterior black bands do not encircle body ending on sides; red & black banding are roughly equal in width; ventrum is creamy</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">;</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note overbite</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">snout is always light in coloration being cream or pale yellow; along with species in genera, <i>Rhinocheilus</i>,<i> </i></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cemophora & Lampropeltis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. palarostris</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> displays Batesian mimicry with similar coloration patterns to the venomous coral snake species in the genus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micrurus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; where varying banded colors meet, the old adage, "red & yellow kill a fellow, red & black poison lack," works well with other genera, but not for </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chionactis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, as its red & yellow bands meet, but snout is always light in color where coral snake is always black; there is one recognized subspecies in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. p. organica</i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">. <br /><br /><b>Diet:</b> Is considered an insectivore feeding on insects, moth buried pupae; centipedes, spiders & scorpions; consuming scorpions can be a tricky business; the snake seizes scorpion at base of stinger, takes hold and backs into sand aligning scorpion into a U-shaped bend; once scorpion is folded, begins consuming prey until </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">only claws & stinger are all that remains which are then consumed in one gulped swallow; tends to abstain from insects with hard exoskeletons like beetles; predators include birds of prey such as great horned owls, roadrunners & loggerhead shrikes and reptiles such as coral snakes</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> Mainly nocturnal and crepuscular, hiding by day in burrows, underneath ground objects or just under the ground surface in shade; displays unique behavior known as 'sand swimming' in utilizing sideways swaying motions to literally swim across or just under sand;</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeY1KlNhyphenhyphenXu_2Us8MIH0n8gB2eiIAq7DDqRU1zn8A1a5sqxdsOK8aSmAITa4CG4g9s-fI7bijf0xeHLtSYG2UTUiw2ZVsxIf4E_Qgw-7k8urpcOXXw5zacIaegVdHYLyeL8WzzhL2Wf0Z/s1600/Chionactis+palarostris+will+t+kendall" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeY1KlNhyphenhyphenXu_2Us8MIH0n8gB2eiIAq7DDqRU1zn8A1a5sqxdsOK8aSmAITa4CG4g9s-fI7bijf0xeHLtSYG2UTUiw2ZVsxIf4E_Qgw-7k8urpcOXXw5zacIaegVdHYLyeL8WzzhL2Wf0Z/s200/Chionactis+palarostris+will+t+kendall" height="149" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Typical <i>C. palarostris</i> habitat</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">may tunnel into sand within seconds; may make own thin burrows or use abandoned burrows made by other animals such as lizards & rodents; to escape threats, may as just explained quickly tunnel into sand, but also may flee across surface by 'sand swimming' in typical serpentine motion; when threatened may also dive into burrows and coil up into a ball with head concealed underneath and to the outside; with muscular body is hard for a predator to dislodge from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">balled state; in defense <i>C. palarostris</i> does not attempt to bite, preferring to flee and is very quick;<i> </i>apparently, saliva consists of a mild venom that tranquilizes its prey; venom is harmless to humans; has a high metabolic rate for a snake and will consume multiple prey in succession when possible; generally displays two ways in dispatching prey; first is by striking then grasping prey with mouth; second means i</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note red bands do not reach ventrum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">subduing prey is looping anterior third of body into a single loop around prey then pressing victim to substrate, seizes prey with mouth; activity appears to be expressed through weather and climate as abrupt and intense activity occurs during hot spring days with high relative humidity; actively forages between April to October with intense activity just before and after daybreak; does not truly hibernate but ends activity slowing down metabolic rate in late fall to mid-late winter by sealing itself in burrows 7.7-10.2cm/3-4in underground; mating takes place in May-early June during high activity with males more out in open aboveground undergoing a testicular cycle in producing spermatoza from spermatids through a process known as spermiogenesis; females are oviparous laying a clutch of 2-5 eggs in mid summer; males sexually mature by 2 years where females mature between 2-3 years; major threat is highway mortality in Arizona along highway 85 that intersects the heart of range; even in consideration of DOR (Dead On Road) and lack of encounters due to fossorial habits, this snake is not considered as threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Texas coral ~ <i>Micrurus tener</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Texas Coral Snake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Elapidae </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Micrurus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Species: <b><u>Micrurus tener</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Venomous</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Syndrome: </b>Micrurus species are the most toxic snakes in N. America per mg of dried venom weight; Texas coral snake's neurotoxic venom composed of 49 peptides is capable of inflicting lung & heart failure due to a fatal bite. Symptoms may not appear until 12 hrs after bite, affecting nerve synapses and junctions causing misfires. Afflictions include tremors, speaking & swallowing difficulties, drooping eyelids, respiratory depression, pulmonary & cardiac arrest. In surviving Micrurus envenomation, recovery is complete with no side effects. Venom is being researched to combat cancer cells and AIDS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 61-100cm/24-40i</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n <br />W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eight: 5.75-9.40g/0.20-0.33oz </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: Up to 20yrs; female of unknown age survived 18yrs & 4 mths at Fort Worth Zoo<br />N</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ame Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micrurus tener</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mikros</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek for 'small'; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oura</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek for 'tail' with both referring to size of tail; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tener</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'softness' or 'delicacy' as contrast in size to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. fulvius</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; altogether refers to, 'the small tail and more slender coral snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Geographic range for U.S. is Texas, Arkansas & Louisiana west of Mississippi extending southwards into Mexico in the states of Tamaulipus, San Luis Potosi`, Guanajuato, Quere`taro & Morelos; prefers forests with plenty of organic ground material & loose soils; exists in low lying areas through wooded canyons to rocky hillsides; normally is found near water sources near sea level to 2000m/6600ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is a small to medium sized slender snake with smooth scales; small rounded black eyes & pupils; head is rounded; a pair of small fangs are set in front of upper mouth; are not as pointed or sharp as viper fangs and may visually appear as blunted; venom is injected from opened tips; fangs measure 3.18mm or 1/8in; possesses strong muscle jaws; overall coloration is tri-banded in a black, yellow and red pattern encircling body; snout is always black with yellow head, neck is black ending just before parietal scales; body banding then sequences i</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Wild amelanistic specimen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">red, yellow & black banding; red bands usually dotted with random black scales; vivid coloration is advertisement for predators to beware, but unfortunately color scheme actually attracts adult humans & children; though uncommon, melanistic (dominant black pigmentation), amelanistic (lacking black pigmentation) and anerythrisitic (lacking red pigmentation) specimens do occur in the wilds; some taxonomic works express that 4 subspecies exist due to scale variation in numbering; they are </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. t. tener</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. t. fitzingeri</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. t. maculatus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. t. microgalbineus</i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Has been reported to prey on large insects, anurans (various frogs), lacertilians (various lizards), but is known basically to be ophiophagus (snake-eating); eats a wide variety of colubrids along with viperid juveniles (<i>Agkistrodon piscivorus</i> & <i>Agkistrodon contortrix</i>); adult <i>M. tener</i> will also consume juvenile Texas coral snakes; juveniles primarily consum</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">e</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86V36ddDlubhmd4ZTUyXDkASKXD7MLidGNywbfEJcsYy7j-IQuqM5htCqFy6B6N-Gwcj7kqj5dAbUoJZg3Y5kD_dkaiCus9wKf7IqzNxSxJULKAGzC2zFihjrrvExl1oUa49BCiAPpIfj/s1600/Micrurus+tener+s+houston+s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86V36ddDlubhmd4ZTUyXDkASKXD7MLidGNywbfEJcsYy7j-IQuqM5htCqFy6B6N-Gwcj7kqj5dAbUoJZg3Y5kD_dkaiCus9wKf7IqzNxSxJULKAGzC2zFihjrrvExl1oUa49BCiAPpIfj/s200/Micrurus+tener+s+houston+s.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Eating juvenile copperhead</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">arthropods, but may also consume small ground snakes such as the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sonora</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">predators include adult American bullfrogs (<i>Rana catesbeiana</i>), kingsnakes (<i>Lampropeltis getula</i>), adult Texas coral snakes, opossums (<i>Didelphis marsupialis</i>) and hawks, such as <i>Buteo jamaicensis</i>)</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /> <br /><b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: bold;"><b>abits:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Along with kraits, mambas and cobras belonging to the family <i>Elapidae</i>, coral snakes possess a highly venomous neurotoxin; coral snakes are called as such because of the coloration; <i>M. tener</i>, unlike other elapids though is normally shy & retiring preferring retreat rather than confrontation; although this snake has a mild temperament, it is still very DANGEROUS; I once accidentally came across one on a hilly, grassy and rocky knoll near Lake Travis just north of Austin, Texas; it was shy, but once thoroughly provoked reacted with hyper-quick reflexes; many authorities state that the mouth is too small to deliver a bite sufficient enough to envenomate a human due to anatomy; it is true they first must gain hold of then chew to deliver venom into a wound, but with lightning quick movement, a mouth that can be opened 5x its shut size, strong jaws and fangs that can be pressed into fles</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">h</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Fang under a scope</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6.35mm/0.25in, penetration & envenomation can occur on an human victim of any size; human skin is much softer than its natural reptilian prey; when this snake bites it clings on like a bulldog onto steak; the average dry lethal dose of <i>M. tener</i> venom for an adult human is 10-12 mg/.00035-.0004oz; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micrurus gallicus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, an extinct European coral snake closely related to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. tener</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> roamed central Europe during Miocene 21-11.5 mya; <i>M. gallicus</i> first appeared when rodent speciation spread;<i> </i>Texas coral snake </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is primarily fossorial, crepuscular and diurnal actively foraging under forest litter, under ground objects such as rocks & fallen logs and through loose sandy soils; retires in burrows or rock crevices after dusk emerging during sunrise; returns to same retreat; is most active on ground surface during spring months; females are more active than males in fall months in replenishing fat reserves after gravid & ovipositing periods; als</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">o</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> The snake as beautiful as coral</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">becomes particularly active on surface after heavy rains; in northern range (U.S.) hibernates during colder months and is active year round in southern range (Mexico); instead of basking, tropical ancestory evolving ability to hibernate allowed </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M. tener</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to survive in U.S. range; mating occurs from April to March; females lay down pheromone trails that males pick up to locate them; in courting, male flicks tongue over dorsal midbody of female, raises head & neck at a 45</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">° angle, then tilts </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">head down touching female's back with his snout; in this position, he quickly rubs snout along her back nearly to her head, then back down the back stopping within her vent; ~ 40% of time this is reversed rubbing back first from vent to head; as long as females obliges male's back rubbing, he aligns their bodies together where vents meet at 30</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">° angles; he then thrusts everted hemipensis into her and copulates; In June & early July, gravid females oviposit a clutch of 2-12 eggs in loose sands or rotting log debris; neonates hatch 2 months later measuring ~ 22cm/8.66in long; males attain spermiogenesis in 12-21 months when are ~ 40cm/15.75in SVL; females attain sexual maturity in 12-21 months after reaching 50-55cm/19.7-21.7in SVL; with fixed frontal fangs, this snake is proteroglyphous; habitat destruction and road kills, which can be numerous as coral snakes are not adept in traversing road surfaces tending to attempt sidewinding, are a threat to this snake; irregardless, <i>M. tener</i> is not listed as threatened due to its wide range in distribution.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Gold-ringed cat snake ~ <i>B. dendrophilia</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Gold-ringed Cat Snake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Family: Colubridae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Boiga</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Species: </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">Boiga dendrophilia</u><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Many species make-up the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boiga</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and are from mild to moderately dangerous rear fanged snakes. </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. dendrophilia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> bites do not lead to fatality directly, but serious reactions will occur if envenomated with this snake's hemotoxic & neurotoxic venom. A considered lethal intravenous dose is only 4.9 micrograms per gram. Fortunately this large and aggressive snake carries minimum venom dosage levels and must take time chewing to deliver venom</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 1.8-2.4m/6-8ft; Maximum: 2.5m/8.25ft</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Weight: 1.70-2.27kg/3.75-5.0lbs (Dependent upon <i>Dendrophilia ssp</i>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: 13-17yrs<br />N</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ame Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boiga dendrophilia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ The genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boiga</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is latinized in honor of German naturalist, Heinrich Boie, who was first to describe 3 </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boiga</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> species listing them originally under genus, Dipsas; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dendros</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is derived from Greek meaning 'wood'; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">philos</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is also Greek referring to 'dear friend'; altogether refers to 'Boie's snake endeared to an arboreal lifestyle</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">'.<br /> <br /><b>Distribution:</b> Subspecies give this snake a wide range throughout southeast Asia from India to the Philippines with concentrated populations in Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore & Indo China; prefers coastal regions of mangrove stands near waterways and riverines in tropical rainforests</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note cat-eye & yellow labials</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D</b><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is a long & slender snake; head is wider than neck due to jaw muscles; similar to a cat's eye, pupil is dark & vertically elliptical; iris is a dark gray; supralabials & infralabials (lip scales) are always yellow with black borders except in the adult subspecies </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. gemmicincta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; vertebral scale rows are enlarged; anal scale is single; anterior & posterior palantine teeth are relatively same size; maxillary teeth located on both upper maxilla bones are slightly recurved; 2-3 enlarged grooved posterior maxillary teeth on each upper side of mouth serve as fangs for venom delivery; typical cat-eyed snake coloration is</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMGIEB5IBJYZbhyMBYWr_jx8W-TL90sXN-Gc5SjtLMYQ_bNKeagCy6NNEUE8-XTZLkCcHxb_V0o8JVng5fdrPVO3qzeOd-7bwi1kMU24TvyI91l8RVrxPPo3eRU2FM_nFESXdHOZPngVl/s1600/Boiga+d.+gemmicincta+dan+rosenberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMGIEB5IBJYZbhyMBYWr_jx8W-TL90sXN-Gc5SjtLMYQ_bNKeagCy6NNEUE8-XTZLkCcHxb_V0o8JVng5fdrPVO3qzeOd-7bwi1kMU24TvyI91l8RVrxPPo3eRU2FM_nFESXdHOZPngVl/s200/Boiga+d.+gemmicincta+dan+rosenberg.jpg" height="138" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. d. gemmicincta</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">golden yellow body rings on a black background; </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">v</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">entrum is a bluish black; throat is always yellow; main difference between subspecies is devoid of yellow rings; rings may completely surround body including ventrum, or reduced confined to flanks in not extending over dorsum; subspecies, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. gemmicinctas</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is an exception; as a juvenile it is ringed with the golden yellow bars, but becomes totally black in adulthood as rings fade away upon aging; within the species, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. dendrophila</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> there are 8 subspecies currently recognized; they are: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. annectens</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. divergens</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. gemmicincta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. latifasciata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. levitoni</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. melanota</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. d. multicincta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B.d. occidentalis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>iet:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Chief prey is small birds; supplements diet with bird eggs, frogs, reptiles (lizards & other snakes), rodents, bats and fish; main predator is monitor lizards; if hungry enough, due to high metabolic rates, will resort to cannibalism of own species</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note grooved fangs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Is strictly active nocturnally and is ill tempered and aggressive during dark hours; by day remains coiled up in tree branches usually above a body of water; during daylight is almost catatonic and listless; grooved fangs are rearward therefore are opisthoglyphous; potentially is the most dangerous of <i>Boiga</i> snakes; <i>B. dendrophilia</i> venom, known as denmotoxin, is a monomeric peptide consisting of 77 amino acid residues with 5 disulfide bridges; neurotoxic component of venom structure is bird prey specific having most effect on avian prey's nerve system; hemotoxic structure does do damage to other animal tissues, including humans; if repercussion to envenomation includes allergic reaction to proteins, human fatality coul</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">d</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNV9oxaIByNnaEhiZA82yfqd7yRt-8vML6xD_KbpaG0zsEBQyjkIm6sjSGgSz3PihKIdOMomYTdigfCZKeZj0_qxUxfn85l9TEWeqp4cRxd35RV25zMbim7Gf0sOuGGr8NSenXIni2yu7/s1600/Boigea+dendrophilia+stuart+douglass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNV9oxaIByNnaEhiZA82yfqd7yRt-8vML6xD_KbpaG0zsEBQyjkIm6sjSGgSz3PihKIdOMomYTdigfCZKeZj0_qxUxfn85l9TEWeqp4cRxd35RV25zMbim7Gf0sOuGGr8NSenXIni2yu7/s200/Boigea+dendrophilia+stuart+douglass.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. dendrophilia</i> envenomation</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ensue without immediate medical attention; denmotoxin is secreted by the duvernoy's gland, travels through a duct to tissue just above grooved fang, then trickles down groove into wound; denmotoxin is non-Newtonian in being viscuous, but surface tension is such that wound tissue of victim draws in & absorbs venom; metabolism is higher than most snakes, so feeds more often, in which makes the snake more aggressive when foraging at night and more calm by day to conserve energy; is arboreal spending most of time in trees and large shrubs, but will come down to ground surface when foraging; is an adept swimmer and will actively hunt fish; in defense will scurry to the nearest tree, or if feeling cornered will raise one-third of body in S-shapes striking the air in direction of </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Defensive posturing</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">intruder; may mate year round, but preferentially when temperature is a constant 22-24 °C/71.6-75.2 °F for 2-3 months with high humidity; females are oviparous laying 5-15 eggs per clutch with up to 20 having been recorded; clutches are oviposited in and among ground leaf litter & surface debris; females may lay up to 3 clutches per year and may store male sperm for delayed fertilization; incubation period is 95-110 days; hatchlings utilize an egg tooth for cracking out of the egg shell and measure ~ 30cm/11.81in; juveniles become sexually mature at 3 years; heavy infestation can occur with parasites such as mouth flukes and reptile ticks; in their range, <i>B. dendrophilia sp. </i>& <i>ssp</i>. are common and are not considered threatened.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> </i> </span> </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Olive sea snake ~ <i>A. laevis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Olive Sea Snake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Hydrophiidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Subfamily: Hydrophiinae </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Aipysurus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Aipysurus laevis</u> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Venomous</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Syndrome: All hydrophiids are highly venomous due to active neurotoxic and nephrotoxic (kidney) venom. <i>A. laevis</i> venom also has myotoxic components that destroy mitochondrial fibers within cells. Initial bite is painless whether a dry bite (no envenomation) or envenomous, although a fang sometimes is left behind in the wound. Within 30 minutes, headache, sensation of tongue thickening, thirst, sweating and vomiting occurs. After 30 post minutes of envenomation, in the next 1-3 hours, victim will experience aching, tenderness and stiffness of muscles due to rhabdoyolysis (rapid breakdown of skeletal muscles). Progressive flaccid paralysis then follows in sequence from loss in control of voluntary muscles, inability to swallow and finally respiration difficulties which may prove fatal. If a victim survives paralysis, after 3-12 hours renal kidney failure and cardiac arrest will occur causing fatality</span>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Ave: 1.7m/5.58ft total length (TL); Max: 2.19m/7.22ft TL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Up to 3kg/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 15 yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Aipysurus laevis</i> ~ <i>Aipy</i> is Greek for 'high'; <i>surus</i> is Latin but Greek rooted for 'tail'; <i>laevis</i> is Latin meaning 'smooth' or 'agile'; altogether refers to, 'agile paddled-tailed sea snake'</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Di</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>stribution:</b> Has a wide Indo-Pacific range found in the Timor & Coral Seas along the northern coastline of Australia to New Guinea; prefers coral reefs and rocky shoals along coastal waterways; rarely ventures beyond 45m/148.5ft in water depth.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> There has been much discussion and debate on the taxonomy & classification of sea snakes; some still list them under the (1) family, <i>Elapidae</i>, others group all sea snakes under the (2) family, <i>Hydrophiidae</i>, while a few classify them under the (3) family, <i>Hydrophiidae</i> with the 2 subfamilies, <i>Hydrophiinae</i> & <i>Laticaudinae</i>; I choose the latter of the 3 classification schemes; sea snakes are closely related to land dwelling elapids in being first cousins, but morphologies, physiologies and molecular genetics in migrating to a watery environment are distinct enough in their evolution from land to sea to list them under separate orders; subfamilies are also in my opinion deemed appropriate, for while<i> Hydrophiinae</i> members are wholly aquatic, the sea kraits (<i>Laticaudinae</i>) are not; sea kraits are in transition between the sea and land in still maintaining the elapid line of being oviparous, laying eggs on land and have not developed the paddle or rudder posterior end as fully aquatic <i>Hydrophiinae</i> members have; <i>Laticaudinae</i> are at home on land or sea, where <i>Hydrophiinae</i> physiological evolvement is strictly aquatic and cannot maneuver on land</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">;</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note nose flaps</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">all <i>Hydrophiinae</i> are ovoviviparous giving birth at sea; <i>A. laevis</i> is the largest of hydrophids; anterior quarter is round; posterior three-quarters of body is vertically flattened sideways with tail appearing paddle-shaped with raised edge running along each side; 21-25 dorsal smooth scale rows; caudal (anal) scale is divided; 25-35 subcaudals are single; cephalic (head) scales are enlarged; head is short & of equal width with stocky body; possesses nasal flap valves for diving, preventing water ingress; has the typical bifurcated serpentine tongue to collect molecules in water for analysis by olfactory sensors in Jacobson's organ; eyes are prominent with rounded pupils; paired fangs are fixed in upper front of mouth (proteroglyphous); sexual dimorphism exists with females larger than males; dorsum coloration may be creamy gray or light brown often with random darker scales; ventrum is normally creamy; head is a medium brown; in bright light, coloration may take on a olive brown complexion; juveniles exhibit a much darker brown dorsum with creamy zig-zag striping extending from sides up and over dorsum; some authors list the Shark Bay sea snake, <i>Aipysurus pooleorum</i> as a subspecies, but due to differences in molecular genetics, it is being elevated & treated as a distinct species here</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> <i>A. laevis</i> has a multi-varied diet consisting of small coral reef fish, small eels, crustaceans such as shrimp, prawn & crabs; curiously for a very venomous snake that needs to disable prey quickly before it swims too far into the ocean depths, they also consume a fair amount of fish eggs; are preyed upon by tiger sharks (<i>Galeocerdo cuvier</i>) and can fall victim to avian predation when resting on surface</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> The olive sea snake is not shy but very curious attracted to shiny and lighted objects; most resources suggest it is not aggressive and divers have swam with them wrapped around their arms and even necks for many meters without any attempts of the snake to bite; if provoked though it will bite; this behavior, I do not recommend to the novice diver as the risks of being bitten is too great with the potentially lethal bite of venom that is highly potent per unit concentrate; larger females are more dangerous due to higher venom yield; most fatalities occur with fishermen mishandling fish nets that trapped the snake as part of the haul; <i>A. laevis</i> is active day or night, but appears to be more nocturnal as foraging activity and mor</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">e</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllnPIj8OiLAh__Vew_JKnSbftVyzd62PDtc8EbrlajfdVTOMz1DkBvzLHVOtT94NjzwjF7vEsTfP3Xyfo-MrXDFVUrmvDUElIdP3JBv5GgriAC6bY7_7U0BjUC4lr6gQlJg0n3W5hqtg2/s1600/Aipysurus_laevis-vl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllnPIj8OiLAh__Vew_JKnSbftVyzd62PDtc8EbrlajfdVTOMz1DkBvzLHVOtT94NjzwjF7vEsTfP3Xyfo-MrXDFVUrmvDUElIdP3JBv5GgriAC6bY7_7U0BjUC4lr6gQlJg0n3W5hqtg2/s200/Aipysurus_laevis-vl.jpg" height="131" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Actively foraging</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">excited aggressive display is heightened; forages by actively seeking out prey buried in sand or poking head into crevices of coral and rock; typical submerged time is 16 minutes but may stay immersed over 30 minutes; can travel underwater in excess of 500m/1650ft before being </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">forced to surface for air; on the surface </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. laevis</i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> takes 1-3 breaths then will either immediately dive if active or if tired, remain on surface to rest with head above water; tail is equipped with photoreceptors that detect light movement; what photoreceptor advantage is, is not clear, but at night this snake will move aggressively towards a moving light source, therefore when actively hunting with head inside rock & coral crevices, photoreception allows the snake to detect potential threats moving in from its back side; resting is usually under submersed ledges; except for the divided anal scale having a prominent keel on each half, the snake is smooth for swimming; at</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeUTh4dLkPjvCcdg4xmgKehshGKAZmFpXrH8-DuuyD08GYvetnIVnH5ei9saput9VVDUgsx-2ScJ0sCAe8n4LAfFAA0zfZMyPcL10rsIrrolMBKchLCeU6bSbg1Jac80A9Oe9u04Olh5E/s1600/Aipysurus_laevis+mike+johns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeUTh4dLkPjvCcdg4xmgKehshGKAZmFpXrH8-DuuyD08GYvetnIVnH5ei9saput9VVDUgsx-2ScJ0sCAe8n4LAfFAA0zfZMyPcL10rsIrrolMBKchLCeU6bSbg1Jac80A9Oe9u04Olh5E/s200/Aipysurus_laevis+mike+johns.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Resting on surface</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">times some may exhibit colonization of alga or barnacle growth; sublingual glands located at base of tongue filter salt from bloodstream where it is expelled by the tongue back out into open water; in a tropical setting, reproduction is year round, but each female requires a full year for adipose tissue renewal, so individual females are biennial in mating; only 50% of females at one time are active in breeding; courtship takes place with a moving ballet consisting of 1 receptive female with 1-3 males encircling her and touching her with their tongues in frenzied overtones; once female picks a winning male, they both settle down to the bottom and copulate; during mating process, couple is completely coiled around one another with male tapping female's neck with his head; female is gravid ~ 9 months giving birth on average to 3 offspring; range is from 1 to 5 offspring; males reach sexual maturity in 3 years measuring ~ 68cm/27in; females mature later in 4-5 years measuring 80cm/31.5in; due to inability to maneuver on land, beaching is probably the highest mortality cause; mining pollution runoff and trapped in weighted fish nets also contribute to mortality, but as a whole being the most observed in sea snake encounters, <i>A. laevis</i> is not considered as threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Golden lancehead ~ <i>B. insularis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Golden Lancehead</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Family: Viperidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Bothrops</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Species: <b><u>Bothrops insularis</u></b><br /><br /><br /> <br /> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Venomous</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Syndrome:</b> Envenomation from vipers in the genus, <i>Bothrops</i> are responsible for more human fatalities than any other group of snakes in N. America & S. America combined. Due to very small population size, there have been no reports of human envenomation by <i>B. insularis</i>, but from chemical analysis, its venom is regarded as 5x more potent than that of <i>B. jararaca</i>, a lanchead responsible for most reported human deaths with venom having a LD50 of 1.25mg/kg intravenous. With this in mind, <i>B. insularis</i> venom is the fastest acting of all <i>Bothrops</i>. Primarily hemotoxic, symptoms from envenomation would include: localized pain, swelling, bloody vomiting & urination, blood blister formation, intestinal bleeding, severe necrosis of muscle tissue, kidney failure and brain hemorrhage. Essentially, the victim is internally predigested.<br /><br />Length: Ave TL ~ 70cm/27.55in; Max~ 120cm/47.24in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Weight: From 3-7 yrs ~ 180-1190g/6.35-42oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: Not quantified, but at least up to 7 yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Name Origin: <i>Bothrops insularis</i> ~ <i>Bothros</i> is Greek for 'pits'; <i>ops</i> is also Greek meaning 'face'; <i>insularis</i> is Latin for 'insular' rooted from <i>insula</i> pertaining to 'island'; altogether refers to, 'pitted face island viper'.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Off the coast of southeastern Brazil out from the shore of Sao Paulo sits the 0.43 kilometer squared island of Queimada Grand Island; island was formed 11,000 years ago from the rise in oceanic levels during end of last ice age separating it from mainland Brazil; the</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889487894/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Bothrops insularis habitat by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Bothrops insularis habitat" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8453/7889487894_c6474dab5a.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Queimada Grand Island</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">island is the sole habitat of <i>B. insularis</i> which is found nowhere else; the island is in a moist tropical forest zone.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> <i>B. insularis</i> & <i>B. jararaca</i>, inhabiting mainland Brazil, both arose from same base ancestor (which may have been original <i>B. jararaca</i> species before evolvement), but were cut off from each other during oceanic rise evolving differently in varying environments; lance shaped head is distinct to genus <i>Bothrops</i>; head is triangularly elongate ending pointed at snout; <i>B. insularis</i> venom (primarily hemotoxic) is most toxic of all <i>Bothrops</i>; is a diverse multifunctional collection of proteins and peptides that play havoc on normal metabolic cellular activity; venom contains a metalloproteinase (protease enzyme in which mechanism is catalyzed by a metallic ion) that bind to and destroy normal protein function; juveniles under 15 months, venom is more intense in myotoxic effects and blood coagulation; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. insularis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> fangs are shorter than </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">b. jararaca</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> loreal pits (heat sensory pits) are distinct between nostril & eye; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bothrops</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> possess short tails, but </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889494656/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Bothrops insularis by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Bothrops insularis" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8176/7889494656_97752fdeca.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note loreal pit (heat sensor)</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">insularis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> tail i</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">s </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">long and tapered; dorsa</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">l </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scales are keeled;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> caudal (anal) scale divided; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lance shaped head is very distinct from body; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sexual dimorphism is evident in female being considerably larger than male; overall dorsum coloration is a light yellowish brown at times with individuals having darker brown zigzag bar markings across back extending to sides; due to ineffective thermoregulation leading to poor circulation, sometimes results in yellowish color appearing darker; tail tip normally is dark; ventrum is uniform in a pale yellowish creme coloration; there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Due to limited range in being endemic to a tiny island, food source is greatly limited for this snake; no mammals exist on the island, so chief prey for adults is migratory birds utilizing island for rest stops; perching birds are chief prey supplemented occasionally by amphibians & lizards; at times will resort to cannibalizing juveniles; juveniles survive off invertebrates such as insects, spiders, centipedes & scorpions; both adults & young may prey off other small snake species; for adults are no known natural predators; possibly visiting large shore birds to island may take an adult; small juveniles have been observed being preyed on by large anurans, lizards and centipedes</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889492112/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Bothrops insularis jureia com br by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Bothrops insularis jureia com br" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8299/7889492112_91a7c57f94.jpg" height="111" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Seizing chief prey, perching birds</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Vipers are opisthoglyphous ambush predators striking with long paired fangs then releasing and thereupon lie in wait for venom to take effect; this keeps the serpent safe from struggling prey; normally nocturnal, they then rely more on heat sensing to detect dying prey's movements and scent for the death trail; due to only chief prey being found on island are small birds, <i>B. insularis</i> has evolved highly potent and quick acting venom; this was necessary, for a bird initially envenomated may fly off a few 30 meters or 100 yards and though it will die, would be a lost meal for the snake; besides quick acting venom, <i>B. insularis</i> also does not release its initial strike, instead holding onto the bird with the initial strike until it dies, then begins the process of swallowing; this snake is still an ambush predator lying in wait in trees and uses caudal (tail) luring to attract birds within range to strike; many individuals have pieces of tail missing attributed to birds pecking it in thinking of it as a potential invertebrate larvae or worm meal; as in all vipers, strike is lightning quick performed in milliseconds; ambush position is usually in a coiled formation with head held up and tail near head; is nocturnal & diurnal and arboreal & terrestrial being more arboreal during daylight to capture birds and more terrestrial during darkness in seeking anurans or other reptiles; also seek shelter from weather under leaf litter or in rock crevices; is adept at climbing trees but tail is not prehensile; tail coloration is light in juveniles that would attract frogs & lizards more readily at night, while in adults, tail has darkened giving advantage to luring avian prey by day; main passerine birds captured are the Chilean Elaenia (<i>Elaenia chilensis</i>) & the thrush <i>Turdus flavipes</i>; the permanent resident wren,</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889497188/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="bothrops_insularis OAV Marques by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="bothrops_insularis OAV Marques" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8441/7889497188_95ffb1a692.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ambush posturing</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Trogolodytes </i><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">musculus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">somehow evades predation and has a high density population on the island; avoidance of snake and with no other natural predators, the wren has an advantage living on the island; female uterine muscular twisting (UMT) begins in April ending in September; mating occurs from from July to Septmber; <i>B. insularis</i> is ovoviviparous giving live birth to 2-10 neonates (average: 7) in January the following year; intersexuality has only been found in 2 species of snakes throughout the animal kingdom; one is <i>Pseudofimicia frontalis</i>, while the other is <i>B. insularis</i>; population of <i>B. insularis</i> is 50% intersex (females possessing hemipenes), 40% males & 10% true females that are for most part infertile; all pregnant females are intersexes; this phenomena probably arose from confinement of population on tiny island resorting to inbreeding; population on island is dense with estimation of 1 snake per every square meter in forested regions of island; even so, confined to this one very small island, habitat destruction by Brazilians in clearing area for self maintained lighthouse and intersex individuals may lead to sterility, this snake is listed as critically endangered.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg.png" /> <span style="color: blue;">Critically Endangered (3.1) IUCN</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889506978/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Crotalus atrox william wells by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Crotalus atrox william wells" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/7889506978_ee7a5e9f70.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Western Diamondback ~ <i>C. atrox</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Western Diamondback Rattlesnake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Family: Viperidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Genus: Crotalus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">Crotalus atrox</u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Syndrome:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Primarily hemotoxic, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. atrox</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> venom causes massive internal hemorrhaging by degenerating and destroying capillaries. Venom contains cytotoxins and peptide myotoxins that attack and cause the death of cells and tissue. Zinc metalloproteinases are present which is the main hemorrhagic component in disrupting microvessel function. The venom is also proteolytic in nature breaking down cellular protease structure by destroying tissue through intramolecular digestion. Initial symptoms include localized pain, abdominal pain, dizziness, diarrhea and possible convulsions. Resultant symptoms are internal bleeding, skeletal muscle necrosis, ischemia, secondary myonecrosis, heart damage, diaphragm disruption and possible fatality. LD50 is 2.72 mg/kg intravenous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 1.2-1.5m/3.9-4.9ft; infrequent up to 1.8m/5.9ft; record: 2.13m/6.99ft </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Weight: 1.8-6.7kg/4.0-15.0lbs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Longevity: ~22-27yrs </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Name Origin: <i>Crotalus atrox</i> ~ <i>Krotalon</i> is Greek for rattle; <i>atrox</i> is Latin meaning 'fierce' or 'savage' in reference to snake's disposition; altogether refers to, 'rattling fierce snake'.<br /><br /><b>Distribution:</b> Range is in N. America, including southeast bottom portion of California westwards through southern half of Arizona & New Mexico through all of Oklahoma except along northern border ending through north central Arkansas; covers all of Texas except eastern portion where <i>C. adamanteus</i> range begins; southern Mexico range is in states of Hidalgo and northern Veracruz with disjunct populations in southern Veracruz & southeastern Oaxaca; found in arid to semiarid climates from plains, mountains, rocky canyons & river bluffs; sea level to 2,100m/7,000ft.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889515222/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="crotalus-atrox2 by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="crotalus-atrox2" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/7889515222_a6b6f1d00b.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note loreal pit & rattle</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> This pit viper is heavy bodied with triangular head distinct from neck; pupils are vertically elliptical; most distinctive feature is tail rattle that begins as one button, adding another rattle segment after each shedding pushing button to tail tip; rattles are kertinous scales; after each shed, previous rattle becomes loosened but is interlocked and is not molted or sloughed off; dorsum scales are heavily keeled; caudal (anal) scale is undivided; possesses a pit between each eye and nostril utilizing infrared for heat sensory detection; 5mm/0.2in deep pit is with an outer and inner chamber separated by a thin membrane; heat information via loreal pits in crotalines is relayed to optic tectum; high resolution of heat detection is so efficient can detect heat variables down to 0.003 °C/.0054 °F; with this ability can locate prey blindfolded; opisthoglyphous fangs are long for deep penetration and are retractable based on maxilla bone that is hinged; sexual dimorphism exists where males become much larger after reaching sexual maturity; overall dorsum coloration is variable either being a yellowish gray, pale blue, rust tan or pinkish orange cast; rowed dorsal diamond shaped blotches are dark with pale white borders lining the back; diamond blotches are often peppered with darker speckled scales; tail is white with jet black rings; head is distinctly patterned with an angled pale oblique band from nostril to upper labials; another thinner light colored stripe extends back and down forming a steep angle from posterior of eye towards end of mouth's supralabials; ventrum is off-white and usually unmarked by patterns; there are no considered subspecies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Chief prey are small mammals such as rodents (mice, rats, voles, gophers, prairie dogs, squirrels, etc.) and rabbits & jackrabbits; birds are also taken including mockingbirds, quail & burrowing owls; along with other reptiles in particular lizards are also taken; juveniles prey on </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889509020/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Crotalus_atrox j.d. wilson by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Crotalus_atrox j.d. wilson" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/7889509020_dcbc5c2c58.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Opisthoglyphous fangs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">large insects such as grasshoppers & small reptiles; in one instance, in a muddy drying pool this species was observed consuming a fish that was confined to the pool; predation abounds with many animals considering this dangerous snake as a good meal; avian predators are hawks, owls, eagles & roadrunners; mammals include foxes, coyotes, bobcats, ringtail (<i>Bassariscus astutus</i>) and white-nosed coatimundi (<i>Nasua narica</i>) in southern range; kingsnakes are ophiphagous and immune to venom, actively seeks out <i>C. atrox</i>; in addition, antelope, bison & wild horses consider this snake as a threat and on intention will trample them; white-tailed deer in the Chisos Mountains of West Texas have been observed actively making a game out of it by lining </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">up then each taking turn in jumping with all fours onto the hapless snake</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">.<br /><br /><b>Habits:</b> Outside of hibernating or mating, this is a solitary species; when threatened this snake will stand its ground; we like to anthropomorphize <i>C. atrox</i> by calling it ill tempered and savage, but in actuality it is simply defending itself from situations it perceives as life threatening; however, in the U.S. because of its defensive nature, more human fatalities each year are caused by <i>C. atrox</i> than any other snake; defensive posturing entails raising a third of anterior body with head directed at intruder while rattling tail; even though the snake cannot hear sound, it knows its adversaries can, so rattling is fair warning; can activate rattling up to 60 cycles/second; rattle warning may have evolved for the benefit of herding mammals, that could not see the camouflaged snake, but definitely could detect the rattle that it was nearby and not to tread too close; this saved the snake from being trampled and the mammal from being envenomated; venom evolved for acquiring prey and became secondary as a defense</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889513180/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="crotalus-atrox1 by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="crotalus-atrox1" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8029/7889513180_22e06c1d77.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Defensive posturing</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mechanism; venom production is a costl</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">affair in consuming energy, so in sizing prey, it calculates and measures the exact proper amount to utilize considering the prey's mass, therefore none is wasted; in protecting itself, it prefers warnings over dispensing venom; when striking for defense, the snake is more excited and may not inject any venom creating a dry strike, or it may inject its full load; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">when resting and approached will first remain motionless and silent; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is primarily nocturnal when foraging, but is seasonally diurnal during cooler periods in seeking out new prey grounds; mostly by daylight, spends most of time coiled, sheltered under low lying shrub shade, piles of debris or rocks; also utilizes abandoned burrows of other animals; prairie dogs will craft earthen plugs to keep the snake from entering; is primarily crepuscular in early spring & late fall; hibernates in more northern range and brumates in more southern range durin</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">g </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texancoach/7889502646/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Crotalus atrox tim allen by texanherper, on Flickr"><img alt="Crotalus atrox tim allen" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8435/7889502646_65997e5bf1.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> Two males battling</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">colder months; hibernates alone or in communal dens with other crotalines and other snake species in rock crevices or ground holes; in northern most range, hibernation is underground; <i>C. atrox</i> can go for upwards to 2 years without eating; has ability to reduce energy expenditures up to 80%; body feeds off itself on stores of energy rich lipids; during long periods of not eating, snake still continues to grow; mating occurs in spring just after emergence from hibernation; males first do ritualized battles but never attempt to bite; fighters lift fore bodies ~80cm/31.5in and wrap around each other facing head to head; constant surging motions are directed at one another until one tires and moves off leaving the victor to mate; during courtship, while larger male crawls in jerk motions over her constantly flicking his tongue, female remains passive; male then proceeds to vigorously jerk his hind portion and presses tail firmly beneath the female's; female then lifts tail making cloacal contact where the male inserts one of his hemipenes; copulation will last 3-5 hrs; gestation lasts ~167 days; females are ovoviviparous producing 10-20 offspring; birthing may last up to 5 hrs; neonates break through thin egg membrane they're encased in while still inside the mother then immediately exit the cloaca; neonates measure 30cm/12in and stay with mother no more than a day (normally 3-5 hrs); young depart in search of food and to find shelter; mortality rates are high during winter months due to exposure, lack of success in capturing food and predation vulnerability; due to wide range in population this snake is not considered as threatened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue;">REPTILIAN PHOTO CREDITS</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">IZARDS: </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. source: geckoforums.net contributor member: David; 2. J. Holden; 3. Nobu Tamura 4. source: www.jubley.com (bakthi); 5. Milan Korinek. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lizard species: <i><span style="color: purple;">P. cornutum</span></i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Rune Midtgaard; 2. Tom Brennan; 3. Dr. Ted Macrini courtesy: Texas Memorial Museum; 4. A. E. Holte & M. A. Houck; 5. Tim Burkhardt. </span><i style="color: purple;">M. horridus</i><span style="color: blue;"> 1. source: ianimal.ru (Russia); 2.&3. Dr. Jessie Maisano/Amy Balanoff courtesy: digimorph.org Univ. Texas; 4. Gerry Ellis; 5. Frans Lanting; 6. source: Wekipedia (German). </span><i style="color: purple;">P. apodus</i><span style="color: blue;">- courtesy: herpetofauna.at; 2. von Frank Burggraf; 3. Lukas Konecny; 4. illustrator J. Klembara (1981); 5. Jean-Pierre Vacher. </span><span style="color: purple;"><i>H. horridus</i></span><span style="color: blue;">- Dr. Paddy Ryan; 2. Mark O'Shea; 3. illustrator S. B. McDowell; 4. Dr. Paddy Ryan; 5. Thomas Eimermacher; 6. source: Price Animal Company; 7. source: Zootropic/Nature Conservancy. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;"> S. crocodilurus</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Wilfried Berns; 2. source: leapinleachies.com (Leapin' Leachies); 3. Al Stotton; 4. source: tupian.hudong.com/wiki (China); 5. Ryan Hawk, courtesy: Woodland Park Zoo; </span><i style="color: purple;">C. lewisi</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: wdict.net (German); 2. Matt Reinbold; 3. S. Cyd Read; 4. Dr. Paddy Ryan; 5. Luke (Wikipedia); 6. Tai Haku; 7. Mike Kern source: mkern/Images. </span><i style="color: purple;">P. kuhli</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: reptilia.nl (Netherlands); 2. lft: E. Yakhontov, mdl: Tom McHugh, Rt: E. Yakhontov; 3. Herve Saint Dizier; 4. Peter Kollar; 5. Tom McHugh; 6. courtesy: Warren Photographics. </span><i style="color: purple;">P. laticeps</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Todd Pierson; 2. John Kenney; 3. Pierson Hill; 4. Laura Moyer; 5. Brent Steury; 6. Eric B. Holt. </span><i style="color: purple;">A. allisoni</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Todd Jackman; 2. Eladio Fernandez; 3. source: Wikimedia Commons; 4. Chris Miller; 5. Tom & Martina Trnka Dubois; 6. M. Butler, S. Sawyer & J. Losos. </span><i style="color: purple;">C. calyptratus</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Chris Kadet; 2. Professor Steve Huskey, Western Kentucky University; 3. William Warby; 4. source: generalexotics.com; 5. Gail J. Worth; 6. Donald Quintana; 7. hatchling: Michael D. Kern, neonate: J. Kleber, young juvenile: flchams.com. </span><i style="color: purple;">V. indicus</i><span style="color: blue;">- Peter Bonser; 3. Dr. S.P. Mackessy; 4. Lft: Kenneth Jensen, Rt: Joe Sablan; 5. Lft: source: Godzilla squatte la menagerie (France), Rt: Linda De Volder. </span><i style="color: purple;">C. collaris</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1.&2. Thomas C. Brennan; 3. William Wells; 4. Phil Myers; 5. William Wells</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue;">.</span><br /><br />SNAKES: <span style="color: blue;">1. illustrator: Karen Carr; 2. Ramon Crater; 3. source: BBC News Online; 4. source: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology; 5. sculptor: Tyler Keillor, photo: Ximena Erickson; 6. Zoltan Sylvester; 7. source: cbcreatures.webs.com (India); 8. Bruce A. Young (University of Massachusetts); 9. Sean Thomas; 10. arrangement: BJA.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snake species: <i style="color: purple;">L. dulcis</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: thehibbitts.net; 2. Jack Goldfarb; 3. Professor Nathan Kley, University of Stony Brook; 4. Sheryl Smith-Rodgers; 5. N.J. Kley & E.L. Brainerd (Nature 402: 11/25/1999). </span><i style="color: purple;">N. erythrogaster</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Will Bird, Ectotherms.net; 2. courtesy: SBS University of Texas Education; 3. J.D. Wilson; 4. courtesy: University of Texas at Dallas biology department; 5. Jeff LeClere (HerpNet.net). </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. reinhardtii</span><span style="color: blue;">-</span></i><span style="color: blue;"> 1. Eric Osterman 2. Daniel Heuclin; 3. Lft: Lubomir Klatil, Rt: Vladimir Moyycka; 4. Eric Osterman; 5. Lft: Rick Straub, Mid: Rick Staub, Rt: Tom Keogan. </span><i style="color: purple;">A. melanocephalus</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: herpetobotanical.blogspot.com; 2. Paul Looyen; 3. Pilbara Pythons, Dave MacKintosh (Australia) 4. Lft: Stewart MacDonald, Mid: source: aussiepythons.com (Aspidito), Rt: Dave macKintosh; 5. Multipro Mining Operations staff, Stephen R. Dowling. </span><i style="color: purple;">C. hortulanus</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: Science Photo Library; 2. source: charmthesnake.tmblr; 3. source: reptilis.org (France); 4. Peter Szymonik; 5. Vladimir Trailin; 6. Lft: Bill Love & Jerry Gingerich, Rt: Philippe Lesne`; 7. Lft & Rt: source: urbanjungles.com, Mid: source: coralluscaninus.info; 8. Lft: source: coralluscaninus.info, Mid: David Barkasy, Rt: source: urbanjungles.com; </span><i style="color: purple;">A. arafurae</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Rohan Clarke; 2. Matt Summerville; 3. Dayman Steptoe; 4. Dan Lynch. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">C. maculatus</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Fletcher & Baylis @ Visual Photos; 2. source: exploresrilanka.lk; 3. Chaminda Jayaratne; 4. Alex Pyron. </span><i style="color: purple;">B. subocularis</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Chris Newsom; 2. Lady Shmee; 3. Gary Nafis; 4. Lft; Gary Nafis, Mid & Rt: Troy Hibbitts; 5. oOBrieOo. </span><i style="color: purple;">C. palarostris</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Tom Brennan; 2. nmcrotalus source: flikr; 3. William T. Kendall; 4. Geoffrey Palmer. </span><span style="color: purple;"><i>M</i></span><i style="color: purple;">. tener</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Matt Buckingham; 2. Craig Howard; 3.University of Sam Houston (Texas) Biological Dept.; 4. Jerry Cates; 5. Seth Patterson. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">B. dendrophilia</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: divydovy.com; 2. source: Sir Mart Outdoorgraphy; 3. Dan Rosenberg (flikr); 4. Arie Lev; 5. Stuart Douglass; 6. source: reptiliaexpo.it (Italy). </span><i style="color: purple;">A. laevis</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Gary Bell; 2. Ross Gudgeon; 3. Cedric Mitel; 4. Veronique Lamare; 5. Mike Johns. </span><i style="color: purple;">B. insularis</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Rogerio Zacariotti; 2. source: ecoblogando.wordpress.com; 3. source: smarley.nl (Netherlands); 4. source: jureia.com.br (Brazil); 5. Otavio A. V. Marques. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">C. atrox</span><span style="color: blue;"><i>-</i> 1.William Wells; 2. Brian D. Hughes; 3. J.D. Wilson; 4. Brian D. Hughes; 5. Tim Allen. </span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><br />
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-84974986010379077572011-09-04T07:27:00.004-07:002013-11-25T10:35:40.835-08:00The Garter Snake by guest blogger and photographer Veronica Anderson<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Garter Snake </span><br />
by guest blogger and photographer Veronica Anderson<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">My husband found a young garter snake in the yard while he was mowing. The snake slithered out from a pile of freshly-cut grass. Being the good herper he is he quickly and gently picked it up and rushed in the house--past me--yelling for the kids to come look at the "baby." That was a sly and successful move in getting everyone's attention and a straight shot to my motherly instincts and past my objections. It turns out she (the snake) was very photogenic. </span><br />
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-19307576612327013952011-08-30T19:35:00.182-07:002015-12-23T10:00:17.877-08:00Amphibians<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>AMPHIBIANS</b></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">DISCUSSION:</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The word 'amphibian' refers to living two lives in water and on land. All amphibians are non-amniotic vertebrate animals, which means besides having no yolk, the egg is not terrestrially adapted. Therefore, eggs are laid in water or at least moist environments and in also being non-amniotic, there is no limb development during the fetal stage. This in turn necessitates a larval stage upon hatching. Larvae must go through metamorphosis to attain adult form</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> The extinct Golden Coqui</span> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are, as always in most cases, exceptions to the rule. Toad species belonging to the genus <i>Rhinella</i> produce amniotic eggs on land albeit in humid environments. The toadlets hatch directly from the egg foregoing the tadpole or metamorphose stage. All treefrog species belonging to the rather large genus Eleutherodactylus lay eggs on palm leaves or on other moist terrestrial plants and guard the eggs. In some cases, once the developing embryos are hatched, the adults (in some species the female and in others the male) for a short duration will also guard the little froglets which possess minute tails that shortly are absorbed into the body. In fact, one species in this genus, the recently extinct Golden coqui (<u><i>Eleutherodactylus jasperi</i></u>) gave birth to live young and exhibited parental care by attending to the newly born froglets. Freeing them from being bound by water restrictions, nature has allowed these toads and frogs to live in higher altitudes and in tropical jungles further from access to permanent water sources</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">urther exceptions are the plethodontid salamanders that lay terrestrial eggs with fully developed but miniature hatchlings, along with caecilian species that give live births to viviparous or ovoviviparous offspring</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he amphibious line first made its appearance during the tail end of the Devonian period around 375 million years ago (mya) and became the ruling predator into the Carboniferous and Permian Periods; a span of around 100 million years. The earliest amphibian in the fossil record to date is the late Devonian, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Elginerpeton</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> found in 368 million year old rock near Scat Craig, Scotland. The fairly well known </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ichthyostega</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was discovered in 363 million year old Greenland deposits. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk5QnwOiqmnvs9FBB8O62UGc0b6YHrl74Ffk816SQk95z7hdse_eQ1Go2IWMOhJdvCJRiQSyc4lzJiedUstdH8DY13yWH1EthJRDojBDV5O2G8lS5HsQeRGFrkHSVZ-ub2jCW0ezGtItq/s1600/Elginerpeton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk5QnwOiqmnvs9FBB8O62UGc0b6YHrl74Ffk816SQk95z7hdse_eQ1Go2IWMOhJdvCJRiQSyc4lzJiedUstdH8DY13yWH1EthJRDojBDV5O2G8lS5HsQeRGFrkHSVZ-ub2jCW0ezGtItq/s200/Elginerpeton.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> Elginerpeton</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though these two animals were definitely true tetrapods with amphibious features, they at best could be considered very primitive amphibians. In other words, the <i>Amphibia</i> class was trending but was not wholly yet a true amphibian.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPbn6knuj0LbsrxLkUF9RwFHZJzvNAyTYYxlwG7dk7w5OHzXR-6F5xsNsqmPNjemeXkmqyo0LiSDm49ogO9dpe9SNaGPyUidQtAy0R47xaQV3yw7YcDpYrg18QBQGkRbctwq_X6TudKZW/s1600/Ichthyostega.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPbn6knuj0LbsrxLkUF9RwFHZJzvNAyTYYxlwG7dk7w5OHzXR-6F5xsNsqmPNjemeXkmqyo0LiSDm49ogO9dpe9SNaGPyUidQtAy0R47xaQV3yw7YcDpYrg18QBQGkRbctwq_X6TudKZW/s200/Ichthyostega.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Ichthyostega</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The late Devonian was a period that witnessed a great greening of land with multitudes of plant species diversifying out and away from permanent water sources with root systems aiding in the further erosion of rock into soils. Primitive arthropods co-evolving with the diversified vegetation, evolved into the first true insects that shared in the mutual evolvement and dispersal of seed bearing plants; much like pollinating insects and pollen bearing plants do today. Honey bees today, pollinate over 30% of our edible plants</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his great plant life takeover of terrain created a carbon dioxide sinkhole. In taking the gas out of our atmosphere, it produced a cooling climatic trend that perhaps was one of the main causes of the massive extinction event witnessed during the late Devonian, primarily in the marine communities and in particular, species in shallower waters such as corals. One group of shallow water animals were not affected by the extinction and may have benefited from it. These were the lobbed finned fishes</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">obe-finned fishes differ from today's more prevalent ray-finned fish in that instead of fins, have two paired fleshy lobes supported by internal phalange bones. Devonian lobe-fins also had developed skull spiracles to gulp in air possibly to survive oxygen poor shallows or a duration of droughts</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ome of these fish, like the extinct </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Panderichthys</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of northern hemispheric oceans and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gogonasus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of southern hemispheric oceans, would venture out onto shorelines walking on their lobes. Being a truer fish in anatomy than in being a terrestrial tetrapod, they were greatly dependent on a watery environment. Nonetheless, even though it was on lobed-fins rather than true legs, they were the first vertebrate to walk on land. Evidence of a copious and vast amount of untapped food resources in terrestrial plants and insects perhaps induced evolving adaptations to become more terrestrial and in between 400-350 mya, the evolution of true tetrapods evolved from the lobed fins of these fish</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />3</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">75 mya, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tiktaalik</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> appeared and though not a true tetrapod, was a transitional prototype tetrapod that wasn't fully a fish either. Though classified under the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sarcopterygii</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> class of fish, this animal had possessed weight bearing wrists that could flex, simple ray bones reminiscent of fingers and the first fish ever to lack bony plates in the gill area, thus restriction of lateral head movement was eliminated. This essentially gave the animal a neck with the pectoral girdle separate from the skull giving more latitude in hunting prey on land</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />I</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n addition, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tiktaalik</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> had a supportive rib cage applicable enough for body support over land and tetrapodal lungs. Eventually </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tiktaalik</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and other prototype tetrapods gave rise to the first true tetrapods...the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">labyrinthodont</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Labyrinthodonts</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> like </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ichthyostega </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Acanthostega</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, 365 mya developed limbs with digits on the four hands. Though </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Acanthostega</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> possessed scales on the gills, both species had skin coverings instead of scales that would protect them from land desiccation. In addition, their mouth and teeth were adapted for terrestrial style feeding. Still though, they spent more time in water than no</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t.<br /> <br />F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">inally, around 310 mya, amphibians were firmly established, with dominant examples showing up in the fossil record, as in the appearance of the species </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eogyrinius</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which is Greek for dawn tadpole. This creature was huge for an amphibian growing to 4.55m/15ft. With stumpy but fully developed legs, the amphibian was semi-aquatic and appears to have prowled shallow river beds much like crocodilians do today</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuj0Mkd3f6ncOR4rKNh0We4yPUIEyY8H5iH0gq2W262KSJpE7cEzyb6JJzt7L9FBnGHoPxQ3jIZgk8aLrugNss9oON9qkx5QKD25YiAGvtZMm2u_GIwl8utWitwwT0tyiz8O4QyGblicWV/s1600/eogyrinus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuj0Mkd3f6ncOR4rKNh0We4yPUIEyY8H5iH0gq2W262KSJpE7cEzyb6JJzt7L9FBnGHoPxQ3jIZgk8aLrugNss9oON9qkx5QKD25YiAGvtZMm2u_GIwl8utWitwwT0tyiz8O4QyGblicWV/s200/eogyrinus.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Eogyrinus</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Eryops</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the best known of prehistoric amphibians is <i>Eryops</i> who showed up in the Permian around 295 mya. <i>Eryops</i>, with massive limbs and a short tail was most probably by far more terrestrial than aquatic. This 2m/6ft amphibian had true ligament attachments in the binding of the ilio-sacral structure and though it may not have been phylogenetically linked, it no less represented an intermediate stage between the primitive amphibians and early reptiles. This ligamentous attachment within the limbs of <i>Eryops</i> was a definitive stage as the precursor to cartilaginous variations utilized in all modern terrestrial animals for limb locomotion</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Skeletal Amphibamus</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Fossilized Amphibamus</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">Amphibimus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In all actuality, the true final juncture of modern day amphibians before they had split up into frogs/toads and salamanders/newts is found in the much smaller amphibian, <i>Amphibamus</i>, which was no larger than 15.2cm/6in. <i>Amphibamus</i> lived during the late Carboniferous around 300 mya</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />M</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">odern amphibians are technically classified as lissamphibians comprising frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians. Lissamphibian radiation appears to go back to the insectivorous </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphibamus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as the common ancestor. </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lissamphibia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is now a technical subclass for today's amphibians</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mphibian main traits are four limbs with digits ending in toes or webs with no claws or nails, lungs taking over gill function, possess internal as well as external nares (nostrils), smooth moist skin made to absorb dissolved oxygen, keratin (a protein) in skin to counter dehydration, ectothermic, exhibit torpor through hibernation, aestivation or brumation and have an aquatic larval stage that metamorphoses into the adult stage</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />M</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">etamorphism is controlled by the produced hormone, thyroxine. What is interesting here, is that there are certain amphibians, such as the axolotl that remain in their larval stage throughout life. This state is termed, neoteny and even humans possess some forms of neotenic stages. But if iodine is introduced into the larva of a neotenic salamander, it will then metamorphose and fully develop into the adult form. Thyroxine is dependent on iodine where low levels of the element thwart growth. But with the introduction of iodine, the higher levels promote the metamorphosing stages.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Apodan Characteristics</b> (Caecilians)</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tropical-semitropical burrowing worm-like animals.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Small or vestigial eyes, most are blind.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Completely lack external limbs</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Only amphibian to internally fertilize</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most species bear live young </span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Caudata Characterisitcs</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Salamanders/Newts): </span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Smooth moist skin for cutaneous respiration.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Elongated body with a tail and normally 4 legs in adults.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">More water dependent than anurans overall.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nocturnal in drier regions.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Contains completely aquatic species such as newts, amphiumas and sirens</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">More species bypass metamorphism stages than anurans with some species giving birth to live young.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eggs usually require water for development from submersion to dampness.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Anuran Characterisitics</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Frogs/Toads)</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All adults without tails to facilitate jumping or hopping.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most go through metamorphism.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Typically frogs have smooth skins and more dependent on water while toads have warty dry skin.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All anuran tadpoles have gills and tails.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Long hind limbs for frog jumping and toad hopping.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Possess a long forked tongue hinged at the front of the mouth.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Classification:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The classification outline here for amphibians is going to be a different format than what was approached in reptiles. In so doing, I'm attempting to expose the various styles of nomenclature and with the introductions, you can decide on which form of classification suits you best. There are many out there in varying outlines and systems</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br /><b>N</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OTE:</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this classification scheme, on the very top I have included the order, <i>Trachystomata</i> (also known as <i>Meantes</i>) for sirens, because the trending is to list the family, <i>Sirenidae</i> in a different order as separated from salamanders altogether. The reason being is that through new genetic analysis, sirens are not phylogenetically related to any other salamander group. Many of their unique primitive and derivative characteristics are from a distinct line. So, I have listed <i>Trachystomata/Meantes</i> as the distinct order of sirens, but still included the old version under <i>Caudata</i> grouped with the salamanders. Still further for some form of distinction, under <i>Caudata</i> I added the suborder, <i>Sirenoidea</i> to show a separation of sirens from the rest of the salamander groups listed under <i>Caudata</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he discussion above brings us to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caudata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caudata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was the original salamander order, but now it is becoming common to list all extinct salamander forms under </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caudata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and all extant species under the new order, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Urodela</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here is as well another item. Originally mudpuppies, waterdogs and olms were all listed under the one family, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Proteidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> simply because they all are neotenic and remain in water with gills their entire lives. But due to their unique adaptations and features from living submersed as troglobites (animals who spend their entire lives in caves), olms remained under the family, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Proteidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> while mudpuppies and waterdogs were removed to the new family listing of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Necturidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that coincides with their genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Necturus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br />I </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hope that this does not create confusion. Science is flexible and though old ways sometimes die hard, science will change when the change is warranted. It's just that during the transition, the water can get a little murky, if not downright muddy</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br /> <br /> T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here are two main amphibian classification schemes today and they are Frost: Amphibian Species of the World (ASW) and AmphibiaWeb by the University of California (Berkeley). The two schemes differ greatly in number of families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br /> W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here AmphibiaWeb stands more traditional, Frost ASW has split several families off from original families and elevated them to distinctive families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br />U</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nder the class, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphibia</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as listed by Frost ASW, there are 3 orders with 61 families</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br /> <br /> F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ollowing and covering some 6,775 species is the taxonomic AmphibiaWeb scheme in amphibian classification: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kingdom: Animalia</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phylum: Chordata</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Subphylum: Vertebrata</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Class: Amphibia </span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sirens:</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As mentioned earlier, certain taxonomic classifications for sirens are under the order, <i>Caudata</i> catalogued with the rest of the salamander groups, but with the additional stipulated suborder, <i>Sirenoidea</i>. Due to unique phylogenetic characteristics, reclassification is warranted and the current trend is to list them under a separate order known as <i>Trachystomata</i>, but sometimes listed as <i>Meantes</i>. Try and keep this in mind when reviewing other amphibian classifications.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sirens make-up only one family, <i>Sirenidae</i> with two genera. The genus, <i>Siren</i> consists of two species while the genus <i>Pseudobranchus</i> (dwarf sirens) has seven species listed. Though there is disagreement on the actual number, tentatively there are five <i>Psedobranchus</i> subspecies and three <i>Siren</i> subspecies. Sirens only occur in the southeast portion of the U.S. and a portion of northern Mexico.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All these animals have small but fully developed forelimbs while any hindlimb or appendage is totally absent in also lacking a pelvic girdle. Although they are listed as being neotenic, in a sense they show neotenous reversals in that larval gills, in contrast to usual amphibian pedomorphism, are very small and non-functional relying on lungs, whereas in adults the gills become fully formed and functional, though still retaining the developed lungs. This hints to a consensus that sirens originated from a terrestrial ancestor that possessed an aquatic larval stage. Developed larvae, may even shrink their gills to stumps and rely fully on lungs for breathing by gulping surface air if the body of water they're in is too stagnant and anoxic (the depletion of dissolved oxygen).<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hese animals range in size from the northern dwarf siren (<i>Pseudobranchus striatus</i>) averaging 10.2-21.6cm/4-8.5in in length to the greater siren (<i>Siren lacertina</i>) reaching lengths of 97cm/38in. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Northern dwarf siren ~ P. Striatus</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sirens live in marshy murky waters, bottom lands and even ditches that have tendencies to dry out especially during drought stages, but are also found in more permanent bodies of waters like large ponds and muddy slow moving streams. Though small, the two front legs are capable to move the animal across land during rainy nights to reach wetter habitat.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If no water source is reachable during droughts, sirens will burrow into drying mud, encase themselves into a moist retaining mucus cocoon and lower their metabolism and heart rate drastically. The cocoon is leak proof and keeps them from desiccation. Once cocooned, they switch from gill breathing to lungs and wait through aestivation for the next rains to come and fill their habitat back up with water again.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even though they can extremely lower metabolism down to 30% functionality, metabolic rates must be high enough during active periods, for unique among amphibians, they can tolerate much colder conditions. They are commonly observed swimming just beneath ice during winter months.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> GB heron & greater siren</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The only teeth present are small and few located on the palate and splenial bone positioned on the lower jaw. For biting purposes, there is no dentition, but instead a horny sheath much like a beak is utilized in defense and for capturing prey. Diets mainly consist of invertebrates and filamentous alga; another unique siren characteristic in an amphibian's diet consisting of vegetation. Some filter feed in the detritus mud bottoms, while others will hunt and prey on terrestrial invertebrates during warm rains.<br />
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N</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">atural predation has not been fully studied, but wading birds, water snakes and adult fish have been observed preying on sirens. Eggs and larvae are preyed on by fish, frogs and even sirens foraging on water bottoms consume siren eggs</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wo other unique features of the body that distinguishes sirens from the rest of the salamander groups is that sirens possess an interventricular septum in the heart common in mammalian hearts and at least two species can produce vocalizations. Most other sirens, though they don't have vocalization, do communicate with each other by using a series of clicks for intraspecific conveyance. The clicking process is performed by gulping surface air, then jerking the head up and down sharply. The forced expulsion of air and head movement causes horny coverings in the mouth to clip together creating the clicking. Rates of clicking are controlled. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">irens are the most ancient line of extant salamanders and are listed together with the other living salamanders under the order, <i>Urodela.</i> In this taxonomic scheme all extinct salamander forms are listed under the order, <i>Caudata</i>. Sirens are further divided out in only one family, the<i> Sirenidae</i> with two genera and four species.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Southern dwarf siren ~ </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">P. axanthus</span> </i> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Southern Dwarf Siren </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Sirenidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Pseudobranchus </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Pseodobranchus axanthus</u></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 10-25cm/4-9.8in </span><br />
Weight: ~ 69.45g/2.45oz<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Under ideal conditions, captives have lived 25 yrs; in the wilds would be considerably less. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Pseudobranchus axanthus</i> ~ is Greek, 'pseudos'-without, 'xanthos'-yellow; meaning without yellow in color comparison to other specie of dwarf siren,<i> P. striatus</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Is endemic to the southeastern half of Florida found in wetlands shallow sinkholes and cypress ponds containing dense mats of water hyacinths.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Are a thin unusually slimy salamander, even for salamanders. Have both lungs and gills. The prevalent gills are feathered and bushy, often visually hiding the tiny forelimbs that end in three toes. No hind limbs. Coloration varies but are generally brown and sometimes black or gray, but always with three dull yellow or tan longitudinal stripes running down the entire length of the back and sides. There was a trend to link the two species and all subspecies into one, but molecular genetics proved they were indeed distinct animals having different chromosome counts; there are 2 subspecies. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">P. axanthus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> displaying gills</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Has a small blunt rounded mouth so eats any invertebrate prey small enough to take in, including worms, ostracods, chironomids and amphipods. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is nocturnal preferring to stay hidden under debris or mud on shallow water bottoms; larvae will often congregate around stem roots of hyacinths; little is known about reproduction; spawning has been observed from November to March with eggs placed and attached singly to aquatic plants; eggs have 3 jelly layers; male captives have been seen to follow the laying female then wrap around an egg once she has deposited it; suspect this is the way he inseminates, but no free swimming sperm is ever noted; produce faint yelps when caught.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIHfwSNk53tR6SNbCImcD9c0YrtuNdxvva_23ZGVXxN3ZiskFXKZP07lOriNn8FhoqkrPd-y8k4zJ9yM2GkaDdmwQ3miXdok_Id8xCQ7eri2GAJxFiH4kkGmWmNKjCrsHYcFR7NeExw5v/s1600/siren-intermedia-texana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIHfwSNk53tR6SNbCImcD9c0YrtuNdxvva_23ZGVXxN3ZiskFXKZP07lOriNn8FhoqkrPd-y8k4zJ9yM2GkaDdmwQ3miXdok_Id8xCQ7eri2GAJxFiH4kkGmWmNKjCrsHYcFR7NeExw5v/s200/siren-intermedia-texana.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">Siren intermedia texana</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rio Grande Lesser Siren</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Family: Sirenidae </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Genus: Siren</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Species: <b><u>Siren intermedia</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Subspecies: <b><u>Siren intermedia texana</u></b> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 69cm/27.2in (largest of any siren subspecies)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 312g/11oz </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 4-7 yrs </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Siren intermedia texana</i> ~ is Latin referring to the 'aquatic sirens' of Greek mythology that sang alluding to salamander siren's possessing a voice and 'intermedia' denoting 'intermediate' between the greater and dwarf sirens in size; 'texana' simply refers to 'of Texas.'<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Found within the lower Rio Grande River watershed in still and slow moving water bodies that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are usually weed choked and murky. Preferring any shallow body of water keeps them from fish predation found in deeper clearer more permanent waters. Extensive usage of pesticides, herbicides and other pollutants are contaminating the preferred stagnant water bodies threatening this subspecies; there are 3 subspecies of <i>intermedia</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> The dorsal, dorsum or top side, whatever is your choice in calling it, is a dull gray to brownish dark gray; ventral, venter or belly side is an even light gray; has the most costal grooves of lesser sirens exhibiting up to 38; body plan is very eel-like in appearance with two small front legs each with four toes; small, but useful beady eyes. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Will take about any invertebrate it can grab or suck in by or with the mouth. Eats terrestrial or aquatic insects, snails, worms, crustaceans and an occasional small fish if available. Quantities of aquatic vegetation material have been found in dissected stomachs, but is apparently not easily digested. <b> </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> This siren is passive by day preferring to lay just buried in mud or sand bottoms, or burrowed in plant debris that has settled to the bottom; is primarily nocturnal and at night is most active in foraging or pursuit of other sirens; along in breathing with gills will also come to the surface to gulp air; bite marks from other individuals are common on both sexes, so courtship must be a bit violent; female lays upwards to 300 eggs in the water; larvae are small at 1.1cm/.04in and take upwards to 4 years to mature; give off a clicking sound when in company with other sirens and may utter a shrill cry when seized by a predator or a human's hand. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjZzoPA8G0MTdwDbexdX7yJ2A87Hp6Ne9RkJ3osDdHpKUVSG24964ZEOgGQncDaLor3zXUOlj4hUECOdvNBYvtdgJkjcWwLaJ-RyPyNpPFbrVT82HyBPUG70J0EYZ_cRSFSZpX4uQW7AO/s1600/Siren+lacertina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjZzoPA8G0MTdwDbexdX7yJ2A87Hp6Ne9RkJ3osDdHpKUVSG24964ZEOgGQncDaLor3zXUOlj4hUECOdvNBYvtdgJkjcWwLaJ-RyPyNpPFbrVT82HyBPUG70J0EYZ_cRSFSZpX4uQW7AO/s200/Siren+lacertina.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Greater siren ~ </span><i style="font-size: small;">S. lacertina</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greater Siren </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Sirenidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Siren</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Siren lacertina</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 48-97cm/19-38in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Are the heaviest N. Hemispheric salamanders weighing over 1kg/2.20lbs </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Life expectancy in wilds is not known, but captives have lived 25 yrs </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Siren lacertina</i> ~ Latin, 'siren' pertaining to Greek temptress mythology that sang and 'lacertina' for serpentine body.'<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">istribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> From southern Maryland hugging the eastern coast seaboard down to Florida </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRZUipQ5nS8N2xLbEfD_UyiRIeXhVNhqqLQ0lmr-m5oEEWVPRgYSkbLhopkwxcxKgABoHIuOmbHisyS6U6CpSijEg3mdLZClDewuXG1J8hge4kV6ExcOQTlqb5TCwq_Glq4mVcFc3ZP-V/s1600/siren+lacertina+II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRZUipQ5nS8N2xLbEfD_UyiRIeXhVNhqqLQ0lmr-m5oEEWVPRgYSkbLhopkwxcxKgABoHIuOmbHisyS6U6CpSijEg3mdLZClDewuXG1J8hge4kV6ExcOQTlqb5TCwq_Glq4mVcFc3ZP-V/s200/siren+lacertina+II.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><i style="font-size: small;">S. lacertina</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> showing lighter ventrum</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Is the most heaviest and third largest salamander in North America; coloration is an overall drab gray or olive with random dark spots on head, sides and back; younger greater sirens have a light stripw down each side that fades with age; the ventrum and sides are lighter with faint greenish yellow shows; eel-like in appearance; has a rudder shaped tail with two fairly small front limbs possessing 4 toes; no hind limbs; small beady weak appearing eyes; is the most primitive of extant salamanders; there are no subspecies. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Being the largest of sirens the diet may be accommodated more with larger food; in addition to aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and their larvae, will also consume tadpoles, other salamander larva, aquatic eggs, small fish, crawdads (crayfish) and on occasion plant matter; utilize a lateral line (a sensory organ running laterally down each side of the body that detects vibrations and movement) even as adults to detect prey; most amphibian larvae possess a lateral line as inherited from fish lineage, but lose it during metamorphosis; stores fat in tail and along vertebral column for dry seasonal nourishment.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is nocturnal, spending days submerged and burrowed in debris or mud in bodies of shallow water; will come out on land during rainy nights; are sexually mature on average at two and a half years of age; females will lay from 100 to 500 eggs singly or in small clusters attached to leaf litter submersed in shallow waters; with the ability to aestivate this siren can lose up to 85% of its body weight and still survive; can tolerate brackish waters; aquatic herbicides and man induced drainage of wetlands are making sirens less common throughout its range, though in localized protected areas may be common. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caecilians, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mistakenly </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">known colloquially as 'blind snakes' are not just an odd amphibian, they are simply just one odd critter period. Being totally legless and long, the smaller species look like earthworms, even displaying the skin fold body rings (annuli) of segmented annelids, while the larger ones resemble snakes. Sometimes they're even called the 'two-headed snake', because their blunt tail-end (in most cases, a true tail is absent) is not well defined. Eyes on the head are either very tiny or hidden altogether under flesh and bone. Fossorial or aquatic in nature, evolution has left them with degenerative eye muscles and optic nerves. The retina and crystallized eye lens are vestigial at best and in the scolecomorphids of Africa, the entire eye has been pulled out of socket and predisposed under skin of the upper jaw. So yes, for the most part they are blind to vision, but do distinguish light from dark.</span><br />
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C</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">aecilians may appear as slow and sluggish, but they can react with lightning fast speed to a stimuli and can travel about as quickly as any snake can.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In rearing young, skin feeding is carried out by the mother in members of the genus, <i>Boulengerula</i> and <i>Siphonops</i>. Known as maternal dermatophagy, this is where the caecilian offspring actually tear into the mother's flesh, rip off chunks and eat it. It sounds gruesome, but it does save the expense in spent energy of maternal care in hunting, capturing and bringing back prey to be consumed by the offspring. Also, during this period, it appears that Mother Nature is not just looking out for the offsprings' welfare but for mom's too. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the offspring's sake, Mother Nature has evolved special 'infant teeth' specifically designed for ripping into the mother's flesh. These teeth are later lost and replaced as the caecilian matures. Some of these infant teeth are spoon shaped for scraping while the rest are spiked points for piercing outer skin layers. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For poor mom's sake, Mother Nature has equipped her to withstand the onslaught. During this period of rearing young, the mother's skin doubles in thickness with several layers. Only the outside layer is eaten and appears to not be equipped with nerves to signal pain.When the outermost layer is scraped and ripped off, the next layer quickly replaces it, maturing into the next meal. The mother does lose weight, but otherwise appears unharmed during this weaning stage.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is truly remarkable is that caecilians species are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth) and it doesn't matter, all birth types, except for oviparous species with aquatic larval stages, participate in some form of maternal after hatching or birth care. In addition though, in live bearing caecilian forms, the offspring, while still inside the mother will scrape off nutritious tissue and fatty secretions from the linings of the female's reproductive organs with the infant teeth. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This has to be the most purest form of parental investment but is not so far out there in extremes. It does parallel mammalian strategies in rearing offspring, for a big investment in mammalian mothers in producing and offering nutrients from her own body it seems, has similar infant rearing strategies. In a sense, whether it's skin from the body of a caecilian parent or milk from the body of a mammalian parent...it is an invested strategy in the successful rearing of a totally dependent offspring.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With caecilian habitat spread out across the globe, they hail from the the wet tropical regions of east and west Africa, Southeast Asia, India, the island Sri Lanka, the Seychelle Islands, in portions of northern and eastern South America, in parts of Central America and subtropical Mexico. They are only found in moist environments.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Except for one family being aquatic, caecilians are strictly fossorial, living a subterranean existence throughout their lifespan burrowing in moist soils in search of worms, termites and other small invertebrates for diet concerns and for each other in mating and rearing of young. The whole body plan is designed to be fossorial. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Expounding a bit more on what was mentioned earlier in comparing them to earthworm body plans, caecilians have numerous ring-shaped folds in the skin known as annuli that partially encircle the body. This gives the appearance of segmentation and allows for a more proficient propulsion in tunneling.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caecilian bodies are covered in a mucilage slime. The mouth is recessed and has two, not one as is the case in most animals, jaw muscles that keeps the jaw and skull rigid. These arrangements are to aid in keeping soil from entering the mouth. In species with eyes, skin covers them for protection while external ears are absent. One other aspect in burrowing efficiency is that caecilians do have calcite scales, but are internal, covered by a smooth layer of external skin. <br />
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Hearing perception is restricted to picking up and interpreting ground vibrations by means of an auditory ossicle (small hearing bone) located in the skull and articulated with the jaw. Collectively, this apparatus arrangement is known as the collumella. <br />
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The skull is bullet-shaped and sturdily fused for proficiency in tunneling. Except for eye, nare and tentacle openings, the skull is completely roofed and is a condition </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">known as stegokrotaphy. A few species however exhibit zygokrotaphy; a condition in having an opening in the temporal region facilitating kinetic movement of the skull. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddb69yCKcrCcskMpNhPbRh3rO_HtINlYR_ebc1PxkxtNyE-LhA9S9Nbcf9v-e55G7On3xAFXVZv9oYLny8h4AydAcW-U9gNLA1CoamWBKomWZqZi_-GQsgEFbY98eTDpH30ZPjVAtleG7/s1600/caecilian+lateralview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddb69yCKcrCcskMpNhPbRh3rO_HtINlYR_ebc1PxkxtNyE-LhA9S9Nbcf9v-e55G7On3xAFXVZv9oYLny8h4AydAcW-U9gNLA1CoamWBKomWZqZi_-GQsgEFbY98eTDpH30ZPjVAtleG7/s320/caecilian+lateralview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Caecilian (</span><i style="font-size: small;">Dermophis mexicanus)</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> skull & teeth</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For olfactory reception, most caecilians have nares (nostrils) for picking up airborne particles and in addition, have a pair of tentacles connected to optic nerves and muscle that are set along grooves between the eyes and nares and are extendable and retractable for detecting molecules left by prey passing through the soil. Borrowed from the fish lineage, caecilian genera with an embryo or larval stage possess lateral line organ systems embedded in the skin on the sides of the body and head for mechano-reception (neuromasts) and electro-reception (ampullary organs). Adult aquatic and all viviparous caecilians, lose this trait. <br />
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C</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">aecilians are the amphibian with true teeth in having recurved sharp teeth as snakes do and use them for grabbing onto prey, such as worms, termites and grub worms (beetle larvae). Also alike as snakes, there are two rows of upper teeth while the lower teeth line the jaw and fit in place between the upper rows when the mouth is closed. Teeth are strictly used for grasping and not chewing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Viviparous caecilians have fetuses that possess fetal teeth. It was first thought viviparous caecilians came about strictly from convergent evolution, but possessing fetal teeth suggests otherwise and implies that viviparous caecilians evolved from oviviparous ancestors that already had specialized in dentition which was preadapted to feeding in oviducts.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, as in snakes, most caecilians breathe with lungs with the left lung atrophying while the right one is expanding and is highly compartmentalized. Caecilians with lungs take in air through the mouth and skin to absorb oxygen in the lungs. Cutaneous gas exchange (skin breathing) is possible due to a permeable thin layer of skin intermixed with dense capillary networks that can absorb oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Some caecilians for lungs, have nothing more than an extended trachea. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are two species of caecilians that have done away with lungs completely. One is aquatic and one fossorial with both utilizing skin respiration, but in addition, <i>Atretochoana</i>, the aquatic genus has had its gills fused into a sac-like structure. Both lungless species have also lost the use of their nares in being internally sealed. The photo below depicts the newly discovered lungless terrestrial species, <i>Caecilita iwokramae. </i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumOJsaGK63hCbZTvl6cJJUUk5CAn0VaNNxr3Pa8dZlRehcjVF74DALedkWmOmLjLXeM9pOFEbEZpHUC1dpGto2WwHpx90G-QDYJlnqEE4KPvqCru86z5H2t8pC1_zs9lqRL7rO_rg7W7_/s1600/caecilian+lungless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumOJsaGK63hCbZTvl6cJJUUk5CAn0VaNNxr3Pa8dZlRehcjVF74DALedkWmOmLjLXeM9pOFEbEZpHUC1dpGto2WwHpx90G-QDYJlnqEE4KPvqCru86z5H2t8pC1_zs9lqRL7rO_rg7W7_/s200/caecilian+lungless.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">C. iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> ~ discovered in 2009</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A tail is any part of the body going beyond the cloaca, but a true tail is supported by vertebrae. With this definition in mind, there are only two caecilian genera then that would have a true tail. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Male caecilians have a penis-like appendage known as the phallodeum, in which he inserts into the female's cloaca and inseminates her internally after an average of 2 1/2 hours of copulation.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In most, there is no need for metamorphosis, for the young are hatched or born fully formed. In one genus only, there is a short aquatic larval stage and still, there are a few species with larvae that are not aquatic spending time instead in very moist soils. Some young are hatched or born with gills, but quickly lose them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maternal care is obvious throughout caecilian families with oviparous females incubating and protecting her clutch of large yolk filled eggs by wrapping around them. Some egg laying caecilians will further perform post-paritive parental care for the young including the practice of maternal dermatophagy, where the young (pups) feed off the mother's outer skin layers. Ovoviviparous females have the eggs hatch still within her where the young remain until they mature. As in the case of oviparous hatchings, ovoviviparous young are also equipped with infant teeth and rasp off and eat oviduct cells from the mother while maturing inside her. </span> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1macu0NaR8l3TR9tzksLd-vUyKTzDRLMGWzy6P-x19n-7FETuNgVgB_S_Hvik4be9RYGCf1yOV0HeiygtdYHjgYicDaK5a5DXhDrzzynrrsWhT0TJB06hVnd9zLQUtZM-HgfjTcGBnYVb/s1600/Eocaecilia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1macu0NaR8l3TR9tzksLd-vUyKTzDRLMGWzy6P-x19n-7FETuNgVgB_S_Hvik4be9RYGCf1yOV0HeiygtdYHjgYicDaK5a5DXhDrzzynrrsWhT0TJB06hVnd9zLQUtZM-HgfjTcGBnYVb/s200/Eocaecilia.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">Eocaecilia micropodia</i></span> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The fossil record is difficult to find for these burrowing creatures, but the extinct caecilian genus, <i>Eocaecilia</i> that lived during the early Jurassic shared characteristics with true salamanders and the extinct burrowing species of the order, Microsauria. Unlike modern-day caecilians, <i>Eocaecilia</i> possessed small legs and developed eyes showing extant caecilians originated from a terrestrial lineage.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One thing that baffles me and I'm sure quite a lot of herpetologists and that is why do a lot of caecilians have color? Though the general color is a drab gray, many species are vibrantly colored or varicolored. For an animal that spends most its time in total darkness underground and is for the most part essentially blind, why then the expense in wearing a colored skin?<br />
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To take a gander in guessing, I suppose it could be the result of aposematism. Aposematic animals are those</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that are toxic and display color warnings in advertising to predators not to eat them unless wanting to pay for it later. All caecilians possess toxic granular (poison) glands embedded in their skin that secretes poison onto the outer epidermal layers. Perhaps the more colorful ones carry more potent toxins and inherited the color from their once terrestrial ancestors. The toxin also protects oviparous caecilian eggs acting as a disinfectant to bacteria and fungi. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Six families, thirty-six genera and ~ 171 species make-up the caecilian groups under the order <i>Gymnophiona (Apoda</i>). Family rankings are currently in a period of transition in making up new ones. <i>Dermophiidae</i>, <i>Herpelidae, Indotyphlidae</i> and <i>Siphonopidae</i>, as being borrowed from <i>Caeciliidae</i> are now being given their own ranking as paraphyletic to <i>Caeciliidae</i>, but, monopyhletic unto their own distinct morphology and genetics. Specie members of these new families are most probably a derivative of allopatric function as determined from the latest genetic data.<br />
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An </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">exception to this monophyletic family trending are the two species in the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Herpele</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> which are the only remaining evolutionary species from an ancient and extinct lineage.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The two <i>Herpele</i> species are far removed from their closest genus relations, <i>Boulengerula</i>, even though they are now both being listed under the trending family, <i>Herpelidae</i>. </span><br />
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W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ith this in mind the six standard caecilian families are: 1) the common caecilians (<i>Caeciliidae</i>); 2) the aquatic caecilians (<i>Typhlonectidae</i>); 3) the fish caecilians (<i>Icththyophiidae</i>); 4) the tropical caecilians (<i>Scolecomorphidae</i>); 5) the beaked caecilians (<i>Rhinatrematidae</i>) and 6) the Indian caecilians (<i>Uraeotyphlidae</i>).<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his may all be a bit confusing, but until 1968, there was considered only one family of caecilian. Newer information from better and more updated technology has brought caecilian research and knowledge a long way with sufficient data in understanding these creatures physiologies, morphologies and attributes. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">Atretochoana eiselti</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caeciliidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Atretochoana</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Atretochoana eiselti</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 738mm/29.05in (largest lungless tetrapod known)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Estimate ~ 130-200g/4.8-7.4lbs </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown <br />
Name Origin: Atretochoana eiselti ~ 'Atretochoana' is Greek for 'closed nostrils;' 'eiselti' after Josef Eiselt (Austrian herpetologist). <br />
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<b> Distribution:</b> Endemic to Brazil in higher elevation, fast flowing and clear smaller rivers and permanent streams.<br />
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<b>Description:</b>There are only two preserved specimens with no living population known; readily distinguishable </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">form other caecilians by possessing wrinkled skin, massively large mouth for caecilians and internally sealed nares due to choanal apertures (passageway from back of nose to throat) being permanently sealed with fleshy flaps; head is broad and flat being dorsoventrally compressed; eyes seated in shallow ocular depression; high number of splenial (thin splint-like bone) teeth; lungless utilizing cutaneous gas exchange; in addition, has mobile cheeks and stapes from which muscles originate that is unknown for any other species; a well developed fleshy and short dorsal fin runs down the back; coloration is dorsally a light blue-gray while lighter ventrally with a white patch on ventral surface of head; tip of snout and mouth borders are olive-gray; there are no subspecies.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> Unknown; only one of the two preserved specimens had stomach contents and that was small quartz</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">crystals; assumed to eat small fish and aquatic invertebrates.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Habits:</b> Other than being aquatic and possibly viviparous, nothing is known about its life history or behavior.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Sao Tome Caecilian ~ </span><i style="font-size: small;">S. thomense</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sao Tome Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caeciliidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Schistometopum</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Schistometopum thomense</u></b><br />
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Length: 135-345mm/5.32-13.58in; up to 375mm/14.76in.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Averaged 136g/4.80oz.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown; due to smaller size perhaps 5 plus yrs. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Schistometopum thomense</i> ~ <i>Schistometopum</i> is from a Latin neuter noun meaning 'split forehead;' <i>thomense</i> is in refernce to geographic range.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Found on the island of Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea 220km/136.7mi off the coast of West Africa; reportedly, once shown <i>S. thomense</i> photos local Ituri Province natives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the African mainland, said they recognized and had seen specimens of this caecilian; prefers softer soils and pre-existing burrows in steep terrain; uncommon in drier northwestern portion of island; in wet conditions is more apt to surface and can be found on ground, under superficially loose soil and under rotting vegetation floor litter; drier conditions drive them deeper into soil; infrequence to agricultural plots; based on genetic variance this caecilian had already inhabited the island prior to human settlement; is a mystery how <i>S. thomense</i> inhabited the island; Sao Tome is a shield volcano that arose from the ocean floor, but is a chain of volcanoes that perhaps the caecilian island hopped on debris rafts originating from the mainland.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note dermal scalation</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Eyes visible through skin and are not in bone, but embedded in squamosal sockets; splenial </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">teeth present; dermal scales present, in particular in anterior just beneath the skin; tentacular aperature closer to eyes than nares; lacks a true tail; head is sloped from crest of forehead to terminus of upper mandible; mouth is ventrally recessed; sexual dimorphism is not pronounced in total length, but in head size; the adult male head is larger than the females; at ~130mm/5.12in sexes begin to exhibit dimorphism in head shape with male's expressing blunter more larger heads than females; dorsolateral coloration of uniform bright yellow to darker burnt yellow; nonuniform and random whitish ventrum; purplish brown flecking may or may not occur; chromatic flecking is more common in morph specimens south of their range and those lacking the flecking are more common in the northern tier of their range; there are no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Predominately preys on earthworms supplemented by centipedes, ants, insect larvae and mites; juveniles primarily prey on endogeic invertebrates </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(animals that range just below the ground surface)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, in particular small earthworms; rather than pursuing prey prefers the lie in wait ambush approach with a positioned burrow posture of head raised slightly above and perpendicular to burrow floor and neck cocked forward all the while remaining motionless; once seizes and subdues passing prey, utilizes long-axis rotation to tear off chunks of prey for ingestion; due to noxious taste from toxic secretion, only ants in numbers seem to be the primary predator.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span> <i style="font-size: 13px;">S. thomense</i> preying on earthworm</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Adult with neonates</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Are more surface or near surface dwelling than most caecilians; in soil, will excavate their own burrows and tunnels and keep, maintain and use them for monthly periods before new excavation commences; will also use passages in soil created from rotted out tree roots; below ground locomotion is achieved through a combination of internal and whole body concertina locomotion; above ground a combination of lateral undulation and internal concertina locomotion results in movement; have been observed moving with ease backwards through tunnels when necessary; are mainly nocturnal; primary breathing is cutaneous respiration through highly vascularized skin; additionally breath with pulmonary respiration; toxic skin gland secretions, whether from contact or fuming in a confined area, are potent as other animals contained in the same holding tank with this caecilian die from toxin's exposure; apnea has been observed up to 3 hours due to low metabolic rate at rest and highly efficient cutataneous gas exchange; bite marks and teeth scrapping scars are common on both adult sexes and juveniles; appears to be more the result of a chemoreceptor communication process tied to the vomeronasal activity of the tentacle than a mating ritual or territorial dominance duel; no stage in reproduction is tied to water; captive females reproduce biennially and are viviparous producing live births of 2-7 neonates (young); fetus possess an infant tooth and nurses through intraoviductal feeding; neonates are born ranging from 91-118mm/3.58-4.65in and double in size within nine months; neonate siblings will loosely knot together in enlarged tunnels</span>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> </span>Tapalcua ~ <i>D. mexicanus</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Tapalcua</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caeciliidae (Dermophiidae) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus; Dermophis</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Dermophis mexicanus</u></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 30-50cm/12-20in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 109-179g/3.85-6.31oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 8-11 yrs, Maximum 13.8 yrs </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Dermophis mexicanus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Dermophis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">dermis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> is a latinized form of the Greek word </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">derma</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> for 'skin;' </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">ophis </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">refers to the Greek word, 'ophidian' meaning 'serpent;' </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">mexicanus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> refers to a portion of the species' geographical range</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><b>istribution:</b> Southeastern & southwestern Mexico down through the Central american countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama; found in lowlands and mountains of Guerrero, Mexico in the western Pacific versant and Veracruz, Mexico in the eastern Atlantic versant southwards to northern Panama; prefers moist friable soil, bur may be found in a variety of soil types. </span></b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> An off-hand scale for size</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Body annuli ~ ave. 103 primary folds, ave. 62 secondary folds; is tailless; orbit is not roofed over by squamosal bone; body is thick; tentacle is located tentatively halfway between eye and nare on both sides of snout; absence of splenial teeth; overall coloration is a dorsum dark gray with a paler gray ventrum, jaw and tentacle markings; exhibits variable scalation in species, there are no subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><b>iet:</b> Composed primarily of invertebrates that live in soils and under leaf litter such as worms, beetle pupae, termites, caterpillars and other insects; has been known to take very small vertebrates such as lizards, snakes and baby mice; is a sit and wait predator</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Unlike most amphibians, a hypaxial muscle does not aid in exhaling; to exhale, passive exhalation is achieved simply by opening the glottis allowing higher pressure lung air to exit into the lower pressured atmosphere; spends majority of time in burrows made in loose moist soils; prefers making their own burrows as opposed to using other animal digs; will come out and surface during warm gentle rains and crawl under ground litter; locomotion is achieved in wavy side-to-side accordion-like motions; is viviparous with female giving birth to 3-16 young always in May-June during the start-up of the rainy season; gestation is 11 months; in the first three months the fetus consumes egg yolk; in the final 8 months of fetal development the female releases a liquid nutrient from glands lining her egg ducts that the developing young consume with infant teeth; developing young also possess three branched gills to breathe while in the egg ducts. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> Congo caecilian ~ <i>H. squalostoma</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Congo Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caeciliidae (Herpelidae) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Herpele</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Herpele squalostoma</u></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">40-60cm/15.-23.62in.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 95-155g/ 3.35-5.47oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Maximum 18.5 yrs.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Herpele squalostoma</i> ~ <i>Herpetos</i> originally Greek for 'skin'; with variant <i>ele</i> addition to refer to 'scales;' <i>squalus</i> is Latin for 'shark;' <i>stoma</i> is Latin for 'mouth;' together, all refers to 'scales in skin shark mouthed.'</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. squalostoma</i></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Distribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is distributed in Africa from southeastern Nigeria through the Cameroon, the Congo, western Democratic Republic of Congo, southwestern Central African Republic, mainland Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Bioko Island and presumably occurs in the Cabinda Enclave of Angola, although no species have been documented from there; prefers lowland rain forests with sandy soils adjacent to permanent bodies of water.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><b>escription:</b> Multiple ringed all down the body with annuli completely encircling dorsum and ventrum; possesses man dermal scales; mouth is large with unusually high number of splenial recurved teeth; has peculiar morphologies not found in other caecilians- possesses perforated stapes (stirrup-shaped small ear bone for high frequency detection), multiple small antotic (skullcase region) foramina (foramen- bone openings) and has no separate septomaxillae (septomaxilla- delicate bone associated with nare) and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">prefrontals [bone separating lacrimal (smallest facial bone) from frontal bones]; coloration is blue to light grayish purple; though study is ongoing to determine if is a single species, there are no current subspecies. </span></b></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5usDu3gBZzvM-sgxNz51z_9p5iXfiZ9wVm0tl3l85xpyu8kMK7MiJ5MeJzffznxPI2zv53Z5_0GUG0ny0Yzyu9slwKCGkc76co9qDT2X9Z7BpScfXXCjNFmJUnYB1t0C-NNUxhTzjrzx-/s1600/Herpele+squamostoma+hd.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5usDu3gBZzvM-sgxNz51z_9p5iXfiZ9wVm0tl3l85xpyu8kMK7MiJ5MeJzffznxPI2zv53Z5_0GUG0ny0Yzyu9slwKCGkc76co9qDT2X9Z7BpScfXXCjNFmJUnYB1t0C-NNUxhTzjrzx-/s200/Herpele+squamostoma+hd.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Profile of more blue specimen </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikOnIqOmHrw7_DIp9wMaiGH-HPxL8QAnNDqpuTKAEVDMzQC7I2VFIAjzQLtibwjcVTWVLQz1nXPJJa0RKQWWBfbYefLHTCO6SHU3ILja0useJKlblG5edPDjhTnRMts8fen2VXzyYEH53/s1600/Herpele-squalostoma.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikOnIqOmHrw7_DIp9wMaiGH-HPxL8QAnNDqpuTKAEVDMzQC7I2VFIAjzQLtibwjcVTWVLQz1nXPJJa0RKQWWBfbYefLHTCO6SHU3ILja0useJKlblG5edPDjhTnRMts8fen2VXzyYEH53/s200/Herpele-squalostoma.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> Profile of more purple specimen</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Di</b><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">et:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> A generalist predator consuming fossorial invertebrates and occasional terrestrial invertebrates; diet may include invertebrate or small vertebrate carrion.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Life in the wilds is poorly known as majority of time is spent underground; may rarely frequent leaf litter; actual breeding is unknown, but are oviparous; appears to require moist soils; this caecilian is very primitive from other caecilians in representing the last line of an evolutionary lineage that first split off from the main branch over 95 mya; in this regard, the mammalians, man and mouse are phylogenetically more similar to one another than the Congo caecilian is to its closest relatives in the caecilian genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boulengerula</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Daniel's caecilian ~ <i>G. danieli</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Daniel's Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caecilidae (Indotyphlidae)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Gegenophis</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Gegeneophis danieli</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 150-195mm/5.9-7.7in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 4.2-8.3g/.15-.30oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Gegeneophis danieli</i> ~ <i>Gegene</i> is Greek for genea meaning 'race;' <i>ophis</i> is Greek meaning 'serpent;' <i>danieli</i> is a rendering for 'of Daniel;' all together refers to, ' Daniel's caecilian snake species.' </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to India in the Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra State within the Western Ghats; found in grassland patches surrounded by semi-evergreen forests.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="text-align: justify;"><b><b>escription:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> Except for </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">G. nadkarnii</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">, Daniel's caecilian differs from all other </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Gegeneophis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> species in possessing multiple dorsum secondary annuli (>50) in which most are complete midorsally encircling the ventrum; annuli are distinct displaying white edging; posterior to 35th primary annulus, there are few primay annulus on which the secondary annuli are incomplete middorsally; body shape is subcylindrical being dorsoventrally compressed; eyes are barely visible located under bone; rounded tongue is anteriorly unattached and separated by a groove from the gingivae (gums); nuchal grooves marked by whitish grooves; the cloacal opening is at the posterior terminus confirming no tail is present; overall coloration is dorsally a slate reddish gray to purple with a lighter colored ventrum; snout tip and lower jaw are pinkish; adult female body fat fluctuates in total mass, but not in length or body size; was just discovered in 2003 and there are no known subspecies.</span></b></b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> 1. Body 2. Head 3. Rear</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Bulk of food intake are subterranean worms (earthworms and grubworms); when not underground is under rock or ground litter during rains where it may consume invertebrate carrion such as dead insects. <br />
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<b> H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> As fairly newly discovered by hepretologist, Varad Giri, very little information is known in the knowledge of natural history and habits; Is strongly fossorial; when rains occur comes to surface; extensive burrowing aerates soils; perhaps mucoid secretions also play a role in chemically enriching soils; only one specimen was found and being female determined the species to be oviparous; eggs most likely are terrestrially laid where upon the hatchlings are fully developed.</span></b></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Status_iucn3.1_blank.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_blank.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Data Deficient (3.1) IUCN</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> R</span>inged cacilian ~ <i>S. annulatus</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ringed Caecilian</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Caeciliidae (Siphonopidae)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Siphonops</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Siphonops annulatus</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 25-45cm/9.85-17.72in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 89.5-143g/2.75-5.59oz</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: environment dependent between 5-20 yrs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Siphonops annulatus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Siphon</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (siphon pipe) and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ops</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (face) are Greek and refers to tentacles on each side of face; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">annulatus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin meaning 'rings' in reference to body annuli; in describing these features tranliterates into tentacled face and body ringed caecilian.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Dispersed throughout South America east of the Andes in populations found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname & Venezuela; is the most widespread of all caecilian species; appears to require both drier soils as well as humid in neotropical environments of forests and dry savannas</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><b>escription:</b> General aspect of the body is cylindrical and distinctly ringed from nape to vent appearing somewhat like a millipede without legs; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">diameter of body is 16th-17th the length of body; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">terminus after vent and head have no folds and are smooth skinned; tongue is surafce furrowed with vermiculiform (worm-like) sinkings with no protruberances; muzzle very short, thick & rounded; nare openings on very end and slightly more upward on snout; indentation below each eye appear as false nares; eyes are discenible embedded in skin; maxiillary and palatine teeth are strongly constructed, needle pointed and slightl recurved; 86-90 annular body folds equidistant from one another; cloaca is located at terminus end showing no tail; no apparaent dermal scalation (scutes); overall coloration is a navy blue or brilliant dark blue-gray with white edged annulus folds; there are no subspecies.</span></b></b></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Head profile</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Almost exclusively feeds on earthworms as it burrows through subsoil; on occasion takes other invertebrates such as fossorial arthropods and their larvae; is preyed on by snake predators such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clelia clelia</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (the mussurana) and the semi fossorial </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micrurus coralinus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (tropical coral snake), with both being immune to venom of venomous snakes in which they both also consume. <br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> In being nocturnal is most active at night; as in most caecilians, secretes skin toxins, but secretes a more potent toxin on the head and tail-end since these are the most apt areas to be grabbed by a potential predator; health is maintained by living in humid and dry soils; drier soils may help eliminate fungal growths; rarely takes to the surface; female is highly maternal in her parental investing; for reproduction consumes a lot of her energy and is labor intensive and as such, the female only reproduces ever two years; this caecilian is oviparous and lays a clutch containing 5-16 eggs; the female tends the eggs coiled around them for protection, added warmth and stabilization; once hatched the 75-135mm/2.95-5.31in neonates (infants/newborns) are altricial in that they require nourishment, but are incapable of movement on their own to acquire it; feed from the mother in two ways via the maternal skin and cloacal secretions; with 44 spoon-shaped and spiked teeth they practice maternal dermatophagy by rasping off the built-up outer skin of the mother and ingesting it; the other nutrient source is a supplementary cloacal exudation that the pups (young) imbide; the outer skin, rich in lipid fats & protein with the additional cloacal nutrients increases </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">neonate growth rates on average per day .45% in length and 1.25% in weight mass; after attaining lengths beyond 150mm/5.91in, the pups leave the mother to forage and fend for themselves; throughout maternal care, female pales in coloration. </span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaDRFIuwpr9QBx0cqB3-oKn_uFH6tPVbVvcnFnOVavMWvYy9swueySRYXX_k1P4RzVuOLtFTBQ56kK3aII4faAO8ctmOZ57bhUmPYI3O1DX7HmPT0MHTGVYjdtsFsWPAuky7u2hhX0VMY/s1600/S.+annulatus+neonates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaDRFIuwpr9QBx0cqB3-oKn_uFH6tPVbVvcnFnOVavMWvYy9swueySRYXX_k1P4RzVuOLtFTBQ56kK3aII4faAO8ctmOZ57bhUmPYI3O1DX7HmPT0MHTGVYjdtsFsWPAuky7u2hhX0VMY/s200/S.+annulatus+neonates.jpg" width="145" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the composite photograph to the left, a) is displaying the mother with neonates and still unhatched eggs; b) mother with altricial pups; c) pups collected around mother's cloaca sipping up the exuded liquid nutrient; d) enlarged view of a pups lower jaw and teeth; e) enlarged view of two spoon shaped infant dentary teeth. The final bottom three photographs are comparisons between the female's f) non brooding skin to the g) & h) thickened brooding skin after being stained.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Kirk's caecilian ~ S. kirkii</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Kirk's Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Scolecomorphidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Scolecomorphis</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Scolecomorphis kirkii</u><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 215-463mm/ 8.47-18.23in (largest of Scolecomorhids)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 130g/4.6oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~ 14 yrs</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name origin: <i>Scolecomorphus kirkii</i> ~ <i>Scole</i> is derived from the Greek word, <i>scolex</i> meaning 'worm;' <i>morphus</i> is derived from the word, <i>morphe</i> meaning 'form' or 'shape;' <i>kirkii</i> is in honor of Sir John Kirk, a naturalist who was David Livingston's chief assistant during his second Zambezi expedition (1858-1863); all together refers to 'Kirk's wormed shape caecilian.'<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Habitat range is in eastern equatorial Africa in the countries of Malawi, Mozambique and the Ubena & Mahenge highlands and Udzungwa & Uluguru mountains of Tanzania; inhabits tropical rainforests in mountainous regions burrowed in humid soils or underneath jungle surface litter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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<b>D</b><b>escription:</b> Expresses dimorphism with the female being larger with primary annuli ranging from 140-152 in females and 130-142 in males; this female elongation with more vertebrae is an advantage in providing more space for developing fetuses; skin segmentation is reduced normally with only primary annulus; a single series of small teeth found in lower jaw; the mouth is subterminal; barely detectable eyes are roofed over by skin and bone; eyes are connected to tentacles; the flap shaped tentacles have an external subglobular base surrounded by a groove and a central opening through which the tentacles pass when being extended and retracted; tentacle apertures are positioned are positioned ventrolaterally from the snout below the nostrils and slightly angled to the anterior margin of the mouth; only caecilian genus where stapes are absent; epidermal scales are absent though rarely, vestigial scales are traceable in the posterior folds; there is no tail, where the bluntly rounded ventrally flattened terminus ends in a terminal shield without annuli; overall coloration is a dorsal lavender gray to purplish extending to the sides of the ventrum; ventral midsection is cream colored; tops and sides of head are a darker lavender shade than dorsum, no subspecies are recognized. <br />
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<b>D</b><b>iet:</b> This caecilian is an active hunter consuming fossorial invertebrates, such as earthworms, grubworms and termites and terrestrial macro-invertebrates such as insects; it is common to find soil in their guts and whether this is intentionally taken in, or is remains from animals consumed such as earthworms, is not definite; is preyed upon by the fossorial burrowing snake, <i>Atractaspis aterrima</i>.<br />
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<b>H</b><b>abits:</b> Kirk's caecilian is an active hunter and efficient burrowing predator, as has been observed tunneling while constantly extending its tentacles picking up chemical cues of the surrounding environment for prey; besides tunneling, this caecilian is probably the most active surface caecilian; when the tentacles are extended it pops the eyes out of socket and protrudes them beyond the head into the open; once the tentacles are fully retracted, the eyes go back in place; this ability insinuates light detection is more important than found in other caecilians; is viviparous with young retained in oviducts; fetuses possess fetal teeth as is found in all other </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbAuG411uN02lH0WSWEGAEZO78qZhZDf15AakkU1mxEs-Jwh0Zxt9Fv8kJFbBNXwS36NcJAO3MgWETJyLIALH32G1L3nZAIDgD6VMvtjXhrqBGORg1NCAjCM3_XULUroaUq2dKNIIyo2C/s1600/Scolecomorphus+kirkii+hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbAuG411uN02lH0WSWEGAEZO78qZhZDf15AakkU1mxEs-Jwh0Zxt9Fv8kJFbBNXwS36NcJAO3MgWETJyLIALH32G1L3nZAIDgD6VMvtjXhrqBGORg1NCAjCM3_XULUroaUq2dKNIIyo2C/s200/Scolecomorphus+kirkii+hd.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Head displaying left tentacle</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">viviparous caecilians, but they do not appear to practice intraoviductal feeding, as formerly pregnant <i>S. kirkii</i> females do not show any signs of oviduct scarring; a very large ovarian egg yolk and perhaps uterine milking that is stimulated by the fetal teeth is the prevailing thought for the source of this caecilian's fetal nourishment; if this strategy bears out to be true, it infers that fetal teeth were already in place and intraoviductal feeding was a later evolutionary edition as opposed to trending fetal teeth evolutionary development in accommodating more efficient oviduct scraping; the mother partakes in neonate parental care; </span>whether it is for territorial rights or mating privileges, males show signs of aggressive bite marks that fit the pattern of male teeth<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Menon's caecilian ~ <i>U. menoni</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Menon's Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Uraeotyphlidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Uraeotyphlus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Uraeotyphlus menoni</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 207-245mm/8.15-9.65in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 90g/3.18oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Not established but estimated to be up to 14 yrs</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Uraeotyphlus menoni</i> ~ <i>ur</i> is a German prefix meaning, 'original' or 'primitive;' <i>aeo</i> is derived from the Latin word, <i>aeon</i> meaning a 'period of existence;' <i>typhlus</i> is derived from the Greek conjugation, <i>typhlos</i> referring to 'blind eye;' <i>menoni</i> is in honor of Dr. Sangeetha Menon from India; she is a zoologist, but is known more in the field of philosophy; altogether refers to, Menon's early blind caecilian.'<br />
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<b>D</b><b>istribution:</b> As it is sometimes referred to as the Malabar caecilian, it is endemic to the southern portion of Malabar in the Western Ghats within the state of Kerala, India; its habitat seems to be limited to tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests.<br />
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<b>D</b><b>escription:</b> Both the head and terminus end taper; smooth tongue contours tapering jaws in being pointed; have a true tail with vertebrae; the tentacular openings are situated far in front of the eyes and below the nostrils (nares); eyes are distinct surrounded by a white ring; there is a total absence of tertiary annuli; trachea is expanded to accommodate larger surface area in respiratory gas exchange; there are between 165-172 annulary folds; dorsum coloration is violet to lavender that sometimes trends to being purplish with lighter groove segments for annuli; ventrum is paler in color; snout tip and tail tip are creme colored; no subspecies are recognized.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As it is strongly fossorial in habit, the bulk of consumption is probably subterranean invertebrates such as earthworms, termites and insect larvae</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Profile of tapered head & tail</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Apparently this caecilian is restricted to really moist soils as it has only been found in areas receiving over 2000mm/78.74in of rainfall per year; has been found in humus-rich soils of tropical lowland forests and wetlands; it has also been reported from artificial terrestrial sites such as plantations and agriculture, but in that these sites were excavated from originally natural forests, soil chemistry will change and may be detrimental to this caecilian; morphology of tooth crowns is variable inter-specifically among caecilians and <i>U. menoni</i> possesses bicuspid teeth, which is indicative of prey choice as these teeth are utilized for prey grasping; as in all caecilians, insemination is internal; this species is oviparous laying a clutch of eggs in moist soil near permanent water; once hatched the larvae leave the nest site and enter the water appearing to be wholly aquatic during the larval stage.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Status_iucn3.1_blank.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_blank.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Data Deficient (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Two-lined caecilian ~ <i>R. bivittatum </i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two-lined Caecilian</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Rhinatrematidae (Ichthyophiidae)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Rhinatrema</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Rhinatrema bivittatum</u></b><br />
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Length: Up to 210mm/8.27in<br />
Weight: ~ 6.5-7.5g/.23-.25oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Rhinatrema bivittatum</i> ~ All nomenclature is Greek rooted;<i> rhin</i> refers to 'nose;' <i>atremata</i> means 'without holes' referring to lack of tentacular apertures on snout; <i>bi</i> is a reference for two; <i>vittatus</i> means 'striped;' altogether is: 'two-striped close-nosed' caecilian.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> From portions of northern South America in northern most part of the Amazon in Brazil, eastern most part of Guiana shield in northern French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname; found in lowland rainforests within these regions</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> Due to new DNA sequence data, the family <i>Rhinatrematidae</i> has just been deleted this year (2011) with its species being removed and listed under the family, <i>Ichthyophiidae</i>; <i>Rhinatremata</i> was a monotypic genus with <i>R. bivittatum</i> as the only species until in 2010, when a newly discovered species was found in <i>R. shiv</i>; rhinatrematids are the sister taxon of all caecilian species in being the most primitive branching off 215 mya; retain more ancestral features than other caecilian genera; <i>R. bivittatum</i>'s skull is zygokrotaphic and is not fully fused lacking prefrontal & postfrontal bones and an opening between the squamosal and parietal bones; premaxillae and nasal bones are present as separate; eyes are distinct covered by clear tissue; tentacles are immediately adjacent to eyes and migrate anteriorly away from the eye; mouth is terminal on snout, hence the name beaked caecilian; has a distinct tail with vertebrae; have complete secondary annuli the full length of body and are orthoplicate (in same plane around body); overall coloration is dorsal brown with a splattering of yellow and a ventral majority yellow that extends to the sides, ergo the name two-striped; on both dorsum terminal ends is a large yellow spot; though at first <i>Rhinatrema shiv</i> was being considered a subspecies until it was determined to be distinct, there are no subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> fossorial invertebrates such as earthworms and insect life stages and forest floor invertebrates suxh as insects and arachnids</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> Is fossorial, but requires loose soil or humus for burrowing due to skull not being specialized for this activity; is probably the most active surface caecilian, therefore it is considered surface cryptic; usually haunts </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAU443zIx8FNryCi8T22GU-MTo3p-PA_7cdjHqgTB3Byevceac5BRlsy1hRrvJt50ey2zJ2PSvcy8qAVKZdNC2pv6GDyowQTchDNmC4X_K-dfFippMG2bkYB2bVk9sx4Gax33znnFCKgyG/s1600/Rhinatrema-bivittatum-hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAU443zIx8FNryCi8T22GU-MTo3p-PA_7cdjHqgTB3Byevceac5BRlsy1hRrvJt50ey2zJ2PSvcy8qAVKZdNC2pv6GDyowQTchDNmC4X_K-dfFippMG2bkYB2bVk9sx4Gax33znnFCKgyG/s200/Rhinatrema-bivittatum-hd.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Head profile</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">moist soils and leaf litter in foraging; are more nocturnal in habit and activity; occurs in remote habitat less likely affected by man; courtship, mating, though never observed, is considered to be terrestrial and underground; is oviparous with the female laying eggs in a terrestrial burrow near a water body source where she broods the clutch of eggs; once the eggs hatch the larvae exit the burrow and enter the water; larva is considered wholly aquatic, although there has been no observance, study or data on two-striped caecilian larval natural history; the population trend and status is not known, but is listed by IUCN as least concerned.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyoJfnY4x4Kpc6zYSksPD8OzHoaZyYrPFa6azjMQvEqgIDpuRQneB4yO3z77INeJihrxTa1l575dbF-go6R4AfRgojHWLgodOP-Mn4yZzxJ2hbCiS6JAUPuq-bz_AI0YBeTEDZNgz5eku/s1600/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyoJfnY4x4Kpc6zYSksPD8OzHoaZyYrPFa6azjMQvEqgIDpuRQneB4yO3z77INeJihrxTa1l575dbF-go6R4AfRgojHWLgodOP-Mn4yZzxJ2hbCiS6JAUPuq-bz_AI0YBeTEDZNgz5eku/s200/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Koh Tao caecilian ~ I. kohtaoensis</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Koh Tao Caecilian</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Ichthyophiidae </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Ichthyophis</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><u>Ichthyophis kohtaoensis</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 300-343mm/11.81-13.50in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 22-34g/.77-1.19oz</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Longest observed specimen lifespan ~ 7.3 yrs, but could be longer</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Ichthyophis kohtaoensis</i> ~ <i>ichthys </i>& <i>ophis</i> are Greek for 'fish' & 'serpent' respectively; <i>kohtaoensis</i> pertains to the island of Koh Tao in Thailand where was first classified as a species; all together is referenced as 'fish-like snake belonging to Koh Tao.' <br />
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<b>D</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Known with certainty from Koh Tao, Thailand; the initial thought was to assign any yellow striped caecilian to this species nomenclature, but due to further taxa scrutiny, already the yellow striped caecilian from Yunan in China has been assigned a new species name, </span><i>Ichthyophis bannanicus</i>; ostensibly, the current attributed range is Indochina from the pennisular and mainland Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia to Vietnam; populations are locally abundant in the Mekong Valley of Thailand; this caecilian prefers terrestrial microhabits of scrubs and forests near bodies of water; in these habits is within the soils during the dry season, while a greater percentage venture to the surface underneath ground litter during the rainy season</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBpwYbNsr6S9le7ekis8nN_u0IeQKMB3GG4EFQwvN5iZBzobfnJTJHbhtVBXyDRVeAKicZBWjqMmXr0tZcHByPVOPz0ij0s_qTuiWQF8pZs7vkxt604w7jJxWH6fSvgWtAKzzAZiGFc3j/s1600/Ichthyophiid+tail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBpwYbNsr6S9le7ekis8nN_u0IeQKMB3GG4EFQwvN5iZBzobfnJTJHbhtVBXyDRVeAKicZBWjqMmXr0tZcHByPVOPz0ij0s_qTuiWQF8pZs7vkxt604w7jJxWH6fSvgWtAKzzAZiGFc3j/s200/Ichthyophiid+tail.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ventral side tapered tail</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Has a true but short tail with vertebrae extending past the cloaca (vent); females have a W-shaped wall at the posterior margin of the cloacal disc; mouth is not recessed underneath the head; possesses two sets of jaw muscles a unique feature found only in the family, Ichthyophiidae; primary annuli divided by secondary and tertiary grooves; eyes are visually distinguishable; tentacles immediately anterior to edge of eye; numerous scales evident in annular grooves and in some of the dorsal grooves of the nuchal area; skull is very zygokrotaphic descriptive; overall coloration is a dorsum dark gray and yellow ventrum extending to the lower to mid sides; lateral line systems composed of two elements, the neuromasts & ampullary organs, are developed during embryonic stage, while tentacles and yellow striping develop in the larva; for now, there are no assigned subspecies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvO5T5ceQJ7NCjIQLnuzPUcDAHSgwBdQpnNirCcxUPkdQZs_O1-rznZfX9uujqUfr38BLz1YVbGuJkM9t7g1y4no8xfCZXLE7pKHZO4c3aZ49Irpftxb7lg63rUZ5WQsvctlPTTx600xNd/s1600/Ichthyophis+Embryo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvO5T5ceQJ7NCjIQLnuzPUcDAHSgwBdQpnNirCcxUPkdQZs_O1-rznZfX9uujqUfr38BLz1YVbGuJkM9t7g1y4no8xfCZXLE7pKHZO4c3aZ49Irpftxb7lg63rUZ5WQsvctlPTTx600xNd/s200/Ichthyophis+Embryo.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Embryo showing gills & lateral lines</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsRcGwpz_JfdRgM4pvsuoW3K_jWJgOeBt8sgqfR1e7dc4EUpCh37SXXcRJt6rnj2ivducbyUfIVVHz8CNypED4ZobGRVpjQrS44YZZNARVybDdAieKdQe6PuVS6VzVgQl7ALLaUsD42Dh/s1600/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis+eg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsRcGwpz_JfdRgM4pvsuoW3K_jWJgOeBt8sgqfR1e7dc4EUpCh37SXXcRJt6rnj2ivducbyUfIVVHz8CNypED4ZobGRVpjQrS44YZZNARVybDdAieKdQe6PuVS6VzVgQl7ALLaUsD42Dh/s200/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis+eg.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Maternal care</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJvhRD5HPf1_ciXja5QCUk-IHrrJMaTlnsmp6PEBHbhRt7rjjmNEl0IEHHarKNHMWvC28hOj8dj8qvuVGe1WGWWOJ6k4-SX0s1W391WNKptQhMWD2FYC0rVT0tl8euYxcABc8q8ZFFBiJ/s1600/Ichthyophis+kohtaoensis+crckt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJvhRD5HPf1_ciXja5QCUk-IHrrJMaTlnsmp6PEBHbhRt7rjjmNEl0IEHHarKNHMWvC28hOj8dj8qvuVGe1WGWWOJ6k4-SX0s1W391WNKptQhMWD2FYC0rVT0tl8euYxcABc8q8ZFFBiJ/s200/Ichthyophis+kohtaoensis+crckt.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Consuming a headless cricket carcass </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><b><b>iet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Adults consume primarily subterranean invertebrates such as earthworms, insect larvae, termites, ants, oribatid & mesostigmatid mites and on occasion microhylid frogs; larvae consume strictly aquatic invertebrates, such as odonate larvae, water beetles, clam shrimp and will accept the carcass of dead invertebrates; moving from an aquatic larva to a metamorphosed terrestrial adult is a trophic position, but is superficial in both stages being generalist carnivores; predation of this caecilian by the red-tailed pipe snake, </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Cylindrophis ruffus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> is prevalent</span></b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqGYwh8Ht2Bqy0-wllofFWXNhXZ5tv2GTJzm6dZY77GnBYX17Tk9dKKtZ0ot5uNcEy3uYwgTDspVZqXdg55ZRS9d-EkplaH0O3QWSol3g3Ndhb43Tzk9W1ACLnPCk0SpdLQkU9mGK1aW-/s1600/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis+insect+larva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqGYwh8Ht2Bqy0-wllofFWXNhXZ5tv2GTJzm6dZY77GnBYX17Tk9dKKtZ0ot5uNcEy3uYwgTDspVZqXdg55ZRS9d-EkplaH0O3QWSol3g3Ndhb43Tzk9W1ACLnPCk0SpdLQkU9mGK1aW-/s200/Ichthyophis_kohtaoensis+insect+larva.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Consuming an insect pupa</span></td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits</span>:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Though primarily fossorial, during heavier rains can be common underneath surface litter; is primarily nocturnal being most active at night; female oviposits 32-58 eggs in a moist terrestrial burrow and remains with the egg clutch tending the eggs coiled around them until hatching; oviposition site is always near a body of water such as streams or pools; upon hatching, larvae exhibit positive phototaxis in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">utilizing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> light intensity to exit the burrow and find the nearby water body; well developed larval gills quickly degenerate and are lost within a day from time of hatching; larvae are not strictly aquatic, but are amphibious coming out of water by day to hide and retire under terrestrial retreats such as rocks, fallen logs and leaf litter at the edges of water; use negative phototaxis by day to locate dark recesses; by night they return to water to forage for aquatic insects, tadpoles, amphibian & fish eggs and terrestrial insects that have fallen into the water; lateral line system is highly developed in amphibious larvae and is utilized as mechano and electro-receptors to pick up physio ambient grade changes such as water pressure differentials and weak electrical fields produced by living organisms; terrestrial adults lose lateral line capabilities as it becomes functionless and disappears in adulthood; the muscle utilized for larva eye movement takes on a second role in adulthood as the retraction muscle for the tentacles; this caecilian appears to be adaptable to a degree in environmental changes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOl69tQK67rtInihN100618vSAgeJY1LEAZcwy9SK5nhPIu4E1K3wjuCZtKRQNdmMm9sNbQ7B2iVGVcnnpYyGbdDbDLFnCcrlgWHQdJpaDwnBBiVcQQ85fqvDAKUqKZc0Z7Iico1X1dA3/s1600/Typhlonectes+natans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOl69tQK67rtInihN100618vSAgeJY1LEAZcwy9SK5nhPIu4E1K3wjuCZtKRQNdmMm9sNbQ7B2iVGVcnnpYyGbdDbDLFnCcrlgWHQdJpaDwnBBiVcQQ85fqvDAKUqKZc0Z7Iico1X1dA3/s200/Typhlonectes+natans.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Rubber eel ~ <i>Typhlonectes natans</i></span> </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Rubber Eel</span> </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Typhlonectidae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Typhlonectes</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Typhlonectes natans</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 45.7-55.9cm/18-22in; Female captives can reach up to 120cm/3.94ft. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 60-100g/2.12-3.53oz.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 4-6 yrs.; Aquarists have reported captives living up to 20 yrs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Typhlonectes natans</i> ~ Ancient Greek - <i>typhlos</i> meaning 'blind' and <i>nectes</i> meaning </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'swimmer;' <i>natans</i> is Latin for 'swimming.'<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Found in the South American countries Columbia and Venezuela, possibly in the Republic of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Trinidad and Tobago; prefers subtropical to tropical bodies of water with mud bottoms in still waters of oxbow lakes and seasonally flooded river streams, shrub lands and low lying grasslands; will burrow into mud bottoms during dry season if caught in dried up seasonal water regions; waters warmer than 27.8 °C/82 °F will shorten life span. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Are fully aquatic living exclusively in freshwater; cylindrical body is clad in dorsal mud gray with ventral coloration trending to lighter gray; some color morphs are more of a gray blue; eyes are covered over with skin; cloaca is located near the anterior end and has no tail; though has no true fins, possesses a fleshy ridge on dorsum anterior, there are no subspecies.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LBCkSaj4Js2Z1xK0lXkW8FqDaDstLXJsFULT77lkFQpvTlo1Ff94aKNYX5Kzqo_lpClKX1VVjbp4oeNFE6VF8DN3aOSWpoqjTbtusIaMKFMS2p4gUkdrZBJGAkH6rsd3rk8-ZxYwqBrw/s1600/Typhlonectes_natans+blu+vrsn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LBCkSaj4Js2Z1xK0lXkW8FqDaDstLXJsFULT77lkFQpvTlo1Ff94aKNYX5Kzqo_lpClKX1VVjbp4oeNFE6VF8DN3aOSWpoqjTbtusIaMKFMS2p4gUkdrZBJGAkH6rsd3rk8-ZxYwqBrw/s200/Typhlonectes_natans+blu+vrsn.jpg" width="126" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>T. natans</i> ~ blue morph</span></span> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Aquatic invertebrates and their lavae and possibly scavenge dead animals lying on water beds; without true vision cannot actively pursue and capture fish.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcP21Oyx7PryowHqzk7qwtsA6PYCI1B0gxL16yLoaxiu4eqN9TTxLjqaRG-gY8Wkkl4tJyhSAx8r8p8uL3khA8T7APJLfTqDw3qQ7DxmZMp6P4kPZGGOuIJ1-a3TRnn6L82R5zh3tl5Vm7/s1600/Typhlonectes+natans+yawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcP21Oyx7PryowHqzk7qwtsA6PYCI1B0gxL16yLoaxiu4eqN9TTxLjqaRG-gY8Wkkl4tJyhSAx8r8p8uL3khA8T7APJLfTqDw3qQ7DxmZMp6P4kPZGGOuIJ1-a3TRnn6L82R5zh3tl5Vm7/s200/Typhlonectes+natans+yawn.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: small;">T. natans</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> ~ yawning</span></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Will readily accept chunks of dead carcass in captivity; will bite into then roll and pull off bite size pieces; perhaps this habit is also practiced in the wild; captives will yawn often prior to shedding; breathing is primarily through cutaneous gas exchange though periodical trips to the surface to gulp air is necessary in adequate oxygen supply to the lungs; in gulping surface air, lungs are first emptied in a single extensive exhalation, then refilled with an inhalation series of 10-20 inspiratory buccal oscillations; are viviparous giving live birth to 3-7 fully formed young in water; until birth, fetal young feed off of the maternal oviduct; oviduct is hypertrophied with nutrients; young are born with long sheet-like gills that are released once the first gulps of surface breathing are performed immediately after birth; gills acting as a mammalian placenta for respiration probably are more functional during the long 40 minute plus period of labor by the mother than for after birth; if born in too deep a water, the young may drown before reaching the surface.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Salamanders:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most authorities when explaining body features, express salamanders as superficially lizard-like in form and appearance and they are correct in that description. Even though the amphibian lineage is much older than the reptile line, lizards came long before the first salamander made the scene. Where the first known lizard fossils show up in the Triassic 220 mya, the first known salamander fossils are 55 million years younger. These oldest of salamander fossils were discovered in 1996 in China and Mongolia dug from Jurassic mudstones originating 165 mya.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ven though salamanders do not make-up the oldest specimens found in the fossil record, they are considered living fossils. The reason due is that essentially if you inspected an extant salamander pulled from underneath a rotting log or the fossil remains of one of the oldest salamanders known such as, <i>Chunerpeton tianyiensis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><i> </i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">they would appear the same.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6XwZRXMQntDfmmwRwaHCDoPM1wfQsXeHKMIc_wQEGV2aXrE9d3_erJdk093QEthsLUQkBncEfmDDpWBBiu-LAZI5UJz2Azh2TzoEnbCrLPTG0K39oRskZJB20uMFrs4g9yCVkqnnZNVq/s1600/Chunerpeton_tianyiensis.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6XwZRXMQntDfmmwRwaHCDoPM1wfQsXeHKMIc_wQEGV2aXrE9d3_erJdk093QEthsLUQkBncEfmDDpWBBiu-LAZI5UJz2Azh2TzoEnbCrLPTG0K39oRskZJB20uMFrs4g9yCVkqnnZNVq/s200/Chunerpeton_tianyiensis.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: justify;">1.</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> C. tianyiensis</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Salamanders first evolved after the original Laurasia and Gondwana continents merged to form the super continent Pangea 200 mya. When the super continent began to split apart 180 mya, the salamander lineage hitched a ride on the Laurasian portion. By the time salamanders had evolved from their amphibian ancestory some 165 mya, Laurasia had indeed itself rifted into pieces that now form North America, Europe, northern Africa and northern Asia where current species reside. This is only where you will find today's salamander representatives and they all are related going back to the original salamanders that once shared a single habitat on the super continent Pangea.<br />
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With the above in mind, the Americas have by far more species of salamanders than the rest of the world combined with North America as the most prevalent of salamander species populations. <br />
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Because of distinct reproductive, physiological, morphological and biological shared traits between salamanders and frogs, it would appear that somewhere down their ancestral line laid a direct relationship. This theory has recently come to the forefront from a recent discovery of a 275 million year old fossil that was for all intents and purposes half salamander, half frog</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iving long before salamanders and frogs, <i>Gerobatrachus hottoni</i> was enjoying his days going after small insects in the Permian warm humid lands and taking to brackish ponds in eluding predation. First discovered in 1996 in scrubland near Waco, Texas by the late Smithsonian Institute paleontologist, Nicolas Hotton, the siltstone find languished in a Smithsonian basement collection until the mid 2000s when it was finally evaluated</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>G. hottoni </i>had teeth, but other than that resembled both the modern day salamander and frog groups. In frog characteristics, it had a developed tympanum, reduced vertebrae and a skull fashioned just like an anuran's in being broad while supported by long arching struts. In resembling salamanders, it had the same physiological </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">body plan and shares in the fusion of specific ankle bones.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVSestYyGLYVyDmhn7w6pTMoOLTp2PtMR8Mvz7yO5gk-PVS5bYP_6qWdEDqYMm5mVLxGx6pZ8qMzGLON0R0Pb-2GZ8TgO3rNkmxwtqdqqEX4NeAcIGLiLD1IkT0vEoCE3DN1b585X0W6w/s1600/Gerobobatrachus+hottoni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVSestYyGLYVyDmhn7w6pTMoOLTp2PtMR8Mvz7yO5gk-PVS5bYP_6qWdEDqYMm5mVLxGx6pZ8qMzGLON0R0Pb-2GZ8TgO3rNkmxwtqdqqEX4NeAcIGLiLD1IkT0vEoCE3DN1b585X0W6w/s200/Gerobobatrachus+hottoni.jpg" width="164" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>G. hottoni</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his archaic creature may one day prove not to be the direct missing link to common day salamanders and frogs, but it is definitely a link-up to salamanders and frogs with solid inference that they do indeed share a common ancestry.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f the approximate 350 salamander species worldwide, more than 180 are confined to the New World, or if preferred the Americas. That accounts for over half of the world's amphibian species. Northern South America, which was a part of Gondwana and not Laurasia does have a salamander population in the genus, <i>Bolitoglossa</i>. Belonging to the family <i>Plethodontidae</i>, which originated in North America, <i>Bolitoglossa</i> species most probably migrated to South America via the Central American land bridge, as <i>Bolitoglossa</i> species can be found from the U.S. down to Mexico, Central America and finally into northern and north central South America</span>.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he trend now is to class all extinct salamanders under the order, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caudata</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, while putting all extant species under, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Urodela</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ost salamander species are no more than 15.2cm/6in and range from the minute </span><i>Thorius arboreus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> at 17mm/0.67in to the Chinese giant salamander, </span><i>Andrias davidianus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> reaching lengths to 1.8m/5.9ft.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Salamanders continually grow well beyond sexual maturity, so have to shed. Most, once shedding is complete, dispose of the dead skin by eating i</span>t. <br />
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W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ith most requiring an aquatic stage, all salamanders are dependent on a moist or at least damp environment in being prone to desiccation. Even though the skin is enshrined in mucous secreting glands it does not retain water in extended arid conditions and is conducive to allowing moisture to diffuse not only inwards (internally), but outwards (externally) as well</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ll larval stages possess gills for breathing and in permanently aquatic neotenic species gills are retained throughpout life as a larva. Given dosages of iodine or other thyroid hormones though, the larva will metamorphose into a terrestrial adult with developed lungs. It is thought that cooler temperatures, where most neoteny occurs, is the culprit in slowing or retarding maturation, as cooler temperatures inhibits the release of thyroxin and thus slows body growth. Neotenic salamanders can breed and produce offspring such as the axolotl. Gilled species will also utilize buccal pumping (gulping surface air) for respiraton. While some terrestrial species have lungs, most are lungless and breathe by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cutaneous gas exchange through the skin and thin membranes in the mouth and throat.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Ensatinas nesting</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The 'typical' life cycle of oviparous salamanders starts in a gelatinous mass of 1-450 eggs laid in an aquatic environment. From there, eggs hatch into larvae for 1-3 months with periods of metamorphism. Once the final adult stage is reached, the aquatic environment is abandoned for a multi-year terrestrial life. The adults return to water to lay eggs in water repeating the stages. The 'atypical' life cycle of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oviparous salamanders is exhibited by plethodontids in terrestrially laying eggs in fashioned nests usually under rotting logs or damp floor litter with extended maternal care in protection from predation, the ridding of fungal growths and keeping the 10-30 egg clutch nestled. The 'exception' life cycle is carried out by a few species of closely related salamanders such as </span><i>Salamandra atra</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that exhibit ovoviviparity in giving birth to larvae or completely metamorphosed juveniles appearing as miniature adults.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Vomerine teeth & nasal openings </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nare or nostril openings are located forward in the roof of the mouth leading into a small sac. The sacs contain a small amount of olfactory epithelium. The rest of the nasal system for smelling purposes is the vomeronasal organ that is a little sac lined with the bulk of olfactory epithelium tissue. Salamanders are the only amphibian that has the organ connected to the rest of the nasal system</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The teeth of salamanders are normally equal sized and evenly spaced and are used more as inducing a frictional surface when grasping rather than true grip, though some species exhibit small recurved teeth. The base of each tooth is fastened to the maxillary and vomerine bones a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s anchylosed (anchored) to the inner side of an external alveolar ridged plate and is said to be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">very similar in nature to fish as being ichthyic in characteristics. Plethodonts have an unusual cluster of small parasphenoid teeth running down the midline of the roof of the mouth. As an exception though, amphiumas have teeth that are intended to leave a nasty bite.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZU9Fkzx7npk5Qvx_Y3vpo_8ocCpixoJv4csjG8zO1ed1Wdsi0ckxDDLaHy11VJhwMI2Q5d8ePQD-wbas5Vu9Z44zxY7BEzHFa6GYJSeslHECoIX_2Oa-C7bay2ZTAUs1pIl7fyEAUQe9/s1600/max+%2526+inner+vomrn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZU9Fkzx7npk5Qvx_Y3vpo_8ocCpixoJv4csjG8zO1ed1Wdsi0ckxDDLaHy11VJhwMI2Q5d8ePQD-wbas5Vu9Z44zxY7BEzHFa6GYJSeslHECoIX_2Oa-C7bay2ZTAUs1pIl7fyEAUQe9/s200/max+%2526+inner+vomrn.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maxillary & inner vomerine teeth</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">ll terrestrial salamanders have four squat legs that drag the body along the ground, but since there is no auditory development, what's lacked in hearing, the salamander's body, jaws and limbs in close proximity to the ground, detects and picks up earth vibrations</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">. In aquatic forms, vibratory frequencies are picked up by a lateral line system, a row of sensors located on the sides of the head.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKzbLgvNsSpnWF2v0ibFEqSzjJEAQPrzZCwhrw-46sECrIkDN7xvZjAWnH2QKtcbla0l2BAVaUNcT0qOQF5KUnvaXY1vecI3SrNiOXfn1KnuS_G8NnDKMxv174eWlcTeSR0pBnmkd5qZ2m/s1600/plethodontid_teeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKzbLgvNsSpnWF2v0ibFEqSzjJEAQPrzZCwhrw-46sECrIkDN7xvZjAWnH2QKtcbla0l2BAVaUNcT0qOQF5KUnvaXY1vecI3SrNiOXfn1KnuS_G8NnDKMxv174eWlcTeSR0pBnmkd5qZ2m/s200/plethodontid_teeth.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Parasphenoid teeth</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he fully aquatic forms have webbed feet with very short toes for clinging to slippery surfaces, while the terrestrial salamanders have virtually no webbing at all with longer toes for digging. The forelimbs grow faster than and longer than the hind limbs in all salamanders. Most salamanders have four toes on the forelimbs and five on the hind limbs. With the exception of just two related salamanders of the same genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Onychodactylus fischeri</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O. japonicus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, all salamander toes have no claws. <br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he tails of permanently aquatic salamanders are compressed where terrestrial species are more or less rounded. Most salamanders have the ability to break off a part of the tail and regenerate the portion lost. The ability to regenerate tails or even other body parts is due to the adult's retention of embryonic blastema stem cells (for more detail see: 'Legs Anyone' under <b>Quick Facts</b>).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M</span>ost salamanders secrete skin neurotoxins that range chemically from mild alkaloid irritants to the highly toxic and lethal tetrodotoxin (TTX). TTX is the most potent nonprotein toxin known that blocks sodium channels keeping nerve signals from being transferred. <i>Salamandra salamandra</i> has the ability to squeeze the toxic glands squirting toxin for some distance, while the Spanish ribbed newt, <i>Pleurodeles waltl</i> has the ability to pierce its skin with its own ribs that become doused and tipped with skin toxin when passing through. For most, the 'unken position' is a defensive posture performed where the body is arched exposing the most concentrated body areas of secreted toxin. To dissuade predation, the toxins must be ingested or directly enter the bloodstream like through a wound. In topical contact, the toxin may be rinsed off with no ill effects. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Strictly carnivorous but depending on size, salamander diets consist of anything they can swallow whole, including other salamanders. Typical consumption for smaller species are aquatic invertebrates and their larvae, which includes aquatic crustaceans, leeches, earthworms, insects and snails. The larger ones in addition will take small vertebrates such as mice, snakes, frogs and fish.<br />
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I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n lungless salamanders, muscles surrounding the hyoid bone contract exerting pressure that shoots the bone out of the mouth along with the attached tongue. The tip of the tongue contains a sticky goo of mucus that adheres to the prey the catapulted tongue was directed towards. Once the targeted prey is snagged, pelvic muscles are contracted reeling in the hyoid bone, tongue and prey back into the mouth. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Dicamptodon</i> eating a mouse</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A Spring eating a Dusky</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are a wide array of courtship displays and fertilization is internal though without copulation. This is accomplished with male spermatophores that are gelatinous pyramidal structures that are capped with a packet of sperm. The male deposits this on the ground floor or water bed where then the female retrieves the sperm cap with her cloacal lips. As the sperm cap rests in the cloacal canal, the jellylike eggs are fertilized as they pass through the cloaca. <br />
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All newts are s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">alamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. Newts are specialized salamanders that do not have slippery skin for it is rougher and drier. Essentially aquatic, there are some land forms such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notophthalmus viridescens</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">' red eft stage, where aquatic larvae turn into terrestrial efts remaining ashore for one-three years. After the eft stage the newts return to water transforming into aquatic adults</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">9.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Lungless salamander projecting tongue</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">xcept in newts where they are indistinct, costal groove counts along the body sides in salamanders are good indicators in identifying and distinguishing different species from one another.<br />
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D</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">epending on which classification scheme, there are eight, or if you want to include </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dicamptodontidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhyacotritonidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, then there are ten families listed in describing extant salamanders. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Two-toed amphiuma ~ <i>A. means</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Two-toed Amphiuma</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Amphiumidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Amphiuma</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Amphiuma means</u></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 36.8-74cm/14.49-19.9in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 460-790g/1.01-1.74lbs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Average ~ 17yrs, maximum ~ 27yrs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Amphiuma means</i> ~ <i>Amphi</i> is Greek meaning 'on both sides' and <i>uma</i> is also Greek for 'pneuma breathe,' most probably in reference to misassumption that it breathed both water and air; describer never gave reason for <i>means</i>, such as in honor of an unspecified person, but most probably refers to the Greek word 'menos' meaning 'fierce' expounding on its lack of hesitancy to bite. <br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> All 3 amphiuma species only inhabit the southeast portion of the United States from Virginia to Texas with <i>A. means</i>' range covering the coastal plains from southeast Virginia through all of Florida westward to southeast Louisiana; habitat is in very still waters such as swamps, bayous, ponds, sloughs and permanent ditches preferably in acidic waters.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> This amphibian, along with the one-toed and three-toed amphiumas, with their eel-like and snakelike body features are commonly called congo eel or congo snake; Congo has nothing to do with the southeastern states; these common names arose during slavery in the U.S. when people assumed amphiumas were brought over from Africa during the slave trade period and were really eels or some exotic snake; <i>A. means</i> has two toes attached to very small vestigial limbs; larva and adult possess fully developed lateral lines </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. means,</i> note 2 toes & lateral lines</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. tridactylum</i>, 3 toes</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">along body and head; possesses mucous glands secreting a slime over skin that aids in desiccation and predation; larvae hatch with gills, but are soon lost replaced by a gill slit; transpires exchanges in gas through long, vascularized & fully septated lungs and though are submersible aquatic animals, relies on aerial-aquatic gas exchange, for will drown continually submersed in warm waters; eyes are lidless; </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbsOeAvC2frwh5Y37VkqnBQUKH4ezai46zKU3O31mv41C7qrE-aTJEN_Hn7x6Wr61AkQDomW_eTQv1ar8Ytr18Scyq8nZ5NIxiHG7L2igt9UzM80Sk5NL5G-J2bi4AgkShsuhfp-uWdde/s1600/Amphiuma+1-toe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbsOeAvC2frwh5Y37VkqnBQUKH4ezai46zKU3O31mv41C7qrE-aTJEN_Hn7x6Wr61AkQDomW_eTQv1ar8Ytr18Scyq8nZ5NIxiHG7L2igt9UzM80Sk5NL5G-J2bi4AgkShsuhfp-uWdde/s200/Amphiuma+1-toe.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. pholeter</i>, 1 toe </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">have some of the most developed teeth for amphibians that are sharp and recurved and with strong jaws are used in capturing and holding onto prey and in defense; 57-60 costal grooves are present with 58 on average; tail is laterally compressed making up ~ 22.5% of total length; amphiumas are a paedomorphic salamanders in that the are sexually mature before physically mature; overall dorsum coloration is bluish black with ventrum side a shade lighter; protein analysis by horizontal starch-gel electrophoreisis verified that A. pholeter (one-toed) is much more distinct, distant and more primitive than the other two amphiumas; hence, A means & A. tridactylum are genetically very similar; there are no subspecies currently recognized for A. means unless the close relationship between the two-toed & three-toed amphiumas are reevaluated.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>iet:</b> Is strictly carnivorous consuming invertebrates and vertebrates; as an opportunist carnivore, diet includes any animal it can capture such as aquatic and terrestrial larval invertebrates, snails, crawdads (crayfish), frogs, salamanders, small slow fish, smaller snakes including <i>Regina rigida</i> that has very few predators due to excretion of very foul musk, sirens where ranges overlap and small rodents frequenting water edges; with larger prey amphiumas have been observed constricting or at least wrapping their body around the trapped animal; predators are primarily snakes such as <i>Farancia</i>, <i>Neroidea</i> and the cottonmouth, <i>Agkistrodon piscivorous</i> along with larger wading birds</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>abits:</b> U</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">nlike most amphibians, w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">ith razor sharp teeth and strong snapping jaws accompanied with a nasty attitude, amphiumas can and inflict a wounding bite; Is nocturnal where it does most of its foraging for prey, while by day remains in self-dug water or shore burrows </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">up to a meter deep</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">, or in abandoned crawdad holes, mammal delves or may retreat to water bottoms in jumbled debris usually with head protruding; although considered aquatic, cannot totally rely on breathing underwater; as submersed, gill slits supply dissolved </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></b></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimSgWTmckgfUpEB6aslijdZqcs_OzMTQMwmZSDyC5yo8FNXdoPvMbiwra_6tINulYUfqKMt6lAVIxkYULhBmzboSLyWEskRxcRbCF4-tzFk8XbpJxQUB1ZLD5bFdguuXHPUWRGmjiCoZMX/s1600/amph+means+eggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimSgWTmckgfUpEB6aslijdZqcs_OzMTQMwmZSDyC5yo8FNXdoPvMbiwra_6tINulYUfqKMt6lAVIxkYULhBmzboSLyWEskRxcRbCF4-tzFk8XbpJxQUB1ZLD5bFdguuXHPUWRGmjiCoZMX/s200/amph+means+eggs.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note egg connecting stems </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oxygen (DO) to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> fully</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> developed</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lungs, but is nonexponential; will drown within two days of submersion in water at or above </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">25 °C/77 °F; the cooler the water the longer it can stay underwater; therefore, amphiumas are considered obligate air breathers in that they are restricted to underwater breathing in having to come up for air; lungs are only fully ventilated when animal surfaces for atmospheric air; being the largest amphibian in their range, they may be the greater percentage of biomass in their home waters; although most amphibians are mute, amphiumas can emit a clear whistle in ambient air when disturbed; even though the vestigial limbs appear useless, do aid in slithering across terrain to gain access to water resources and does traverse terrestrially at times during rains; if necessary, during droughts, to manage desiccation, may remain in </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lwilS7LA5aTs15I5eagv6zed00440y3upUUUmCop5AiG4tkqPlNmeI2DVTClMTiCp4cLTUUbrmzRsuot22wiYYbXxVeB_wQ0lAJ1J_DmNIZOyfdQ_TYjHuhbgYGRuywjXf6jUJdcC1B8/s1600/amph+means.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lwilS7LA5aTs15I5eagv6zed00440y3upUUUmCop5AiG4tkqPlNmeI2DVTClMTiCp4cLTUUbrmzRsuot22wiYYbXxVeB_wQ0lAJ1J_DmNIZOyfdQ_TYjHuhbgYGRuywjXf6jUJdcC1B8/s200/amph+means.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> female guarding egg clutch</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">aestavation mucoid chambers dug in receding muds and stay there until rains replenish water source; have been known to survive up to 3 years without eating while aestavating in a low metabolic state; with males testes enlarging and cloaca swelling between January & April, breeding begins in water during the Spring; male chooses female and instead of depositing the usual amphibian spertmatophore, conducts the closest thing to amphibian copulation and that is cloacal apposition; the male buts his cloaca up to the female's and while the cloacas are in a, let's say kissing embrace, he ejects sperm, thus injecting sperm into the female's cloaca where the eggs are then fertilized as she oviposits; female only makes a nesting site on land, but always near shore in damp terrain usually in mud; the nest is a hollowed out chamber usually under objects such as rocks or fallen logs, or may be just under surface of ground as a depression; the clutch consists of 40-200 eggs that the female will remain with, coiled around the clutch providing an incubation environment and protection until hatching, which is around 5 months from being laid; the 10 mm/0.39in eggs are laid in long strings connected by a stem that was formed by a rubbery outer coating that is also 10mm; as incubation progresses, the eggs darken turning from yellow, as yolk is consumed, to a cranberry coloration making the egg clutch appear as a clump of fruit; larvae, beginning life at 45-64mm/1.77-2.55in hatch with gills and immediately seek water; although threatened by pollution, habitat loss and dredging or muck removal, <i>A. means</i> is considered not threatened.</span> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9HeJZwLYf3n6OiPv5n4RpFNzuVAsx9cSgx6GUyHU2CLCOn7oRcWnEpQEXffFG27CtR56UiHuOzUywghr8eJbUWeYCBmf8GJud9B57uao1RXFV4JaFe2PW-JA84QqAC85IaP7K271kLIp/s1600/Amphiuma+means.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9HeJZwLYf3n6OiPv5n4RpFNzuVAsx9cSgx6GUyHU2CLCOn7oRcWnEpQEXffFG27CtR56UiHuOzUywghr8eJbUWeYCBmf8GJud9B57uao1RXFV4JaFe2PW-JA84QqAC85IaP7K271kLIp/s200/Amphiuma+means.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note vestigial limbs</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mudpuppy ~ <i>N. maculosus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mudpuppy</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Necturidae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Necturus</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Necturus maculosus</u></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Ave~ 20-33cm/ 8-13in; can exceed 41cm/16in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 60-222g/2.12-7.83oz</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Average lifespan in wilds 11yrs; captives 20 yrs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Necturus maculosus</i> ~ <i>Necturus</i> references 2 Greek words, <i>nektos</i> for 'swimming' and <i>oura</i> meaning 'tail'; <i>maculosus</i> is Latin meaning 'full of spots' in reference to somewhat spotty dorsum; altogether refers to 'spotted animal of aquatic existence.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUYp-0PjT9PG8EFr4R60XPI39QQ8NuB2h_gy5gBHvx2D20LyKX4K9l2n9dQyI8uir_UWSA17_EiiQifjX_N0ycz31qDYljaTfOmF0wvyDIFhzslQ8TJF7VoOtLruaRiUV4TaGm5vaKTuH/s1600/Necturus+maculosus+gill.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUYp-0PjT9PG8EFr4R60XPI39QQ8NuB2h_gy5gBHvx2D20LyKX4K9l2n9dQyI8uir_UWSA17_EiiQifjX_N0ycz31qDYljaTfOmF0wvyDIFhzslQ8TJF7VoOtLruaRiUV4TaGm5vaKTuH/s200/Necturus+maculosus+gill.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note gills</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">D</span><b>istribution:</b> Range is from southeast Manitoba to southern Quebec down through the U.S. midwest to Missouri, then eastwards to North Carolina & Georgia and south to Mississippi; within range found in rivers, perennial streams, weed choked ponds and some large lakes.<br />
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<b>D</b><b>escription: </b><i>N. maculosus</i> is known as the Common mudpuppy or waterdog as it is known in the southern states; retains brightly maroon colored gills throughout life in being neotenic; the ones found in colder waters with higher water oxygen levels have shorter gills than those found in the southern half of range; respiration is conducted with gills, cutaneous gas exchange and lungs; requiring all 3 methods of breathing and cannot rely on either 2 or less; head is flattened; tail is laterally compressed and short for overall size of animal; 4 toes are present on all 4 well developed flattened limbs in contrast to most salamanders that have 5 toes on hind limbs; male & female are very similar in appearance except that male's cloacae possesses 2 prominent papillae that directs backward and females do not; mucus glands secrete slime throughout the body; granular glands exude a toxin containing denatonium ions that are very bitter; gills appear maroon due to distal portion of gills being very filamentous containing many capillaries; lateral line systems aid in detection of water movement and pressure differentials; overall body coloration is a dorsal gray, rusty brown or blackish; black to bluish black spotting is random and may appear as many, even running into each other in forming stripes, or just a few simple blotches; ventrum side is generally a lighter gray while at times exhibiting a few bluish black spots; there are 3 recognized subspecies: <i>Necturus maculosus maculosus</i>, <i>N. maculosus stictus</i> & <i>N. m. louisianensis</i>.</span><br />
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<b>D</b><b>iet:</b> As an opportunistic carnivore will take whatever is offered in the water, in which is a variety of aquatic organisms; the waterdog menu consists of aquatic larvae, aquatic insects, aquatic worms, snails, fish eggs, amphibians, small fish and carrion; most preferred food is crawdads (crayfish); on sides of mouth, lips interlock, allowing them to suck in their prey.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOHPfL932AJpC5YuYSe_5gY6Kqlikv7-6x0GZ7SSNJ9Wjr00ZjTNh4o-UwrhhFj8y_0SAQUcaSGd_Tp5fgPh7lcdWO7uCmyUJGnQu100bPjSoicMbVhCpEuL9OpP7tYhxiFbME-hhC0Vl/s1600/Necturus+maculosus+crawdad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOHPfL932AJpC5YuYSe_5gY6Kqlikv7-6x0GZ7SSNJ9Wjr00ZjTNh4o-UwrhhFj8y_0SAQUcaSGd_Tp5fgPh7lcdWO7uCmyUJGnQu100bPjSoicMbVhCpEuL9OpP7tYhxiFbME-hhC0Vl/s200/Necturus+maculosus+crawdad.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Eating favored prey</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is considered wholly aquatic and is rarely seen out of water; this salamander is very cold tolerant so does not hibernate, but instead retreats to deeper waters; in its colder range, has been seen swimming underneath ice; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is one of the deepest underwater amphibians reaching depths of more than 30m/99ft;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">will inhabit murky or clear water; in the clearer, therefore more receiving of light, mudpuppies will appear darker and vice-versa, in murkier waters will tend to be lighter in color; with poor eyesight that is only best at light perception, depends more on its hearing, smelling and lateral line senses; prefers remaining on bottoms where as nocturnal uses its legs for walking the water beds in search of food during dark hours and remains hidden during the day on the bottoms under debris, rocks or sunken logs; prefers walking, but in alligator fashion, will </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sinusoidal tail swim with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">legs tucked to sides of body; in eating carrion, will readily take a hook baited with dead or decaying organisms, where usually the fisherman is ignorant of his totally harmless catch and feels he hooked a dangerous animal; females reach sexual maturity in 6 yrs; courtship takes place in the fall while in the southern most range is in winter; males join females in shallow water aggregations sheltered under rock; swimming in and around females, males then drop a 1cm/0.4in spermataphore from his swollen cloaca; female then picks it up with her cloaca and stores it in a special gland called spermatheca until spring; sperm fertilizes the eggs as she oviposits in spring months in an excavated nest cavity under rock or logs; the 18-180 (usually 60) unpigmented eggs are suspended by female to ceiling of nest cavity; she remains with and incubates the eggs until hatching around 40 days later from being laid; hatchlings are 22.5mm/0.89in in length live off the yolk until it is consumed and they measure around 36mm/1.42in.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglolxYId87Xwenammi_vnsJ-uEPKRFfAO4zpWu1LmJBgJHxCXTuwPn0r7uUxnLC5CZOOa1c3k8DaiEVRA5aHjRYptj33HotQduWZmU5v9zmZ23RDZpjFthvO_O1xkJuxlJgT3vBQR6MfdX/s1600/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglolxYId87Xwenammi_vnsJ-uEPKRFfAO4zpWu1LmJBgJHxCXTuwPn0r7uUxnLC5CZOOa1c3k8DaiEVRA5aHjRYptj33HotQduWZmU5v9zmZ23RDZpjFthvO_O1xkJuxlJgT3vBQR6MfdX/s200/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Hellbender ~ C. alleganiensis</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Hellbender</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Cryptobranchidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Cryptobranchus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Cryptobranchus alleganiensis</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 30.5-51cm/12-20in; record ~ 74cm/29.1in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 1.8-2.3kg/4-5lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Estimation from length is 25 yrs in wilds; captive 29 yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Cryptobranchus alleganiensis</i> ~ Both <i>cryptos</i> & <i>branchus</i> derived from Greek, <i>kryptos</i> meaning 'hidden' & <i>branchion</i> meaning 'gill' referring to 'lack of external gills'; <i>alleganiensis</i> pertains to the Allegheny Mountains; altogether refers to, 'gill-less salamander of the Allegheny Mountains.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Range, including subspecies is Susquehanna River drainage from southeast New York down to Chesapeake Bay head in Maryland downwards to Georgia & northern Alabama, southwestward to extreme northeast Mississippi & into southern Illinois; isolated pocket of subspecies, <i>C. a. bishopi</i> in North Fork of White River in southeast Missouri & adjacent Arkansas into sections of Black River; essential habitat is clean rivers and larger streams with silt free rocky bottoms</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lOfJ5NISk7ih_mEaZeMDXxkKlVgVRTXQc4z3ufhk9dEx2VKi1GuoW42hQHk0p8fWujfbQzUwKVEgWuFKmktVR6dO87JA4pESzjB4Z2WeYmHlumXRSAADmpa4Qc7TEj_EAs0P0lkUl5t5/s1600/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lOfJ5NISk7ih_mEaZeMDXxkKlVgVRTXQc4z3ufhk9dEx2VKi1GuoW42hQHk0p8fWujfbQzUwKVEgWuFKmktVR6dO87JA4pESzjB4Z2WeYmHlumXRSAADmpa4Qc7TEj_EAs0P0lkUl5t5/s200/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another color form</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaiTREkKDn6DRuhz-C6uRMHMi7hgW0bFROQrUF7FxCX_duip7X-h_nLLJypSumkmgBp6W_ETlmKdp0ePJhNkfmAvK7tGLe-Wai4A9OWTp2ZaOWCBejJMouUfUrof0pYaA9aUxenxNZ5YO/s1600/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaiTREkKDn6DRuhz-C6uRMHMi7hgW0bFROQrUF7FxCX_duip7X-h_nLLJypSumkmgBp6W_ETlmKdp0ePJhNkfmAvK7tGLe-Wai4A9OWTp2ZaOWCBejJMouUfUrof0pYaA9aUxenxNZ5YO/s200/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note undulating skin & side folds</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> This large and unusually grotesque salamander was dubbed 'hellbender' by early day settlers in America due to the fact with its hellish wrinkled skin and flaps had to be a creature from Hell and was hellbent on returning to Hell; other vernacular common names are, 'snot otter', 'devil dog' & 'Allegheny alligator'; is the largest salamander in the Western Hemisphere and third largest in the world; dorsoventrally flattened head & body with thick skin folds on both sides of body; has loose undulating skin; possesses one gill slit on each side of head hidden by skin flaps; hefty tail is laterally compressed; beady eyes are located on top of head; limbs are stout ending in typical salamander arrangement of 4 toes on each forelimb and 5 on each hind limb; very little dimorphism is exhibited except in size with male being slightly smaller on average; skin is very slimy supported by mucoid gland secretions; color is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">variable ranging from dorsum brown to yellowish brown, olive to olive gray and light gray; black spotting or darker mottling may or may not appear; ventrum is always lighter and has fewer markings; 2 subspecies are recognized in <i>C. a. alleganiensis</i> & <i>C. a. bishopi</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Although coexists with trout in cool rapid streams, is very rare for this salamander to prey on fish, but will in winter time take small fish when primary food is in hibernation; main food source consist of crawdads, aquatic larvae, worms & large insects and other stream invertebrates; in crowded populations has been observed to practice intraspecicific predation consuming its own eggs and larvae; it is thought that this is a form of population density control; smaller hellbenders are preyed upon by larger fish, snakes and turtles</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A daytime favored nook</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> Is fully aquatic and primarily nocturnal being most active in the first 2 hours of darkness, but normally never straying far from its picked territory; by day prefers to rest on or under the rocky bottoms with only the head protruding; is very territorial and will be aggressive toward other hellbender invaders trespassing into its favored domain; prefers waters no deeper than 3m/9.9ft; adult hellbenders are very dependent on fast flowing water and wrinkled skin for their unique respiration; though they possess a pair of large, long and transparent lungs, they are poorly vascularized and are not sufficient to carry out adequate respiration; therefore, the hellbender employs special cutaneous modifications, a large body form and a peculiar behavioral method that combined, confer to integument proficient respiratory capabilities; gill slits work nominally in aquatic gas exchange and hellbenders are not crafted for buccopharyngeal (gulping) respiration, so the bulk of gas exchange occurs in the side skin folds rich in capillaries exposed to water currents; the large size and flat shape exposes more surface area to flowing water and to ensure that, the animal will rock or sway in place which continually breaks the barrier layers between skin and water exposing the capillaries to oxygenated water and the water to spent gas in the blood held by the capillaries; an osmotic gas exchange occurs completing the respiratory cycle; essentially, the skin and in particular the skin flaps are one big gill; generally breeding takes place in </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpUMWV5aKdxJHAwAIrWX5P3Wg_qR9hkE_RGXCaV_wgIsDVeES5rqiwBTS-XQkOPMZsxzKRLwqrxFVfm0rpgSs9hEthbAaDMjQZ5I56YPwx0LZTaWH4VJxepCfvGGsSvbB-zQU2Wn9RIC34/s1600/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+larva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpUMWV5aKdxJHAwAIrWX5P3Wg_qR9hkE_RGXCaV_wgIsDVeES5rqiwBTS-XQkOPMZsxzKRLwqrxFVfm0rpgSs9hEthbAaDMjQZ5I56YPwx0LZTaWH4VJxepCfvGGsSvbB-zQU2Wn9RIC34/s200/Cryptobranchus+alleganiensis+larva.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note larva gills & yolk sac</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">August & September where their external fertilization is an exception for normal amphibian internal reproduction; male fashions out a nest site underneath rocks or river debris with the entrance facing downstream; then persuades or forces if necessary, gravid females to enter and lay their 150-200 eggs; several females may use one nest compiling their yellow eggs into one large jelly mass; one nest site may have upwards to 2,000 eggs; eggs from each female are rosary-like in strings; once laying is complete, the male ejects sperm from his swollen cloaca uniformly over the nest and hence, fertilizing the eggs; female will remain at nest site moving eggs to ensure adequate oxidation; male may possibly stand guard; larvae hatch after 62-75 days of incubation; for first couple months larvae retain yolk sac for nutrition; when incomplete metamorphosis is experienced after 18 months, larva lose lobed forelimbs and paddle shaped hind limbs for muscular legs & toes and the external gills are folded into body replaced with the permanent adult gill slit; feeding is done through asymmetrical suction where </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with flexible lips and jaws, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">one side of mouth is opened, while next moving bilateral elements of mandibles & hyoid separately creating an unidirectional flow of water into mouth; this completely harmless salamander has populations that are declining or disappearing altogether due to chytrid fungus and man's activities of damning, waterway siltation and pollution.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Near Threatened (3.1) IUCN</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Texas Blind Salamander ~ <i>E. rathobuni</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Texas Blind Salamander</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Plethodontidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Eurycea<br />
S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">pecies: <b><u>Eurycea rathbuni</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 13cm/5in total length (TL)</span></div>
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W<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eight: ~ 2.5g/.10oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Between 10-11yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: Eurycea rathbuni ~ <i>Eurycea</i> is in reference to Greek mythology of 'Eurydice', the wife of Orpheus who he tried to rescue from Hades; <i>rathbuni</i> is in honor of Richard Rathbun, a naturalist who once headed the U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries</span>.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D</span></b><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">istribution:</b><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Strictly endemic to the Edwards Aquifer as restricted in distribution to the San Marcos, Texas area; entire life span spent in cavernous subterranean stream waters; has been collected 58m/191.4ft underground in limestone fault zones while drilling water wells. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Eurycea </i>skull</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b><b>escription:</b> <i>Eurycea rathbuni</i> along with the other two localized subterranean salamanders, <i>E. robustus</i> & <i>E. waterlooensis</i>, were formerly listed under the genus <i>Typhlomolge</i> meaning, 'blind salamander'; due to phylogenetic mitochondrial relationships, the name placement was proposed in 1965 and instituted in 2000 keeping <i>Typhlomolge</i> as restricted to common ancestor of <i>Eurycea</i> lineage;<i> E. rathbuni</i> is an obligate troglobite (cave dwelling) salamander as confined to underground waters due to evolved specialized physiology and minima & maxima temperature dependencies; has completely lost pigmentation and eyes; eyes are covered over by skin and as usual in vestigial eyes, the eyelids were the skin membrane that covered over; the skull is posteriorly flattened and broad making the snout appear duckbillish; inherited from plethodontid ancestry that ventured into subterranean waters eons ago, the Texas blind salamander retains the family's feature of lunglessness, relying on external small gills for respiration; the legs are long and spindly; as </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">typical in most salamanders the forelimbs end in 4 digits while</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Note gills & unique snout</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the hind limbs have 5; possesses 12 costal grooves; tail is laterally compressed, tapers at the tip and marginally finned forming the bulk of its swimming propulsion; this salamander remains neotenic and does not fully metamorphose into an adult, in which would be a death knell in its dark, watery environment; the smooth and unpigmented skin is translucent giving an overall coloration as white or pinkish white and reveals internal organs through the sides and belly; there are no recognized subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is strictly carnivorous and sharing its deep, dark, watery, fragile ecosystem with 40 plus small aquatic invertebrates, is the top predator; invertebrates taken as prey are snails, worms, amphipods, daphnia, freshwater copepods, small decapods like cavernous blind crayfish & shrimp and any small outside dead or alive insect or crustacean that may enter into its environment; feeding habits are indiscriminate where cannibalism has even been observed; occasionally floods flush the salamander to the surface where it is vulnerable to fish and reptile predation. </span></div>
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<b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">abits:</b><b> </b>Most probably evolving from brook salamanders, this salamander travels through underground aquifers by following submerged ledges; the finned tail, as long as the body & head, is very efficient in propelling the salamander through water; after swimming short distances will stop and spread its legs floating down to settle on the bottom; there, it forages most by combing the bottoms in search of anything edible; as it forages, it swings the head back & forth in attempts to pick up any water pressure differentials as sensed by the lateral line system; cavernous water system temperatures </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">remain constant throughout the year </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21 °C/69.8 °F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; through its underworld </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">evolvement, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this salamander has become</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Note spindly legs</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13aP_4oM-Z2wm5To1XYvMlsqaSjsEe3RqkE-ZHBYF5OaZDnWaW_Qd5K5mWKCHDbWurOfAOgWDS9fF65oTnJpYKE44QYKxKTIWCb37VEMxhq8L54-P7IXF394_IO48qQcLNQkGldz3EdFf/s1600/Eurycea+rathbuni+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13aP_4oM-Z2wm5To1XYvMlsqaSjsEe3RqkE-ZHBYF5OaZDnWaW_Qd5K5mWKCHDbWurOfAOgWDS9fF65oTnJpYKE44QYKxKTIWCb37VEMxhq8L54-P7IXF394_IO48qQcLNQkGldz3EdFf/s200/Eurycea+rathbuni+3.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Another overall view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dependent upon consistent temperature and unresponsive to surface climate cycles; therefore with gravid females and juveniles found year around, breeding is not limited to any season occurring anytime throughout the year; eggs it appears require the maintained temperature range to properly develop; gravid females will oviposit anywhere from 13-39 eggs singly on the bottoms of stilled waters or where there is very little current; eggs may at times be laid as clustered, but only with 2 or 3 eggs; embryo development appears rapid as eggs hatch anywhere from 12-21 days from being laid</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; the Texas blind salamander, along with the other subterranean aquifer species are very </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">susceptible to urban and agricultural run-off that can</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVs1bEt9cdPjGVhLpODpudH-phsu-vSpHiN3xPzA9sctJuaTAwp-FQUYJLYmY6NZutl3MCb6JtrqU3SudIsKc1mckJBzY9qzzwxkweS0BrlRbykwIgYc0BGh5w-_L2-0W6nzVaI4ZJ5ijp/s1600/E.+rathbuni+1D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVs1bEt9cdPjGVhLpODpudH-phsu-vSpHiN3xPzA9sctJuaTAwp-FQUYJLYmY6NZutl3MCb6JtrqU3SudIsKc1mckJBzY9qzzwxkweS0BrlRbykwIgYc0BGh5w-_L2-0W6nzVaI4ZJ5ijp/s200/E.+rathbuni+1D.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> 1 day old eggs</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnDSuVRrbsK0sAe3kfcFPO5ezrJ61BhpMXlATtq4NWVsmUIsSNEkVMhKkQZ32CvwHXDBpislzhN_FDTzyDkcJLzs1twITG9ITWxt2sRho2XcyPJzWDgJGJByC2S4nR6Y0n1gxYSI_55lL/s1600/E.+rathbuni+11D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnDSuVRrbsK0sAe3kfcFPO5ezrJ61BhpMXlATtq4NWVsmUIsSNEkVMhKkQZ32CvwHXDBpislzhN_FDTzyDkcJLzs1twITG9ITWxt2sRho2XcyPJzWDgJGJByC2S4nR6Y0n1gxYSI_55lL/s200/E.+rathbuni+11D.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> 11 day old embryos</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8R2BzdImOvmr0Ee1fllK6XflHeNf13VqEfcGP1hMtc9m65eDIGlk46ABEYS3Zpj-XrYTQa9Qjq7I9kbA96WJwMk-T9eEfTET4iThfsz4XsRXi9nvOZoOMib9t-3191T4uj9XUGUZZGPlV/s1600/E.+rathbuni+23D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8R2BzdImOvmr0Ee1fllK6XflHeNf13VqEfcGP1hMtc9m65eDIGlk46ABEYS3Zpj-XrYTQa9Qjq7I9kbA96WJwMk-T9eEfTET4iThfsz4XsRXi9nvOZoOMib9t-3191T4uj9XUGUZZGPlV/s200/E.+rathbuni+23D.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Larvae hatching at 21 days</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">find its way into underground waters;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> these salamanders require clean cool filtered waters; development and human population growth has not only introduced groundwater pollution sources, but in the pumping and lowering of the aquifers to maintain the growth has greatly threatened blind salamanders; many areas, such as Wonder Cave where the Texas blind salamander was once common and collected, cannot currently be found; though the total population has been unknown due to the inaccessibility of subterranean environments, this and other concerns have listed this salamander as threatened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AEMfgRkDHgI/Tvp28LZibXI/AAAAAAAABDE/cMSwpSjTyK8/s1600/Plethodon+yonahlossee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AEMfgRkDHgI/Tvp28LZibXI/AAAAAAAABDE/cMSwpSjTyK8/s200/Plethodon+yonahlossee.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Yonahlossee Salamander</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Yonahlossee Salamander</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Plethodontidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Plethodon<br />
Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Plethodon yonahlossee</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 11-22cm/4.33-8.6in total length (TL)</span></div>
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Weight: 4.5-4.9g/.16-.17oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Estimation ~ 4-6yrs </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Plethodon yonahlossee</i> ~ <i>Pleth</i> refers to the Greek word, <i>plethore</i> meaning 'fullness' and <i>odon</i> is also Greek meaning 'teeth'; <i>yonahlossee</i> is originally an Indian word for 'trail of the bear' but the name is derived from Yonahlossee Road where the salamander was first described in North Carolina on Grandfather Mountain; altogether the scientific name refers to the 'salamander with a mouthful of teeth from Yonahlossee Road'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">istribution:</b> Endemic to the U.S. found in deciduous montane woodlands of western North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Mountains of eastern Tennessee & southern Virginia; prefers by day to hide underneath forest floor debris, rotting logs and rocks under damp conditions in elevation between 430-790m/1410.8-2591.9ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KstwltwO9hM/TvtOYmfiTnI/AAAAAAAABDQ/iT5DL2YRCKc/s1600/Plethodon+y.+longricus" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KstwltwO9hM/TvtOYmfiTnI/AAAAAAAABDQ/iT5DL2YRCKc/s200/Plethodon+y.+longricus" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Plethodon y. longricus</i></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: bold;">D</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">escription:</b> Though a member of the 'glutinosus' salamander group and sympatric to <i>P. amplus, P. cylindraceus, P. glutinosus, P. metcalfi </i> & <i>P. montanus</i> to wit possible hybridization with <i>P. glutinosus</i>, the yonahlossee salamander is morphologically & biochemically distinct; in 1978 the crevice salamander, <i>P. longricus</i> was assigned to <i>P. yonahlossee</i> based on morphological & allozyme evidence, however some authorities still classify the two as distinct species, or at least <i>P. logngricus</i> as a subspecies due to crevice salamander's strict preference to rocky outcropping habitat around the proximity of Bat Cave, North Carolina; is the largest eastern N. American plethodontid with the female usually a centimeter longer than male; as a plethodontid is lungless and lays terrestrial eggs, as land plethodontids do, where hatchlings are fully formed exhibiting no </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">metamorphic stage; typically there are </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15-16 costal grooves; a visually obvious nasolabial groove is evident that aids in chemoreception; is a typical looking salamander characterized by a distinct brownish red to red dorsum, that is continuous on the backs of adults while more spotted and blotched on juveniles; red marking is in stark contrast to overall black background; rest of body including ventrum has white markings and white fleckings; except for continuing arguments on whether P. y. longricus is a true subspecies or is just a color variant form of P. yonahlossee, there are no other recognized subspecies.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0YpiXybTq8w/TvtdCzukTwI/AAAAAAAABDo/qFqyAsuy0mA/s1600/Plethodon+yonahlossee+jvnl.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0YpiXybTq8w/TvtdCzukTwI/AAAAAAAABDo/qFqyAsuy0mA/s200/Plethodon+yonahlossee+jvnl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> P. yonahlossee</i> juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Diet:</b> Insects and other small terrestrial invertebrates are taken including on a regula</span>r basis nematodes, mites, ticks, spiders, millipedes, centipedes and earthworms; secreting toxins from the base of the tail acts as a deterrent to bird and mammal predation, but snakes and larger frogs and crayfish will prey on this salamander.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In being nocturnal, comes out from underneath daytime hiding spots past dusk to forage; they do possess the ability to move quickly and will make a hasty retreat to hide under larger forest floor debris or into burrows; though comingles with other salamander species, aggressively defends small territories from other yonahlossee salamander trespassers;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> during colder months in their range, will migrate vertically downwards into burrows and remain there until the climate warms; may also aestivate during drought periods; both sexes reach maturity in their third year and it is believed courtship occurs in August as segregated couples are most abundantly found together during that time of year; reproduction takes place terrestrially; spermatogenesis occurs in the female once coming out from hibernation in the spring resulting from last year's courtship; spermatogenesis is the process in which the female receives sperm with half the <b> </b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfKeywlDAq5CzTj-Zrl_ageBxnOIjEf5CbnSHu3e4KtqO9QCpLyDIVCul9kBaXl50VktqaN-SWL2LmKCV1piPddMjxTgs65kvtTnTn7OwB5i5X5Okfo-Vkqza_DJFyOOAuqRvPz6Q4zBG/s1600/Plethodon+spp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfKeywlDAq5CzTj-Zrl_ageBxnOIjEf5CbnSHu3e4KtqO9QCpLyDIVCul9kBaXl50VktqaN-SWL2LmKCV1piPddMjxTgs65kvtTnTn7OwB5i5X5Okfo-Vkqza_DJFyOOAuqRvPz6Q4zBG/s200/Plethodon+spp.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plethodon spp. exhibiting maternal care<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">number of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chromosomes (haploid) known as somatic cells; she carries the somatic cells throughout hibernation until the cells progress into diploid states in the spring becoming spermatoza and fertilizing the eggs; females are oviparous and depending on female's size will lay between 19-27 eggs in late August or early September; she oviposits eggs in terrestrial burrows or underground cavities and will remain with the clutch until hatching occurs; hatchlings are fully formed minatures of adults except in average overall coloration and sexual maturity; extensive logging has depleted populations as their home ranges are very small and they do not tend to migrate to more accommodating ranges.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWX-fZLfrQQ/Tvt3szKfw8I/AAAAAAAABEY/wJS8iuQ-nEY/s1600/Plethodon+yonahlossee+vntrm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWX-fZLfrQQ/Tvt3szKfw8I/AAAAAAAABEY/wJS8iuQ-nEY/s200/Plethodon+yonahlossee+vntrm.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A ventral view</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPRB6tYeCGI/Tvt3UWWpIFI/AAAAAAAABEM/5V3aBQepJto/s1600/P.+yonahlossee.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPRB6tYeCGI/Tvt3UWWpIFI/AAAAAAAABEM/5V3aBQepJto/s200/P.+yonahlossee.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A dorsal view</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQUwmSKntDQ/TwH2fLa6qVI/AAAAAAAABEs/Ft6_sKGTHgk/s1600/Bolitoglossa-odonnelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="114" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQUwmSKntDQ/TwH2fLa6qVI/AAAAAAAABEs/Ft6_sKGTHgk/s200/Bolitoglossa-odonnelli.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> O'Donnell's</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> salamander ~ <i>B. odonnelli</i> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> O'Donnell's Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Plethodontidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Bolitoglossa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Bolitoglossa odonnelli</u></b><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 16.5cm/6.5in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ≤ 2g/.07oz</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 12-15yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Bolitoglossa odonnelli</i> ~ Derived from Greek, <i>bolitoglossa</i> refers to 'webbed-feet'; <i>odonnelli</i> pertains to 'of O'Donnell' in reference to American naturalist, D. J. O'Donnell; all together infers, 'O'Donnell's web foot salamander'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Endemic to the 100-1200m/328.1-3937.1ft slopes of Alta Verapaz and the Montanas del Mico in Guatemala; range also extends into more lower lands of Honduras; ranges in heavily humid tropical montane cloud forest regions in plant leaf sheaths and along streams.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> Belonging to the tropical climbing salamander genus, <i>Bolitoglossa</i> two main features stand out; almost half of the species in the genus have webbed-feet while all have naso-labial grooves, wherein males have extended groove protuberances called cirri that aids in chemoreception; the webbing is an evolved feature of N. American climbing salamander plethodontids in living an arboreal existence; as plethodontids migrated southwards, natural selection evolved morphological </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">changes in adapting from a temperate climate to a neotropical one; the webbing is an adaptation for </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">climbing and not for swimming; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">webs are produced by</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Bzb2IJOw_4/TwNkP7N6wiI/AAAAAAAABE4/EOs8SF6d-lc/s1600/Bolitoglossa+odonnelli" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Bzb2IJOw_4/TwNkP7N6wiI/AAAAAAAABE4/EOs8SF6d-lc/s200/Bolitoglossa+odonnelli" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note webbed feet & naso-labials</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">glandular growths in between foot digits; toes cannot be moved individually, but the foot as a whole moves; webbed feet create a suction by placing the ventral smooth pad of the webbed foot on a broad leaf or limb; in climbing vertically, the outside margins of the feet adhere to the substrate, while the center is slightly lifted creating suction aided by mucoid secretions and the wet environment; in addtion O'donnel's salamander possesses peg-like grasping structures much like those of tree frogs lining the ventral side of the webbed foot pad; tongue is free to project outwards in capturing prey; the protraction/retraction muscles are controlled by peripheral structures as opposed to the central nervous system; tissue membranes at the floor of the mouth are reduced while the sublingual fold is completely absent; therefore plays no role in the tongue's projectile capabilities; tongue appears mushroom-like in form hence the derived name mushroomtongued salamander; sexual dimorphism is evident in females being slightly larger, but in dental dimorphism, males have larger maxillary & premaxillary teeth; also overall dorsal coloration is a light charcoal black with cream to off-white striated double lateral patterning and a gray underside; there has been much parallel and convergent evolution in the genus <i>Bolitoglossa</i>; though may be conspecific (variant same species) with <i>B. mexicana</i>, it is not, nor does it have subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Consumes essentially small flying, climbing and terrestrial insects such as beetles, ants, flies and these insect larvae; other invertebrates include small spiders, centipedes, mites and millipedes; on rare occasions vegetation is consumed; primary predator is <i>Thamnophis</i> & Long-tailed false coral snakes in lower elevations</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b><b>abits:</b> Is a nocturnal generalist either actively seeking out prey or sits and waits to ambush unsuspecting prey passing by; prefers, whether resting or active spending most of its time in low overhanging branches; primarily arboreal, but will on occasion forage on the ground floor; mating takes place usually above the forest floor where the male deposits his spermatophore on a leaf, small branch or epiphyte where the female then picks up the sperm package with her cloacal lips and deposits it into her cloacal canal; Is oviparous, laying </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eggs terrestrially in</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-paFlzS05-ls/TwPDa3WJOLI/AAAAAAAABFQ/Z2jhwvGKqTk/s1600/Bolitoglossa_odonnelli+I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-paFlzS05-ls/TwPDa3WJOLI/AAAAAAAABFQ/Z2jhwvGKqTk/s200/Bolitoglossa_odonnelli+I.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note: prehensile tail</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">damp furrows or shallow burrows; female performs parental care with the traditional plethodontid curling around the egg clutch; hatchlings are fully formed when hatched; there are very few amphibians with prehensile tails and this salamander is one of them; the photo to the left is an exceptional shot taken by the Alaskan photographer, Todd Pierson of an O'donnell salamander utilizing its prehensile tail; due to habitat destruction of cloud forests where moist conditions are essential for this tropical climbing salamander, populations are declining and juveniles are becoming more numerous than adults.<br />
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg.png" /></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Endangered (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf7ZvEfgBnDwjqa5HvtPVFgMviHEdpUDZwIyMdo3W8M8jSEu-W1u43Q_o6L5wQGSwsgUSxvnueOvXPkIzv_zSnbpZoa8e1MseFi_CzwLcSdeHUhRbRzOgXssSH57GGQ3Tk5zCJ0jjyrFIh/s1600/Oedipina-pacificensis.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf7ZvEfgBnDwjqa5HvtPVFgMviHEdpUDZwIyMdo3W8M8jSEu-W1u43Q_o6L5wQGSwsgUSxvnueOvXPkIzv_zSnbpZoa8e1MseFi_CzwLcSdeHUhRbRzOgXssSH57GGQ3Tk5zCJ0jjyrFIh/s200/Oedipina-pacificensis.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Pacific worm salamander</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pacific Worm Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Plethodontidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Oedipina</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Oedipina pacificensis</u> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: total length (TL) ~ 11.95cm/4.70in; snout-vent length (SVL) 4.25cm/1.67in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ≤ 2g/.07oz</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown; possibly up to 20yrs</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Oedipina pacificensis</i> ~ <i>Oedipina</i> references 'Oedipus' of Greek mythology who was a tragic king accidentally killing his father and unknowingly married his mother, an indirect reference to all the sister taxon species in the genus; <i>pacificensis</i> refers to 'of the Pacific'; altogether relates to the 'Oedipus salamander from the Pacific side.'<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Found on the Pacific slopes of southern Costa Rica and to a lesser extent in adjacent southwestern Panama between altitudes of 5-1200m/16.5-3,960ft; prefers consistent humid conditions in wooded ranges, but may be found in clearings such as abandoned banana plantations.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Description:</b> Belonging to the worm salamander genus, <i>Oedipina</i> this salamander shares that genus' characteristics in being long and pencil thin with well developed eyes, short limbs & tiny syndactylus(webbed) feet; with over 50 caudal vertebrae, the tail makes up over 64% of total length; tail is rounded becoming compressed at the tip; females are slightly larger than males; head is moderately broad with snout bluntly rounded; though poorly defined, there is a depression at base of occiput (back of head); mouth has a distinct sublingual fold, 12-14 maxillary teeth, 4 premaxillary teeth, 8 vomer teeth and 112 same sized paravomerine teeth; body</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Profile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">has 19 to 20 costal grooves; overall coloration is a dark slate gray often with white markings where limbs meet body and displays white stripes located post-occular ending with white spots behind the eyelids; morphologically, this salamander cannot be distinguished from <i>O. gracilis & O. uniformis</i>, but DNA sequences bear out distinct and major differences between the 3 species; there are no subspecies recognized.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Small ground dwelling or burrowing arthropods such as insects and spiders;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as a means of defense against predation, this salamander body flips.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This salamander is semi-fossorial, but occasions surface wet moss, tree buttresses and can be found underneath leaf litter & rotting logs; appears worm-like and slow, but is agile and quick; is nocturnal when most active in foraging, but can be found during daylight amid heavy rains; in being a plethodontid, is lungless relying on subcutaneous gas exchange through the skin and mucus membranes in the mouth and throat; they use their developed naso-labial grooves for chemoreception in detecting prey, predators and in finding a mate; the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tongue is</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A couple</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">~ 80% the length of the body and is used as a projectile supported by extendable bones to capture prey; extended and retracted in milliseconds; the tongue tip is designed for gripping; when not in use, it is rolled up and stored in the body cavity where the lungs once were; is an efficient burrower; though limbs are nimble, for digging the small appendages are not used but the small size keeps limbs from being a hindrance during burrowing by the blunt snout; being voiceless and with no means in making noise, males go through a complex courtship in attracting a mate; constant pursuit of a female suitor, ritualistic dancing and gentle caressing of the female by the male is performed; the male also partakes in making a small incision on the female's skin to introduce his mental gland pheromone secretions; this is conducted by carefully rubbing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the mental gland on the surgical wound; once the female has become enamored and receptive, the male lays his cone shaped spermatophore on the ground to be picked up by the female's cloaca where she will then store it for up to 2 months before utilizing it to fertilize her eggs; egg clutches or parental care have not been observed, but are assumed to be terrestrial in underground burrows with full development upon hatching as is the case with other plethodontids; though is not commonly found; stable populations appear to be maintained. <br />
</span><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Eastern newt salamander</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eastern Newt Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Salamandridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Notophthalmus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Notophthalmus viridescens</u></b></span><br />
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L<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Up to 12.7cm/5in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Adult mean weight 2g/.07oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 12-15yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Notophthalmus viridescens</i> ~ Both being Greek, <i>Noto</i> means 'mark' or 'spot', while <i>ophtalmus</i> means 'eye'; <i>viridescens</i> is Latin meaning 'slightly green'; altogether means 'common green color eye-spotted newt'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> With losses in localized demographic ranges and annual variance in populations, this salamander's current distribution most likely resembles its historic distribution; among U.S. salamanders, this newt has a large extent in distribution second only to the tiger salamanders' (<i>Ambystoma tigrinum</i>) range; are found throughout the eastern portion of the U. S. from northern Minnesota, southeastern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, Illinois, extreme central east and southeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma to Texas down to the Gulf of Mexico; historically prefers wooded and wet forests with permanent bodies of water; will colonize newly dammed beaver ponds</span>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Land dwelling red eft</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Newts have 3 life stages and this salamander is no exception; there is an aquatic larval stage, a juvenile terrestrial stage known as an eft, then finally as an adult back to an aquatic stage; larvae possess gills, are light to dark shades of brownish green and do not leave the pond from where they were hatched and have a compressed finned tail for swimming; larvae lose the gills going through various metamorphic stages until they transform into the terrestrial red eft with developed lungs; efts are brick red to orange red with dispersed black dots and a row of dorsolateral black edged red spots; eft size is 2.5-7.6cm/1-3in; red efts may roam land for more than 3 years before returning to a permanent body of water where it transforms into the adult relying more on subcutaneous breathing; sexual dimorphism is evident in adults where the aquatic male has enlarged hind limbs & feet, and develops black rough patches on the insides of hind limbs and on the bottom tips of the hind toes during the breeding season; adult coloration is a dorsal olive green to yellow brown with a pale yellow to yellow ventral side splattered with small black speckings; the black bordered red dots are maintained throughout all 3 stages; some populations will exhibit neoteny in skipping the eft stage going straight from larval form to adult remaining aquatic and retaining gills; There are 4 recognized subspecies that range from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">southern Canada and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the Great Lakes eastwards all the way to Gulf and Atlantic coastal states; they are: <i>N. v. viridescens, N. v. piaropicola, N. v. louisianensis</i> & <i>N. v. dorsalis</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> All 3 stages are carnivorous; natural food for adults are aquatic animals they can swallow whole such as aquatic insects and their larvae, tiny molluscs, copepods, leeches, worms, fish & amphibian eggs, small fish and the larvae of amphibians; efts feed primarily on terrestrial arthropods and their larvae; larvae & adults can literally decimate mosquito populations by consuming large quantities of aquatic mosquito larvae; natural predators are in the aquatic stage certain are fish and turtles while on occasion water snakes, mudpuppies, sirens and bullfrogs who have developed some immunity through ingesting of the toxin secreted by this salamander; hog nose snakes occasionally consume efts; many animals feed on the eggs including other salamanders, even the adult eastern newts will cannabalize their eggs; digesting larvae have also been found in the pitchers of the carnivorous plant, <i>Sarracenia purpurea</i>; certain leeches will avoid latching onto eastern newts, but some species of leeches do appear to be a major source of aquatic adult eastern newt mortality</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> All stages of the eastern newt possess the neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin, but in various units per concentrate; eggs have the least amount where the red eft stage has 10 times more the amount than the adult; for defense, the eft and adult stages will perform the unken reflex posture exposing the areas of the body with the most skin secretions to the foe; the neurotoxin blocks the transfer of nerve signals to muscles; all stages, at least in periods are active dawn, noon, dusk and night, so are diurnal, nocturnal and crepuscular; larvae prefer to remain near</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Red newt larva</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mud bottoms, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or in muddy waters no deeper than 0.5m/1.65ft for camouflage & protection; they tend to amass and congregate together in shallows filled with vegetation where they forage; once the larva has transformed into an eft, usually under the darkness of night or during rains, it leaves the water in sequential waves seeking out moist sites in the upland woods in leaf litter, moss or underneath rotting wood; efts will avoid direct sunlight while foraging the forest floor; the red eft stage, dependent upon ambient conditions, lasts between 1-3 years plus and may travel far from their origins; efts seek out a temperature environment near the range of 26-28 °C/ 78.8-82.4 °F; efts hibernate during winter months; once conditions are right, efts will home in on their original homesite, enter the water and transform into the aquatic adult; aquatic adults prefer to pick a home range section in the body of water they're in; if during drought their homesite begins to dry up they will remove themselves to other sections of the water; once the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rains come back and the body of water is refilled, they will return to their original section of </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A terrestrial adult eastern newt </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">water; each </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">individual recognizes its neighbors; aquatic adults do not hibernate and have been observed actively swimming underneath ice; they prefer ice free waters and will cluster and aggregate where the water is ice free; some aquatic adults will leave their watery environment to live terrestrially for a year or two mimicking the lifestyle of the eft; the land dwelling eastern newt must also hibernate during winter; the smooth skin will become more warty and dry; both the red eft and terrestrial adult have an uncanny ability to orientate and find their way back to their original home site through magnetoreception; biogenic magnetite within their body is a ferromagnetic material and works twofold in magnetic orientation and light wavelength distinctions; the material reveals to the salamander polarity based inclination differentials and also acting as a sun dependent compass, will allow the salamander to home in orientating to short and long wavelength levels in distinguishing the nanometer lengths of the light waves; this is a form of electromagnetism; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">all three stages use </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chemoreception for finding prey and</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5m5ZM8ehXsEYgrbyvkEW3l-MW6kJS4U8jaPeoeA6GfUZ1mQASatMZJA02qdhnMnixooHyBf0EqUC__K68DJ-CPRuti180ZUNCOHb3tRGAINOKjzFHaZWYpWiZlwYkDqboVNhW2Ji33Wt/s1600/Notophthalmus+viridescens+eg+mas.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5m5ZM8ehXsEYgrbyvkEW3l-MW6kJS4U8jaPeoeA6GfUZ1mQASatMZJA02qdhnMnixooHyBf0EqUC__K68DJ-CPRuti180ZUNCOHb3tRGAINOKjzFHaZWYpWiZlwYkDqboVNhW2Ji33Wt/s200/Notophthalmus+viridescens+eg+mas.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>N. viridescens</i> egg mass</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">alluding predators, while the aquatic adults further utilize it in finding mates; courtship, in late winter or early spring involves a dance ritual between the paired salam</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">anders where it ends in amplexus with the male wrapping and gripping the females nuchal (neck) area with his enlarged hind legs all the while rubbing the chin of the female with his snout wafting pheromones to her nostrils and fanning his tail; this episode of the courtship can last for several hours, so occasionally the female will swim to the surface for air with the male still embraced; the behavior intensifies until the male suddenly releases his grip and positions himself in front of her undulating his body; if she is receptive still, she will press her snout against his body or tail where the male then releases his spermatophore pak; he then nudges her into position to encourage her to pick up the pak with her cloacal lips; if she is not receptive she will escape by swimming off; the female will lay anywhere from 200-400 eggs in a mass but singly wrapping each egg in some type of detritus material; most of the time the fertilized eggs are not laid all at once; once laid, she abandons them and does not present any parental care; the eggs hatch into the first larval stage 3-5 weeks from being laid; though most populations in the eastern newt's range are healthy, habitat destruction for the red eft and persistent droughts for the aquatic phases are concerns</span>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Emperor newt ~ <i>T. shanjing</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Emperor Newt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Salamandridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Tylototriton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Tylototriton shanjing</u></b><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Up to 20cm/8in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ♂~8-13g/0.29-0.46oz ♀~</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10-31g/0.35-1.09</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: May exceed 10yrs</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Tylototriton shanjing</i> ~ Both Greek, <i>tylos</i> means 'lump' in reference to enlarged warts and <i>Triton</i> was a minor sea god; <i>shan</i> & <i>jing</i> are both derived from Mandarin meaning 'mountain' & 'spirit' respectively. <br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Exclusive to China and endemic in western Yunnan Province from the mountains along Nu, Lancang & Yuan Rivers; prefers elevations between 100-2500m/330-8200ft along slow or stagnant water bodies in subtropical, but cool forests and wet grass fields</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This salamander is a rough skinned newt with distinct bony ridges on top of the head and down the spine; a row of 30 or so colored warts runs laterally down both dorsal sides; the anterior top of the vertebrate column and skull are especially thick; tail is laterally compressed; overall the body is black with a pigmented orange head, parotoid glands, vertebral ridge, the rows of body warts, limbs and tail; though patterns remain the same, the orange can highly vary in individuals to yellows or reds,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> while the body in individuals can </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> blue body</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">appear dark navy blue; the emperor newt is also called a crocodile newt; there are 4 species of crocodile newts, which are <i>T. shanjing</i>,<i> T. verrucosus</i>, <i>T. kweichownensis</i> & <i>T. taliangensis</i>; <i>T. shanjing</i> has just recently been removed from under <i>T. verrucosus</i> ( Himalayan newt) due to mitochondrial Cyt b gene analysis, but some scientists dispute this, feeling it was premature with very little analysis studies on the Himalayan newt; there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Is a carnivore in larval and adult stages, pursuing invertebrates such as aquatic & terrestrial insects, insect larvae, worms and snails; predation of eggs & larvae are other amphibians, fish and cannibalism has been observed; the most concerned predator to adults are humans where local culture uses the dried out skins for medicinal purposes.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Yellow-patterned individual </span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the genus, <i>Tylototriton</i> is the most primitive salamandrid and once had extended populations into Europe during Tertiary times, where now they are limited to Asia; is nocturnal and although adults have a well equipped tail for swimming, is terrestrial only going into the water to breed or flee predation; this salamander is very toxic containing enough alkaloids from one individual that could kill up to 7,500 mice with an intraperitoneal LD50 of 11.5mg/kg; alkaloids are water soluble skin secretions; alkaloids contain phospholipase that hydrolyzes phospholipids into fatty acids and are also both proteolytic active & trypsin inhibitive; skin toxin also serves newt as an anti-bacterial agent; certain water snake and birds of prey species seem to have overcome the noxious tasting and toxic secretions, as they will readily devour the adult newts; the rows of warts are where the toxic skin glands lie while the glands are pressed up against the spines of the ribs, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the newt has the ability</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to accelerate secretions when threatened; while on land, the coloration is obvious, but is an aposematic warning that it is toxic; in water during breeding, which is the adults most vulnerable time to predation, the coloration does add to cryptic camouflage as overall coloration breaks up as refracted through a water medium, blending the newt into the colors of the pebble beds</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">exceptionally thick bone of the skull</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Red patterned individual</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">& vertebrae is also a deterrent to smaller predators; these newts rarely take prey from underwater; emperor newts are passive overall exhibiting nonaggression towards one another or predators; mating, breeding and laying of eggs occurs in water; in the wilds the breeding season occurs in the months from May to August; in slow moving waters the courtship begins with the male wrestling a female using his snout and thickened forearms in which he interlocks with the female's forearms and begins gently dragging her; this interactions stretches the course of hours due to attempts of the female becoming receptive; once female becomes responsive </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> An emperor newt larva</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">external mating occurs; the male drops up to 3 cone-shaped spermatophores and then nudges or drags the female so as to allow her cloaca to make contact with the spermatophores, whereupon she picks up the cone-shaped packets; the female then undergoes a 7-21 day ova development; once the eggs are ready for deposition, she will seek out a suitable spot for ovipositing; eggs are laid singly or in 10-15 egg strings attached to plants, rocks or any other submerged material; an average of 40-60 eggs, but up to a 100 have been observed; eggs are ~2mm/.08in; after 10-18 days the eggs hatch into 9mm/.35in long tadpole larvae and remain in shallow waters no more than 15.2cm/6in deep; larvae are very slow in developing taking up to 100-150 days to metamorphose into the adult; once the larva has reached 15mm/.59in it transforms into the adult form and leaves the water; supplanting wild populations for the pet trade, human medicinal consumption and habitat destruction have put this newt into the threatened listing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg.png" /> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Near Threatened (3.1) IUCN</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Alpine newt ~ <i>I. alpestris</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Alpine Newt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Salamandridae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Ichthyosaura</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Ichthyosaura alpestris</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: ♂~9cm/3.5in; ♀~12cm/4.7in total length (TL) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 2-3g/.07-.11 oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: To around 7yrs, but up to 10yrs & up to 20yrs is possible in some populations</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Ichthyosaura alpestris</i> ~ <i>Ichthyos</i> & <i>sauros</i> is Modern Latin from Greek meaning 'fish' & 'lizard' respectively; <i>alpestris</i> derived from the Latin word 'alpes' means belonging to the Alps; altogether refers to 'fish lizard of the alpine'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Main distribution center is in the middle of Europe radiating outwards to Denmark as the northern extreme and southeastward through Romania & Bulgaria via the Carpathian & Balkan Mountains downwards to northern Italy, Montenegro highlands and central Greece; an isolated population exists naturally on the Iberian Peninsula and in northern England from a successful 1930's introduction; prefers forested areas with plenty of aquatic habitats from lowlands up to the alpine belt line 3000m/9000ft in altitude.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUCKV92rZ_N0PNARxDFfPhfmkowUnPG4Q3II2EBIrbhJszwHrE6_WvpaUguwHBGQJ40ikzhSR0yWK6qWZEZBMaZo7ri4uiFmqvuJaiZPct-5FfNDf7RPEYtcu5eUK7qtmM1FTuu5TudZaU/s1600/I.+alpestris.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUCKV92rZ_N0PNARxDFfPhfmkowUnPG4Q3II2EBIrbhJszwHrE6_WvpaUguwHBGQJ40ikzhSR0yWK6qWZEZBMaZo7ri4uiFmqvuJaiZPct-5FfNDf7RPEYtcu5eUK7qtmM1FTuu5TudZaU/s200/I.+alpestris.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A) Terrestrial female & B) male</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Formerly listed as Mesotriton alpestris and before then, Triturus alpestris; phylogeography of <i>I. alpestris</i> has recently been investigated using mtDNA, revealing five major clades; Clade A consists of populations from southeastern Serbia, originating in late Miocene; Serbian lineage is ancestral to a western and an eastern lineage, with a mid-Pliocene divergence; western lineage is divided into Clade B (Italy) and C (central Europe and Iberia); eastern lineage is divided into Clade D (southern Balkans) and E (central-northern Balkans); eastern clades seem to have been isolated in multiple refugia during glaciation cycles based on high sequence divergence; western clades are thought to have colonized central, western and northeastern Europe from a possible refugium in central Europe; analysis indicates paedomorphic lineages of <i>I. alpestris</i> appear to have evolved during early to mid-Pleistocene, likely in response to the ongoing climatic </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fluctuations; tails are laterally</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVDcvbserjgWayH3YgD8i13XHRyHxQazgSoYzNwhfFWPQBWxI-EHbhL-AQ-OrbdxU1H9DJldph4ibLML3cVuy9SzhT4M6jm-wc33gAc2k7BNukT1NIMSTyIZV7qQOMNj1F-24vR2LmBax/s1600/Triturus_alpestris.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVDcvbserjgWayH3YgD8i13XHRyHxQazgSoYzNwhfFWPQBWxI-EHbhL-AQ-OrbdxU1H9DJldph4ibLML3cVuy9SzhT4M6jm-wc33gAc2k7BNukT1NIMSTyIZV7qQOMNj1F-24vR2LmBax/s200/Triturus_alpestris.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Top: aquatic male & female below </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">compressed and are around the same length as body; vomerine teeth exist in 2 rows diverging widely posteriorly & converging anteriorly; stark dimorphism in breeding coloration with stockier female having larger body, head & tail; males possess a more swollen cloaca; in terrestrial phase skin is granular with male retaining a remnant mid dorsal crest; dorsum is from dark grayish brown or dark olive to black; ventrum is always a shade of orange; in the breeding and aquatic phase skin becomes smooth; males exhibit dorsal blue coloring with stippled black & white flanks and a blue stripe at the edge of the orange ventrum; dorsal crest is more pronounced; female in the breeding & water phase exhibit a cryptic water camouflage coloration of overall mottled gray-green-brown exhibiting weak dorsum spotting and an orange ventrum; there are 10 recognized subspecies; they are: <i>I. a. alpestris</i>, <i>I. a. apuanus</i>, <i>I. a. cyreni</i>, <i>I. a. inexpectatus</i>, <i>I. a. lacusnigri</i>, <i>I. a. montenegrinus</i>, <i>I. a. piperianus</i>, <i>I. a. reiseri</i>, <i>I. a. serdarus</i> & <i>I. a. veluchiensis</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Most invertebrates such as flying, terrestrial & aquatic insects, including their larvae are taken as well as small spiders, batrachian eggs & tadpoles, woodlice, slugs and snails; there are a host of predators including water & shore birds, owls, frogs, large predaceous aquatic insects such as water boatmen and insects with large aquatic larvae such as dragonflies.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Z5JHQK2CeQzcV48fC-Y0p26CvNRwbNuVirwkcq33Nv5sSY8X5HXAcqAdFitClxckQssfRdSoDw1oCqOKtwcrDC11IMgU7_BaU2aJfi-jGjIEPXgOuOzhhqSkxAtJ4KDVHBFUCQ9K3OvZ/s1600/Ichthyosaura+alpestris+opn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Z5JHQK2CeQzcV48fC-Y0p26CvNRwbNuVirwkcq33Nv5sSY8X5HXAcqAdFitClxckQssfRdSoDw1oCqOKtwcrDC11IMgU7_BaU2aJfi-jGjIEPXgOuOzhhqSkxAtJ4KDVHBFUCQ9K3OvZ/s200/Ichthyosaura+alpestris+opn.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Aquatic male showing off regalia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is nocturnal coming out of its hiding place at night to slowly and methodically hunt for prey while in the terrestrial stage, though can show short acceleration in capturing prey or fleeing predators; in the aquatic phase, is active nocturnally and diurnally and without hesitation, quickly pursues prey; in aquatic phase is a very efficient swimmer and in cold waters may spend several minutes in voluntary apnea; collects dioxygene dissolved in water through subcutaneous skin gas exchange breathing, but will still maintain surface gulping; this salamander relies on sight and smell more so than most other salamanders; slowing down their rate of metabolism, they hibernate during winter months sheltered in rock cavities, underground tunnels or under wood heaps; when warmer weather comes in the spring, the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">terrestrial forms come out of hibernation and begin trekking to familiar </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3SJi2jW9zYH-XnYjrKJCxWKTl8vzbbbHLBp0Q4K5dxEtRApfna8yodADrPyO6PvUNzdiTB-3GUeFT2iByxVv3d-hY9E1KWCwqrsSj4gSuxG0Yqu0Kf4PveyAntyyJ5FnZ5rtwWh2nRjH/s1600/Mesotriton+alpestris+L.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3SJi2jW9zYH-XnYjrKJCxWKTl8vzbbbHLBp0Q4K5dxEtRApfna8yodADrPyO6PvUNzdiTB-3GUeFT2iByxVv3d-hY9E1KWCwqrsSj4gSuxG0Yqu0Kf4PveyAntyyJ5FnZ5rtwWh2nRjH/s200/Mesotriton+alpestris+L.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Larva</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stagnant or slow shallow spawning pools; once there, they molt loosing their granular skin and transform into their aquatic breeding form; in attracting females in water, the male constantly posts himself in front of the female fanning his vibrant tail; once the effect is functional in submitting the female and she then begins following him, the male drops his spermatophore; once the female spots it, she proceeds to picking it up with her cloaca; these ballets continue for several weeks; at the end of courtship, the female now begins to pick out a favored spot of watered vegetation to begin laying her fertilized eggs one by one; the eggs are sticky adhering to the plants where with her legs she folds the plants around the eggs in hiding them from predation; once she has laid all her 70-190 transparent 2mm/.08in in diameter eggs, no further parental care is taken; depending on water temperature, in 1-2 weeks the eggs hatch into tiny 1cm/.40in larva that have no jaws or limbs, but a fully developed tail, gills and most of the time eyes; at this larval stage, hiding, resting and fleeing is the main activity; once larvae metamorphose into the second stage, a mobile neck and jaws have formed and begin seeking out nourishment in pursuing tiny insects, larvae and daphnia; anything that moves near them they will pounce; as larvae metamorphose, a dorsal fin down the back & tail appears, the forelimbs first appear, then finally the hind limbs; once the gills are lost, they have fully transformed into miniature adults, then leave the water for a terrestrial life until maturing into reproductive adults 2-3yrs later; some late hatched larvae have the ability to hibernate and sometimes neoteny occurs skipping the terrestrial phase; chemical pollution of wetlands and habitat destruction due to development have extirpated these newts from regional localities.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ringed salamander ~ <i>A. annulatum</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ringed Salamander</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Ambystomatidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Ambystoma</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Ambystoma annulatum</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 14-24cm/5.5-9.4in snout-vent length (SVL); ave: 28cm/11in total length (TL) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 13g-0.46oz </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 4-6 yrs; possibly under good conditions up to 10yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Ambystoma annualtum</i> ~ <i>Anabystoma</i> is New Latin meaning 'to cram into the mouth' with no understanding to reference; <i>annulatum</i> is Latin meaning 'furnished with rings' in reference to salamander's color ringed dorsum; altogether means, 'ringed salamander with a mouthful'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic in the highlands of the Ozark & Ouachita Mountains along the borders of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma; a small band has also been discovered in southwestern Illinois; populations in the northeastern portion of range (central Missouri) have least variability in mitochondrial DNA components from other populations, suggesting the northern populations are the most recently established from southern groups migrating northwards; prefers mixed hardwood-pine forested damp areas where temporary bodies of water occur in shallow holding ponds, trenches, ditches or seasonal creeks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Overall the body is well-rounded and slender in girth; the head is small with a depressed snout; tail is long and rounded, but slightly compressed; possesses vomerine teeth arrayed in 2 short series located behind the choanae (paired openings between nasal cavity & nasopharnyx); teeth are blunted & small; this species normally has 15 costal grooves; there are no sexual dimorphic characteristics and the species is </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">considered monomorphic; typically, a</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JmLeu-KGKqdECYntsyw__jcr7YHKHS2qX0buXmI4R2q7p_c1lAIuxnTttSW2TGP-LbTGnNSD5WTTX6bRDr5eaNkPZVJpcoDR-C4vA7r1fkjSU0zeJtV9wbnLT-RmwYNVSMcK-UysNnV_/s1600/Ambystoma+annulatum+bdy.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JmLeu-KGKqdECYntsyw__jcr7YHKHS2qX0buXmI4R2q7p_c1lAIuxnTttSW2TGP-LbTGnNSD5WTTX6bRDr5eaNkPZVJpcoDR-C4vA7r1fkjSU0zeJtV9wbnLT-RmwYNVSMcK-UysNnV_/s200/Ambystoma+annulatum+bdy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Variable dorsal ring coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">brief light colored bar exists between the eyes and may extend below the eyes as pointed diagonally posterior; dorsal color of adults is a very dark gray to darkish brown with contrasting rings that vary in color from lime green to yellowish to whitish; dorsal ring coloration can even vary on the same individual; rings may also be broken up and blotch marked; ventral & limb coloration is usually gray to dull yellowish mottled with lighter spotting; there are no recognized subspecies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Adults are vermivores (eats worms) consuming terrestrial & aquatic worms and grub worms; also eats other terrestrial very small amphibians, insects, non-insect terrestrial arthropods, land snails and mollusks; larvae consume cladocerans (water fleas), ostracods, copepods, small aquatic insects, aquatic dipteran larvae, dragonfly & damselfly nymphs and are obligatory oophagous with larger metamorphosed advanced larvae eating smaller first stage larvae or any remaining eggs; there is a long list of predators that prey on this salamander including vertebrates such as snakes, owls, shrews, skunks, raccoons and opossums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> The ringed salamander belongs to the mole salamander group due to leading a fossorial lifestyle; it </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">spends most of its time in its own tunneling systems or in other animal burrows; at </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fPE5ap_xUsPAyQg9l-R_4K-1kyzjdhS2wWW4ooSgZq7iMegVodTVKoI4hr_a7A86BwPTZokGHK5yLItTn3v0kUhefxc5a_0LZ9pR9F1tqrLyMYVj-tzAdrxJrZlVehoaa8SDvlaAbx9D/s1600/Ambystoma+annulatum+hd.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fPE5ap_xUsPAyQg9l-R_4K-1kyzjdhS2wWW4ooSgZq7iMegVodTVKoI4hr_a7A86BwPTZokGHK5yLItTn3v0kUhefxc5a_0LZ9pR9F1tqrLyMYVj-tzAdrxJrZlVehoaa8SDvlaAbx9D/s200/Ambystoma+annulatum+hd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. annulatum</i> ~ note small head</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">times can be found underneath objects on the forest floor such as leaf litter, or hidden under rocks and rotting logs; may be a voracious eater, but apparently does not consume food too often as prey studies conducted in examining stomach contents 90% or more had empty stomachs; is nocturnal when it is most active; when usually encountered is in early fall when colder rains initiate a stimulus to breed; once September rains occur this salamander begins to locally migrate in numbers on land to temporary water sites filled with rain water; migration to water sites are usually no more than several hundred meters from than terrestrial non-breeding sites to the temporary waters; from 10 to several thousand individuals make the migration to a single water site; males arrive first, entering water to wait on females' arrival; once females arrive and enter water, a frenzy erupts with individuals engaged in mass courtship; males may deposit their wide base spermatophore on the water bottom, on a submerged plant or even on each other, male or female; once a gravid female has picked up a spermatophore with her cloaca, thus fertilizing her eggs internally; she lays several clusters of up to 50 eggs in each on the water bottom or submerged vegetation; laying eggs in temporary water has advantage of no fish predation, but also has disadvantages of water source drying up and hypoxia due to lack of oxygen in stagnant shallow water; eggs appear to have solved these 2 dilemmas; during drought, eggs that fall into mud cracks or under the shade of overhanging plants can temporarily survive in dormancy up to 20days until the next rains come; under hypoxic conditions, the surface area of egg capsules increases oxygenation conductance and enhanced oxygen transport, thus increasing survival rates; female oviposits eggs on courtship night up to 2 nights afterwards; after 2 nights most individuals leave water and remain on surface up to a week befroe going subterranean; eggs hatch in 2-4 weeks from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">time of oviposition; larvae reach maturity at 48mm/1.9in 6-8.5 months</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> from hatching; depending </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on ambient conditions,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSUqYXSoq9q-y5fbnfnLXnXqgqoJ1S_TYG5YVNDb3wk3PNghTFaVvOBXqAWOiP6tXT_x8Ltr-TLNaqcCwbvRhwIcPyzasjZF53HO0uMuTXwk_j4jMzHq9k8IKJXXzoE2pDmS66R3TkMMT/s1600/Ambystoma+annualtum+jvnl.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSUqYXSoq9q-y5fbnfnLXnXqgqoJ1S_TYG5YVNDb3wk3PNghTFaVvOBXqAWOiP6tXT_x8Ltr-TLNaqcCwbvRhwIcPyzasjZF53HO0uMuTXwk_j4jMzHq9k8IKJXXzoE2pDmS66R3TkMMT/s200/Ambystoma+annualtum+jvnl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile just lost gills</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">larvae</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> complete final metmorphism from mid April to July in losing the dorsal fin and gills, while gaining strong limbs; primarily on rainy nights, the newly transformed juvenile will leave the water in search of underground shelter; juveniles take 2-3 yrs to become reproductively mature; both adults and larvae hibernate and aestivate; one of the major mortality rates is roads that traverse across ancestral migration paths where potentially hundreds if not thousands can be ran over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Olm ~ <i>Proteus anguinus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Olm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Proteidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Proteus </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Proteus anguinus</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 30cm/0.9-12in juvenile-adult total length (TL)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 2-150g/0.07-5.3oz juvenile-adult</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: In wilds, average: 58-68.5yrs; maximum can reach over 100yrs </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Proteus anguinus</i> ~ In early Greek mythology, <i>Proteus</i> was a sea-god, whose name suggests 'the first'; <i>anguinus</i> comes originally from the Proto-Indo-European word, <i>anguis</i> meaing 'snake' and later modified in Latin to, <i>anguinus</i> meaning 'snake', 'serpent' or 'dragon'; altogether refers to the, 'primeval dragon'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to subterranean waters in the Dinaric Karst aquifer system of southern Europe; through limestone faults and caverns underground waters are fed by regional lakes and the Soca & Isonzo river waters; range includes northeastern Italy amid Trieste, southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina; the olm inhabits subterranean waters that flow underground through this extensive limestone region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> A true troglobite, the olm is totally adapted to a dark aquatic existence and appears to share heterochrony (developmental changes) characteristics with another true troglobite salamander (for reference see: Texas blind salamander) such as a dispropotionately dorsolateral elongated head, frail limbs & lack of skin coloration; the olm is also neotenic with no clear metamorphosis maintaining the juvenile's external gills and compressed & finned tail throughout adulthood; eyes are visible in larvae, but are undeveloped and sealed over by skin </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by the time adulthood is reached; 3 pink feathery gills exist on each side of</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> head; </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gft17nq6qFl4FWhHCSWz3GVFE1T5mXoqcEtOtUgWWLQOuQ-THa8g4IndVCnuDW9YCW55simBXa0fkGdPM-DU2Sd0S4lNLezX4uhT3l9v769_OXHUbPuWzkdwqq-5Tp68vSb2y5UUc1XM/s1600/Olm.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gft17nq6qFl4FWhHCSWz3GVFE1T5mXoqcEtOtUgWWLQOuQ-THa8g4IndVCnuDW9YCW55simBXa0fkGdPM-DU2Sd0S4lNLezX4uhT3l9v769_OXHUbPuWzkdwqq-5Tp68vSb2y5UUc1XM/s200/Olm.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note similar head to <i>E. rathbuni</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">forelimbs bear 3 toes while hind legs have 2 attached to a very elongate tube-shaped body; rudimentary lungs are semifunctional for respiratory breathing in hypoxic conditions; sexual dimorphism is evident in size with females being larger and size & shape of male's larger cloaca during breeding; are not true albinos in still possessing dormant pigmentation from original ancestry and will darken if exposed to sunlight; some juveniles will exhibit melanin spotting; skin is translucent white and reveals contours of internal organs on ventrum; due to translucent circulatory system can give a pink or peach tone to skin; olm is Germanic Latin originally referring to white people of central & northern Europe, thus this salamander is also called the 'human fish'; there is one recognized subspecies in the black olm, <i>P. a. parkelj</i> possessing active melanism; the black olm, found only in Bela Krajina of southeast Slovenia, visits surface waters retaining its pigmentation & eyesight.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydnCQcgghk3f2xYPDlZEM_s5QuI3UYcsVyoeMa3DvMvIE8wvBmmqLMxwhmnR7DkTFwEfVfN35JOwtpxEuRcsLhyPx2qV6iicwrH6s2cMf4VHh6gTNp-mO0Pbm-QorSO1G4RIJKGcaJ5VX/s1600/Proteus+anguinus+parkejl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydnCQcgghk3f2xYPDlZEM_s5QuI3UYcsVyoeMa3DvMvIE8wvBmmqLMxwhmnR7DkTFwEfVfN35JOwtpxEuRcsLhyPx2qV6iicwrH6s2cMf4VHh6gTNp-mO0Pbm-QorSO1G4RIJKGcaJ5VX/s200/Proteus+anguinus+parkejl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Subspecies: <i>P. a. parkelj</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Is strictly carnivorous in all stages of life consuming invertebrates and their larvae, but mainly aquatic insect larvae that has been washed into cavernous waters of <i>Diptera</i>, <i>Ephemeroptera</i>, <i>Plecoptera</i> & <i>Trichoptera</i> insect species; also when available will consume amphipods, molluscs & worms; predation in subterranean waters are few, but is preyed upon by fish, toads and on rare occasion from cavern infestation of rodents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> This salamander spends its entire life in an aquatic totally dark environment; when active is solitary, while at rest is gregarious aggregating in water's stone bottom cracks or underneath rocks; for protection from invasive diseases and ectoparasites, the stratum mucosum (outermost skin cell layer) secretes a thin layer of mucous enveloping the body; of interest in comparison to surface dwelling aquatic neotenic salamanders, the olm in utilizing a lower metabolic rate consumes less oxygen in exerting same activity; when hypoxic conditions exist in stagnant underground pools, during low water levels, the olm can utilize the vestigial lungs to accommodate oxygen intake by breathing in surface air; though eyesight is only functional in detection of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lightness/darkness, the olm has an array of receptors &</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sensors for a</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VIBMba38ptO435O1fVM-ifcXRvNPhyPtueBfW5Hf7m-l7qa36A6-zcG-cEw0WJah1fXIh8BPHNcbTBlR5ui0Ue1hW-mX6X5hWYBeinLDuso2j7sGKoB7FKpIALwQhb0HYXIgZXeWM_hP/s1600/Proteus+anguinus.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VIBMba38ptO435O1fVM-ifcXRvNPhyPtueBfW5Hf7m-l7qa36A6-zcG-cEw0WJah1fXIh8BPHNcbTBlR5ui0Ue1hW-mX6X5hWYBeinLDuso2j7sGKoB7FKpIALwQhb0HYXIgZXeWM_hP/s200/Proteus+anguinus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Dorsal view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">subterranean lifestyle; through chemoreception, is able to detect very low concentrations of organic material in water; though reduced, pineal organ affects skin pigmentation making skin cells photosensitive; located on inner surface of nasal cavity & in Jacobson's organ, the nasal epithelium is much thicker than found in other amphibians producing a very enhanced sense of smell; taste buds are located in mucous epithelium of mouth with most embedded in upper side of tongue and on entrance to gill cavities; buds in oral cavity are used for taste while those in gill cavities sense water's chemical compositions; mechanoreceptors, such as sensory epithelia of inner ear are specifically differentiated enabling the animal to receive & interpret sound waves traversing through water; as well as ground vibration; hearing capabilities underwater is evident in localizing potential prey; through ampullary organs located on the head, the olm is able to detect and register weak electric fields produced by organisms; there is also a geomagnetic sense capability in making use of the earth's geomagnetic field to orientate itself; the olm is a </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">superb swimmer; with its short finned tail, undulating seprtentine body</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">limbs tucked </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">against the body, it can swim up to 8kph/5mph;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in subterranean waters, temperature is </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxE7s9S_PFy4uNVC7BS-uPfSUzzIM6RFDFRiiSyIt8RKbsQV5QZtd8myc9A1FtiSKF2lsdfPsWTc7zga6xe_Zbl4cOeFlq7kcwdkkIBE2gH2TAUTMp1A85R-5MGwe7HEYa-WYeED5Wn2e3/s1600/Proteus+anguinus+vntrm.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxE7s9S_PFy4uNVC7BS-uPfSUzzIM6RFDFRiiSyIt8RKbsQV5QZtd8myc9A1FtiSKF2lsdfPsWTc7zga6xe_Zbl4cOeFlq7kcwdkkIBE2gH2TAUTMp1A85R-5MGwe7HEYa-WYeED5Wn2e3/s200/Proteus+anguinus+vntrm.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventral view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">constant so climatic variability as on the surface, give no clues to breeding cycles; therefore reproduction for the olm is year round; males become territorial and aggresive towards one another when breeding; during courtship, when a female enters a male's territory, he performs tail fanning with her sensing resultant waves picking up vibratory stimuli & odor cues; in responding, she approaches male stimulating him by rubbing her snout on his cloaca to turn around to her posteriorly and deposit a spermatophore on the water's bedrock; the male then stimulates the female by rubbing his snout over her cloaca; passing over the spermatophore, the female will then pick it up by drawing it into her cloacal cavity, thus fertilizing her eggs internally; courtship may be repeated several times in a period of hours; once courtship is final, the female leaves the male's territory in search of a suitable nesting ground and arranges a simple nest out of debris litter from the water's floor; after 2-3 days from courtship, she oviposits up to 70 eggs over the course of 25 days; eggs are guarded by the female until hatching; though temperature is constant temperature range does effect amount of time for incubation; egg development takes anywhere from 182 days to 86 days with colder ambient temperatures taking the longest and warmer the shortest; eggs double in size through water uptake; olm larvae take on the appearance of adults after a few months old and take up to 10-15 yrs in becoming sexually mature; subterranean waters olms live in is not a closed ecology and is dependent and susceptible to surface waters; if polluted waters inundate underground water, the highly specialized olm is endangered; over harvesting for the pet trade has also threatened this salamander. </span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following last three salamander groups under the families: <i>Dicamptodontidae</i>, <i>Rhyacotritonidae</i> and <i>Hynobiidae</i> were not listed in the 'DISCUSSION' section under the outlined classification scheme. Not long ago, <i>Dicamptodontidae</i> and <i>Rhyacotritonidae</i> were removed from <i>Ambystomatidae</i> by classifiers listing both under <i>Dicamptodontidae</i>. Even more recently, rhyacotritonids were taken from dicamptodontids, receiving their own family title as <i>Rhyacotritonide</i>, while <i>Hynobiidae</i> was a short while ago delisted from the family, <i>Cryptobranchidae</i>. Dicamptodontids and rhyacotritonids are monotypic in genera, while hynobiids are listed under nine separate genera. All three families are still considered as sister taxons to their former family groups, but due to new genetic analysis and unique morphologies, the trend is now to list them under their own family.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> California giant salamander</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">California Giant Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Dicamptodontidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Dicamptodon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Dicamptodon ensatus</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6.25-17cm/2.5-6.8in snout-vent length (SVL);</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17-30.5cm/6.7-12in total length (TL) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Mean average: 20.8-24g/0.73-0.85oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Statistical life span is 6-10yrs; Maximum longevity: 17yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Dicamptodon ensatus</i> ~ <i>Di</i> meaning 'two', <i>kamptos</i> meaning 'curved' & <i>odon</i> meaning 'teeth' are all of Greek origin; <i>ensatus</i> is Latin for 'sword-shaped'; altogether, refers to 'recurved pointed teeth salamander'. <br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Endemic to U.S. western coastline from northern California to the extreme southern end of British Columbia covering only .03% of British Columbia's total land mass; in its range, inhabits wet & cold coastal temperate forests from sea level to 909.1m/3,000ft near clear fast flowing waters and seepages, but also at times near lakes and ponds; does not occur anywhere east of San Fransico Bay</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Formerly known as the Pacific giant salamander where this colloquial name tag is now reserved for the <i>Dicamptodontidae</i> family and <i>Dicamptodon</i> genus; is one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in N. America; limbs are stout & supportive; possesses the typical salamander digits of 4 toes on the forelimbs & 5 on each hind limb; the California giant has a broad head with a shovel-like snout and a distinct gular fold (fold </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of skin across throat); </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tail is</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Head & gills of neotenic form</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">laterally compressed and 40% of TL; large eyes have black pupils with brass-flecked irises</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> overall dorsal body coloration is a rust reddish brown with irregular marbled darker brown patterns; ventral side is egg-white or a very dull yellow and is normally unmarked; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">remaining aquatic, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">neotenic adults are common retaining gills and are a general brown with slightly darker brown markings; young larvae are streamlined for fast flowing water</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> all phases are carnivorous predators; terrestrial form consumes insects, worms, snails ( in particular banana slugs which are common in their range), small frogs, small snakes & small rodents such as mice & shrews; neoteny form consumes aquatic insects & their larvae, other small amphibians & their larvae, small fish and small water snakes; larvae aggressively feed on any aquatic invertebrate that swims by and can be fitted into the mouth; predators of this salamander are carnivorous or omnivorous small mammals such as river otters,weasels, raccoons & opossums, large snakes & birds.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Consuming a banana slug</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> The California giant salamander as terrestrial and in its neotenic form, is elusive hiding underneath objects such as stones when at rest mostly during daylight; although it is primarily nocturnal, it will expend actively during wet daylight; though it is least active during the cold winter months, it does not hibernate; with hardened toe digits is a capable digger and climber in pursuing prey & shelter; directly sunlit areas are avoided preferring to range in damp areas to combat dessication of the skin; this is an aggressive animal as far as salamanders go and can inflict a painful bite with its strong jaws & tiny sharp recurved teeth; aggressive towards potential predators & their own, they will thrash the tail, bite and from glands located at the top base of the tail secrete foul tasting chemicals; neotenic adults are found throughout all populations, while at times may outnumber the terrestrial forms in a population density; is one of the few salamanders that can vocalize emitting a low barking-like sound when alarmed or threatened; breeding occurs from spring to </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note size to <i>Ensatina escholtzii</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">autumn with terrestrial forms returning to suitable creeks and streams to breed congregating under submerged stones & logs; courtship ritual is not known, but fertilization is internal; after her eggs are fertilized, the female seeks out a suitable nest site under submerged objects or crevices; once 70-200 eggs are oviposited singly or in clumps, female, without eating, will relentlessly for 7 months protect the developing eggs from any intruders including males who will eat her eggs if given a chance; when the transparent eggs hatch, the young larvae remain at the nest site for 2-4 months; during this period, larvae do not feed surviving off yolk; due to long gestation period, females are biennial in reproducing every other year; females do not reach sexual maturity until 5-6 years old; young larvae remain in the stillest waters near shoreline, while the older venture into the main stream; to fully transform from larval stages to terrestrial adult takes 18 months; due to slow reproduction, habitat alteration and the building of roads near the streams these salamanders migrate to & from, the species is becoming threatened</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
</span><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_NT.svg.png" /> <span style="color: blue;">Near Threatened (3.1) IUCN</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Olympic salamander ~ <i>R. olympicus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Olympic Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Rhyacotritonidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Rhyacotriton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Rhyacotriton olympicus</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<b> </b><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: This small salamander never exceeds 10cm/3.9in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 1.75-2.5g/.06-.09oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Not recorded, but due to cold environs slowing metabolism, >10yrs is likely</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Rhyacotriton olympicus</i> ~ <i>Rhyakos</i> is Greek for 'stream' while <i>Triton</i> was a Greek sea god; <i>olymipcus</i> refers to belonging to Mount Olympus; altogether references the, 'stream god salamander of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mount Olympus'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Limited in range to the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington state; a prerequisite habitat of cold & wet environs of silt-sediment free streams in old mature forests is necessary for sustenance; this torrent salamander is associated with cold, clear flowing waters typically found on steep slopes, seeps, springs & waterfalls; is most abundant in or around splash zones of falling or cascading water.<br />
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<b> D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This small salamander's defined head has a short snout with large eyes; the horizontal diameter of the eyes are equal to or greater than distance from anterior of eye to tip of snout; dimorphism is prevalent with females slightly larger while males possess a prominent </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ventrum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">square-edged lobe just behind cloaca; breathes primarily through subcutaneous gas exchange; lungs are reduced, but still functional; overall coloration is medium-dark brown interspersed </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">white flecking and darker mottling on the</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> laterally compressed tail; ventrum is bright orange brown to yellow usually with a few to numerous black spotting between throat and underside of chin; tiny larvae have very short external gills, flattened bodies and fins limited to the tail; larval coloration are dorsally tan brown and ventrally cream to light yellow; small black dotting is evident throughout the larva's body; formerly, <i>R. cascadae</i>, <i>R. kezeri</i>, <i>R. variegatus</i> and along with <i>R. olympicus</i> were considered one species listed as <i>R. olympicus</i>; currently, there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Consists of small aquatic & semi-aquatic invertebrates and their larvae, such as worms, snails and insects in particular midges and their larvae, other swarming & aquatic larval dipterans, ephemeropterans mayflies) and trichopterans (caddisflies) that frequent waters; the predaceous <i>Dicamptodon tenebrosus</i> shares the same streamside range as the olympic salamander and most probably in all its phases preys on the much smaller salamander's eggs, larvae & adults; garter snakes are also most probably a predator of this salamander.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This salamander spends most of its time in water or no more than 1 meter/3.3 feet from the water's edge; apparently the olympic salamander are unable to disperse through dry forest, although during rains have been found up to 122m/402.6ft from water source; it is stenothermic, so therefore is very sensitive to heat & desiccation and avoids any direct sunlight; thermal tolerance for <i>Rhyacotriton</i> species is among the lowest for amphibians; fatal critical thermal maximum in water is reached for adults at 27.8 °C/82 °F and even lower for larvae at 26.5 °C/80 °F; during droughts they will seek subsurface flowing water; main travel is more upstream than down; when on the water's edge the white flecking (guanophores) serve as camouflage blending into its background appearing as the glistening dewdrops from overspray landing on the ground cover it is standing on; when threatened or startled exhibits the unken reflex by rolling over and displaying its bright venter; females are found year round internally</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Guanophore camouflage</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">containing a male's spermatophore suggesting year</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">round breeding and that oviposition occurs throughout the year with a peak period in May; an individual </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">female does not oviposit fertile eggs throughout the year, but once annually; courtship is in conducted in the water and eggs are laid in clear, cold flowing streams under submerged rock beds, gravel bottoms or narrow rock cracks; on average 8 eggs are laid and no adult attends them; eggs hatch anywhere between 210 to 295 days; the larvae sustain nourishment from their yolk sac for another 295 to 360 days; whereupon after that period need to actively feed; this is the longest embryonic period for any oviparous salamander. larval duration is ~ 3.5yrs with metamorphisis into the adult occurring when the larva has reach 33 to 44mm/1.3-1.7in SVL; the juveniles become sexually active after another 1-1.5 yrs; in their biome, being dependent on a stream microhabitat and as a specialist as opposed to a generalist in </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">livelihood within the microhabitat, any environmental change adversely affects this salamander first before any other fauna; logging in the salamander's range has extirpated this salamander from the logged area due to stream siltation & heavy sedimentation as resulted from the practice of logging; global warming and its affects on climate will immediately have negative impact on this salamander; total population is in decline. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Semirechensk salamander</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Semirechensk Salamander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Hynobiidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Ranodon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Ranodon sibiricus</u></b><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15-25cm/6-10in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 28.35-141.75g/1-5oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 15-20yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Ranodon sibiricus</i> ~ <i>Ran</i> is derived from the Greek word, <i>rana</i> meaning 'frog' while <i>odon </i>is Greek for 'teeth'; <i>sibiricus</i> is Latin in masculine singular form meaning, 'a native of Siberia'; all is in reference to, 'frog tooth salamander of Siberia'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Where distribution once extended well into western Siberian plains, current range is restricted to fragmented populations of the Ala Tau & Tien Shan Mountains of western China & eastern Kazakhstan in plateau brooks, mountain streams, marshes and terrain 1,500-2,750m/5,000-9,000ft asl; prefers flat plateaus dense with permanent brooks & streams.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0eQs3R7IMGEhKTy3JBw1PsHK3meRQHtJ2MMKIYz1eu8SkdBl72dfGzB1yix-UfK7RKlKQ3lZ8ej6pdo3Hildn77MYq7_KcxrvbyDd-bnouOPu2rupIZcIBK8eSg7V5BUlDYNn7JfGlox/s1600/R.+sibricus-habitat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0eQs3R7IMGEhKTy3JBw1PsHK3meRQHtJ2MMKIYz1eu8SkdBl72dfGzB1yix-UfK7RKlKQ3lZ8ej6pdo3Hildn77MYq7_KcxrvbyDd-bnouOPu2rupIZcIBK8eSg7V5BUlDYNn7JfGlox/s200/R.+sibricus-habitat.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Typical habitat terrain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> With prominent labial folds, in my opinion is one of the oddest looking of salamanders; with a lineage dating back to 300 mya, is a true living fossil relic; in studying larval development, information has been invaluable in understanding limb evolvement of tetrapods; developed cartilaginous neurocranium connected with upper part of mandibular arch; is a larger robust salamander exhibiting a prefontal fontanel (deep connective tissue at anterior of skull) and well developed paratoid glands; possesses vomerine teeth set in two short & widely separated series; eyes are big and protruding; lungs are present, but reduced; 11-13 costal grooves are present; there is a dorsal longitudinal groove extending from occipital bone region to base of tail; tail base is cylindrical with remaining portion highly finned tapering towards tip in sword-shaped fashion; males have a dimorphic longer tail and during breeding season, male tail fins exhibit fewer undulations and are higher than females; year round, male limbs & head are more muscular; tail is slightly larger than body in both sexes; no extra protective keratinization on palm & sole coverings; overall dorsum coloration is a yellowish brown to a darker greenish olive gray, while some individuals exhibit a more mottled & spotted pattern; color may change dependent upon temperature and environment where aquatic individuals become darker than terrestrial ones and higher temperatures lighten coloration; close-up the salamander may appear as speckled with glitter; ventrum is always lighter; there are no recognized subspecies.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Tznv9MuEZh6i-c-fDa0argjHBoKSTwCYsL0fWfRNcriVovp_6gvQ1n43bPCBENiYIjLPEMBBSGzDa24L5RZmT-7y2IWqi94sGR1Q1cUj5jXJPk4jyVWxEGXKM58UIiNk5nFDjkSdnxTT/s1600/Ranodon+sibricus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Tznv9MuEZh6i-c-fDa0argjHBoKSTwCYsL0fWfRNcriVovp_6gvQ1n43bPCBENiYIjLPEMBBSGzDa24L5RZmT-7y2IWqi94sGR1Q1cUj5jXJPk4jyVWxEGXKM58UIiNk5nFDjkSdnxTT/s200/Ranodon+sibricus.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note nasolabial folds</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSn1vYcrAumy5WUqsYnwaGELfeE8MUoMo7r9gbwMjz1aiIkMna6-g5RE4pDePbE5uHxR4PNZG7VxxNJvTgVaDGkw7N-1whsvss5xR_J2e9WgBb2TwZHnJ7cEARaASbV2i2xqUy8ep8uL-R/s1600/Ranodon+sibricus+HW" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSn1vYcrAumy5WUqsYnwaGELfeE8MUoMo7r9gbwMjz1aiIkMna6-g5RE4pDePbE5uHxR4PNZG7VxxNJvTgVaDGkw7N-1whsvss5xR_J2e9WgBb2TwZHnJ7cEARaASbV2i2xqUy8ep8uL-R/s200/Ranodon+sibricus+HW" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Another close-up</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Semirechensk salamanders are carnivorous eating almost exclusively invertebrates and their larvae; adults consume aquatic & terrestrial insects, while larvae consume primarily aquatic invertebrate larvae; during ontogeny (development to maturity), feeding is divided into 3 </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stages: endogenous (organism sustenance from self), mixed & exogenous (sustenance from external sources); for endogenous behavior, larvae feed off yolk for first 4 days; exogenous is further subdivided into: consumption of hydrobionts (varying aquatic organisms) by larvae up to full metamorphosis, consumption of terrestrial invertebrates by recently fully metamorphosed juveniles and consumption of terrestrial & aquatic invertebrates by adults; <i>R. sibiricus</i> is considered rheophilic (lives in aquatic environments with current & flow), but larval diet consists of numerous limnophilous (living in still waters as lakes & marshes) organisms; most likely is due to salamanders's preference for slow currents in brooks that attracts limnophilous invertebrates; the terrain inhabited protects this salamander from predation, as the land is too rugged and cold to support predators; about the only predation are adults & larger larvae cannibalizing the smaller larvae.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Sub-adult & adults are mostly nocturnal while larval stages spend a lot of active time diurnally; despite being rheophilic, the robustness, instead of more streamlined body form, <i>R. sibiricus</i> resembles pond salamanders more than salamanders living in rushing waters; while terrestrial adults hide under loose grasses in wet meadows or beside streams, in holes or under loose stones, larvae hide under submerged debris or rocks; hibernation for adults is on land underneath sheltering rocks or shallow holes; since achieving full metamorphism may take up to 3 yrs, depending on altitude & climate, larvae must hibernate as well underwater; terrestrial individuals begin hibernation in late September to early October remaining in a torpid state until spring comes; from April to June, adults come out of hibernation as soon as snow & ice begins melting </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">migrating </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to their ancestral breeding water sources; spawning takes place fro</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">m </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiznULsqiJOM1t1yiv5BeQXj3Rbuzu-izw3jqnfGTG0jt1h5bZnIpX6oZWSef6j_XK0SXBov-wJHggETzRgOu7s4AidSIJ1GZbrwgTQgzOl0WX8sSshWAMWdvv-VK8p1f0qdb3hZenv1F/s1600/R.+sibricus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiznULsqiJOM1t1yiv5BeQXj3Rbuzu-izw3jqnfGTG0jt1h5bZnIpX6oZWSef6j_XK0SXBov-wJHggETzRgOu7s4AidSIJ1GZbrwgTQgzOl0WX8sSshWAMWdvv-VK8p1f0qdb3hZenv1F/s200/R.+sibricus.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Keep on trucking lil' fella</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">April to August; males first arrive into the water waiting for females, whereupon once females enter water, olfactory senses alert males and leads him to flanks & tail of female where he gently bites her; when egg deposition nears, female then approaches male; it is the male in charge of finding and choosing a suitable nesting site; once site is established, males deposit spermatophores on stems of submerged plants or undersides of rocks in size from pebbles to boulders; even though spermatophores are designed for internal fertilization, fertilization is external with female depositing her egg sacs with the aid of a mucoid stalk alongside the spermatophores, thus fertilizing the eggs as spermatozoa begins floating & saturating area; female produces 2 egg sacs each containing ~ 32-58 opalescent, bluish translucent eggs; upon hatching; the larvae are 17-20mm/0.67-0.79in; latter stage larvae with limbs possess chitinous claws, but lose them after final metamorphosis; deforestation, livestock trampling eggs, larvae & adults, human consumption for worthless medicinal purposes and over harvesting for scientific studies & the pet trade have made this salamander's fragmented population highly threatened; its already small range is declining still; this salamander's viability is in the worst condition of all salamanders from the former Soviet Union with populations of China critically endangered.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Endangered (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Frogs:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Frogs and toads which are specialized frogs, all are under the order, <i>Anura</i>. The distinction between what is a frog and what is a toad is purely based on appearance rather than taxonomic value. What frogs we label as toads are primarily in the family, <i>Bufonidae</i> described generally in possessing dry warty skin and with short legs used more for hopping than jumping. Adaptations to drier environments by toads is an example of convergent evolution in adaption to a new ecological biome. Also, where most frogs don't, most toads possess a pair of cranial crests that are bony ridges on the dorsal side of the head and bulbous parotoid glands (alternatively written as paratoid), which are an external gland that secretes a neurotoxic alkaloid known as bufotoxin. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yxshvGYvzCOk1fL6Eg5g0FzrB6qPfguHQ40jC2jW92oV960L59bFftGXiiIXyihHS4pGaI9AUmJg5zQx9k61ZwOtZ32Y1WMigi80V-chYQbe8cMcrKRec8Oh5hvj6Uyw6BM1prpeuE43/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yxshvGYvzCOk1fL6Eg5g0FzrB6qPfguHQ40jC2jW92oV960L59bFftGXiiIXyihHS4pGaI9AUmJg5zQx9k61ZwOtZ32Y1WMigi80V-chYQbe8cMcrKRec8Oh5hvj6Uyw6BM1prpeuE43/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Agalychnis callidryas</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among other traits, with most equipped with a single vocal sac, frogs are probably best known for their vocalization. But frogs don't just rib-it, they also croak, chirp, peep, scream, whistle, bark, howl, hoot and quack while some species sound like an angry cat with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nyctibatrachus poocha</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> even meowing like a ca</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t.</span><br />
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S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ounds emitted by frogs are articulated by various species for a specific form of communication. In calling to females, males are advertising in saying I'm well and I'm here for you. Although these are the frog calls most of us are familiar with, anurans do indeed communicate in different calls for other reasons. There are aggressive male calls towards another male, distress calls when first captured by a predator and male release calls to other males in saying, "Hey, I'm a male too, get off my back." For you see, during mating time, things can get a little crowded and hectic in a pond full of enamored frogs. In certain species, females emit calls as well.<br />
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Frog lineage goes all the way back to the Permian 275 mya. As explained in the salamander discussion section, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gerobatrachus hottoni</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> had both salamander and frog characteristics. The first proto-type frog occurred, so far in the fossil record, during the early Triassic around 250 mya in what is now Madagascar. This animal, other than having a short tail and unable to yet </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisZ0PtIEdFoI_L86EMDkqBLe15Vdvai-IlgjTt-EekzJFcrs3zCKhezBxl-UOzgGnsWQbFmkmFnuCaAmwtA3udaE1gfvx13rsAjt0-Eassygulj3NA3oKeSCwd7xewiAP-4q-cRvjboQ3/s1600/Triadobatrachus" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisZ0PtIEdFoI_L86EMDkqBLe15Vdvai-IlgjTt-EekzJFcrs3zCKhezBxl-UOzgGnsWQbFmkmFnuCaAmwtA3udaE1gfvx13rsAjt0-Eassygulj3NA3oKeSCwd7xewiAP-4q-cRvjboQ3/s200/Triadobatrachus" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Triadobatrachus massinoti</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">jump, had many other frog characteristics. Known as <i>Triadobatrachus massinoti</i>, the tibia and fibula were beginning to elongate for jumping capabilities. As in true frogs, it had an anteriorly directed ilium, a reduction in number of presacral vertebrae, the fusion of the parietal and frontal into one bone and was toothless in the lower jaw</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he earliest known 'modern frog' dates back to the Lower Cretaceous 125 mya. Found in the western part of Liaoning province of China from the rich fossil beds of Sihetun was an animal known as <i>Sanyanlichan</i>, which may be a direct ancestor to the frog family, <i>Discoglossidae</i>. Except for having one extra presacral vertebrate, for all intent, it appeared as a modern day frog, but due to a few salamander morphological traits, it did not reach the status of 'fully modern frog.' But after the appearance of <i>Sanyalichan</i>, a whole slew of truly modern frogs began to appear.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2QnDSliBIjuuIWyFqh4u8KGulGi55gywhGnoX9Z-jHu9uGvjE0PavStHISJluo3GIu_Etnlh7bfDVcx0lZSQsFTgqCsmi7D7VZnZiSN7hQu7fgEiIUgb9Gj5vEmdd-iEVY6QksvMn88F/s1600/Prosalirus+bitis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2QnDSliBIjuuIWyFqh4u8KGulGi55gywhGnoX9Z-jHu9uGvjE0PavStHISJluo3GIu_Etnlh7bfDVcx0lZSQsFTgqCsmi7D7VZnZiSN7hQu7fgEiIUgb9Gj5vEmdd-iEVY6QksvMn88F/s200/Prosalirus+bitis.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Prosalirus bitis</i> fossil</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The extinct genus, <i>Vieraella</i> produced some of the first 'modern frogs' actually first showing up around 200 mya during the Lower Jurassic. Though not the direct descendant of today's anuran frogs, it was a fully formed frog. An example of this genus is the extinct, <i>Vireaella herbsti</i>, which was very small from snout-to-vent at only 3.3cm/1.3in. <br />
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<i>P</i></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rosalirus bitis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> had a skeletal structure designed to absorb the force of jumping with long hind limbs. Also from the Lower Jurassic, it lived 190 mya and is tentatively placed as the direct descendant of anurans</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s previously stated, once the genus, <i>Sanyanlichan</i> arrived 'fully modern frogs' exploded onto the scene. Two of the earliest 'fully modern frogs' taxa were <i>Callobatrachus</i> and <i>Mesophyrne</i> from the Jurassic/Cretaceous border 144 mya, followed by Mid-Late Cretaceous (120-65 mya) examples by the likes of <i>Shomronella</i>, <i>Saltenia</i> and <i>Estesius</i> and Tertiary forms by way of <i>Limonodynastes</i> and the families of<i> Paleobatidae</i> and <i>Ranidae</i> 65-2 mya</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ll this frog speciation lead to the largest known frog, <i>Beezlebufo ampinga</i>, or 'devil frog.' Weighing in at 4.5kg/10lbs and reaching a length of 40cm/16in, this frog was essentially all mouth and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">one big</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> stomach. Living some 70 mya, it would lie in wait and ambush pretty much any small animal that happened by. It is for sure that its menu also consisted of baby dinosaurs or other little theropods. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ix2kBSq6cmKrwxgI9okvaYS-GOAU2ev03BnC55mJNzXhlt37RITmQ6o3yrqBbIPAGtQaSqH7c5PFI-6d8qL0ZQcgdC8QWESXWKhLutCGGxi2nBf8bxSkkdf6rU_iBDjgCZZdTp529du9/s1600/Beelzebufo+ampinga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ix2kBSq6cmKrwxgI9okvaYS-GOAU2ev03BnC55mJNzXhlt37RITmQ6o3yrqBbIPAGtQaSqH7c5PFI-6d8qL0ZQcgdC8QWESXWKhLutCGGxi2nBf8bxSkkdf6rU_iBDjgCZZdTp529du9/s200/Beelzebufo+ampinga.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. ampinga</i> eating a dinosaur</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Except for the extant species in the primitive family, <i>Ascaphidae</i>, today's adult frogs lack a tail. With large hind legs for hopping or jumping, their forelimbs are also well developed and aid in tetrapodal walking. There is no nuchal region (neck) with the head appearing as being directly attached to the body. <br />
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Though many of the young or tadpoles are omnivorous or even herbivorous, all adults are carnivorous. Prey has to first move, for all frogs only recognize motion as a potential meal and will eat anything that moves and can be swallowed. Distasteful, acrid or foul smelling animals, such as salamanders and certain insects, once captured in the mouth, the frog will immediately spit and/or claw with the forelimbs the once intended prey back out.<br />
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S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ince true frog anatomy came onto the scene, there was an explosion of speciation that radiated into all climates, elevations and terrain. From tropical to subzero, there you will find frog species. Most reside in an elevation range of from sea level to 2,000m/6,600ft, with many reaching up to 4,000m/13,200ft. But </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Telmatobius</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, a genus found in the Peruvian Andes, has species that surpass 5,000m/16,500ft</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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M</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ost species are relegated to tropical environs due to water dependency, but the hottest of deserts have been conquered as well, with species that have evolved deterrents to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">desiccation</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. This is a huge milestone in achievement to have been successful in coming from watery </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">descendancy to surviving in regions that receive less than 7.5cm/3in per year.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s most of us are taught, frogs in reproducing gather around water bodies every spring to perform amplexus where the female and male releases her eggs and his spermatozoa simultaneously in water fertilizing the eggs, where they will soon hatch into tadpoles possessing gills. The tadpoles go through various stages of aquatic metamorphism until finally reaching the lung air breathing adult stage that may now live on land.</span><br />
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D</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ue to natural selection in specific environments, other reproductive strategies have evolved that perhaps we are not too familiar with. The tree frog family, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hylidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> has members that do not mate en masse in larger and more permanent bodies of water, but rather in moist forests lay externally fertilized eggs in pools of water collected in broad leaves such as bromeliads. Though there could be risks in the puddle drying up or the leaf developing a tear and thus leak, this strategy greatly reduces competition and predation</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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O</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ther hylids, such as <i>Oophaga pumilio</i> will lay their externally fertilized eggs on land and after hatching show some parental care by carefully taking the tadpoles to water pools and tend them. Still, there are those that lay eggs both on water or land. <i>Dendropsophus ebraccatus</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, otherwise known as the pantless treefrog because a part of the hind limbs lack pigmentation,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is transitional in laying eggs in either aquatic environs or terrestrial ones. The eggs are not designed to excel in either environment. The risk on land with these adapted eggs is that they may desiccate, but the risk in water is not enough oxygen uptake. Though it has not been studied, I propose the female adults most likely will lay eggs on land when moist conditions prevail, but in waters when water temperatures are cooler retaining more dissolved oxygen.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLErNceZ2lMtkuSlI-HY0YKkl0uUr9_06p_wBZakOY6Psh7Sl9PsfL3GqpxXNV8o4JZXFVNOZTbqEx3xlRZ26Kv-Cvo37PnBgYb1uiG4he0S8jYFj0mJSe-I2Q5rGE-Z8A2fa9yMM5pic/s1600/Dendropsophus+ebraccatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLErNceZ2lMtkuSlI-HY0YKkl0uUr9_06p_wBZakOY6Psh7Sl9PsfL3GqpxXNV8o4JZXFVNOZTbqEx3xlRZ26Kv-Cvo37PnBgYb1uiG4he0S8jYFj0mJSe-I2Q5rGE-Z8A2fa9yMM5pic/s200/Dendropsophus+ebraccatus.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>D. abraccatus</i> aquatic egg laying</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iBiDSFSoAfjMu7Vgj1R52GN9AxoZHbQeM-sJ-qqYU98l28Pa-g7X-uc8qZ0NeWZMS2pIFi6m9ruvX6csmLbssdAPgEzBGQGUq0jvdHvBuCyanKxPS2_3uuhz8f9taMN6dBnjKR8noN0p/s1600/Dendropsophus_ebraccatus1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iBiDSFSoAfjMu7Vgj1R52GN9AxoZHbQeM-sJ-qqYU98l28Pa-g7X-uc8qZ0NeWZMS2pIFi6m9ruvX6csmLbssdAPgEzBGQGUq0jvdHvBuCyanKxPS2_3uuhz8f9taMN6dBnjKR8noN0p/s200/Dendropsophus_ebraccatus1.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>D. abraccatus land eggs</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Other tree frogs lay eggs on overhanging branches or large grass stems over water whereupon hatching, the tadpoles drop into the water below, while others will lay eggs in foamy wt nest on leaves or above water. Furthermore, there are species that lay eggs in self dug moist holes or in already made dips where rainwater run-off will take the eggs to water. In some of these land egg laying species, the eggs fully develop into miniature froglets.<br />
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T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here are frogs that lay eggs onto there bodies in pouches, onto the male's hind legs or simply adhered to the back, or even placed inside the body. In the Surinam toad (<i>Pipa pipa</i>) individual eggs are placed in pits on the female's back where once hatching the tadpoles remain until fully developed. Males of <i>Rhinoderma darwinii</i> brood developing young in their vocal sac until fully metamorphosed. With two species in the genus, <i>Rhehbatrachus</i>, the gastric brooding frog of Australia, which is feared to have just become extinct, incubates prejuvenile stages of offspring in the stomachs of the female where she shuts down all ingestion and digestion of food during this maternity period</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Once the froglets are fully developed, the female regurgitates them out into the world.<br />
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Yet, there are still unique frogs that have developed ovoviviparity and even viviparity. For an ovoviviparous example, females in very rare species of the genus,</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Eleutherodactylus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> retain their internally fertilized eggs in a distended section of the reproductive tract. There the eggs hatch and the tadpoles fully metamorphose until the miniature froglets are born. In the Tanzanian toad genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nectophrynoides</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> females actually have a nourishing yolk placenta that feeds developing fetuses that arose from internally fertilized eggs. These toads give live births to miniature toads.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dult frogs depend heavily on the senses of sight and sound. In hearing, frogs do not possess external ears, but do have a well developed external tympanum located just behind and below each eye. As a thin membrane surrounded by a cartilage ring, as sound hits the tympanum it vibrates correspondingly. This in turn relays the produced vibrations to a rod transferring the sound waves to the inner tympanum. Inner ear fluids are disturbed washing waves over onto cilia (tiny hairs) that are connected to nerve fibers. These nerves convert the sound wave information as electrical impulses that are transferred to the auditory portion of the brain for interpretation</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgveVFv6wzq9KUezQ-mnV7bYu4N4O6kZwKNUFnlHAgdpxx5_35bIdjJpwrvGDhvDk8cBSbXqPjOKpT6bicTZw9-JiMqPYMWhhDNTKYxGgZy2D3kzqPOR5fnqOMIYgWpgeDnPOdC0f661ZRd/s1600/tympanum_male_greenfrog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgveVFv6wzq9KUezQ-mnV7bYu4N4O6kZwKNUFnlHAgdpxx5_35bIdjJpwrvGDhvDk8cBSbXqPjOKpT6bicTZw9-JiMqPYMWhhDNTKYxGgZy2D3kzqPOR5fnqOMIYgWpgeDnPOdC0f661ZRd/s200/tympanum_male_greenfrog.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Rana clamitans</i> tympanum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Frogs also hear with their lungs. As sound waves hit the lungs they're immediately directed to then tympanum via an air-space link. This method allows the frog to determine sound location from the difference in pressure of external environment sound against the same sound being funneled through the lungs. The air link between the lungs and tympanum also serves as a buffer by equalizing pressure differentials from the internal and external portions of the tympanum which keeps it from rupturing. Frogs themselves can emit croaks up to 95 decibels which is as loud as a jackhammer.<br />
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The bulging eyes of a frog allow it to see almost simultaneously in all directions in allowing it to assess it's environment in the detection of prey and in the avoidance of predators. Without a neck to turn the head, the functionally directional bulging eyes are a frogs main asset in staying in tune to its surroundings. Relying heavily on sight, the pupil picks up enough light to allow for night vision and there is a thin clear membrane that involuntarily closes over the eye when its in water serving as protection. The frog also has a functioning eyelid that may be voluntarily closed over the eye at anytime the frog desires. The eyes are not equipped for long distance vision, but the directional eyesight does not overlap, so a nearby flying insect is readily assessed and snagged right out of mid-air. <br />
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One other function of the bulbous eyes are to aid the frog in swallowing its meals. Once prey is in the process of being swallowed by the frog, the eyes, appearing as blinking in closing the lower and upper eyelids together, sink down deep into the socket. Since the frog has no teeth for chewing nor a functional tongue for pushing food down its gullet, the recessed eye balls aid the animal in swallowing food by applying pressure downwards into the throat. Though there are a few exceptions and even one family (<i>Pipidae)</i> with four genera that are tongueless, for a catapult effect, a typical frog tongue is attached in front while free in the back.<br />
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Frogs in temperate climes will hibernate during the colder months usually buried in mud bottoms respiring through their skin. <i>Rana sylvatica</i>, whose range extends past the Arctic Circle, has the ability to survive freezing. In more arid conditions frogs may aestivate for months burrowed in desert soils during the hottest months and not appear onto the surface until the next rains come.<br />
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U</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nder sixteen families, there are more species per genus members than found in any other animal group. For instance, under the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scinax</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> there are currently 106 species, while in the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Litoria</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> there are 160 species. The genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eleutherodactylus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> though, has over 500 species members.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Black Toad ~ <i>Bufo exsul</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Black Toad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Bufonidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Bufo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Bufo exsul</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Length: ♂ ~ 44-59mm/1.7-2.3in SVL; ♀ ~ 46-69mm/1.8-2.7in SVL (snout-vent length)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Mean ~ 13.75-25.56g/0.49-0.90oz </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Maximum 11.5 yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Bufo exsul</i> ~ <i>Bufo</i> is Latin for 'toad'; <i>exsul</i> is Latin for 'exile'; altogether means 'exiled toad' in reference to the species' isolation.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Endemic to 4 spring systems all within Deep Springs Valley in Inyo County, California; the springs in the valley are: Bog mound, Buckhorn, Corral & Antelope Spring; attempts have been made to introduce populations to other comparable spring regions, all have failed except one with a managing small population in a flowing well near Salt Lake in Death Valley National Park; natural range is one of the smallest for all N. American amphibians covering only 150,000sq meter/15ha; prefers natural springs or seepage in arid regions straying no more than 12m/39.6 ft from water source; will not frequent water portions that are rocky or provide no shade; normally in or near waters shaded by juniper, pinon pine and tussock</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8ZrIZHLyZVRCuVVxzdszCkCpziQvf3vjiryeUfkmJbeiy-UVgxM-BQMuoBXdnkyVKrC2nKsmoyhqdX4kfwOUY2FW6-iakIPdULD8157ruSdBGHodVMMYSbIVyAA29A-AkvslvokWjeg8/s1600/Bufo+exsul+vntrl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8ZrIZHLyZVRCuVVxzdszCkCpziQvf3vjiryeUfkmJbeiy-UVgxM-BQMuoBXdnkyVKrC2nKsmoyhqdX4kfwOUY2FW6-iakIPdULD8157ruSdBGHodVMMYSbIVyAA29A-AkvslvokWjeg8/s200/Bufo+exsul+vntrl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. exsul</i> ventrum</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b><b>escription:</b> Since 2006, there is a push to change genus name from <i>Bufo</i> to <i>Anaxyrus</i>;<b> i</b>s a close relative to <i>Bufo boreas;</i> is a smaller toad and more water loving than most toads; skin is dry and though with warts is relatively smooth for toad standards; does not possess cranial crests (bony ridges on the heads of toads); parotoid glands are oval in shape; Overall coloration is black with light tan or white spotting. Some individuals may be virtually solid black on the dorsal half; There is less black on the ventral side; throat region usually has the least black displaying only dark specking over a palish white; a light stripe running down the center of the back is normally visible; juveniles are not dark, but olive green instead. There is no recognized subspecies.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXE9BFiH95tHqsBh-KnTvNkwml40e3Ho2tIxnKZYxVxq-p99Qz7vb6A75I0qK6wWmMSbzgn_lZJei5Ku40CbNnQNIYgYiBTBYTPj6qacx3ZleOMwYRvjBodlu-Qfr00F7-yjZjGhyphenhyphenxKXn/s1600/Bufo+exsul1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXE9BFiH95tHqsBh-KnTvNkwml40e3Ho2tIxnKZYxVxq-p99Qz7vb6A75I0qK6wWmMSbzgn_lZJei5Ku40CbNnQNIYgYiBTBYTPj6qacx3ZleOMwYRvjBodlu-Qfr00F7-yjZjGhyphenhyphenxKXn/s200/Bufo+exsul1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Virtually black individual</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Consumes a variety of small invertebrates primarily insects including beetles, ants, bees, flies and the larvae of dipterans (flies), lepidopterans (butterfly caterpillars) & coleopteran (beetle) grubs; recognize prey through sight then pounce and capture prey with sticky tongue; spiders, mites, collembolla (springtails), hymenopterans (wasps), fairy shrimp and homopterans (cicadas) when available; tadpoles consume organic & inorganic material found floating or suspended in water, attached to plants or laying on muddy bottoms, but may capture a small enough invertebrate that it can pass through its mouth and gullet; there are no known predators, but eviscerated black toad corpses have been observed with fatal crow pecking marks.<br />
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<b>Habits:</b> Living in very arid confines that can bear witness to extreme cold and hot conditions, this toad is active from March to September; spends winter underground in rodent burrows near water source in torpor hibernation. may overwinter with many individuals in same burrow; is primarily diurnal, but during hotter months becomes crespuscular while during hottest months is nocturnal; does not aestivate; for good reason surrounded by arid lands with spring pools acting as an oasis, does not venture far from water's edge; is a viable swimmer swimming underwater more like frogs than toads; will refrain from entering stony rock bottoms, preferring instead to remain in aquatic areas of common black muds where its body coloration blends in</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3810zeSjgc7BHS-3XUzErPBCxQy-onu9IJQv4Ov4Pw7IIcXLzgQOz0phyWyNyleO4d6pf4RtpS-jlWURXzEt2NeRLmP_IoztfFemNUtDS1t7lyx9BxO4WQHo797XO5XSMKd6H86Dx1L0F/s1600/Bufo+exsul+habitat.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3810zeSjgc7BHS-3XUzErPBCxQy-onu9IJQv4Ov4Pw7IIcXLzgQOz0phyWyNyleO4d6pf4RtpS-jlWURXzEt2NeRLmP_IoztfFemNUtDS1t7lyx9BxO4WQHo797XO5XSMKd6H86Dx1L0F/s200/Bufo+exsul+habitat.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. exsul</i> preferred habitat</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> well;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> prefers walking or slowly crawling as opposed to hopping; forages along water edges, but will venture into nearby tussock growths for food; has no vocal sac, but males are still able to emit weak high-pitched chirps to address territoriality, in particular during breeding season; breeding extends from a period of late March to early May, breeding is aquatic conducted in the shallows no more than 20cm/7.87 in in depth; during amplexus fertilization is external; eggs are laid out in strings and intermingling with aquatic plant stems; eggs hatch into tadpoles after ~ 5 days of being laid; length of larval stage (tadpole) </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is from 3-5 weeks; tadpoles do not hibernate </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">overwinter</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, but fully metamorphose into juveniles reaching 22mm/0.87in before winter months arrive; once developed, juveniles remain alongside adults in marshy areas of anaerobic black mud; when alarmed will immediately swim to water bottoms where they camouflage well with the mud, if caught from water's edge will attempt to find and enter first hole available among the tussock growth; for extremes in climate, appear to have adapted well; though populations seem stabilized, due to a very restricted & isolated habitat that is specialized, this toad is considered as threatened; if the small springs ever dried up or a viable predator was introduced, this toad would become extinct; cattle occasionally come to drink at the springs or graze the tussock bunch grasses, but properly managed most probably is beneficial as their manure attracts potential insect prey for the toads.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrcVyL9SjQEFHGAlLYvyPZ0VT4n8crQ_drMvKJhgSr69qtb3lmVIr3qIC8MskkmbpN2fmhXDMR8PocDzYUQ9krrSh-SpT16l28iGIeoUveDH0Oif-AGb-jLjKPJhTokh32YtcF-DMAbrym/s1600/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrcVyL9SjQEFHGAlLYvyPZ0VT4n8crQ_drMvKJhgSr69qtb3lmVIr3qIC8MskkmbpN2fmhXDMR8PocDzYUQ9krrSh-SpT16l28iGIeoUveDH0Oif-AGb-jLjKPJhTokh32YtcF-DMAbrym/s200/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mexican burrowing toad ~ <i>R. dorsalis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mexican Burrowing Toad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Rhinophrynidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Rhinophrynus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Rhinophrynus dorsalis</u></b><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 5.1-7cm/2-2.75in; record: 8.9cm/3.50in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 2.5-4.0g/.09-.14oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: In wilds unknown; a captive at Fort Worth Zoo lived 2yrs & 2mths </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name origin: <i>Rhynophrynus dorsalis</i> ~ <i>Rhinos</i> is Greek for 'nose' in reference to peculiar snout & <i>phrynos</i> is Greek for 'toad'; <i>dorsalis</i> is Latin referring to 'of the back'; altogether refers to odd appearance.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Central america is the core range extending from the southern end into Costa Rica all the way up through the Gulf Coast eastern corridor of Mexico into the extreme southwestern Texas lowlands of Starr & Zapata Counties and up halfway along Mexico's western Pacific corridor</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; prefers dry or arid friable soils for its fossorial lifestyle as opposed to forested area</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s. found in coastal plains to elevations of 500m/1,650ft.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Fsbc-wzTmF_G_n6Rb8ofoiVVTn687YDcq7nfnkI_wbh0F4cdmF4qe9N5aZX3Uk4CaCjIsgF3prxENFea7RESmYrcV7EbkPh7jbHvN2MWoL74oHbD2GEj9Ho2OLP7cU0yTt5eQpwmWrDV/s1600/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+fc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Fsbc-wzTmF_G_n6Rb8ofoiVVTn687YDcq7nfnkI_wbh0F4cdmF4qe9N5aZX3Uk4CaCjIsgF3prxENFea7RESmYrcV7EbkPh7jbHvN2MWoL74oHbD2GEj9Ho2OLP7cU0yTt5eQpwmWrDV/s200/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+fc" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Close-up of odd face</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This primeval amphibian is no more a modern toad than a frog is a salamander; humans are genetically tied closer to rodents and bats than <i>R. dorsalis</i> is to modern day frogs and toads; based on evolutionary outcrop groupings, the ancestor to all extinct and modern anurans could have had a larval stage that greatly compared to that of a rhynophrynid tadpole; with 190 million years of evolutionary engineering, this amphibian has retained morphological visages of extinct ancestors from long ago; snout is covered with unique epidermal spiking; buccal & esophageal linings are ornately folded; lips act as a double closure along the long wedged shaped edentate (like edentate mammals with few teeth such as armadillos & anteaters) maxillary arch; the mechanism for tongue protrusion is distinct from other frogs that project their tongues from lingual flipping; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with rhynophrynids,</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBKRpfDJ3JQLxW1-HrSnNZWSwGP5f6VvCdGprxkS3I1Mnk516c4pB9PLcn6EAxqhFJU9IG6Nz09PSG5NJZtoZPOrrJTSSDYcisGM2nDKoo5KzXNv6zH7eBF70mHPz0OZmaTBbnVkyrefG/s1600/Rhinophrynus_dorsalis+jvnl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBKRpfDJ3JQLxW1-HrSnNZWSwGP5f6VvCdGprxkS3I1Mnk516c4pB9PLcn6EAxqhFJU9IG6Nz09PSG5NJZtoZPOrrJTSSDYcisGM2nDKoo5KzXNv6zH7eBF70mHPz0OZmaTBbnVkyrefG/s200/Rhinophrynus_dorsalis+jvnl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Juvenile coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">intrinsic tongue muscles stiffen the organ by exerting hydrostatic pressure on the fluid contents of lingual sinus sending sticky tongue outwards in rod-like and edentate fashion; the tongue is rooted in the back and not in the front as most frog tongues are; there is no apparent external tympanum and eyes are tiny; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">head is small with cone shaped snout; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">body is stocky and inflatable held up by short & fat limbs; forefeet are not webbed while hind feet are heavily webbed; overall coloration is a dark purplish-gray with scattered orange spotting and a mid dorsal orange line running down its back; juveniles are more gray with no orange spotting and displaying a lighter gray mid line that has yet no orange; this species is not only in a monotypic genus, but its family is monotypic with no recognized subspecies.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> Appears to exclusively feed on subterranean ants and termites as its mouth, tongue and gullet display adaptive specializations in feeding on small insects; actual protrusion of edentate-like tongue through buccal groove to snatch prey, involves shifting the tongue forward via protraction of hyoid by extrinsic muscles to the tongue; tongue protrusion maechanism is uniquely designed for underground advancement on small insect prey items; front limbs & spiked snout are also specialized for entering termite/ant burrows & chambers; tadpoles are phytoplankton feeders; with their strict fossorial existence there aren't any known predators that prey on adults, but when surfaced, it is quite possible large enough snakes would consume even inflated adults; eggs and tadpole predators range from amphibians, reptiles to other temporary pool inhabitants including other tadpoles; <i>R. dorsalis</i> tadpoles</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> may resort to cannibalism if there is no food to be had, with larger tadpole groups attacking smaller ones</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> This species is strictly fossorial only surfacing during rains or after heavy rains to breed in temporary ephemeral pools; when alarmed has ability to increase body size by 50% by</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5CF0FVbJ9mZNsUoOCufe3QngCww3WZGwKYaGQ9TwOHIHOFxgqeiHD902syGk5vqIetY_sSmDc-dY3YqgjicSXwM1TWzalAhd6eqmxxd40HiM1jRK1rpAOfUHZg6n4z-6lpAq0QjsN9_B/s1600/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+fc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5CF0FVbJ9mZNsUoOCufe3QngCww3WZGwKYaGQ9TwOHIHOFxgqeiHD902syGk5vqIetY_sSmDc-dY3YqgjicSXwM1TWzalAhd6eqmxxd40HiM1jRK1rpAOfUHZg6n4z-6lpAq0QjsN9_B/s200/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+fc1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Anterior view of inflated body</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">inflating lungs with air; this deters predators in making the body appear larger and is more rigid; another defense is a sticky & foul skin secretion that also serves as a deterrent from marauding ants & termites when the frog is attacking their domiciles; consumes termites and ants much like an anteater mammal would with a protruding rod-like tongue being ejected out from the mouth via the buccal groove (as discussed above) that serves as a vaulting point located in the roof of the mouth; the tongue exits and enters the mouth through a small groove located at the front of the lower jaw; this frog burrows backwards using his hind limbs which are equipped with keratinized tubercules for digging burrows; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as the frog continues burrowing, the body is very flexible and can maneuver easily or shift around rock or hardened dirt clods; when digging, body is twisted and change in inflation patterns are employed to facilitate penetration of soils; in doing so, the filling of the shaft from where they were in burrowing is filled, allowing no entry for potential predators;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> when approaching a potential prey area, turns around and enters foreward with spiked snout and front limbs doing the digging; with snout in position of insect tunnel and when prey are detected, the normally flat irregular tongue is reshaped into rod fashion by the muscle previously discussed and then </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyzSDU4Ltr1ZwZpK90e0buT_S00GV679NT9ZskmZypt22W3c_BgRAKDY8smHAF-gPsVR9NwfHgj7uWzebzUmL2U0_x_PDGYt_idk0AjPgWcKCamwaZ2rg4C_kGj9Vduc8_RmlgsmrqwKY/s1600/Rhinophrynus_dorsalis" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyzSDU4Ltr1ZwZpK90e0buT_S00GV679NT9ZskmZypt22W3c_BgRAKDY8smHAF-gPsVR9NwfHgj7uWzebzUmL2U0_x_PDGYt_idk0AjPgWcKCamwaZ2rg4C_kGj9Vduc8_RmlgsmrqwKY/s200/Rhinophrynus_dorsalis" width="175" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Dorsal view of inflation</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">extended outwards where prey are captured on cup-shaped tip of tongue and drawn back into mouth;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> action by the sterno-hyoid pulls the tongue back in; grooves in roof of mouth and the esophageal folds serve as protection from mandibular prey bites by disorienting the insect prey; further, the esophageal walls are lined with cells that insulate more vulnerable portions and are rapidly replaced if damaged; the only reason this frog can eject its tongue in such a matter like certain salamanders, chameleons and other lesser publicized tongue feeding lepidosaurs is strictly due to convergent evolution and not genetic relationships as the tongue protruding mechanisms are different; possessing torpor stability, it can go for extended periods of not eating, where in excess of 18 mths. have been observed; also can survive dehydration in an aestivative state and will fully recover once rehydrated; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">typical of nocturnal foragers, the eye pupils are </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vertically slit; does not attempt to make cocoons as some </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">other species of burrowing toads do during aestivation of hotter months; appears not to even aestivate or hibernate as can be dug up throughout the year </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as active; during the wet season may be found just underground at 7-15cm/2.76-5.91in; self made chambers are found a bit deeper underground during drier periods; breeding may occur at any time of year followed by heavy rains filling in temporary bodies of water of ephemeral pools, ditches, culverts and flooded fields; males may begin their mating calls while still burrowed underground; the male call is a whooaaa much like the </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEErPQWqpyhYYBgJ3UeZAdSPqxSIh3En0ASb7KOGuwT5RpObBkWH-MHi09eTrDBNcnoouA4dSpf2c3Ikc2EWRpo1rnQvCY7HYJ8kJHFRiM5JqZiTMD-OYAqNDsZg8n8rQdUaeblyoE2uO-/s1600/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+tdpl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEErPQWqpyhYYBgJ3UeZAdSPqxSIh3En0ASb7KOGuwT5RpObBkWH-MHi09eTrDBNcnoouA4dSpf2c3Ikc2EWRpo1rnQvCY7HYJ8kJHFRiM5JqZiTMD-OYAqNDsZg8n8rQdUaeblyoE2uO-/s200/Rhinophrynus+dorsalis+tdpl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note: mouth barbels</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ol' </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cowpoke telling his horse to stop</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;</span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">once above ground, many migrate up to 1.6km/1.0mi in mass to the seasonal waters; males intensify their mating calls near water's edge or while floating; amplexus soon ensues and with external fertilization, up to 8,000 eggs are laid in sticky clumps that sinks to bottom, but soon segregate and individually rise to surface; within 5 days eggs hatch with tadpoles emerging toothless and no mouthparts; tadpoles are filter feeders with barbels directing tiny diatoms and algae into oral cavity; tadpoles form large schools with mass aggregates of varying sizes or stages of development; tadpoles form large shoals simultaneously facing the same direction; in doing so, their synchronized undulating movements creates currents stirring detritus material from bottoms putting food within reach of their barbels for ingestion; tadpoles in much smaller schools do not grow as quick and remain smaller than their counterparts in the larger schools; schools may contain 1,000s of individuals and are disc-like in shape reaching a depth of 25cm/9.84in; once tadpoles metamorphose into a juvenile adult form, they may still retain their tail but immediately leave the water to burrow hiking the tail up on the back to allow the hind legs to dig without interference; due to fossorial lifestyle, there is no population estimate, but numbers are believed stable making listing as least concern. </span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFgFEO-igm0QJsUblRmRHQaQFHmhMm45myHi5O9xVn1qiHgY20qSQxa-xj8K-0CVI2BkZJuUDtzJqUCYuWcY4Pwb9yssK6PnA9_W3vEZ6e9pBBoakCbisrU-P9zZ_9dZvyhqQD_AlEEjZ/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas+Carey+James+Balboa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFgFEO-igm0QJsUblRmRHQaQFHmhMm45myHi5O9xVn1qiHgY20qSQxa-xj8K-0CVI2BkZJuUDtzJqUCYuWcY4Pwb9yssK6PnA9_W3vEZ6e9pBBoakCbisrU-P9zZ_9dZvyhqQD_AlEEjZ/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas+Carey+James+Balboa.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Red-eyed treefrog ~ <i>A. callidryas</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Red-eyed Treefrog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Hylidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Agalychnis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Agalychnis callidryas</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: ♂~</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 51-64mm/2.01-2.52in </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">♀~ </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">64-77mm/2.52-3.03in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 6-15g/0.21-0.53oz </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Observed 4yrs & 1mth in captivity but in wilds is suspected longer at 8-10yrs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Agalychnis callidryas</i> ~ <i>Agalychnis</i> is derived from 2 Greek words, <i>aga</i> meaning 'plenty of' and <i>lynchos</i> meaning 'to shine' in reference to bright eyes;<i> callidryas</i> is derived from 2 Greek words, <i>kallos</i> meaning 'beautiful' and <i>dryas</i> meaning 'tree nymph'; altogether refers to, 'beautiful shining-eyed tree frog'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Most dense populations are massed on the Caribbean side of Central America but extends from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula through Central America down to its southern most range in extreme northwest Colombia; prefers tropical lowlands with humid forests near rivers and permanent streams</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Most astounding feature to this medium sized tree frog is its bulging red eyes </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUUzebkoq2TnYAWBjo5SR5lig54R35aFR8lBkf-L962uOpq5nkQPLZ_8xy75a7WvDEL-7e9lYbd3GonMddDTdWSnd12zK5dKsy8mYNRGEpWE_T0nB8Ml3zAsKeyyjXSxQbJVYQpHJ8u4r/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas+slp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUUzebkoq2TnYAWBjo5SR5lig54R35aFR8lBkf-L962uOpq5nkQPLZ_8xy75a7WvDEL-7e9lYbd3GonMddDTdWSnd12zK5dKsy8mYNRGEpWE_T0nB8Ml3zAsKeyyjXSxQbJVYQpHJ8u4r/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas+slp" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Asleep; note eyelids & toepads </span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-c6UHZS1mbUL3_Pdw-AmI1hgrBtAZflEIrXugrA7Zcwnw1zSGvqEqPXFjtjxUt8r8hQNX4hvyltiLD4NOWebb7XcJYFk28VDy1IxZAVpp1Ffqwm63p2FA0QIzWa57sdhDZi6XpEkcOAG/s1600/Agalychnis-callidryas+i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-c6UHZS1mbUL3_Pdw-AmI1hgrBtAZflEIrXugrA7Zcwnw1zSGvqEqPXFjtjxUt8r8hQNX4hvyltiLD4NOWebb7XcJYFk28VDy1IxZAVpp1Ffqwm63p2FA0QIzWa57sdhDZi6XpEkcOAG/s200/Agalychnis-callidryas+i.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Golden reticulated membrane</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with vertically slit dark pupils; 3 reticulated membranes (eyelids) on each eye appear darkish purple with numerous random light golden webbing;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> have long spindly legs in comparison to thin streamlined body; skin is smooth with a rounded head and truncated snout; adhesive toepads exist to accommodate holding on when climbing; mouth is oral disc in shape with serrated beaks; there are 2 upper & 3 lower rows of denticles; although <i>A. callidryas</i>, belonging to phyllomedusine (leaf breeding frogs) do not possess highly toxic compounds, they do contain high levels of biologically active peptides; as coloration varies in populations from one locality to another; dorsum and outside legs are normally bright lime green with inside of legs blue; dorsal side can also be predominantly a darker green with tiny whitish cream spotting; on the sides are blue to deep purple background interrupted by vertical yellow, cream or white striping; feet are orange or deep red in color; with only population variants, juveniles are brownish to green; there are no recognized subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Diet:</b> Are carnivorous and ambush predators eating crickets, flying insects and any other small insects that frequent tree canopies; have been known to take other smaller tree frog species; tadpoles eat tiny aquatic animals such as crustaceans, fruit flies and pinhead crickets; from carnivorous birds to snakes, many predators prey on these nonpoisonous tree frogs; arboreal snakes such as <i>Leptophis ahaetulla</i> & <i>Leptodeira septentrionalis</i> specialize in preying on whole egg clutches; the social wasp, <i>Polybia rejecta</i> will attack one egg by plucking the embryo, but in numbers can decimate an egg clutch; tadpoles coming from eggs laid on overhanging plants are exposed to many aquatic predators when they drop into the water; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eggs also succumb to fungal diseases, while tadpoles can die from stagnant puddles due to lack of dissolved oxygen (DO);</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> many newly metamorphosed froglets are taken by water spiders hunting on water's surface or edge. </span><br />
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<b>Habits:</b> Is strictly an arboreal nocturnal frog active at night and sleeping by day in the tree canopies; as how legs are designed, they prefer to walk as opposed to jumping through canopies; toe pads are designed to cling to smallest twigs or largest trunks; to avoid detection </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRr4O2BVGS8hhGNQabMxYOLf1ZtstYF03Twtalkn36zyKYq6IhBWK8ykJ3r5NUCGlpEwL8I_EJ8yM11axLhbjX9ekOGzytea0gA-MAkiClZKR_ngBE0L5IIeefKFYUvPoSARV94y3Jic3t/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas+grn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRr4O2BVGS8hhGNQabMxYOLf1ZtstYF03Twtalkn36zyKYq6IhBWK8ykJ3r5NUCGlpEwL8I_EJ8yM11axLhbjX9ekOGzytea0gA-MAkiClZKR_ngBE0L5IIeefKFYUvPoSARV94y3Jic3t/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas+grn.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Darker green specimen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">when asleep during daylight, the frog picks a green background to rest on, tucks its hind legs along and over its sides concealing the bright lateral body coloration, folds in and lays over its bright feet and in closing its bright red eyes with only its green back exposed, blends in well, thus being concealed and inconspicuous to its surrounding environment; if alarmed though by a predator, it will instantly and simultaneously open its red eyes and expose its colored body parts; this startling mechanism effect may surprise the predator just enough, for the frog to make for a quick get away; mostly, the frogs sleep underneath broad leafed plants; virtually the only time red-eyed frogs descend from the tree canopies is during mating; the breeding season occurs</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4M4c_VHNeXfGF2oTSBkcUJ_DzkGFK5kLEIcLhhscNoKE6vfbrcOy2-Vs8apKBpyWp2bGi-XyBFEFqh_BI-6uwWHkWRgpgnZDWSyIeEzmNWP8MHRaXCd0Jyv8OmKY4AJcCBfXn-pPHjNNh/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas+Juza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4M4c_VHNeXfGF2oTSBkcUJ_DzkGFK5kLEIcLhhscNoKE6vfbrcOy2-Vs8apKBpyWp2bGi-XyBFEFqh_BI-6uwWHkWRgpgnZDWSyIeEzmNWP8MHRaXCd0Jyv8OmKY4AJcCBfXn-pPHjNNh/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas+Juza.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Close-up of face</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">between from late May to November coinciding with the wet season; equipped with 2 vocal sacs, males are the first to descend and begin their chuckling aggressive sounds of, 'chak, chak-chak' to setup territories and advertisement calls to attract mates; preferring quiet pools with plenty of overhanging vegetation, the males set up territories from edges of ponds and slow backwaters or low lying plants during wetter nights, while most may be perched higher up during drier times; when competing, males display an act to communicate with one another known as tremulation; this aggressive signaling from one male to another is conducted by creating vibrations within the substrate it is on, which is usually a leaf, or by shaking a small twig rapidly with hind legs; communicative tremulations occur when 2 males are within 2 meters/6.6ft of one another and only occurs when both are on the same plant; when tremulating, it will continue in reciprocal fashion with each male signaling, but when there is visual contact during the sending of vibrations, physical wrestling is pursued; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">once precipitation and water levels are adequate most males head for the waters to lead the females; females descend the canopies very deliberate with one forefoot over the other; on occasion, both sexes have been observed parachuting down to the surface; females approach selected calling males in a straight line and is first come first serve; but there is plenty of activity to go round; once amplexus occurs, the larger female will carry the male into the water to absorb water through her skin and into her bladder as an ingredient in making the jelly mass surrounding her eggs; once this occurs, the female still in an amplectant embrace with male then moves up into the overhanging plants in search of a suitable site for egg deposition; </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEBroGRimO2fZox7cOv7WDnBmHBZMuhzezBnT-k5acQdr9UGmUTXPyxLVYznGj3cEC0IO7GjnGgz-ryb92PbYpF-nhmA1svqzOvKfFE_Xf-ALtE8BPz8IBVncsLV-ekDd8nxEqTXCcsYa/s1600/Agalychnis_callidryas+mt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEBroGRimO2fZox7cOv7WDnBmHBZMuhzezBnT-k5acQdr9UGmUTXPyxLVYznGj3cEC0IO7GjnGgz-ryb92PbYpF-nhmA1svqzOvKfFE_Xf-ALtE8BPz8IBVncsLV-ekDd8nxEqTXCcsYa/s200/Agalychnis_callidryas+mt.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Amplectant pair sleeping</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the female looks primarily at the undersides of broad leafs or other plant parts such as vines that overhang above the water; unusual sites have been observed as well like in water-filled larger animal tracks, even human footprints; egg clutch sizes range from 20-50 green eggs with a mean average of 40; the female may lay up to 5 clutches per night for up to 3 nights; the male will remain in amplexus with the female throughout the term even while sleeping and fending off other males who try to take over when the female returns to water to rehydrate; the eggs are immediately fertilized externally by the male as the female oviposits; at times eggs are laid on topside of leaf where the apparently the leaf curls in over the egg clutch on its own attached by the adhesion of the jelly mass; most leaf breeding tree frogs intentionally curl leaves over the egg clutch for protection in concealment and dehydration, but for the red-eyed tree frog, it appears the frog is aided by the plant itself; when laid over water up to 6.06m/20ft high, embryo development occurs synchronously but hatching occurs asynchronously in 6-10 days; when left undisturbed the eggs hatch into tadpoles on a mean average of 6.5 days; many disturbances can occur though that affect and accelerate hatching down to four days; snakes that will consume the entire clutch are detected by the developing tadpoles through specific vibrations the snake makes causing the entire clutch to hatch with the tadpoles escaping by falling into the water; the social wasp only attacks one egg at a time; the intended tadpole in the egg sought after will again detect the wasp's specific vibrations, hatch and fall into the water while the rest of the embryos remain in their eggs; a developing tadpole can even detect the minute vibrations sent out by the developing spores of fungus infestation by a filamentous ascomycete (<i>Phaeosphaeriaceae</i>); in egg clutches not affected, random hatching occurs; in those that are infected, nonrandom</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIKnYl1QiFjer0GcUMKVMNLTSLJ2Zi93a_u_SXEDeHm4vLtfuYoD7sBCFj3cIdXqo99U-Smk3tWAyhyYGgKKgf-xXQuOsmMkuQG4YZEszXvJ5ezD2r7MXXuBqFnCgMkIc-JvjXgv6xqhm/s1600/Agalychnis+callidryas+eg+ms" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIKnYl1QiFjer0GcUMKVMNLTSLJ2Zi93a_u_SXEDeHm4vLtfuYoD7sBCFj3cIdXqo99U-Smk3tWAyhyYGgKKgf-xXQuOsmMkuQG4YZEszXvJ5ezD2r7MXXuBqFnCgMkIc-JvjXgv6xqhm/s200/Agalychnis+callidryas+eg+ms" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Egg clutch</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hatching occurs; eggs in direct contact with the fungal hyphae hatch and with the empty egg casing, essentially form a barrier from further invasion of infection into remaining unhatched eggs; in every instance the embryos do not instantaneously hatch once vibrations are detected, but in a sense evaluate what is occurring before risking premature hatching; some tadpoles hatch then drop to the ground instead of water; the larvae (tadpole) can live up to 20 hours out of water, and usually since hatching occurs during wet season, rains wash the stranded larva into the water pool source; tadpoles show rapid external gill loss and may lose their outside gills within 3 minutes upon hatching, relying on less functional internal gills to breathe with; even so, the advantage to this is that external gills create drag, so without outside gill structures, tadpoles can now swim more rapidly and efficiently; tadpoles suspend themselves vertically in water column to filter feed; once tadpoles have fully metamorphosed in 75-80 days, rather than red, the froglets possess yellow eyes and change body color in being green by day to purple or reddish brown by night; though habitat destruction has had its impact on regional populations and has been heavily sought after in the pet trade, there are no current threats to its continued existence.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Golden dart frog ~ <i>P. terribilis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Dendrobatidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Phyllobates</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u><b>Phyllobates terribilis</b></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Length: Ave snout-vent length (SVL): ♂~4.5cm/1.77in; ♀~4.7cm/1.85in; max: 5.5cm/2.17in</span><br />
W<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eight: < 28gm/1oz </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: > 10yrs </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Phyllobates terribilis</i> ~ <i>Phyllobates</i> is Greek as 2 words conjoined meaning <i>phyllos</i>: 'leaf' and <i>bates</i> as 'climber' in reference to an arboreal lifestyle; <i>terribilis</i> is Latin as 2 words conjoined meaning <i>terri</i>: 'terrible' and <i>bili</i> as 'anger' referring to aggressive nature; altogether means, 'frightening tree climber'.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Is endemic to Columbia on a Pacific coastal terrain in the western foothills of the Andes' northerly inclined spur of the Cordillera Occidental; are found in elevation from 90-200m/ 297-660ft throughout rainforests from very moist slopes to drier ridge tops; preferred terrain is rough very steep slopes that are sometimes even with perpendicular inclines of 90 degrees; is always found near rivers, but now mostly near smaller streams as agricultural clearings near larger rivers have decimated required habitat.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Mint green morph</span> </td></tr>
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</span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Though a small frog, is the largest of dendrobatids; snout is sloping and rounded in a lateral profile and bluntly truncated dorsally; unique to <i>Phyllobates</i> genus species, possesses a bony plate in upper jaw that substitutes for teeth; teeth are present on maxillary arch; loreal region is both vertical and slightly concave; there are 4 toes on each forefoot with third toe as largest and 5 on each hind foot; hind toes descend in size order from 4 > 3 > 5 > 2 >1; each toe ends in a tiny adhesive disc for clinging to arboreal substrate; forefeet have a large rounded palm tubercle; in the hind feet, the third distal tarsus displays a continuous ridge from</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Pair of white mint morphs </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the inner metatarsal tubercle to the tarsal tubercle; body skin is smooth to finely granular while becoming rugose (coarsely granular) on upper hind limbs; tympanum partially concealed in its dosolateral position; this aposematic (poisonous coloring advertisement) comes in 3 color morphs: yellow, mint green & orange and are range specific; the most common is yellow found in the region of Columbia's Quebrada Guangui with shades from pale yellow to a deep golden hue; the yellow morph is the basis for the common name; the mint coloration, existing in the La Brea area of Columbia may be from a metallic green, to a very pale green or even white; the more uncommon morph dispersed throughout Columbian populations is the orange ranging in intensity from a pale yellowish orange to metallic orange; there are spotted and lined melanistic patterns displayed in all 3 morphs; the ventrum is normally a lighter shade of the dorsum coloration; though these color morph variants exist, there currently are no subspecies listed.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupQdkTn-eEZcT5XgGEfv6EgVOT_5FYDpTzM2cxCJGIPpbT6aYOJBeRslIPHI8LY0E0rPlEkqgjt049ZQ8bLx1SsUbxzKqsQtBRac_KvnLWy0u5e5uRZicapXiZGMIlXYE9wQC2DSEBx65/s1600/Phyllobates+terribilis+orng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupQdkTn-eEZcT5XgGEfv6EgVOT_5FYDpTzM2cxCJGIPpbT6aYOJBeRslIPHI8LY0E0rPlEkqgjt049ZQ8bLx1SsUbxzKqsQtBRac_KvnLWy0u5e5uRZicapXiZGMIlXYE9wQC2DSEBx65/s200/Phyllobates+terribilis+orng.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Orange morph</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This aggressive</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> frog will devour anything it can swallow but primarily subsists on small insects consisting of ants, beetles and termites that abound in its habitat; fruit flies, small young crickets and small lepidodopterans may also be consumed; tadpoles are omnivorous feeding on algae, insect larvae & their mother's infertile eggs; due to highly concentrated levels of poison, there are virtually nil predators that intentionally prey on this frog; the 50cm/19.66in small snake, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Leimadophis epinephelus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is the only known predator to actively pursue and purposely consume </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. terribilis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; this snake has built up resistance to this frog's toxins and other frog specie toxins, but is by no means totally immune; once ingesting a golden dart, the snake will go into rapid convulsions then remain motionless for awhile; though the snake is dramatically affected, it still nonetheless remains an astronomical feat; only two-tenths of a microgram (smaller than the pointed end of a pin tip) of just one of the poisons known as batrachotoxin is enough to kill a human once entering the bloodstream; on average 1100 micrograms are produced on a frog at any one time</span>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> <i>P. terribilis</i> is distinguished by being 'one of the most' on many fronts; given its toxic steroidal alkaloid cocktail of batrachotoxin, batrachotoxin A and homobatrachotoxin, it is not only the most toxic dendrobatid, it is the most toxic of all frogs and one of the most toxic animals of the world on land and sea; it is easily the most aggressive phyllobates in its defiance of predators preferring to simply stand its ground or walk or hop away as opposed to hiding; it also easily resorts to aggression with other <i>P. terribilis</i> outside its social network or other frog species that dare to enter its territory; it is the largest poison dart frogs and one of the largest tree frogs; in blocking cell's sodium channels this frog's poisons are highly neurotoxic and cardiotoxic; this frog carries the most concentrated and potent non-peptidal neurotoxin known on Earth; the frog is totally immune to the poisons it carries as its specialized sodium channels are unaffected; curiously there are 3 insectivorous or omnivorous birds, <i>Pitohui spp</i>., <i>Ifrita kowaldi</i> and <i>Colluricincla megaryncha</i> that, acting most probably as a predator deterrent and insecticide, carry batrachotoxin either within and on their feathers and skin; another animal that carries batrachotoxin are certain beetles from the family, <i>Melydridae</i>; all three birds and in particular the frog consume these melydrid beetles and is assumed the major source of the toxin; <i>P. terribilis</i> also consumes myrmecine & formicine ants; except for the feet, all the body's skin contains glands that store the toxin where it is secreted coating the body's skin; the poison is used by the frog in protection & defense only and not for capturing prey; indigenous people such as the Choco & Cofan, by fire, heat the frog causing it to exude small droplets of toxin; once enough poison is collected, arrowheads and darts are then immersed & soaked having a lasting lethal potency of up to 2 years for hunting and warring expeditions; the toxin is long lasting in resisting degradation; even though captives had not been in the wilds for 2 years and had not been fed their dietary toxic source of ants & beetles, they still retained 40% potency; captive bred juveniles and adults, wild tadpoles & newly metamorphosed wild froglets do not possess the toxin; this frog is primarily diurnal and forages as much on the ground as it does in the tree canopies; <i>P. terribilis</i> is one of the most social of all frogs with wild specimens living in groups of 4-7; in being social, they have to interact and have created forms of communication; specific calls, gesturing and touching are all, forms of communicating with one another; push-up movements are a sign of dominance, while head lowering is a sign of submission; calls are more of a trilling sound with both males & females able to call; males however have a shallow subgular vocal sac with small expansion wrinkles at base of throat and well developed paired vocal slits on floor of mouth; trills can be long & sustained and consist of rapid succession of individual notes; frequency can be lowered deeper than other <i>Phyllobates</i>, but can also range upwards to high pitched squeks; breeding in their heavy annual rainfall environment is year round and can breed as often as once a month; family groups converge in mass once or twice a year where heavy aggressive male competition occurs for mates; females remain on the sidelines and fairly calm throughout </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtgpBQi_Tz7LG2NqdFHZtj_HsKKsnvPNb9WwUknIXURUWzDjPLUt6RBBrg2D615TDxZixKpejyh872eKKvoCzgg6kMJt5_nHLPT4chTIPEn57CZsH-x_BJuLBHAjrF2AT3R29EqSmPsCj/s1600/Phyllobates+terribilis+mnt+tdpl" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtgpBQi_Tz7LG2NqdFHZtj_HsKKsnvPNb9WwUknIXURUWzDjPLUt6RBBrg2D615TDxZixKpejyh872eKKvoCzgg6kMJt5_nHLPT4chTIPEn57CZsH-x_BJuLBHAjrF2AT3R29EqSmPsCj/s200/Phyllobates+terribilis+mnt+tdpl" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A male mint with tadpoles</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this ordeal during preparation of a male victor;</span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eggs are terrestrially laid where female will expel stored water from her cloaca if there is not an existing puddle; she will also deposit some unfertilized eggs if tadpole's natural food is not abundant in pool; less than 20 eggs in a clutch are laid beneath leaf litter to conceal the site; <i>P. terribilis</i>, as far as frogs are concerned are one of the most devoted parents; during embryonic development the male may bring more water stored in his cloaca if the puddle is evaporating; once the eggs hatch, the male will gingerly free the tadpoles from the sticky egg mass with his hind limbs; while the male had been tending to and guarding the egg site, the newly hatched tadpoles locate him and wiggle onto his back adhering to him by mucus secretions, where he then will carry up to 12 at a time to a more suitable water mass, such as accumulated pools in the center of bromelids; newly metamorphosed froglets are black with a pair of gold dorsolateral stripes down the back; in undergoing an ontogenetic color change, once the frogs reach maturity, the stripes disappear and the permanent adult color appears; considered one of the most intelligent of anurans; utilize strategy in hunting and rarely miss a direct strike with their long adhesive tongue; group members readily accept new juveniles from mothers of their group; captives recognize and pay more attention to their caregivers; during mating, emotion may even be observed with gentle cuddling and stroking between the mated pair; though there exists little predation, year round breeding and excellent parental care, this species is endangered due to habitat destruction and heavy collecting.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_EN.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">Endangered (3.1) IUCN</span> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Maud Island frog ~ <i>L. pakeka</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Maud Island Frog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Leiopelmatidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Leiopelma</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Leiopelma pakeka</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 38.4-46.2mm/1.51-1.82in snout-vent length (SVL)<br />
Weight: 6.00-10.75gm/0.21-0.38oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: > 30 yrs; average life expectancy calculated at 33yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Leiopelma pakeka</i> ~ <i>Leios</i> is derived from Greek meaning 'smooth'; <i>pelma</i> is also Greek meaning 'sole'; <i>pakeka</i> refers to <i>Te Pakeka</i>, the name given to Maud Island by the Ngati Kuia tribe; altogether means 'exclusive smooth skinned frog of Te Pakeka'.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Endemic, but not confined to Maud Island of Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand; for species conservation purposes, individuals have been taken from the island and </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5HEdDawpbUkTEQen8lhF6SVvS14vXMP_q1haJ88gzkrrph3TY92oNEdJdJszgNzAIwEA-jy64biVYhG7AyqSyHbIJ7y0b889t1TBBaj4SmIeaeI-5uAVahmtY-HPydAHp1vfKNDq0q71/s1600/Leiopelma_pakeka_rng" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5HEdDawpbUkTEQen8lhF6SVvS14vXMP_q1haJ88gzkrrph3TY92oNEdJdJszgNzAIwEA-jy64biVYhG7AyqSyHbIJ7y0b889t1TBBaj4SmIeaeI-5uAVahmtY-HPydAHp1vfKNDq0q71/s200/Leiopelma_pakeka_rng" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Endemic range</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">translocated onto Motuara Island in 1997 where an established population is successfully growing; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">also, in 2006 21 individuals were placed in the Zealandia (formerly: Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) near Wellington, which is a predator proof small reserve; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prefers cool misty surroundings within a temperature range of 8-14 </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">°C/46.4-57.2 </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">°F within the island's stable climate; is found in shaded areas of deep boulder banks on lower slopes under canopied coastal fores</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> This archaic little frog, along with the other 3 extant leiopelmatid species are living fossils, distinct from other frogs in having a direct ancient lineage going back 120 mya; 3 species just became extinct 1,000-2,000 years ago; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">primitive anuran traits still witnessed in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L. pakeka</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are the retaining of tail muscles for wagging in </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tailless</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> adults, an extra vertebrae making a total of nine and possess no tympanum (external eardrum); nostrils are nearer the eye than tip of snout; skin is relatively smooth with sparse scattered tubercles over the proximal portion of the thighs & shanks; the eye pupil is rounded; there are 4 toes on the forefeet with 3 on the hind feet; no webbing exist between toes; there are virtually no trait differences between sexes so are monomorphic rather than dimorphic as is the case in most frogs; this cryptic frog's coloration is well suited for camouflage in its native environment; dorsum is variable ranging from a uniform black and dark brown to light brown interspersed with irregular darker patching; </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUe5JE9mzAqqD6rQM0TM9cshBtTAVNCeD3dvjQjFkZ86z7DZANVBNpjSWWPgxoxZY-eML4dNVsgMwwcsxGwHDdt5ym0nr4bhDL6y-uwLk6UoOd4poxAd6H1kZx00F9rwS2rep-wiZMufZ/s1600/Leiopelma+pakeka+cryptic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUe5JE9mzAqqD6rQM0TM9cshBtTAVNCeD3dvjQjFkZ86z7DZANVBNpjSWWPgxoxZY-eML4dNVsgMwwcsxGwHDdt5ym0nr4bhDL6y-uwLk6UoOd4poxAd6H1kZx00F9rwS2rep-wiZMufZ/s200/Leiopelma+pakeka+cryptic.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note cryptic coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lighter skinned individuals, a black band extends from tip of snout to nostrils with a black line extending beyond the eye; ventrum side is variable in color ranging from contrasting light and dark blotching to a more uniformly pale or dark; may have the ability to lighten color during darkness as specimens observed at night appeared lighter than the same individual during daylight; appearing as morphologically the same (except for a couple of millimeters smaller), originally, <i>L. pakeka</i> was considered a variant of <i>L. hamiltoni</i> until late 1990s genetic studies deemed it as a separate species; later studies in the mid 2000s are now disputing this and putting into question as whether it should be listed as separate; there are no subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Lighter individual; note dark stripe</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Diet consists of small invertebrates including insects, spiders and mites; there were no native predators on the island until the invasive <i>Rattus rattus</i> (black rat) & <i>Mustela erminea</i> (the stoat or short-tailed weasel) were introduced inadvertently by man.<br />
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<b>Habits:</b> <i>L. pakeka</i> is strictly terrestrial throughout all its life stages insinuating the frog line was first a land animal and later evolved in adapting to an aquatic lifestyle; relying on camouflage, when alarmed it will remain frozen in hopes of avoiding detection; it is a very clumsy hopper; when hopping it lands on its ventral side in 'belly-flop' fashion, recovers by pulling its sprawled legs back up into hopping position to repeat process; this is another hint that mastering of jumping came later in frog evolution; also possesses cartilaginous presacral ribs that later became vestigial in modern frog evolution; since there is no eardrum, a vocal sac never developed making the frog voiceless, although they can force exhaled air out into a high pitched squeak; <i>L. pakeka</i> has a tongue but cannot extend it out of the mouth; therefore, it must first lunge to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Froglets upon just hatching</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">capture prey with the mouth</span>;<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> communication is performed through chemical signaling rather than vocalization; the feces scent resulting from a male's high quality diet, attracts females; marked territory of no more than 5m/16.5ft radius is considered an individual's home range and it will stay put in this range for years; breeding occurs in December, in which is a warmer month for the southern hemisphere; 1-19 eggs are laid in a dampened or moist site on the ground as a gelatinous mass; the female leaves after ovipositing the egg mass under plant matter or rock cracks, but the male remains at the egg site guarding and tending to the eggs; there are no free tadpole stages as embryonic and larval (tadpole) development occur inside the egg; after a rather long incubation period of 14-21 weeks, the eggs hatch as miniature froglets with tails; the reason the tail remains is to allow more skin surface area to take up oxygen as the lungs aren't yet fully developed; once hatching occurs, the froglets crawl up the male's legs and onto his back where they will remain as inactive and not feeding until they are fully developed; once matured enough, the juvenile froglets leave their father's back and begin fending on their own; even though the eye pupils are round, typical of diurnal activity, this frog is nocturnal; though these frogs are fully terrestrial, they do require moist environments in combating desiccation and can swim; however, they swim awkward in alternating leg strokes that forces the head from one side to the other; this is not an energy sufficient method and by far the mastered swimming style of modern day frogs is far more thorough; though there are a few other frog species inhabiting New Zealand, they have been introduced; only the 4 extant members of the family,<i> Leiopelmatidae</i> are native to the islands that make-up New Zealand; due to its small native and unique habitat, this frog is listed as vulnerable. </span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /> <span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> H</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">elmeted water toad ~ <i>C. gayi</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Helmeted Water Toad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Calyptocephalellidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Calyptocephalella</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Calyptocephalella gayi</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: </span>♂ ~ 120mm/4.72in; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">♀ ~ 12.60in snout-vent length (SVL)</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Average: 500gm/17.64oz; females can reach up 3kg/6.61lb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~ 10-15 yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Calyptocephalella gayi</i> ~ <i>Calypto</i> is an element used in many compound words of Greek origin meaning 'hidden' or 'covered'; <i>cephalella </i>comes from the Greek root word kephala meaning 'head'; <i>gayi</i> pertains to Claudio Gay Mouret </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(1800-1873)</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, a French zoologist who was first to study Chilean flora & fauna; altogether refers to, 'Gay's shielded head frog'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Distribution:</b> Extent of range occurs between Coquimbo & Puerto Mott in southern Chile from 0-500m/0-1,650ft elevation; inhabits aquatic environments prefering lentic (standing or very slow waters) environments such as lakes and deep ponds; will note here that east of the Andes in southern South America, where climate is now cool and dry, a fossil of the extinct hyperossified, <i>Calyptocephalella pichileufensis</i> was discovered in strata of 47.46 mya when temperatures were much warmer during the Eocene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><b>D</b></span><b style="font-weight: bold;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> C. gayi</i>, formerly known as <i>Caudiverbera caudiverbera</i>, was renamed by taxonomists C.W. Myers & R.B. Stothers in 2006, because they did not like the idea that <i>Caudiverbera</i> was based on a mythical species; why this was a problem, I don't know, for the rather large frog family, <i>Hylidae</i> is based on the mythical boy, Hylas; <i>C. gayi</i> was just recently removed from the family, <i>Leptodactylidae</i> and put under <i>Batrachophyrnidae</i>, but once again after reviewing prior karyotypic work, along with the rare genus, <i>Telematobius</i>, <i>C. gayi</i> was placed under the family, <i>Calyptocephalellidae</i> as the lone representative (monotypic) of the genus, <i>Calyptocephalella</i>; confused yet...</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; besides the size of this rather large frog, most <b> </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ7TkDSbmKHkyk938pQkHLQGmvwtylYjNZPNMd9vmVZqFdN0bURDHIVTYNDyUKRtn3JJHAc0QMpODfwMZG_TeBr0MMJcwsgm7cWFm574CWAVr-9sZsoP939T-L0YtvRSAvDmZTvHlRf5w/s1600/Caudiverbera+caudiverbera+hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ7TkDSbmKHkyk938pQkHLQGmvwtylYjNZPNMd9vmVZqFdN0bURDHIVTYNDyUKRtn3JJHAc0QMpODfwMZG_TeBr0MMJcwsgm7cWFm574CWAVr-9sZsoP939T-L0YtvRSAvDmZTvHlRf5w/s200/Caudiverbera+caudiverbera+hd.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Close-up of head</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">distinguishing feature is the stark contrast with its smooth tight skinned head against a coarse bumpy loose skinned body making it appear as if it's helmeted, thus the common name; the frog is also colloquially called the 'wide mouthed toad,' for the mouth covers the entire perimeter of the head and can be opened wide to accommodate its ravenous appetite and facilitate its aggressive behavior; the snout itself is short and round; protruding eyes are tiny for its large size and exhibit bronze irises; tympanum is distinct on each side on back of head; the body is robust with dorsal skin possessing bumps that mass together forming ridges down the back in</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjDV84tPgi5MwWhx7mLcjz79WGDevl09W6juv8DpSLozXipft7e-c5PqGtf9HWu_cB3ioeBPbpYloXQWLr4kFX5_j77ljQJ8hG84T_Qm15MGr_l9bBfrnnVdt87PFqIX2uf3SnfVL8Zw_/s1600/Caudiverbera+caudiverbera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjDV84tPgi5MwWhx7mLcjz79WGDevl09W6juv8DpSLozXipft7e-c5PqGtf9HWu_cB3ioeBPbpYloXQWLr4kFX5_j77ljQJ8hG84T_Qm15MGr_l9bBfrnnVdt87PFqIX2uf3SnfVL8Zw_/s200/Caudiverbera+caudiverbera.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note dorsal ridges down back</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a lot of individuals; relatively short forefeet are unwebbed while large hind feet are close to halfway webbed; overall coloration is a dull brown to greenish with fainter irregular markings; possesses a grayish white ventrum; there are no recognized subspecies.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Consumption consists of other frogs, but will take anything that moves near it, such as aquatic life (insects & their larvae, fish), smaller mammals and birds; natural predators of this frog as an adult are insignificant except for human's harvesting and consumption of the frog, which does take its toll on certain </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. gayi</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> populations; fish will take earlier stage tadpoles.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This frog is one bad boy; when cornered it is aggressive in lifting up the body as it inflates its lungs to maximum with air and in opening its mouth will lunge to bite its intended intruder; this is followed by loud sequences of modulated cries with mouth agape in contrast to harmonious mating calls with mouth closed resonating off one repeated call; with short but </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m4QtaUkmxvhyLCDAa5_CRWTGDVxLhMKoJiLO-x6jqjxFXXem81Wjr7HTMaDovhNJw2gIpMnSG-lW3v3g0egXJWZYzDv4mAJO7HdGCKAMObZOcGp8WREI-Dkb6AbL0lRlYqLJd57Z1bk6/s1600/Calyptocephalella+gayi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m4QtaUkmxvhyLCDAa5_CRWTGDVxLhMKoJiLO-x6jqjxFXXem81Wjr7HTMaDovhNJw2gIpMnSG-lW3v3g0egXJWZYzDv4mAJO7HdGCKAMObZOcGp8WREI-Dkb6AbL0lRlYqLJd57Z1bk6/s200/Calyptocephalella+gayi.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note folding of legs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">jagged cusped teeth on upper jaw, it </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">can inflict a painful bite</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; aggresive behavior and cry frequencies occur with both sexes; the modalities of aggressive behavior in these frogs are </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">considered </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a resultant of a long independent evolution; with a vertical pupil, this frog is active both night & day; prefers to lie in wait and ambush any animal that comes into range; as most frogs, detects prey from movement; found in the foothills of the Andes, this frog prefers cooler water temperatures where it remains most of the time uncommonly going ashore; has a habit of folding its hind legs inward over the anterior portion of the dorsum when at rest or in hiding; breeding season occurs from September to October where male emit their mating calls of 'oouu'; at this time males also produce a nuptial </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">protuberant pad on the fore toe that would represent a thumb; the nuptial pad is more gaining a firm grip when clasping the female during amplexus; the female lays her clutches in the shallows with muddy bottoms; fertilized eggs are oviposited in clumps consisting of 800-</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwf0XhjKwDucw24K7YFWHGg-dWlIMiAYGLeUM9nv1q0ozvV2StwVY3kadVl0TGp5nlE48JFpjt9WNN4EEYNV2rmg20wB4kuAUaBElejdYk-RTcyUMp6_8LnczeHJUk4Sm-SmDk-CRAMo6h/s1600/Calyptocephalella+gayi+tdpl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwf0XhjKwDucw24K7YFWHGg-dWlIMiAYGLeUM9nv1q0ozvV2StwVY3kadVl0TGp5nlE48JFpjt9WNN4EEYNV2rmg20wB4kuAUaBElejdYk-RTcyUMp6_8LnczeHJUk4Sm-SmDk-CRAMo6h/s200/Calyptocephalella+gayi+tdpl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Tadpoles (larvae) held for size ratio</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1,600 in a gelatinous mass</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; hatching occurs in ~3 weeks where the tadpoles migrate and aggregate to the muddy bottoms in around 1m/3.3ft of water with plenty of aquatic vegetation; the larvae grow very large up to 150mm/5.91in in length and weigh 30gm/1.06oz; the giant tadpoles appear as <i>Gymnotiformes</i> (knife fish); it takes a full two years for the tadpoles to fully metamorphose into froglets and throughout the aquatic metamorphic stage remain rather slow and poor swimmers; the newly metamorphosed froglets measure 22mm/0.87in; primarily due to drainage of habitat, introduced pesticides & pollution; introduction of certain fish as trout consuming larvae and the trapping & hunting by humans for consumption populations are in decline; where it was once abundant in natural ponds and small lakes near towns, this frog is practically absent now; 30% of its population has decreased within the last decade; due to continual population declines, it is now listed as threatened.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> White-lipped</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> frog ~ <i>L. fragilis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Mexican White-lipped Frog</span></div>
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Family: Leptodactylidae</div>
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Genus: Leptodactylus</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Leptodactylus fragilis</u></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 3.8-5.1cm/1.5-2.0in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: inferred: 5.96-11.81gm/0.25-0.43oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Leptodactylus fragilis</i> ~ <i>Lepto</i> is Greek meaning 'slender' and <i>daktylos</i> is also Greek meaning 'digits'; <i>fragilis</i> is Latin for 'fragile'; altogether means, 'frog with thin and fragile toes'.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Range occurs marginally from the northern end in 3 extreme Texas counties of the lower Rio Grande Valley; found in one locality of Cameron & Starr counties and in 2 localities of Hidalgo county; range continues fully down throughout Mexico's Caribbean coastline and up to its Pacific coastline from the extreme southwestern end up to Veracruz; is found in all 7 Central American Countries; in extreme southern range, becomes marginal again with intermittent populations found in Colombia & Venezuela; prefers semi-dry conditions in semi-tropical and tropical forests, second growths and low lying grassland with structures like ditches and ravines that semi-permanently or seasonally collect rainwater.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> There was some confusion on the naming of <i>L. fragilis</i>, so in 1978 the name was changed to the same species as, Leptodactylus labialis in reference to the white striped lip; however, in 2002 it was verified that <i>Leptodactylus fragilis</i> was indeed the proper name and </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Distinguishing white lipped stripe</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was switched back as the valid species name</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; not sexually dimorphic, except male head may be wider; most distinguishing feature on this small frog is the white or beige lipped striping </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and long </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">spindly toes on each foot; has a defined longitudinal line along rear surface of each thigh; skin of tarsus and soles of feet possesses prominent white tubercles; has a pointed snout on a rather large head; vomerine teeth are present in transverse series located entirely behind the choanae (paired openings between nasal cavity and nasopharynx; with hind leg osteology, are efficient leapers; distinct typanum present; dorsolateral fold exists along torso; circular ventral disk is present on ventrum;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> coloration varies between individuals with most being gray with the rest showing a reddish bronze or muddy brownish green dorsum; dark blotching appearent, but not confluent; currently there are no subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm28Mfpml730iP7p7zdfP7bVUcDPHz1oAISzVTDqY2BBe6JbQ-frjaAyGkI2RA5pozKBFXkpzLUChNUfXE2tl53XhwS_gpmf9F614l8mJttDkCotVdQ8huE5xCXzj5S-Ktsdj7eIQrBWoo/s1600/Leptodactylus+fragilis+dk+gren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm28Mfpml730iP7p7zdfP7bVUcDPHz1oAISzVTDqY2BBe6JbQ-frjaAyGkI2RA5pozKBFXkpzLUChNUfXE2tl53XhwS_gpmf9F614l8mJttDkCotVdQ8huE5xCXzj5S-Ktsdj7eIQrBWoo/s200/Leptodactylus+fragilis+dk+gren.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Brownish-green dorsum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Is a generalist/oppotunistic feeder, almost exclusively consuming small arthropods consisting of mites, ticks, spiders, diplodans (millipedes), insect larvae and insects, in particular coleopterans (beetles) and blatiids (cockroaches); a very small percent of diet includes molluscs; predation on this frog abounds from other larger frogs eating <i>L. fragilis</i> to reptiles, birds, bats and the jaguarundi; large water beetles will take tadpoles.<br />
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<b>Habits:</b> These frogs are primarily terrestrial and are nocturnal lying in self-dug burrows just underground during the day; they forage nocturnally in open areas; where ranges overlap, <i>Leptodactylus columbiensis</i> is more common in wetter habitat, where <i>L. fragilis </i>is higher in </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> A Belizean reddish bronze specimen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">number in the drier zones</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; something we will call here, 'heterospecific eavesdropping' is evident with the predator alert male calls of <i>L. fragilis</i>; other male frog species will ignore other male frog species' predator calls, but pay attention and respond to <i>L. fragilis</i>' alarm calls; Where <i>Physalaemus pustulosus</i> & <i>Physalaemus enesefae</i> are closely related and have similar calls, they both will respond rapidly to a <i>L. fragilis</i> male's predator alarm call more so than they would to their own respective species call; this attendance to predation related calling consisting of sympatric, but heterospecific communities appears to be commonplace among these 3 frog species survival strategies; male <i>L. fragilis</i> calls are extremely dissimilar to the other species' frog alarm calls, but the interspecific eavesdropping must be successful in natural selection between varying frog species in predation cues, in particular when it relates to frog eating bats; predatory bats seem to hone in on <i>P. pustulosus</i>' chucking predator alarm cues, so that is most probably why <i>P. pustulosus</i> and <i>P. enesefae</i> (with similar chucking predator cues), relies more on <i>L. fragilis</i> to </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male excavating nesting site</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be the watch dog of the frog </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">community; sexual maturity is reached when males achieve a length of 36mm/1.42in and for females, 40mm/1.58in; breeding takes place during heavy rains; the male excavates a brooding chamber in moist ground and begins his mating calls of frequency ranges in the northern portion in Texas at 600-1200 hertz (hz) and of 1000-2200 hz in its southern range; frequency is modulated with intermittant pulsating and nonpulsating portions; brooding chambers are usually located under clumps of grass, dirt clods, logs or other natural ground litter; when female is attracted mating occurs externally and the eggs are laid in the nest chamber encased in bodily secretions whipped up into foam to avoid dessication; clutch size varies with up to 86 yellow eggs laid in northern range in Texas and between 25-250 eggs in more southern ranges; egg development takes place in the foam nest where tadpoles hatch as larvae into the chamber; from rains, larvae are swept away to runoff areas such as low lying grassland or bodies of water such as oxbow lakes and ditches; northern larval stages take 30-35 days to fully develop, where southern ranges, full metamorphism is achieved in less than 2 weeks; currently, <i>L. fragilis</i> is not threatened; except for possible extirpation from Texas localities due to heavy use of organophosphate fertilizers, populations appear stable.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Edible frog ~ <i>P. esculentus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Ranidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Pelophylax</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Pelophylax kl. esculentus</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: ♂ ~ 5-9cm/1.97-3.54in; ♀ ~ 6-12cm/2.36-4.72</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 5-12gm/0.17oz-0.4oz </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 5-15yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pelophylax kl. esculentus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pelo</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'around the' in referring to muddy shore; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">phylax</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is from the Greek root word, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">phylakos</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> meaining 'to guard'; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">esculentos</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin meaning 'edible'; altogether refers to 'edible guardian frog of muddy bank'; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">kl.</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is the abbreviation of the Latin word, klepton which means 'hidden' or 'concealed'; the reason it is included in the scientific nomenclature is to designate that this species is not pure; in being a diploid hybrid, but fertile species, it retains 'concealed' genetic material within its DNA of another species' chromosomes; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. esculentus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> must have an exchange of other species' genes in order to survive as fit.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Found across all of central Europe from its northern range in Germany & Estonia to the southern range of southern France, northern Italy and Croatia; natural migration population pockets exist in Sweden & Bulgaria and introduced populations in England & Spain; prefers remaining near shorelines in sunny positions of ponds, brooks, canals and marshes with vegetative growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Description:</b><b> </b><i>P. esculentus</i> (formerly classified as Rana kl. esculenta) is a fertile hybrid of the pool frog (<i>Pelophylax lessonae</i>) and the marsh frog (<i>Pelophylax ribibundus</i>) and by geological standards, is a recent species to arrive on the scene; during the last glacial period, ~20,000 years ago the population of one common ancestor for <i>P. lessonae</i> & <i>P. ribibundus</i> was split apart due to glaciation diverging the ancestor's population enough that morphologically and physiologically the two population halves became distinct species as the pool frog and marsh frog; once glaciers receded ~10,000 years ago, the 2 species were still genetically similar enough to interbreed successfully with </span><i>P. esculentus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the resultant hybrid offspring</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; as a medium sized frog displays sexual dimorphism with female as slightly larger; males possess vocal sacs on sides of each cheek positioned just behind the mouth angle, while females do not; only males have extra skin patches (nuptial pads) on their forefeet; males have developed metatarsal spurs for clasping during amplexus while limbs are slimmer in females; irises of eyes</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IGdLMvI2Ft_0JHZra96DNHOy0B-B4YI1Mx5NOQ4O4Uj00hvx5cQyagKM_PJZ7HJs1ymPkDSt2fPG7ETFLOiw2HlBfmwn2gJihkOqZn3oihLr9kgUaL9iI-96-hIu8qn7i0CtS0_XLoDA/s1600/Rana+esculenta.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IGdLMvI2Ft_0JHZra96DNHOy0B-B4YI1Mx5NOQ4O4Uj00hvx5cQyagKM_PJZ7HJs1ymPkDSt2fPG7ETFLOiw2HlBfmwn2gJihkOqZn3oihLr9kgUaL9iI-96-hIu8qn7i0CtS0_XLoDA/s200/Rana+esculenta.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male displaying vocal sacs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are golden yellow in both sexes; skin is permeable; cohabiting the same environments as the parent species, the edible frog is commonly mistaken as the pool and marsh frogs; though intermediate characteristics of parent species are retained by the edible frog, differences are distinct; marsh frogs are more robust, warty, have hind legs that extend well beyond snout of the head, dark gray vocal sacs and has the harshest mating call that is more rapidly delivered; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the pool frog is the smallest and most compact of the three frogs, hind legs do not extend to or past the snout and has white vocal sacs; the edible frog has hind legs that extend just to the snout and has light gray vocal sacs; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">overall coloration of <i>P. esculentus</i> is from greenish, olive green to grayish green; dorsum has light patches of dark browns usually with a light yellowish green mid-dorsal line going down the spine of the back; white ventrum speckled with dark spottings; males become much more greener during mating season; there are no designated subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Is an opportunistic predator, preferring to for prey to come by while lying in wait concealed along the shoreline; consumes all invertebrates including molluscs, insects & worms and will also attempt to eat small birds & mammals; it is known as well to be cannibalistic, consuming smaller frogs of other species and it own species; this frog will also leap to capture flying insects such as dipterans (flies), hymenopterans (wasps/bees), orthopterans (grasshoppers/crickets) & odonates (dragonflies/damselflies); will venture out on land around 500m/1650ft from shore or hunt in water for prey if none aren't available along the shoreline; tadpoles are essentially herbivorous eating aquatic vegetative matter, but will consume </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">micro-</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Cannibalism</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">organisms; Primary predators are shorebirds, owls and grass & water snakes; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. esculentus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> supplies the frog legs that are considered a culinary delicacy in France and other countries; where present, fish will take tadpoles as a meal.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Unlike most, this frog is diurnal preferring to hide motionless near or in the water during darkness; in its more northerly clime ranges, hibernates from October to March; in hibernating, takes to land burrows, but hibernating in the water bottoms have also been observed when coexisting with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. ribibundi</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; when alarmed will instantly jump into water; if caught will emit loud screeching sounds; mostly seeks the southern banks receiving the most sunlight and vegetative growth; are territorial, so therefore are mainly found individually and guard their turf by emitting a rising cadence of 'qwarks' towards an intruder; males though, do congregate </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Pelophylax kl. esculentus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in still waters when they begin competing for </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">females during mating season and sometimes in high densities; males become aggressive toward one another and may eject liquid jets from their cloacas; breeding season occurs primarily during May, but can extend into June; mating coincides with the breeding period of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. lessonae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. ribibundus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; when one male begins the mating call, all others begin to chorus in; females only become aroused when she hears parental species</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> males chorusing in with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. esculentus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> males; when females are attracted, she enters the water; once a male recognizes a female by sight, he quits singing and swims over to her creating an aggregation of males surrounding the female; the group of males then lead the female to an area of dense vegetation where all the males begin their courtship singing; the female prefers the loudest and as judge picks her favorite; the winning male then mounts her and they begin to perform amplexus; in this process, she will oviposit a small clustered ball of eggs that he fertilizes as they exit her cloaca; the female interrupts her egg laying until the male is finished fertilizing, then they both repeat the process until she has laid between 3,000-10,000 </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>P. esculentus</i> tadpole </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eggs; coloration of eggs are brown on top and creamy to white on underside</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; eggs take 2-3 weeks of incubation and hatch in June as tiny 5mm/0.20in tadpoles; although in last stage of larval metamorphosis, the 7cm/2.76in tadpole turns into a 20mm/0.79in young froglet; to be noted here, where cohabiting with parental species, the female <i>P. esculentus</i> prefers the male <i>P. lessonae</i> when present and the male <i>P. ribibundus</i> when present over the male <i>P. esculentus</i>; deformities can result such as an abnormal sacral region when both parents are <i>P. esculentus</i>; this complex hybridogenetic form of reproduction is very rare in nature and together with the 2 parental species and <i>P. esculentus</i> diploids, hybrid populations may also contain triploids with a cell containing 3 sets of chromosomal information material; though by law, there are no protections in the countries where the edible frog was introduced, the population has slightly increased outwards from the introduced ranges; though slightly uncommon in its south easterly range, populations as a whole appear stable and are not threatened.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Bullfrog ~ <i>R. catesbeiana</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> American Bullfrog</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Ranidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Rana</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Rana catebeiana</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Females typically larger, but both sexes can reach 15.2-20.3cm/6-8in SVL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Up to 750g/1.7lbs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 8-10 yrs in wilds; Record in captivity: 16 yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rana catesbeiana</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rana</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin and probably mimicked the sound of how Romans heard and interpreted the frog's call; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">catesbeiana</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> honors Mark Catesby (1682-1749), who was one of the first naturalists to study the flora & fauna of Virginia and produced, 'Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'; altogether refers to, 'Catesby's croaking frog'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><b>istribution:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b>This North American frog is native to central & eastern U.S. extending into the southern portion of Canada in Quebec & Ontario; has been introduced into western portions of U.S. creating patchy populations from state of Washington down through Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, extending into northern Mexico, back up into Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada & Idaho; virtually all of Texas is inhabited once introduced into the extreme west; prefers the banks of still waters such as ponds, swamps and lakes with plenty of vegetation</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b><b> </b><i>R. catesbeiana</i> is the largest frog native to the continent of N. America; bullfrog skull is highly fenestrated (perforated); continuous rows of tiny spiked teeth exists on the maxilla & premaxilla with one pair of vomerine teeth on palate; mandibles support no teeth; though skeletal bullfrog structure represents a true tetrapod, as in all ranids, it bears no ribs; <b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Osteology of <i>R. catesbeiana</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">each </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vertebra </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">has extended pedicles</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; except for longest fourth toe, hind feet are fully webbed; dorsolateral folds end near tympanum by folding around top and body side of the eardrum; this species shows sexual dimorphism; besides females being larger, there is a prominent external tympanum that is the same size as the eye in females and a bit larger in males; throats of males are yellow where females are a creaminess white; the eye's iris is either golden or reddish bronze; overall coloration is highly variable from a lime green to a gray net-like pattern over a green ground color and to a greenish brown; back & sides may possess irregular black spotting; the forelegs & hind legs are barred or spotted with black; ventral underpart is normally an off-white mottled with gray or yellow; there are no designated subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note webbing of hind foot</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Is an opportunistic ambush feeder and will consume any animal that moves near it that can be overpowered and swallowed; included in the frogs diet is an array of animals from insects, worms, snails, crayfish, small reptiles such as turtles & snakes, small birds and small mammals; even other frogs and bullfrog juveniles are taken; the appetite is voracious and is constantly in wait of some animal to eat; where most other large frogs can't, the bullfrog is adept and quite capable of capturing prey underwater; the tadpoles are primarily herbivorous; just as numerous is this frog's prey, so too are its predators; larger turtles, snakes, fish, mammals and birds greedily consume this frog; it is eaten by man throughout its range and in fact the western introductions were initiated solely for the purpose to set-up populations for human consumption. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note male features </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is crepuscular, but mainly nocturnal; is solitary and territorial, rarely encountering one another except during breeding season and males fighting over territory; preferring to remain along the water's edge concealed in vegetation lying in wait for any potential prey, it expends little energy; if a threat appears, it first will choose to flatten body to ground; if the threat ensues in becoming too close for comfort, it will either leap into the water or into the bank's surrounding vegetation; the frog is able to leap a good distance of 1-2m/3.3-9.9ft with its long powerful hind limbs measuring 17.8-25.4cm/7-10in; also uses hind limbs' webbed feet to proficiently and rapidly swim; in kicking out, uses hind limbs only in swimming holding forelimbs out of the way against the sides of body; hibernates throughout its range during the colder months by burrowing into the mud beneath the water</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">;</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Swimming style</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>R. catesbeiana</i> breathes via 3 methods: subcutaneous through the skin, gas exchange through the moist mouth and with a pair of lungs; being highly aquatic it is rare to see this frog venture any distance from its water source; when capturing larger prey such as a vertebrate, it will use its forefeet to help push the prey further down into the mouth; if the prey is struggling or fighting back, the bullfrog will jump underwater in attempts to subdue and drown the prey; in knowing that its vertebrate prey can breathe only in atmospheric air, it would be interesting to know if the frog does this instinctively, or it is a learned behavior; breeding may take place anytime from February to October, but is kicked in high gear from late May up into July; males first collect vying for the best egg depostion spots; males possess a single internal vocal sac that resonates bass tones; to attract females the male begins emitting his famous deep 'jug-o-rum' song that can be heard 0.40km/0.25mi away; most say the 'jug-o-rum' calling is reminiscent of a bull roaring, hence the colloquial name; once a female is attracted, the male initiates </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>R. catesbeiana</i> variable tadpoles</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">amplexus by mounting her and grasping her with his forelimbs </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">posterior to hers</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; the female will oviposit 12,000 eggs while sometimes up to 20,000 over the nesting site the male picked and defended from other male rivals; as the eggs exit the female's cloaca, the male releases his sperm externally fertilizing the eggs; the eggs are laid in a water insoluble film causing the whole egg mass to float on the surface; incubation lasts within one week and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dependent on temperature, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hatch in 4-5 days; most tadpoles after hibernating, fully metamorphose into froglets in their second year, but some remain as tadpoles until their third year; tadpoles can be large reaching lengths of 125-150mm/4.92-5.91in; the larger the tadpole, the larger it will be as a frog; tadpole coloration is as varied as adults and appears to be dependent on geographical range; folks that consume the frog legs and upper rear back purport the bulky muscles taste a little like chicken; 'frog giggin' as the term of hunting bullfrogs is called, is conducted at night with a spotlight and trident; guided by the sound of the rumping bullfrog, the light is shone on the eyes temporarily immobilizing the frog, then after slowly moving </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">within reach, the bullfrog is gigged with the forked trident; regardless of the pressures of human consumption, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">R. catesbeiana</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is not considered as threatened. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Owl Frog ~ <i>H. australiacus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Owl Frog</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Myobatrachidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Heleioporus </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Heleioporus australiacus</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 60-100mm/2.36-3.94in </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: > 100gm/3.53oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown, but possibly at least up to 10 yrs due to size and slow metabolism </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heleioporus australiacus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heleio</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek for 'marsh' while </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">porus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is also Greek meaning 'opening' in reference to pores; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">australiacus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> refers to 'pertaining to Australia; altogether refers to, 'porous marsh frog of Australia'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b><b> </b>This endemic species is confined to two sub populations with range constricted to the eastern slopes of the Hawkesbury Sandstone region in southeastern Australia's coastal range; is found from near sea level to 1,000m/3,300ft in elevation and as far inland as 100km/62.14mi; northern population inhabits the dry Sydney basin while the more southerly population inhabits wetter montane woodlands in Jervis Bay; there is a 100km/62.14mi distance between the 2 disjunct populations; there may be specimens in between that have not been detected due to little & limited studies; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">though species lives in two different habitats, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prefers areas dominated by </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sandstone plains</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> bushlands or </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dry & wet sclerophyllous woodlands</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Also known as the 'giant burrowing frog,' this species is one of Australia's largest frogs; is rotund with portly but stout limbs; there are traces of webbing on the hind feet with no webbing on the forefeet; metatarsal tubercle is unpigmented flesh; dorsal side is warty with ventral underside being slightly smooth to granular; parotoid and tibial glands are absent; snout is very short and rounded; tympanum is distinct and ~ same size as eye; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heleioporus </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note short snout</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">australiacus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> exhibits dimorphism with </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">th</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e male having the sides, arms and portions of the back covered in black warts capped with fleshy but hard spines; pupils are vertically elliptical with silver irises; in both populations, there is great variability in coloration; dorsum ranges in color from light brown to a rich deep chocolate to black; sides range from a light gray to bluish usually with random yellow warts; most of the time there is a yellowish splash underneath the front limbs; behind the mouth on each side a row of lumpy yellow spots are normally present; ventrum is an off-white usually with some brown on the throat area; tadpoles are from gray to brown to ash black; tadpole physique is much different than typical tadpole features in being flattened with a disc shaped head that might remind one of limulids (horseshoe crabs); </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">though the species lives in two different habitats it has been determined that it is indeed one species conforming and acclimating to varying environments, instead of those environments catering to two species specialized needs; although a small gene study did lend towards two distinct species, more work needs to be done to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">verify; therefore, currently there are no subspecies</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgirpSjtMraZ8LUuqfQGrJ-uwb6AhPPaZRxoCpZBi1OuaHzkuNVO8t6ABfuCgBeg8YOzIqFSPMZBNTv21LTWdhvB6vn-6_rps-2eX698HhTE_kp7PqyiPQ_XJ3TUdxIgb_OQVhSOOAFsM/s1600/Heleioporus+australiacus+eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgirpSjtMraZ8LUuqfQGrJ-uwb6AhPPaZRxoCpZBi1OuaHzkuNVO8t6ABfuCgBeg8YOzIqFSPMZBNTv21LTWdhvB6vn-6_rps-2eX698HhTE_kp7PqyiPQ_XJ3TUdxIgb_OQVhSOOAFsM/s200/Heleioporus+australiacus+eye.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note: silver iris & tympanum</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is considered a generalist predator consuming invertebrates, including terrestrial & flying insects, centipedes, spiders and scorpions; ants appear to make-up the bulk of its diet; foxes, laughing kookaburras (<i>Dacelo novaeguineae</i>) and the red-bellied black snake (<i>Pseudechis porphyriacus</i>) are natural predators of the frog primarily during its breeding season when the frog is more out in the open; far more mortality rates are due to domestic cats and road kill</span>.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">H</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> The occurrence of this frog is limited to an 80,000 squared km or 49710 miles squared; even within that range they are located usually when breeding in the open; in being a burrowing frog, are rarely encountered; when located and cornered will go into a defensive display in stiffening its legs raising the body while also inflating with air to appear larger; in </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVgBlokZEzKZGJfN5eKZTBsSqVZwwPTIyOINVxbXMfhYyN_KmMsmbIpq518ET2YPIDLzmaY0WtyqT6neBoinE-ZFtZqUo4x4o_PQpID0YeL1cKLLMTIgI9CXThdaP49cBXJoe5uX6FlNz/s1600/Heleioporus+australiacus2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVgBlokZEzKZGJfN5eKZTBsSqVZwwPTIyOINVxbXMfhYyN_KmMsmbIpq518ET2YPIDLzmaY0WtyqT6neBoinE-ZFtZqUo4x4o_PQpID0YeL1cKLLMTIgI9CXThdaP49cBXJoe5uX6FlNz/s200/Heleioporus+australiacus2.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Defensive posturing </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> another defensive pose</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this defensive pose, a creamish and toxic irritant is exuded from skin secretions all the while the frog is emitting a mournful cry; i</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f that </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">doesn't alleviate the threat and an encounter pursues, males will powerfully thrust their forelegs utilizing the spikes as a piercing and rasping weapon on whatever gets between its forelegs, whether it be a male opponent, a potenrial predator or a misguided human finger; is nocturnal spending most of the daytime avoiding detection burrowed underground; also burrows during unfavorable conditions and to hibernate & aestivate; heavy rains will bring them above ground; will range widely moving up to 300m/990ft from its home range; usually burrows its own hole, but taking up other animal burrows is not uncommon; excavates with rear legs reversing in a revolving manner until whole body is covered there are 3 types of burrows: 1) temporary burrows for hiding away which are shallow just beneath the surface; these are used for avoidance of predators & fires; 2) aestivation & hibernation burrows are much deeper and usually located in stream banks or near ponds; other animals may share this burrow; 3) breed </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. australiacus</i> tadpole</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">burrows have two openings located in banks of slow moving creek lines & pond areas</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; male calls from within or near these breed burrows or within vegetative debris initiates female response; call is much like an owl's hooting o,f "ou-ou-ou-ou-ou" lasting up to 2 second intervals; thus the common name of owl frog; males call year round, but are most active in the months of December through February; once the female is attracted, amplexus occurs within the burrow chamber with the male utilizing his spines to clasp the female; eggs are simultaneously deposited and fertilized in a moist foamy mass inside the chamber; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">foamy egg clutches contain between 40-1200 eggs; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hatching of the eggs and early development begins within the breed burrows, or vegetative debris; coinciding with rain, later, a subsequent heavy rain will flush out the tadpoles into the more permanent body of water they were first laid near; tadpoles take from 12 weeks up to 6 months for full metamorphosis with the later developing tadpoles hibernating first before fully developing in warmer weather; due to development of their confined habitat, <i>H. australiacus</i> is listed as threatened.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Common midwife ~ <i>A. obstetricans</i> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Common Midwife Toad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Discoglossidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Alytes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Alytes obstetricans</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Up to 55mm/2.17 SVL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 8.40-9.65gm/0.30-0.34oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Ave: 5yrs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alytes obstetricans</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alytes</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek meaning 'entwined' or 'linked'; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">obstetricans</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'midwife' for the reason that during mating, the male inserts a toe into the female's cloaca to aid her in egg laying; altogether refers to the 'linked midwife toad'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As native, this frog occurs wholly or in parts of 9 European countries in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain & Switzerland; has been introduced into the United Kingdom; breeding & larval water habitat preference varies greatly from ponds to creeks to slow rivers ranging from sea level to an elevation of 2400m/7,920ft in the Pyrenees, Massif Central & the Alps, but is uncommon above 1500m/4950ft; prime adult land habitat is stony or sandy slopes and embankments; prefers ground with lots of sun exposure and little vegetation; has established large colonies in gravel or clay pits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">escription:</b><b> </b>This species is a small, but stocky frog; sexual dimorphism is evident with female normally a bit larger than males in a population, though both sexes can reach 55mm SVL; there are other minor differences between sexes such as distance between nostrils than eyes are large with vertically elliptical pupils; parotoid glands are present but small, tympanum is also small but usually visibly apparent; dorsal skin is warty on body & legs; there exist glands complexes located in underarms & ankles; often reddish warts extend in a line from the tympanum to loin area; overall body coloration varies from a dorsum dark gray to yellowish orange with some specimens being light green with darker green warts; Ventrum is a dirty white with throat & chest area often spotted with gray; There are currently 4 recognized subspecies:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Female, note row of reddish warts</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. o. obstetricans</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. o. almogavarri</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. o. boscai</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. o. pertinax</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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D</span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet: </b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This little frog feeds on smaller invertebrates with half of its diet consisting of spiders and beetles; food intake is rounded off with other terrestrial insects, flying insects, pillbugs, slugs, snails and worms; when breeding the frog does not eat; tadpoles are primarily herbivores eating plant and organic material; once metamorphosing into a froglet the intestines shorten aiding in converting the animal into a carnivore; primary predators that prey on adults are fish in particular introduced fish) during males release of hatching eggs into water; other than fish natural predation is low due to toxins secreted by parotoid glands and dorsal warts; certain individuals of bird species will take the frog though; tadpoles are consumed by water bugs, fish & the viperine water snake, <i>Natrix maura</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVWDhQ1ye4_QOqoW7ffpeoE7PYiyqTBJh6ARUlONlAI6MoAJ50uKqu4Uenv3I1EnnAcZBqqGLCQNMuHyEw8b2a1aKbbrSr-Vo61ga1o0WEVl_Ao5aGAijEV8REy7tud8QAUUPZVGAsA5q/s1600/Alytes+obststricans2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVWDhQ1ye4_QOqoW7ffpeoE7PYiyqTBJh6ARUlONlAI6MoAJ50uKqu4Uenv3I1EnnAcZBqqGLCQNMuHyEw8b2a1aKbbrSr-Vo61ga1o0WEVl_Ao5aGAijEV8REy7tud8QAUUPZVGAsA5q/s200/Alytes+obststricans2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male with eggs inflating</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> As a lot of frogs in defense, this terrestrial species also inflates the front portion of its body with air, accommodated by the tucking in of their limbs underneath body; inflated posture is held up to 5 seconds; lives on land as an adult, but usually no more than 100m/330ft from water permanence; in hottest months to retain moisture, though sometimes occupying other animal dugouts will usually dig a burrow themselves with their paunchy forelimbs and hideout there during daytime heat; the high pitched whistle-like calls are described as, 'poo-poo-poo' and are reproduced every 1 to 3 seconds; males don't sound until after March into late summer, though in colder regions, may sing until November; this frog is best known for its male paternal care of eggs; reproduction takes place in spring and</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXk7qMjuenswx4Jpl1x_XDF8GAIOJcMeNVicpaNXGjs6kpGXoRUdVumWZx42nlLwCHrcRcOUi2SXbaMJ220MhlSQGQnBumvz_NMwgnV9jbAd-bGBjdt_vItfu7ZjaR8qjM6AXaZi2CBkYY/s1600/Alytes+obststricans+M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXk7qMjuenswx4Jpl1x_XDF8GAIOJcMeNVicpaNXGjs6kpGXoRUdVumWZx42nlLwCHrcRcOUi2SXbaMJ220MhlSQGQnBumvz_NMwgnV9jbAd-bGBjdt_vItfu7ZjaR8qjM6AXaZi2CBkYY/s200/Alytes+obststricans+M.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Male with eggs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">summer </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">months; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">females seek out the male inviting him to mat</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e by stamping her forefeet and gently nudging him; male will then perform amplexus using his hind toes to stimulate her cloaca; within 10-20 minutes he will squeeze female's flanks causing her to stretch her legs and begin laying eggs in a clutch of around 45-50; once inseminating the eggs, the male will then distends the egg mass with his hind legs, ply them alternatively to his body and extend the string of eggs until they wound around his ankles; he will then utilize his front legs to ensure proper adherence of the eggs to his body. females can produce up to 4 clutches of eggs per breeding season and male will mate with other females to add another egg clutch, males can carry up to 3 clutches and with eggs from previous mating twined around his legs and back portion will carry up to 150-170 eggs; females prefer mating with a male is not already carrying an egg clutch and if she does mate with an egg bound male may release less eggs than what </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcX_2wD2itjHTOfWK5T8uchQKgK0wNF9vcaQuJzOg6-EaWJzr2kTocY4xLcyO8xL5eF3TvTF6IOXKq2S2INBcJVUl6lkCZEgnCj3zaGGWVmbOUFgFx_Wffxq8t5TOC_k4cH5eIw2LjrCE/s1600/Alytes+obststricans+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcX_2wD2itjHTOfWK5T8uchQKgK0wNF9vcaQuJzOg6-EaWJzr2kTocY4xLcyO8xL5eF3TvTF6IOXKq2S2INBcJVUl6lkCZEgnCj3zaGGWVmbOUFgFx_Wffxq8t5TOC_k4cH5eIw2LjrCE/s200/Alytes+obststricans+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Egg bound male in day burrow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">she is actually carrying</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; males will carry the eggs for 3-6weeks until they hatch, keeps them from ground contact by keeping hind limbs slightly elevated off ground; during heat of day to avoid egg desiccation, remains in burrows until coolness returns; if the eggs are in danger of drying, will take a dunk in the water to refurbish moisture; depending on climate regions; some males are seen carrying eggs at the end of August; the toxin gland secretions from his warts and parotoids help protect eggs from infection; once the male identifies particular movement from within the egg, it signals the time for release of eggs; the male may pick any permanent or suitable temporary body of cool water that is </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3V6c57-HGGY1hzcRTxryC5AZm0C_47hEQZtSWhf8f1qSRNke_eWCBC3qfy1r67abA0LGHJJDhnwPdZ9qrc_5BdVFtCXmGqXunySBzC-V1nIYv3MPPvQV4ifRSDv8dlto63jYwouyRNV0V/s1600/Alytes+obststricans+tdpl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3V6c57-HGGY1hzcRTxryC5AZm0C_47hEQZtSWhf8f1qSRNke_eWCBC3qfy1r67abA0LGHJJDhnwPdZ9qrc_5BdVFtCXmGqXunySBzC-V1nIYv3MPPvQV4ifRSDv8dlto63jYwouyRNV0V/s200/Alytes+obststricans+tdpl.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. obstetricans</i> tadpole<i> </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stagnant or slow moving where he releases the eggs into the water; within minutes afterward the eggs hatch as tiny larvae 10-17mm/0.39-0.67in long; tadpoles lite speckled brown color creates good camouflage against muddy and sandy water bed; autumn tadpoles will hibernate before turning into froglets the next spring. hibernating tadpoles become large averaging sizes almost as large as the adult frog at 50 mm/1.97in; in exceptional cases there have been hibernating tadpoles observed reaching 100mm/3.94 in length; once tadpoles fully metamorphose, they turn into froglets measuring 12-15mm/0.47-0.59in, then leave the water; though introduced fishes have decimated populations along its northern border range and there have been mass die-offs due to chytrid infection, the species in general is not listed as threatened.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ranita de cristal ~ <i>C. ilex</i></span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ranita de Cristal (Crystal Frog)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Centrolenidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Centrolene</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">Centrolene ilex</u><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span>ength: 28-37mm/1.10-1.46in SVL</span></div>
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Weight: Publishing resources unavailable; ~3.29-8.67g/0.12-0.31oz</div>
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Longevity: Unknown</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centrolene ilex</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ <i>Centro</i> & <i>lene</i> are both Latin meaning 'center' & 'easy' respectively and is in reference to ease of use and positioning of humerus spine in adult males; the specific name, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ilex</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'holly plant,' but in this case is to honor herpetologist, Priscilla Hollister 'Holly' Starrett; altogether refers to 'Holly's centrally located for ease of use humerus spine frog'.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Occurs in isolated pockets of known populations in Colombia, Ecuador and the Caribbean slope of Panama, Nicaragua & Costa Rica; originally was a species of South American landmass that spread out into Central America once Isthmus of Panama land bridge was exposed during Pliocene 3mya; ranges from almost sea level to montane subtropical jungles in elevations up to 1420m/4686ft; is evident in plant life along side streams and small rivers.<br /><br /><b>Description:</b> Was formerly listed under, <i>Centrolenella</i> but genus was broken up into other genera; some taxonomist publishers list this species under the genus name, <i>Sachatamia</i>; as far as glass or ghost frogs go, this species is medium-large sized and is largest glass frog in Central America; most distinguishing feature is the forward pointed eyes sitting on top of the </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSd2bg1Kfgn220OB6ZvKIsBMaa0f6j1ifFZmelroahP-jtcDVfmikWdLj6N5zabc1uapsIHaO71fWJzZJ8lq3BRsXVCPppZhp4ToqWK4HvM_coIuBP8HURyJ3EXzKqTeQJE2IzQA6Xf0t/s1600/Centrolenella+ilex+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSd2bg1Kfgn220OB6ZvKIsBMaa0f6j1ifFZmelroahP-jtcDVfmikWdLj6N5zabc1uapsIHaO71fWJzZJ8lq3BRsXVCPppZhp4ToqWK4HvM_coIuBP8HURyJ3EXzKqTeQJE2IzQA6Xf0t/s200/Centrolenella+ilex+eyes.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note distinguishing eyes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">head; iris</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is silver with reticulated black markings; pupils are horizontally elliptical; prominent nostrils are are protuberant resting on a bony elevated ridge; exterior tympanum is evident but indistinct; vomerine teeth are present in transverse rows the choanae (openings between nasal cavities & nasopharynx) and are medially separated; limbs are spindly with extensive webbing on hind toes, while webbing is only evident on outer toes of forelimbs; toe discs are truncate; sexual dimorphism is evident with females reaching 37mm/1.46in when males only reach 28mm/1.10in; only adult males have a humeral spine embedded within the foreleg musculature; males also possess a white nuptial fore thumb pad located on dorsal and lateral surface; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">located on dorsal and lateral surface; </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7sQavOgmXfLFaQfZ9AYE_G10jeEVP2R24PeJ-FCwWRTD2L5pI6thzAi4X3nYxkMxprEN9rFCBSam7bgVj0iXKuArt0RsVifk5M5U34-7n92QyS7U-Ko-fHWcM0cq1yxMicz673v16uVE/s1600/Centrolenella+ilex+Dante+Fenolio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7sQavOgmXfLFaQfZ9AYE_G10jeEVP2R24PeJ-FCwWRTD2L5pI6thzAi4X3nYxkMxprEN9rFCBSam7bgVj0iXKuArt0RsVifk5M5U34-7n92QyS7U-Ko-fHWcM0cq1yxMicz673v16uVE/s200/Centrolenella+ilex+Dante+Fenolio.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The more rare spotted specimen</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">dorsum and limbs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are a leaf green with a whitish rim trimming the mouth; feet are yellowish green; ventral is transparent with no pigmentation revealing internal organs and eggs encased in females; digestive tract is also unpigmented, but a white peritoneal sheath covers internal organs; the bones appear dark green; white pigmentation may be evident on flanks; on rare occasion, white dots are evident on dorsum; there are no current subspecies listed.<br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Adults consume small terrestrial or aerial invertebrates such as insects and spiders; tadpoles graze on alga and decomposing organic debris; predation on this frog ranges from snakes, birds, arboreal mammals, larger tree frogs and fish consume tadpoles; below 500m/1,650ft frog-eating bats can be a predator distinguishing the frog's call from poisonous tree frogs.<br /> <br /><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. ilex</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is nocturnal and arboreal spending the daytime hunkered down sleeping on leaves near streams; has the ability to change its dorsum green color to match exactly the gree</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note white sheath</span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">shade of leaf its resting on; toe bones are T-shaped to support the surface area of wide toepads used to adhere to vertical substrate; with a distinct neck and rounded head along with directly forward positioned eyes, this frog most likely has stereoscopic vision for maneuvering in lower canopy; males are territorial and will wrestle with another male intruder once entering his designated leaves' zone; it was originally theorized the humeral spines were utilized to clasp the female during amplexus; but further observations concluded that the spines are used in male combat where the wrestling opponent is pinned between the spine and foreleg; during the breeding season, males, facing toward</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s tip </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDHDJL05rHNAjfWfcXi3RNmujBsjbz6sggi24yHoGVAVucOtqDjNhyaAVdjReJvl9LJgLyhlO3VRbX4tNjjsJm30yCL0ClTSxHoWFWfJDzLZhl8R2t0yqpOWDqxsbyvE1PIPNhFp3qkYb/s1600/Centrolenella+ilex+vntrm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDHDJL05rHNAjfWfcXi3RNmujBsjbz6sggi24yHoGVAVucOtqDjNhyaAVdjReJvl9LJgLyhlO3VRbX4tNjjsJm30yCL0ClTSxHoWFWfJDzLZhl8R2t0yqpOWDqxsbyvE1PIPNhFp3qkYb/s200/Centrolenella+ilex+vntrm.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Translucent ventrum showing eggs</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of leaf it is on, calls in repetitive single high pitched 'clicks;' click intervals are repeated every several minutes; once a receptive female arrives, amplexus takes place; eggs are externally fertilized; the female deposits her darkened eggs on the top surface of an overhanging leaf above running water; the egg clutch is encased in a clear & wet gelatinous mass; in laying eggs on plants, the clutch is less vulnerable to predation than those laid directly in water; to keep parasitic fly larvae from attacking egg clutch, parents may guard the eggs consuming or chasing away any flies that might lay their eggs on the egg clutch; upon hatching, the tadpoles fall off into the water and immediately going into hiding within the stream bottom's pebbles; the tadpoles are streamlined and elongated with efficacious tails and able low fins geared for faster flowing waters; though in late 1980s this species' </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Costa Rican populations</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">were decimated after being infected with a primitive water borne pathogen (chytrid fungus) it is not listed as threatened; but, continual deforestation which is heaviest along stream lines where this frog lives may indeed threaten the species; if overhanging plants along streams are greatly reduced, <i>C. ilex</i> will become extinct as its egg laying strategy will be taken away.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Couch's Spadefoot ~ <i>S. couchii</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Couch's Spadefoot Toad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Scaphiopodidae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Scaphiopus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Scaphiopus couchii</u></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 5.6-8.8cm/2.25-3.5in SVL; ave: 6cm/2.36in </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">eight: 17.18-33.13gm/0.61-1.69oz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 13yrs in the wild</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scaphiopus couchii</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Skaphis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek for 'shovel/spade' while </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">pous</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is also Greek for 'foot';</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">couchii </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">honors the zoologist, Darius Nash Couch (1822-1897) who first discovered this frog; altogether is </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in reference of, 'Couch's spade footed frog</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Is a N. American frog; range extends from all of central-west Texas into southwestern Oklahoma for northernmost boundary and down into the northern border area of Mexico westwards through southern New Mexico, southern Arizona ending in southeas</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Prime breeding habitat<i> </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">corridor of California & northeast Baja; found in a variety of arid habitat suitable for burrowing including desert, scrubland, shrubland, mesquite savannas; deciduous woodlands and in rocky outcrops where sandy soil is available. <br /> <br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription: </b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Formerly listed under </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pelobatidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; due to recent mtDNA analysis, phylogenetic relationships proved Eurasian spadefoots are a sister group to megophryrids and are not monophyletic with N. American spadefoots; Eurasian spadefoots remained under </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pelobatidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, while N. American spadefoots were given the new family listing, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scaphiopodidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> over the two genera listings of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scaphiopus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spea</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; spadefoots are only commonly named toads because they appear physically as toad-like, but they are truly </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">not toads; physical similaritie</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s simply</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note spade located on hind feet</span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are convergent evolution as there are actually many morphological, anatomical and physiological differences between the 2 groups; Most striking feature of this frog are the black keratinized sickle-shaped spades located on each hind foot; unlike toads, spadefoots lack a raised cranial boss across eyes; possess small dorsum warts, but skin is smoother and wetter than true toads; there is an absence of parotoid glands in spadefoots; osteological differences is the coccyx of spadefoots is fused to the sacral vertebra with the sacrum having expanded diaophyses (a vertebra transverse process that is an outgrowth of the neural arch on the dorsal side); <i>S. couchii</i> has 8 presacral vertebrae that are procoelous (where vertebra is concave anteriorly & convex posteriorly); eyes are vertically elliptical; hind feet are nearly fully webbed where is mostly absent on forefeet; Sexual dimorphism is evident with females being larger and more marked; it is common for male individuals to be typically patternless; coloration is variable from green to greenish yellow to brown yellow; dorsum is mottled with dark green, brown or black markings being more distinct in females; ventrum is a pale white in both sexes; tadpoles are iridescent with a golden sheen over a coppery bronze hue; there are no subspecies currently listed.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6wCWqCTEB_NCrRe6wx1LZtao9aXgf1gS8cPuu-JSneNVMsx0p8vBjaAfZnAvLtc3DQq4w_h46DVlhNJRIIGwY4-CJZe__gz7WV2QcJ7ZuaNP7HJRGy9ARozPHN0xZuh3ySF3UuPOhOWq/s1600/Scaphiopus+couchi+mt'ng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6wCWqCTEB_NCrRe6wx1LZtao9aXgf1gS8cPuu-JSneNVMsx0p8vBjaAfZnAvLtc3DQq4w_h46DVlhNJRIIGwY4-CJZe__gz7WV2QcJ7ZuaNP7HJRGy9ARozPHN0xZuh3ySF3UuPOhOWq/s200/Scaphiopus+couchi+mt'ng.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWwUcQLxauSJC2__hvJEWfgN6cmcGvjXDmOU9KHPGQZuLbnXvxCfHf6_1FEFZQOKGUetU3qp1-U_-sL2V7D3vsTpdAl330NJrxKGREZOTDI0QwnLRtPOb4Vjx-YKKl7O-nxVq4Nnap6GH/s1600/Scaphiopus+couchi+mt'ng1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWwUcQLxauSJC2__hvJEWfgN6cmcGvjXDmOU9KHPGQZuLbnXvxCfHf6_1FEFZQOKGUetU3qp1-U_-sL2V7D3vsTpdAl330NJrxKGREZOTDI0QwnLRtPOb4Vjx-YKKl7O-nxVq4Nnap6GH/s200/Scaphiopus+couchi+mt'ng1.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">In above photos, note variable coloration in individuals & varying color in male and female during amplexus</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D</span><b style="text-align: justify;">iet:</b><span style="text-align: justify;"> This frog, when on surface in spring and summer will virtually eat anything that moves and can be stuffed down its throat; primary food are invertebrates such as insects and arachnids, snails, but in particular winged termites that begin to swarm when the frog comes out of hibernation; termites are an essential diet which are high in protein and fat content; good for a frog when inactive in </span><span style="text-align: justify;">hibernating most of year; tadpoles are omnivores consuming a variety of water borne organic matter from humus rich mud, algae, rotting plant debris, bacteria, small invertebrates and bodies of dead tadpoles; in a tadpole population, most are omnivores with small mouthparts; a few though with large mouthparts are still omnivorous, but carnivorous habits are more evident and will swallow their smaller omnivorous brethren whole, making them also cannibalistic; although possesses a skin secretion that acts as an irritant and may sway some predators, predation on these frogs abound from visiting shorebirds, crows, </span><span style="text-align: justify;">raccoons</span><span style="text-align: justify;">, snakes, in particular: </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Heterodon nasicus</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Thamnophis marcianus</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, the Sonoran Desert toad, <i>Incilius alvarius</i> consumes juveniles & adults; predaceous aquatic dytiscid beetle larvae attack tadpoles, while carabid tiger beetles in the subfamily, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Cicindelinae</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> will attack newly metamorphosed froglets</span><span style="text-align: justify;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Habits:</b> This frog spends 8-10 months out of the year hibernating in burrows and is well adapted due to this in living in arid environments; dig burrows by backing into ground with hind limbs aided by spades; rocking the body as they dig, soil is thrown upwards falling onto the backs of the body; adults are nocturnal when on land, seeking refuge under rotting logs or plant debris during daylight hours; will become active diurnally during a passing thunderstorm; newly metamorphosed froglets do show diurnal activity until they burrow to </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>S. couchii</i> burrowing</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hibernate; has the ability to eat up to 55% of body weight in a single day; once this is done once or twice, it is enough to get the frog through its hibernation period; in hibernating underground; stores nitrogenous wastes to conserve body water; fluid concentration on average is 600 mOsm/l; urea in urine accounts for half that concentration; dilated bladder stores urine which may be utilized to replace body fluid deficits; stores and metabolizes fat; the monogenean, <i>Pseudodiplorchis americanus</i> (a type of flatworm) infects the frog by entering the bladder and feeding off the frogs blood; it would appear that during hibernation, this could be fatal to the frog; but even with heavy infestation of up to 35-95 flatworms per frog, <i>S. couchii</i> may be weak and have great loss of body fat, but survives to end its hibernation and replenish food stocks with no evidence of mortality; the signal of emergence from hibernation are the oncoming signs of spring thunderstorms; are cued by thunder and the low frequency sounds of raindrops; they are described as local migrants as they can migrate up to 200km/124.27mi from hibernation grounds to breeding waters; <i>S. couchii</i> are prolific breeders with all congregating in mass around and in temporary rainwater washes, ephemeral ponds or vernal pools to mate;</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Tadpoles</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">though most breeding is timed for first year's thunderstorm, breeding adults are from 2-10 years old; breeding does occur when rain presents itself throughout summer; the males call in water with a plaintive low 'wbaa-wbaa' much like a sheep bleating; most mating and oviposition occurs on first night, once amplectic external fertilization of eggs take place the female lays up to 3,000 eggs adhering them to submerged structures such as plant stalks or sticks; <i>S. couchii</i> eggs & larvae are one of the fastest developing frogs and the fastest in N. America; dependent on temperature, eggs hatch anywhere from 15-36 hours; while tadpoles fully metamorphose into froglets within 7-8 days; the drying of water beds accelerates development, but the quicker developing tadpoles result in smaller sized froglets; the quick mating, egg incubation development and full metamorphosis of larvae are all in response to the drying up of the temporary water bodies; fully metamorphosed juveniles remain by the drying up water for a few days then move to shrub cover until the soil completely dries up where they then burrow into cracks in seeking refuge; they now are nocturnal emerging with the adults at night to forage until they follow adults to permanently burrow and hibernate for the dry season; this species is listed with stable populations and is not threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> False tomato frog ~ <i>D. guineti</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">False Tomato Frog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Microhylidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Dyscophus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Dyscophus guineti</u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: ♂ ~ 63.5mm/2.5in; ♀ ~ 101.6mm/4in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ♂ ~ 40.1gm/1.41oz; ♀ ~</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 222.55gm/7.85oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 5-10yrs; maximum: 13yrs in wilds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Dyscophus guineti</i> ~ <i>Dyscophus</i> is derived from the Greek word <i>duskophos</i> meaning 'discoid' in reference to flat circular back; <i>guienti</i> honors the French merchant, M. Guinet, who provided the first specimens to science; altogether refers to, 'Guinet's disc-shaped frog'.<br /><br /><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The false tomato frog is one of 3 tomato frogs belonging to the genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dyscophus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that all are only found occurring naturally on the island of Madagascar; the 3 are: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D. guineti</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D. antongilli</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D. insularis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; further, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D. guineti</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is restricted to patched areas along the eastern rainforests' rim of the island; prefers low lying subtropical-tropical forests with stagnant or very slow moving waters; readily accepts shallow pools and swamp habitat.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSm5y7HXSWnD4rREQIbyvlE9xaHOG0_NuIUK-uqbADIMjmwWXqG7enD50jIEDF4PKipNuRXhCDVwzRZezog9MrY7m4HGIkf0bpuT3afIQPrc207hKF0unVVi41cTzhilMuUkaxFt9RjDyD/s1600/Dyscophus+guineti+flt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSm5y7HXSWnD4rREQIbyvlE9xaHOG0_NuIUK-uqbADIMjmwWXqG7enD50jIEDF4PKipNuRXhCDVwzRZezog9MrY7m4HGIkf0bpuT3afIQPrc207hKF0unVVi41cTzhilMuUkaxFt9RjDyD/s200/Dyscophus+guineti+flt.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note flat dorsum & dorsolateral fold</span> </td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Most distinguishing feature besides color is the flatness of back and the extended dorsolateral folds on each side; even though this frog belongs to the family; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Microhylidae</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, referring to small narrow mouthed frogs, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D. guineti</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, by no means is little nor possesses a small mouth; microhylid taxonomy is more complicated than that, where morphology presents similarities in short snouts, stout hind limbs, orbicular & teardrop-shaped bodies; skin is primarily smooth and moist; although indistinct, tympanum is one-third the size of eye; set within a green iris, the pupil is slightly horizontally elliptical; the body is short and stocky; toes are long and thin with no webbing on front toes, while hind feet possess very little expressed </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTs2UmxTXhHYBms16YkO_OsbZvz1YrvBHbg75pqH4xmz69kqBccye6oZwdNApBQep-uCViJbhmA0gd_Uio2fAfFn-Um2289dC51JXtMajLhnLb2lU-bNpLPQSERQAA-3GqnbQw-_azkp4R/s1600/Dyscophus+guineti+Francesco+Vitali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTs2UmxTXhHYBms16YkO_OsbZvz1YrvBHbg75pqH4xmz69kqBccye6oZwdNApBQep-uCViJbhmA0gd_Uio2fAfFn-Um2289dC51JXtMajLhnLb2lU-bNpLPQSERQAA-3GqnbQw-_azkp4R/s200/Dyscophus+guineti+Francesco+Vitali.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Note lack of feet webbing</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">membrane webbing; tibiotarsal articulation reaches tympanum when forelegs are folded; sexual dimorphism is evident in female being larger and brighter in color than male; toes on both sexes usually are tipped white; normally there is a rhomboid dark marking beginning at the back of the eyes extending down the sides below the dorsolateral folds ending at mid-flank; also a wide dark stripe may appear connecting the eye with the mouth; overall conspicuous dorsum & leg coloration varies from shades of orange to reddish brown in some males, while some are yellowish; often there are many small darker reddish orange reticulations; ventrum is white to a creamy white to offish yellow usually with black spotting on throat; juveniles display a bluish gray body and a dorsal dullish tan brown, which becomes brighter as they age; there are no subspecies.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Yellow specimen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> False tomato frogs are hearty eaters and will dine primarily on terrestrial arthropods and their larvae such as insects and spiders; are not particularly good swimmers, but occasionally will go after aquatic invertebrates along shoreline; may also take small vertebrates and at times will exhibit cannibalism with small juveniles being taken by adults; juveniles consume smaller invertebrates while tadpole larvae are filter feeders straining any organic material suspended or settled in water; due to body mucous secretions of frog, there are no known habitual predators except for the casual one that hasn't learned yet the lesson of seizing a false tomato frog. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHvetFxY-v03FadJnSDTNlilb0540b5GtwdBw5pbBnjaP-0d-AC0hOOxeEcEPHYbcqyPGXHFGirX80myfSM6DqYrmo5vOu47MLOuhcHqh3MMtQwOMGfEyHydSuuuwQ49vnRuTI6ZbV-Al/s1600/Dyscophus+guineti+jvnl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHvetFxY-v03FadJnSDTNlilb0540b5GtwdBw5pbBnjaP-0d-AC0hOOxeEcEPHYbcqyPGXHFGirX80myfSM6DqYrmo5vOu47MLOuhcHqh3MMtQwOMGfEyHydSuuuwQ49vnRuTI6ZbV-Al/s200/Dyscophus+guineti+jvnl.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> juvenile coloration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> This frog is primarily nocturnal; during daytime, usually stays put and concealed excavated down to 6cm/2.4in in ground litter just near a water bodies' edge; at night prefers to walk when foraging, but will hop and jump when need arises; hunting is usually terrestrial, but will also go in shallow water to forage; utilizes ambush strategy; when prey is sighted will hop or lunge toward victim then flick the sticky tongue out to capture prey and bring it back into mouth for swallowing; primarily found in habitat averaging 26.7° C /80° F, but is tolerant of temperatures ranging from 10-35° C/50-95° F from sea level to an elevation of 900m/2,970ft; most restrictive range is humidity, requiring 70-80% humid conditions to keep moist skin from desiccation; the hard & large inner metatarsal tubercule located on underside of each foot protects feet from forest debris and aids in digging; for defense, the frog will stand up on all legs and bloat itself by inhaling air to make it appear larger than actually is; if this bluff doesn't work and is grabbed by a predator, it will secrete a milky & adhering protease peptide from its cheek areas that act as an efficacious irritant to mucous membranes, such as mouth and eyes; peptide is a trypsin inhibitor and most probably had</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Bloated from air inhalation</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">originally evolved as an antimicrobial aid to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">combat invasive microorganisms; predator deterrence was an alternative evolvemen</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; although the proteinase inhibitor found in the frog's skin is not a true poison, once in contact with the sticky substance some humans can experience from mild to serious allergic reactions; the inhibitor congeals once interacting with mucous membranes and in taking days to degrade, will give a careless predator or human days of grief in temporary blindness and blockage of mucous lined orifices such as the mouth & throat; reproduction occurs during cooler months of year; males will first enter stagnant or slow moving shallow waters to begin calling; call is described as a fast rhythm of 'papa-papa-papa;' amplexus is performed in water; as the female releases her eggs, male inseminates; female oviposits between 1,000-1500 eggs on the water's surface; larvae hatch from only a 36 hour incubation period; upon hatching; tadpoles are 0.6cm/0.25in in length upon hatching; within a year tadpoles fully metamorphose into juveniles; maturity for juveniles is reached in 9-14 months; this frog tends to adapt to man's natural habitat destruction and is currently not listed as threatened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">AMPHIBIAN PHOTO CREDITS:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DISCUSSION:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 1. George Dewey; 2. illustrator Bob Strauss; 3. top/Jervik, middle/Clack, bottom/Ahlberg; 4. illustrator Nobu Tamura; 5. illustrator Nobu Tamura; 6. sketch artist Alain Beneteau; 7. source: Prehistoric Planet; 8. illustrator George Langford (1876-1964)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">.</span><br />
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S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">IRENS:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 1. Jack Dermid; 2. </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lbricephoto/sets/72157619316991045/with/5924712508/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Laurie Brice</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> (wildlife photographer).</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Siren Species:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>P. axanthus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Todd Pierson (2010); 2. U.S. Geological Survey. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>S. intermedia texana</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Barry Mansell. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>S. lacertina</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. D. Byres; 2. source: Bluegrass Aquatics.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">CAECILIANS:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 1. Ashley Gosselin Ildari; 2. courtesy: Marvalee Wake; 3. illustrator Nobu Tamura.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caecilian Species:</span><span style="color: purple;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. eiselti</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. R. A. Nussbaum. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>S. thomense</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. source: California Academy of Sciences; 2. D. Lin (Weckerphoto - GG III); 3. R. A. Nussbaum; 4. John Measey. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>D. mexicanus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Jonathan Campbell (UTA); 2. Joel Sartare; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>H. squalostoma</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Peter Janzen; 2. Dante Fenolio; 3. Frank Teigler; 4. Dante Fenolio. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>G. danieli</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Varad Giri; 2. Varad Giri. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>S. annulatus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Andres Acosta; 2. Andres Acosta; 3. M. Wilkinson, compiled by Mark Wilkinson, Alexander Kupfer, Rafael Marques-Porto, Hilary Jenkins, Marta M. Antoniazzi & Carlos Jared. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>S. kirkii</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. source: coxi.blog.83fc2.com (Serpent Gothique); 2. source: Alexi Mikailov.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>U. menoni</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Virek Philip Cyriec; 2. Varad Giri.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>I. kohtaoensis</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. Nonn Panltuong; 2. Wynaad 2005 (Wikimedia Commons); 3. Marvalee Wake; 4. Nonn Panltuong; 5. source: blog.livedoor.jp (Japan); 6. blog.livedoor.jp (Japan). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>R. bivittatum</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1.Henrik Brengs<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ø</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e; 2. source: Natural History Museum (London). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>T. natans</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. courtesy: Fort Worth Zoo; 2. Klaus Draeby; 3. Mikalia31 (You Tube)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">.</span> <br />
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SALAMANDERS: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">1. illustrator Dustdevil; 2.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> illustrator Michael Skrepnick; 3. Joe Garcia; 4,5&6 source: courses.wahington.edu; 7. source G.L. Guillermo amersol.edu.pe; 8. Gary Mezaros; 9. Stephan M. Deban. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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F</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ROGS:<span style="color: blue;"> 1. source: thalabeach.com.au (Australia); 2. source: batrachos.com (Russia); 3. Kevin Walsh; 4. Todd Marshall; 5. Justin Touchon & Karen Warkentin; 6. Michael & Patricia Fogden; 7. J. Andrews.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Frog species: <i><span style="color: purple;">B. exsul</span></i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. & 2. Gary Nafis; 3. Dan Suzio; 4. Gary Nafis; 5. Ceal Kingler.</span><span style="color: purple;"><i> </i><i>R. dorsalis</i></span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. & 2. Paddy Ryan; 3. Pstevendactylus, source: Wikimedia commons; 4. Scott Wahlberg; 5. Guillermo Lopez Leal. 6. courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">A. callidryas</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Carey James Balboa; 2. Dr. Peter Weish; 3. Jenny de Malaga ; 4. Gerry Marantelli ; 5. Jazu; 6. Robbin Moran; 7. Dr. Peter Janzen. </span><i style="color: purple;">P. terribilis</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Devin Edmonds; 2. source: frogpod.blog; 3. source: z00z00.livejournal.com (Flying Ark ZOOZOO); 4. source: Mongabay.com; 5. source: dendrobatenwelt.de (Germany). </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">L. pakeka</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Phil Bishop; 2. IUCN Red List/Frogs Australia Network; 3. & 4. Dr. Paddy Ryan; 5. courtesy: Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. </span><i style="color: purple;">C. gayi</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Felipe Rabanal; 2. Rune Midtgaard; 3. source: pacmanfrogs.de (Germany); 4. & 5. courtesy: Fundacion Jardin Botanico Nacional. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">L. fragilis</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Esteban Alzate; 2. Isaac Lopez; 3. Andrey Anzofeifa; 4. Kevin Kriger, courtesy of Save the Frogs (STF); 5. Marcos Guerra. </span><i style="color: purple;">P. kl. esculentus</i><span style="color: blue;">- courtesy of Surrey Amphibian and Reptile Group (SARG); 2. Peter Switzer; 3. Anna S. source: Wikipedia; 4. Milan Vogrin; 5. courtesy of SARG. </span><i style="color: purple;">R. catesbeiana</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Jim Harding; 2. Dr. Udo M. Savilli; 3. Dwight Kuhn; 4. Richard Seaman; 5. Douglas Alden Peterson; 6. courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Interior/U.S. Geological Survey. </span><i style="color: purple;">H. australiacus</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. David Nixon; 2. courtesy: New South Wales Government Environment Dept. 3. courtesy: South Coast Herpetological Society Inc.; 4. Ben Brown; 5. Frank Lemckert; 6. Tnarg 12345. </span><i style="color: purple;">A. obstetricans</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Daniel Phillips; 2. Jordi B. Colomar; 3. Hardworkinghippie (Flikr); 4. Hugo F. Sousa; 5. Hardworkinghippie (Flikr); 6. </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Daniel Phillips. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="color: purple;">C. ilex</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Michael Williams; 2. Brad Wilson; 3.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> Dante Fenolio; 4. Joel Sartore; 5. source: La Taberna del Drunkerosteus. </span><i style="color: purple;">S. couchi</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Jack Goldfarb; 2.&3. Gary Nafis; 4. Jim Rorabaugh; 5. Gary Nafis; 6. source: Super Stock; 7. T. Beth Kinsey. </span><i style="color: purple;">D. guineti</i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Michael Sloviak; 2. source: knowledgeclips.com 3. Francesco Vitali; 4. source: Studio Evenaar (Dutch); 5. David G. Barkasy; 6. Dr. Peter Janzen. </span><i style="color: blue;"> </i><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-87266812016956126532011-08-30T14:58:00.000-07:002014-01-14T10:36:32.680-08:00Shared Stories<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Everyone, but everyone, unless they were reared and lived their lifetime in Antarctica have had some kind of experience with reptiles. Please do comment and post them here under Shared Stories. Any identification questions or of reptile inquiries in general you need answered, post them here and I will get back at ya as soon as the possibility arrives. I'm going to start the session off with my own little introductory story to snakes, so here goes...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>First Encounter</b> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll start off where it all began. Somewhere between the ages of four and five, I used to visit a field situated between my street and an old train yard feed mill. This was back in Fort Worth, Texas during the days where the American West truly began on a social and cultural level. In fact, still today Fort Worth is known as, 'Where the West begins.'</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sandwiched between the street and feed mill the field was thoroughly dispersed in waving stands of tall grass that bowed to the prevailing wind. The southeastern third of it was wooded containing scrub oak with a few tall sycamores </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">interspersed. The field had a dirt road that coursed directly through it bisecting the grass half from the woods. It was there at this junction, although unbeknownst to me at that very young time in life that I had my first glance at what snakes were. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One day as I was walking down the dirt road with my younger brother, Mike, when by the edge of the woods I saw something move and go under a rotting log. As best I could, I rolled the log over and if memory still serves, found four to six little legless wonders crawling about. The actual amount doesn't really matter, for they were a handful in my toddler palm. Thinking that they were worms, I did grab a handful of 'em and proceeded to take them back home leaving Mike in the dirt road's dust. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon worried anticipation after hearing my arriving excited shouts concerning my captured squiggling trophies, mom met me at the door with shouts of her own. For ya see, as far as mom was concerned, I had already developed a tendency to getting into things I shouldn't be messing with. Anyway, she immediately with great effort on her part attempted to make me depart with my possession. But I wasn't about to be pried from my newly found prize.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Getting reinforcement to help relieve her demise, mom brought over our next door neighbor who happened to be a policeman. He immediately identified them as baby copperheads and demanded I drop them immediately where he could commence to stomping on them. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There just was no way I was going to have any of that for I had become attached to these little marvels. Just because this man sometimes wore a shiny badge wasn't going to nudge any of my stubbornness. Besides, I didn't have an inkling of an idea as to what a snake was much less copperheads, so hadn't the slightest urgency in wanting to recognize the adults' dread of a dangerous situation at hand. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I did manage to calm mom down a tad bit by putting them all in a big pickle jar. After that, as long as the jar was tightly sealed with ice pick holes for breathing, she and dad, who later came home from work, let me keep them. For some reason, I felt sad for the little guys as stuck in that stinky sour pickle jar. Even the grass I put in their didn't seem to make them happy, as their faces were stolid; fixed in one constant stare. So, I let them go by taking them back where I found them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These new animals fascinated me then as they do now. For a little boy, it was a marvel to me how something could get around so efficiently without legs and how they carried on in all that tongue flickering. From then on, I had to know more about these creatures that grown-ups called snakes and seemed a bit fearful of.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In recollecting, it seems that the dominant color was gray, so today, I question the cop's determination that they were copperheads, but rather were some harmless species of thamnophis or coluber. No matter what they were, I was never bitten by any of them fortunately, even though I sneakingly ( didn't want to rile mom up again) would handle them quite often.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I now know why snakes flicker their tongue to smell and why they have that constant stare due to no eyelids, instead covered by a rigid scale. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This was my introduction to snakes with many more experiences to come that were and are based on this one episode of first impressions from a little boy's perspective into a grown man's actions. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdkaFpfuOC4fQTwvgYedsTrMMdZByKv8_qqTVPxARWbIUpep2LONStixjx1a4OCBZ6lJKs3m5OelaNKaA7Zsemt2gad_XO12Vz1-dvzvrg4K6INw3E545QHqxEqgGu87bT-FtVWfb0CXye/s1600/thetexanherper+snake+clipart+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdkaFpfuOC4fQTwvgYedsTrMMdZByKv8_qqTVPxARWbIUpep2LONStixjx1a4OCBZ6lJKs3m5OelaNKaA7Zsemt2gad_XO12Vz1-dvzvrg4K6INw3E545QHqxEqgGu87bT-FtVWfb0CXye/s1600/thetexanherper+snake+clipart+%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://thetexanherper.blogspot.com/2011/09/garter-snake.html">The Garter Snake </a> </span> </div>
B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-78105653704837800372011-08-30T11:01:00.008-07:002014-05-18T12:43:18.417-07:00Quick Facts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We've most all have heard of albinism in animals where there is genetically a total lack of melanin pigmentation making an animal appear whiter than the rest of his species. And perhaps most have heard of melanism where in animals there is a majority of dark pigments found in the skin, fur and hair making the animal appear as black. This too, is due to genetic mutations within a species. These varying forms of color traits within a species are a form of polymorphism, which in biological terms, states its occurrence is when two or more different phenotypes exists within the same population of a species.<br />
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Leucism is much like albinism, but it is caused by a reduction in all types of pigmentation, not just melanin. Also, because eye cells are derived from an independent developmental origin that isn't affected by leucistic phenotypes, leucism does not affect eye color. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Leucism though, may not affect the whole body, leaving certain patches as normally pigmented.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Here are some photos to compare exhibiting albinistic and melanistic traits with two leucistic traits.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK-kgi0rzggzzpXjRm4IDVM9klZ61jBfUfAaGcGFi7k6S_hU8OXLR0anzdRBbXbukc1OPkejNHGfpzMcDqc8825_NnddmWC49zLg18rsvHYEqgJnTn9xVpcvWMbyHkHEzAQ8SP_2H9iDX/s1600/eastern+gray+squirrel+exhibiting+albinism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK-kgi0rzggzzpXjRm4IDVM9klZ61jBfUfAaGcGFi7k6S_hU8OXLR0anzdRBbXbukc1OPkejNHGfpzMcDqc8825_NnddmWC49zLg18rsvHYEqgJnTn9xVpcvWMbyHkHEzAQ8SP_2H9iDX/s200/eastern+gray+squirrel+exhibiting+albinism.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> Eastern gray squirrel exhibiting albinism </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkoWFFjDu3BTAoD6oNHzCDyz2ggs2m1ZAG_sTGHC9FvtkBmwFhSiUHg9kyg5rRc9gu0EXBOLz32ey-QjC8SN4DJ3fHNa-_WpyeZRndCgy_jgkEVOMA4JByhlR0zt0I2SbYQwxtHWpCih3L/s1600/eastern+gray+squirrel+exhibiting+melanism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkoWFFjDu3BTAoD6oNHzCDyz2ggs2m1ZAG_sTGHC9FvtkBmwFhSiUHg9kyg5rRc9gu0EXBOLz32ey-QjC8SN4DJ3fHNa-_WpyeZRndCgy_jgkEVOMA4JByhlR0zt0I2SbYQwxtHWpCih3L/s200/eastern+gray+squirrel+exhibiting+melanism.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> </span>Eastern gray squirrel exhibiting melanism </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiKpDpivM07LiUbZI1Z8mINnzyNGaUKv7Euo1yQcztlbmwN4hsM0Tgx5BBUHvmSAqwAmTDo3EaHeyuq9YMgY_4hci7h_qYSXxUfjqFS6WHdFjmGqCVOc5xEX8asSJl9QltqgYXD6h5ln7/s1600/Eastern+gray+squirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiKpDpivM07LiUbZI1Z8mINnzyNGaUKv7Euo1yQcztlbmwN4hsM0Tgx5BBUHvmSAqwAmTDo3EaHeyuq9YMgY_4hci7h_qYSXxUfjqFS6WHdFjmGqCVOc5xEX8asSJl9QltqgYXD6h5ln7/s200/Eastern+gray+squirrel.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> Typical eastern gray squirrel</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2U4lX5C6crhW1LrhzpIxEXyCGROJSq7C2UQdO-Y7nTvs2qrGJeaDiIJpUWulZ9npqctX_Z8olRadYGMs0HDHFFOvSHZUHfElJsNw81Ks6SOMgpFgvH7g2fb2Ez3WnkCaF5MbgG2mnbvRQ/s1600/Eastern+hognose+exhibiting+melanism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2U4lX5C6crhW1LrhzpIxEXyCGROJSq7C2UQdO-Y7nTvs2qrGJeaDiIJpUWulZ9npqctX_Z8olRadYGMs0HDHFFOvSHZUHfElJsNw81Ks6SOMgpFgvH7g2fb2Ez3WnkCaF5MbgG2mnbvRQ/s200/Eastern+hognose+exhibiting+melanism.jpg" height="141" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span> A melanistic eastern hognose</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cAMA4SR1rsCgphu6tnqd_i5EJ1GLOS7WYSYSguOA9ZixmtSakTw-YlFOo61yD0KsCqUvyDtfeLN3mwdBBNupnl1cYBrcoPxqXQAe6yMzOa2ZkZUTGMcKGrjvIHxDWUMs3_D2C8lhzORe/s1600/Leucistic_Texas_Rat_Snake.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cAMA4SR1rsCgphu6tnqd_i5EJ1GLOS7WYSYSguOA9ZixmtSakTw-YlFOo61yD0KsCqUvyDtfeLN3mwdBBNupnl1cYBrcoPxqXQAe6yMzOa2ZkZUTGMcKGrjvIHxDWUMs3_D2C8lhzORe/s200/Leucistic_Texas_Rat_Snake.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Leucistic </span><i style="font-size: small;">E. obsoleta</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> ~Texas rat snake </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCIov5GEwSM8vU-BmEIjUyXXWiEKiZSPpbUdvTQvxnj-NAAyv6iJIsijn_oGVGuNbQTjNvj0N9n1DcFMokbhbb3Cz5HdhIbqdBugHCS8FqtT6mx2DRRpJT6OukqfP5pTMofONuHaLDqI9/s1600/piebald_python.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCIov5GEwSM8vU-BmEIjUyXXWiEKiZSPpbUdvTQvxnj-NAAyv6iJIsijn_oGVGuNbQTjNvj0N9n1DcFMokbhbb3Cz5HdhIbqdBugHCS8FqtT6mx2DRRpJT6OukqfP5pTMofONuHaLDqI9/s200/piebald_python.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Leucistic ball python with patching </span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnzpO8ySo1psXdh6l5QuEbU6EEkMvUugXhQ5E3uTj8sAJa9eGSWbon_2xKv3hqV3pH7r79KUmSS6ORg4x3Z0D5c2hHyoIDiJMWDMi02dv0Kvi98OpnZO3U6tYivwrhOHZ6gI-iNvSOgXq/s1600/melanistic+timberwolves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnzpO8ySo1psXdh6l5QuEbU6EEkMvUugXhQ5E3uTj8sAJa9eGSWbon_2xKv3hqV3pH7r79KUmSS6ORg4x3Z0D5c2hHyoIDiJMWDMi02dv0Kvi98OpnZO3U6tYivwrhOHZ6gI-iNvSOgXq/s200/melanistic+timberwolves.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7.</span> </span>Melanistic timberwolves</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk_AQ-dsAehUuFTiTGLlDgsp9A2GMz3pqv8KWCHaiDiE4lOc9JzB2EYBB_yeil7Q35Ro-ZCFooOsQkcgUVc9h2aPQ0w4HM4GU79pTbA1daEDpUyfZIyl6ehCzyH7BkpmUmCFfzA0-A-nw/s1600/Albino+Alligator.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk_AQ-dsAehUuFTiTGLlDgsp9A2GMz3pqv8KWCHaiDiE4lOc9JzB2EYBB_yeil7Q35Ro-ZCFooOsQkcgUVc9h2aPQ0w4HM4GU79pTbA1daEDpUyfZIyl6ehCzyH7BkpmUmCFfzA0-A-nw/s200/Albino+Alligator.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">9.</span> An albino alligator</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUwfOK4zYDbP3zxTZPxMehwiEjlHfCtULfjb628-LlS62KBj2HBdOi0h9JJ54fg-VuOqveEzyz2VnOTCGUhvFuk5R0MX7S-L6EhHEvjz-gXzESPAC9KcXlgIP2y3EhIYPyRMrbFyBjyR4/s1600/snail_albino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUwfOK4zYDbP3zxTZPxMehwiEjlHfCtULfjb628-LlS62KBj2HBdOi0h9JJ54fg-VuOqveEzyz2VnOTCGUhvFuk5R0MX7S-L6EhHEvjz-gXzESPAC9KcXlgIP2y3EhIYPyRMrbFyBjyR4/s200/snail_albino.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span> Albinistic snail</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjeUhWMf9xKj7sZlkN1Co-Px-WCenLGuEebOluiv_gn-6zHC-W2mbn6PZgrvpdEvhDQJBXyAh-wMWUx0vxFxrmJ52pwlfeSb_gq3cnivmwvO7rzvMxdmd_IpCpsuznnXeVOeCtBNKxuxQ/s1600/albino+moose+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjeUhWMf9xKj7sZlkN1Co-Px-WCenLGuEebOluiv_gn-6zHC-W2mbn6PZgrvpdEvhDQJBXyAh-wMWUx0vxFxrmJ52pwlfeSb_gq3cnivmwvO7rzvMxdmd_IpCpsuznnXeVOeCtBNKxuxQ/s200/albino+moose+1.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">10.</span> An albino moose</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggCQirDA5qeQOrOxCnpVmkPkRdxl0Uxu1wfjn6xFwyvoHyDe6tkl4oywpN_wxnb66WI2em49THmfi2PTjhytCZGYCSvnc-S3NG8luuOYTe_QlxiOkdT7_I_hbf48pIO0MRORQwDZKyCrS/s1600/Albinism+in+a+negroid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggCQirDA5qeQOrOxCnpVmkPkRdxl0Uxu1wfjn6xFwyvoHyDe6tkl4oywpN_wxnb66WI2em49THmfi2PTjhytCZGYCSvnc-S3NG8luuOYTe_QlxiOkdT7_I_hbf48pIO0MRORQwDZKyCrS/s200/Albinism+in+a+negroid.jpg" height="200" width="175" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span>. </span>A negroid albino</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As we see, albinism, melanism and leucism may play a role in not only invertebrates and lower vertebrates, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but in mammals including humans as well. </span></span><br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wo other pigmentation traits, we may not have heard of as much, because their roles in mammals and in particularly in humans are very rare, are erythrism and xanthochromism (also spelled xanthocroism or xanthism). Erythristic characteristics are when congenital conditions in pigmentation favor the spectrum of reds. Xanthochromistic pigmentation development favors yellows.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The red and yellow color dominance of erythrism and xanthochromism in individual birds and fish within a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">species and even to the extent of the dominant color within a whole species are commonly pronounced. We are accustomed to seeing yellow or red fish and yellow or red birds.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a degree, these two pigmentation conditions are common in invertebrates, but not so much as the congenital dominant pigmentation in reptiles and even most amphibians. It does from time to time, present itself as recessive to a species, but dominant to an individual of that species.<br />
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I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n the snake species,<i> Morelia viridis</i> the neonates, or juveniles are hatched as dominantly yellow or red and through ontogenesis stages gradually turn the adult green in most cases. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsXK4JMwpmHWLZOGv_PIWt_mpGtlWcH7z2mvOdibUV_Rl6g2S30owtlGSDEZr8SM7to2hhqK2vhcVx1hsuTbtzdL2DPhacja5BcBwg-_amhfer3EHAqAKNJGhnxEvn96jxxY-L54MQASf/s1600/katydid+pink2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsXK4JMwpmHWLZOGv_PIWt_mpGtlWcH7z2mvOdibUV_Rl6g2S30owtlGSDEZr8SM7to2hhqK2vhcVx1hsuTbtzdL2DPhacja5BcBwg-_amhfer3EHAqAKNJGhnxEvn96jxxY-L54MQASf/s200/katydid+pink2.jpg" height="173" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">12.</span> Erythrism: katydid pink</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5XyIFVr0zoaJxHrBWRDdPtgHjGl7BSIF3rV_fgPqhqpN0Y_Ye5PYyEpAcwi8-tmV1urbJa10N7GeMRTm-7aFbWsRxTTiteFKoM1AYNbntehBBSObiEnbCqwOi7syQ0HXaxMY6OgBFosp/s1600/Katydid+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5XyIFVr0zoaJxHrBWRDdPtgHjGl7BSIF3rV_fgPqhqpN0Y_Ye5PYyEpAcwi8-tmV1urbJa10N7GeMRTm-7aFbWsRxTTiteFKoM1AYNbntehBBSObiEnbCqwOi7syQ0HXaxMY6OgBFosp/s200/Katydid+2.jpg" height="126" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">13.</span> Katydid normal green coloration</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBR6oDb-T71qo7IeCAyIA_sJq7U72AEKLuYx5MeocBl1j7ky2mQcxaMF0whYa98XP-Wymg4c8bss5JAOwNUUB35laKbXqo939syTPQZjN5evRfNq3xFGdVdYo0v0pzQDhLtvlq1QJD5bUB/s1600/katydid+red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBR6oDb-T71qo7IeCAyIA_sJq7U72AEKLuYx5MeocBl1j7ky2mQcxaMF0whYa98XP-Wymg4c8bss5JAOwNUUB35laKbXqo939syTPQZjN5evRfNq3xFGdVdYo0v0pzQDhLtvlq1QJD5bUB/s200/katydid+red.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">14.</span> Erythrism: katydid red </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">15.</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span><i>Thamnophis sirtalis</i> normal coloration</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj7f4CQuqqz3C89IG_5OhQImCJNvB9bVDQjHldBovJKnFelJlckQ7PvXviksCnKV26tF6ejiA9dd64EFzuSkOMP9fQf7KhOcAqBK_9Gap05F7LKgMAKZwOaXi9bjtJRCZze8d6E3EV-xq/s1600/Thamnophis+s.+Erythristic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj7f4CQuqqz3C89IG_5OhQImCJNvB9bVDQjHldBovJKnFelJlckQ7PvXviksCnKV26tF6ejiA9dd64EFzuSkOMP9fQf7KhOcAqBK_9Gap05F7LKgMAKZwOaXi9bjtJRCZze8d6E3EV-xq/s200/Thamnophis+s.+Erythristic.jpg" height="125" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">16.</span> Erythrisitic <i>Thamophis sirtalis</i> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">17.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bWP_C5Bw8dId7NTxRounKaNVX-4aVt6Dq6lhmphCv8Fsrd59Crz4GHjFVTWUhOOaTmM6sxVC5NvZor9Ku7M5aTTph6J7avm1qS7uLQDov9JpkI1NsTQhh8D7T_mKNiNm0VfVTouweRtY/s1600/Morelia+viridis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bWP_C5Bw8dId7NTxRounKaNVX-4aVt6Dq6lhmphCv8Fsrd59Crz4GHjFVTWUhOOaTmM6sxVC5NvZor9Ku7M5aTTph6J7avm1qS7uLQDov9JpkI1NsTQhh8D7T_mKNiNm0VfVTouweRtY/s400/Morelia+viridis.jpg" height="147" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">18.</span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">19.</span> </span><i>M. viridis</i> ~ Xanthistic & Erythristic neonates</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEhVPyaqFHBFZfudp1qFXMk0SpNf_linxW6aWpH575bOcAKSKL9YibMdGaXX_dGO2YJASeeF5cG7VvpA_5z2k2bLo53-HDIQkG4TOQ3rDjWFRr-QwruqQv97quxKH1rH_crpfzzpJudwj/s1600/Ceratophrys+ornata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEhVPyaqFHBFZfudp1qFXMk0SpNf_linxW6aWpH575bOcAKSKL9YibMdGaXX_dGO2YJASeeF5cG7VvpA_5z2k2bLo53-HDIQkG4TOQ3rDjWFRr-QwruqQv97quxKH1rH_crpfzzpJudwj/s200/Ceratophrys+ornata.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">20.</span> <i>Ceratophys</i> normal coloration</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">21.</span> Xanthochromistic <i>Ceratophys</i> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">22.</span> <i>Corallus caninus</i> ~ the emerald boa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cZVJbYez6erMubrac7pb7HqOz2jh0CPQiG1klksgJNMdl8BKZ-WyhBCq6ZelL10ySEEsQfYrcWnYRS6u-kH4_uYNe008xyXn-cn92sWGa5569THaGoFjQ74jI1AkHMW4npS2EEqD-SvJ/s1600/Erythristic+C.+caninus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cZVJbYez6erMubrac7pb7HqOz2jh0CPQiG1klksgJNMdl8BKZ-WyhBCq6ZelL10ySEEsQfYrcWnYRS6u-kH4_uYNe008xyXn-cn92sWGa5569THaGoFjQ74jI1AkHMW4npS2EEqD-SvJ/s200/Erythristic+C.+caninus.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">23.</span> Erythrisitic <i>C. caninus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As one can see, coloration may serve as a general guideline in identifying certain species, but it is not a specific indicator. Pigmented dominance of recessive traits for the most part are not beneficial, for it tends to make the organism stick out more from the crowd, which gets their prey and predator's attention first. But in some instances, it appears that there are positive results. Apparently dominant melanism exhorts beneficial effects to the immune system and is linked to viral disease resistance. Recent research has shown that melanism mutations code a more resilient protein layer around cell membranes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So for all you kitty lovers out there, you may have noticed your black kitty remaining healthier than your various colored ones.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Ivan Vargas; 2. source: Wikimedia Commons; 3. A.jo; 4. John White; 5. L.A. Dawson; 6. source: eclecticpets.com; 7. Daniel Stahler (AP); 8. Bianca Knowlton; 9. Mila Zinkova; 10. Lisa Stossmeister; 11. source: Wikimedia Commons, Muntuwandi; 12. 'Moose' Tom morris; 13. source: Hilton Pond Center; 14. source: Wikimedia Commons, Jenny; 15. James Harding; 16. Jeff Benfer; 17. M. viridis normal ~ Eduardo Balogh, M. viridis xanthistic ~ Brandon Osborne; 18. M. viridis (red) ~ David G. Barkasy, M. viridis (maroon) ~ John Kentucky; 19. courtesy Fort Worth Zoo; 20. Keith & Liz Laidler; 21. Grosscha WC; 22. source Wikimedia Commons, Benjament444; 23. Graham P. Oxtoby (2009). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: The only amphibian found on the entire island of Madagascar are frogs. The large island is devoid of all toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> Species Populations:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As of 2010, worldwide populations of species with herpetology interests stand at these numbers. There are a total worldwide count of 6,433 amphibian species and 9,084 reptile species worldwide. Approximately 42% of the amphibian species populations are in decline from 2005 records. Some snake species populations have declined up to 90% especially African and European species.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is in addition to already declining populations where eleven out of seventeen snake species found in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Nigeria plummeted in double digit percentage points from 1998 to 2002. Although it appears the decline overall has halted and has become fixed with no further declining, but no increasing either.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This news may be welcomed by people who dislike snakes, but for those who typically do not like rodents either, remember that now there is one less check and control on mice and rat populations. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A newly found beaked toad species </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All data was researched, compiled and recorded by the IUCN, Conservation International (CI) and the Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC). I would like to also add that in their research, the scientists found a few unknown amphibian species with a "new" <i>Rhinella</i> genus species (beaked toads), a formerly undiscovered species of rocket frog in the genus <i>Silverstoneia</i> and an unexampled species of toad possessing red eyes that will perhaps also be listed under a new genus classification.<br />
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Whenever a new species is discovered, I don't like to simply say a "new species." These species may be new to us, but who knows how long they've been around doing their thing; we just never have encountered them before. So, instead of calling a previously unknown species as "new," I like to describe it as "newly found." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Moore.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: <i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>, the Texas horny toad along with three other species from the lizard genus <i>Phrynosoma</i> have the ability to spit blood from their eyes at an intruder .61-1.21m/2-4ft away with accurate aim.</span> </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Legs Anyone?:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For a vertebrate to rebuild a lost complex structure such as an arm or leg would be a godsend and apparently that god favors urodele amphibians. If a limb is severely wounded or completely amputated, urodele amphibians have the uncanny ability to fully repair or regenerate a new limb. Even other body parts such as the tail, retina or intestines can perfectly be regenerated. The order of <i>Urodela</i> includes all extant salamanders.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Adult urodeles within a few weeks perfectly regenerate body parts by the generation of blastema cells, formed from the local formation of a mesenchymal growth zone. What all of this essentially means is that adult urodeles retain embryonic blastema stem cells.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The blastema replaces body structures in relation to the organism's proximodistal pattern positioning. Proximodistal patterning refers to a sequence in which growth starts from the center of the body then moves outwards to the extremities and is usually described in fetal development. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt2qOt_gAxvtBYqCK5LEa47YdOgXhxKouLDn1PUJjCfcVEM3bNcqjYs5QwLw5dLAx00TDxYj2166a_HOE5zDWyB2uhyphenhyphenUv1p-dVyzPVzitAXVNvOTv5ggts6cHfMlouljNAgs15PfTwJLaO/s1600/Ambystoma_opacum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt2qOt_gAxvtBYqCK5LEa47YdOgXhxKouLDn1PUJjCfcVEM3bNcqjYs5QwLw5dLAx00TDxYj2166a_HOE5zDWyB2uhyphenhyphenUv1p-dVyzPVzitAXVNvOTv5ggts6cHfMlouljNAgs15PfTwJLaO/s200/Ambystoma_opacum.jpg" height="116" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marbled salamander ~ <i>Ambystoma opacum</i> has the ability to regenerate body parts </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In adult urodeles, the body's axial identity is most likely genetically encoded in as a property for gradation that controls cellular growth and its progression through cellular interactions. For limb generation, this proximodistal identity in cellular communication also involves multipotent skeletal cell populations that act as dormant satellites within the body until activated for repairing. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How this is done is still unclear, but ongoing research has isolated retinoic acid receptors that appear to signal to blastemal cells to respecify once needed for tissue repair. The acid receptors are activated from the wound site. Once we understand more clearly the mechanisms of urodele regeneration, perhaps in mammalian, including man, inducement of blastema cell limb regeneration may no longer be discounted, but realized.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDIT: Patrick Coin.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: The word salamander is derived from Greek meaning 'fire lizard' for the ancients thought salamanders were lizards that could walk through fire unscathed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Caecilian Skin Feeding:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is an excerpt pulled from AMPHIBIANS in the Caecilians section...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In rearing young, skin feeding is carried out by the mother from members of the genus' <i>Boulengerula</i> and <i>Siphonops</i>. Known as maternal dermatophagy, this is where the caecilian offspring actually tear into the mother's flesh, rip off chunks and eat it. It sounds gruesome, but it does save the expense in spent energy of maternal care in hunting, capturing and bringing back prey to be consumed by the offspring. Also during this period, it appears that Mother Nature is not just looking out for the offsprings' welfare but for mom's too. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the offspring's sake, Mother Nature has evolved special 'infant teeth' specifically designed for ripping into the mother's flesh. These teeth are later lost and replaced as the caecilian matures. Some of these infant teeth are spoon shaped for scraping while the rest are spiked points for piercing outer skin layers. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For poor mom's sake, Mother Nature has equipped her to withstand the onslaught. During this period of rearing young, the mother's skin doubles in thickness with several layers. Only the outside layer is eaten and appears to not be equipped with nerves to signal pain. When the outermost layer is scraped and ripped off, the next layer quickly replaces it, maturing into the next meal. The mother does lose weight, but otherwise appears unharmed during this nurturing stage.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj739nSxisem2j0FKX4mmy6NxWUM0-Cr6oJHPKsP9qKZSmIVqwyyu5CtyAYNGFGZiF35fEZWx0s4kAI7EqAwFmmOEyd6uR_c_drk-679_rvWyMhxmdsreXh9dJvHGCPHdoQteJJZr1ROI/s1600/Boulengerula+taitans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj739nSxisem2j0FKX4mmy6NxWUM0-Cr6oJHPKsP9qKZSmIVqwyyu5CtyAYNGFGZiF35fEZWx0s4kAI7EqAwFmmOEyd6uR_c_drk-679_rvWyMhxmdsreXh9dJvHGCPHdoQteJJZr1ROI/s320/Boulengerula+taitans.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is truly remarkable is that caecilians species are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth) and it doesn't matter, all birth types participate in some form of maternal care. In addition though, in live bearing caecilian forms, the offspring, while still inside the mother will scrape off nutritious tissue and fatty secretions from the linings of the female's reproductive organs with the infant teeth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This has to be the most purest form of parental investment but is not so far out there in extremes. It does parallel mammalian strategies in rearing offspring, for a big investment in mammalian mothers in producing and offering nutrients from her own body it seems, has similar infant rearing strategies. In a sense, whether it's skin from the body of a caecilian parent or milk from the body of a mammalian parent...it is an invested strategy in the successful rearing of a totally dependent offspring.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following video is a segment of BBC's, 'Life In Cold Blood', which films caecilian babies feeding off mom:</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DMvL4zOLSeM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander Kupfer (2006).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Caecilians are the only amphibian to possess tentacles and are the only known extant vertebrate, besides the tentacled snake and star nosed mole to have tentacles. Some fish do have barbels, but most other vertebrates replace tentacles with extendable tongues to act as chemoreceptors.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Missing But Not Forgotten:</b> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">09/07/2011</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Officially announced just this past July, a toad was recently rediscovered that was last seen in 1924. That toad is the Bornean rainbow toad (<u>Ansonia latidisca</u>). Sometimes also referred to as the Sambas stream toad, the animal was listed as extinct. Not one, but three specimens were found and observed...a male, a female and a juvenile. The finding of a male and female is good news for potential breeding, but the finding of the juvenile is even better in proving that they are viably breeding.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was still hope that the toad was still alive and was listed by Conservation International as the world's most ten wanted anurans. Not seen for 87 years, scientists from the University of Malaysia Sarawak discovered the three toads in a tree in western Sarawak. Understandably, the scientists aren't letting on to the exact location. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The three toad specimens ranged in size from 30 to 50 mm/1.2 to 2.0 in. Most of the toads' subtropical to tropical natural habitat has given way to development. With long spindling legs, warty, peebley and variegated coloration, they do make for some cute little critters.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first photo ever of <i>Anisonia latisdisca</i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHOTO CREDIT: Professor Indraneil Das (University Malaysia Sarawak).</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: When a frog swallows, his eyes involuntarily close and the eyeballs are pushed down into the head. This allows the eyes to take on a double task. Besides used for vision, the compressed eyeballs exert pressure pushing a swallowed meal down the throat.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Largest Extant Crocodile Ever Documented:</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At 6.4m/21ft and weighing 1,075kg/2,369lbs, the largest crocodile was just captured in the Philippines. The ol' boy is estimated to be ~50 years old.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vG6Lr6lUAbxFx9X_Kd6SgrRwrqhwBL0Okv5RYyXIspIqdU613WjViMs_a7EuoltPBO-FTnVE4sfScTOLBH01EewdbT5LGuUMp2OaDU8l8U7_yC92dEa97DKohYhmDzfzbSsgmXl4PphM/s1600/Croc+largest+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vG6Lr6lUAbxFx9X_Kd6SgrRwrqhwBL0Okv5RYyXIspIqdU613WjViMs_a7EuoltPBO-FTnVE4sfScTOLBH01EewdbT5LGuUMp2OaDU8l8U7_yC92dEa97DKohYhmDzfzbSsgmXl4PphM/s320/Croc+largest+2.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Largest croc ever caught (September 2011) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">@ Reuters</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the National Geographic article go to:</span><br />
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<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/pictures/110906-giant-crocodile-philippines-biggest-ever-caught-captured/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/pictures/110906-giant-crocodile-philippines-biggest-ever-caught-captured/</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the video, click on the BBC link below and watch:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14800269">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14800269</a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: Crocodilian tongues are immobile and cannot be moved by the animal. A special basal end-part of the tongue known as the palatal valve closes off the respiratory tract when the animals are underwater. Another interesting fact about crocodilian mouths is that an old specimen may have had 3,000 teeth in its mouth in thecodont dentition replacement of missing, worn or damaged teeth.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /> </div>
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<b>Old Foes:</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>Saltwater croc vs. shark</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The saltwater crocodile (<i>Crotolyus porosus</i>) while at sea and in estuaries will actively pursue, attack and devour sharks. These crocodiles have the ability to enter and stay in saltwater due to a salt gland located in the tongue that filters out excess salts in water and body fluids. These organs are former salivary glands that have been modified to collect and excrete the excess salt (NaCl), thereby keeping electrolytic regulation under normal function.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">2. </span>4.85m/16ft salty eats 3.03m/10ft bull shark</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now in giong back to the opening sentence, apparently this battle between two apex predators has been going on for a long time. There is evidence found in two coprolites (fossilized feces) that crocs and sharks have been at each other for millions of years. <br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hese two pieces of fossil poop give credence to a death match between a crocodile and shark that is the ancestor to the modern day tiger shark (</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Galeocerdo cuvier</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">). Found along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline unearthed from 15 million year old rock cliffs, these phosphate rich coprolites give the signature as once being produced by a crocodile. The fossils also have embedded in them shark teeth marks.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> Crocodile coprolite with shark teeth marks</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sharks are known to taste test first and the teeth marks were being analysed to see if this was indeed the case; where the shark bit into excreted floating feces and spit it back out. Conclusions were derived that it was not. The marks are in such a way and arrangement that highly suggests they were put there while the feces was still in the crocodile. This crocodile on a particular Miocene day 15 million years ago, lost the battle. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">1. Indrek Urvet</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">; 2. Paul Collihole/Barbara Bland 3. Douggie Douglass/Stephen Godfrey/Joshua Smith.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: One of the, if not the fastest lizard is native to Mexico and Central America. <i>Ctenosaura similis</i>, an iguana commonly known as the black spiney-tailed has a running speed of 34.9kph/21.7mph. The little racerunner lizard, <i>Cnemidophorus sexlineatus</i> native to the central, southern and eastern states of America comes in second place in easily reaching speeds of 29kph/18mph.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"></span> </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mimicry:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Oxyteni<b>s</b></span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Oxystensis close-up</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the photos, what is this...anyone recognize.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">..a snake maybe...</span><br />
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N</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o it's not. This is not a snake. It is the larva of a moth, a caterpillar. The little guy is performing its snake interpretation. Moths in the genus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oxytenis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, containing some 36 species are commonly called the dead leaf moth. They are strictly a neotropical moth residing in Central America. The adult moth itself gives a fairly good rendition of a fallen leaf. With the coloration and venation in their wings of a dead leaf, they appear as if they are a leaf. If disturbed while resting on a branch, it won't normally fly off, but flutter down to the ground exactly as a leaf would, then lays there with wings spread among the leaf litter totally concealed.</span></div>
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What is more unusual is in the moth's camouflage skills as a larva. The caterpillar develops through five stages known as instars. When it comes to mimicking, this moth is the master. In all the five instar phases, the caterpillar's third thoracic segment is enlarged forming small wing-like structures that conceals the overall body plan and shape of the caterpillar. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon hatching, the first caterpillar instar will invert into a 'j' position concealing its head and with particular coloration, resembles bird droppings. They take on this position when danger threatens. This is their choice of mimicry from the first to third instar. In the fourth, coloration changes to lighter yellowish and brown and they appear oily resembling a larger bird's feces.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The final and fifth instar is the kicker in mimicry we're after in this article. After around fifteen days in reaching the fifth instar stage, the caterpillar changes mimicry habits with various strategies. Undisturbed the caterpillar appears as a rolled up detached leaf. This effect is carried out by a triangular pattern on the front part of the body that gives an impression of the open end of a rolled leaf. The coloration scheme has now changed, but it is not the same for every individual. Some become an overall velvet brown with some lighter brown parts and some parts darker. Others are velvet green with lighter and darker parts of reddish brown and even hues of pink. All have some form of triangular spotting on the sides of the abdomen that are darker in the velvet brown cases and more of a silvery white in the velvet greens. Thus, you now have a population of caterpillars where some look like a dead rolled up brown leaf while others appear as a freshly plucked rolled up green leaf. The spotting in the velvet browns resembles holes in the leaf, while the spotting in the velvet greens resemble fungal infections or small feces droppings.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The above is the explanation of the caterpillar's mimicry while undisturbed, once disturbed, the mimicking transforms. In no longer resorting to the fecal 'j' position as it did in the former instar phases, the fifth instar instead mimics the head of a snake. Two black spots located dorsally on the thoracic enlarged section resemble a pair of forever unblinking staring eyes; just as a snakes'. By pumping hemolymph fluid into the thorax, a fold in the thoracic skin is expanded enlarging the eye spots. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3. </span>Dead leaf moth ~ <i>Oxytensis</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These large false eyes now resemble dark pupils, even with taps of white resembling light reflection in the upper half. Further, the caterpillar will rear up the third half of the anterior body and wave. In this posturing mimic, any animal that was planning on having the little caterpillar for supper might now have second thoughts.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. Stephen J. Krasemann; 2. Gianfranco Gomez; 3. T. Beth Kinsey (fireflyforest.net).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: Caecilians either have short tails no more than 6mm/0.24in or less, or absent all together. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Think Big:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We normally think of caiman species as the smallest representatives of crocodilians and for good reason. Three out of the four caiman genera are small in comparison, with the genus <i>Paleosuchus</i> being the smallest of extant species of all crocodilians.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhxlAQIxtjdnq3dyQAS8E8hmCGmcJ5EVlIOZgoMck3GlYDPa6dtZNJpZdEz926V3SoTn5qPmU57mzgxvcYTTPO04JHz7LP31CBlFra9EPjloIf3x9x2mGTGwDkugCfMlf6qQ5SyHZp_wP/s1600/Melanosuchus+niger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhxlAQIxtjdnq3dyQAS8E8hmCGmcJ5EVlIOZgoMck3GlYDPa6dtZNJpZdEz926V3SoTn5qPmU57mzgxvcYTTPO04JHz7LP31CBlFra9EPjloIf3x9x2mGTGwDkugCfMlf6qQ5SyHZp_wP/s200/Melanosuchus+niger.jpg" height="200" width="122" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <i>Melanosuchus niger</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But in the caiman genus, <i>Melanosuchus</i> represented by the species, <i>Melanosuchus niger</i>, comprise some of the biggest of crocodilians and quite possibly the largest attainable size species in the <i>Alligatoridae</i> family. As the name suggests, this is the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">black caiman. <i>Melas</i> is the Greek genitive for 'black' and <i>niger</i> is Latin for 'black'.<br />
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Black caiman inhabit waters in the Amazon basin of South America and are indeed the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">largest predator there and third largest South American crocodilian, just behind in size from the American and Orinico crocodiles. On average, black caiman size is 3-4.26m/9.8-14ft, but in certain areas such as the Araguaia River, average sizes are 4-5m/13-16ft. On occasion, older bulls (mature male crocodilians) may exceed 5.75m/19ft. <br />
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But the black caiman came up a bit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">short to the extinct caiman, <i>Purussaurus braziliensis</i> who lived just 8 mya in the Miocene Amazon. This <i>Purussaurus</i> caiman maxed out at an incredible length of 13m/43ft, making him geologically, the most recent largest crocodilian and one of the largest of crocodilians ever. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSs4AbIx59EtjKTN7mDofidSC1p441lN4XOLSJrllnt0Fl7RD5Qvu8jhi7tiq-hW8ObUdwjOC78_lUI9WBBLdwFi9_iujUFFXpbiUdTDhFzJH7SVaW-DUn2S7t6978hNaEkFLq8uGN4sPT/s1600/M._niger+7+butterflies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSs4AbIx59EtjKTN7mDofidSC1p441lN4XOLSJrllnt0Fl7RD5Qvu8jhi7tiq-hW8ObUdwjOC78_lUI9WBBLdwFi9_iujUFFXpbiUdTDhFzJH7SVaW-DUn2S7t6978hNaEkFLq8uGN4sPT/s200/M._niger+7+butterflies.jpg" height="129" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <i>M. niger</i> ~ butterfly rest stop</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>M. niger</i> may be the current apex predator in the Amazon basin, but it appears that the caiman's reputation isn't too much of a concern to butterflies as so eloquently noted in the photo.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Dr. Jerry Gingerich; 2. Whaldener Endo.</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Even though it is just for a short few seconds in duration, on land the American alligator can reach speeds in excess of 32.2kph/20mph.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></span></div>
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<b>In the Name of Faith:</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> Snake handling</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To prove devoutness in faith, a splinter group branched off from main Pentecostal churches and began the practice of 'snake handling' during the 1920s in the U.S.s Appalachia region. The new form of Christian religion spread throughout the southeastern states and has made its way up into the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The practice of snake handlers is to prove their faith in Jesus Christ and use venomous viperids, primarily rattlesnakes, to test that faith and obedience to God. Taking hold of the snakes they will hold them up and walk among the gathered crowd while speaking in tongues.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ritual is based on verses from the King James Bible; they are:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Mark 16: 17-18</b> And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.<br />
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<b> Luke 10: 19</b> Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>Acts 28: 3-6</b> </span>And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> A whole lot of faith!</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Therefore, before any religious individual or organizational entity can write them off as lunatics, you can see from the above Bible passages, they do have the good book on their side. Nonetheless, snake handling is a dangerous practice and people have died, including children coerced into participation. Over 100 cases have been documented to snake handling deaths envenomated by snakes. Others, who have survived venomous strike injections, have deformed or amputated appendages to bear witness in the ritual's folly. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At times snake handlers will be struck by the snake and will receive no ill effects except for the fang wounds. This they claim is their faith at work in God protecting them. There are two reasons for this and neither one has anything to do with the snake handler's faith, religion or god, for it is all due to the snake's choice in causing venomous injections or not. Viperids have the ability to inject whatever amount of venom they deem necessary. They do not like to waste venom for it is costly in energy expense to manufacture and is time consuming during the process. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Normally, vipers control the precise amount of venom to inject according to the size of prey. When threatened by an animal as large as an human, they will try and conserve venom with no injection. But, if really excited, they just might inject the full amount. The so called 'dry bites' of no venom is what makes these religious practitioners feel justified in pursuing their cause, while of course the full injections, they prefer not to elaborate on due to the contradictory painful or lethal results.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> Snake handler </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The controlled amount of venom injection, appears to be a learned trait behavior in vipers as the older ones are the only ones to practice the habit. Younger ones normally inject the full amount in prey injections and defensive stances.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, older snakes once handled frequently, even vipers begin to tame down and become accustomed. I'm quite sure snake handlers know all this for they never use yearling vipers, only the larger and older ones, which too, adds to the dramatic effect with their size.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. Russell Lee; 2. source: benreed.net 3. source: Agitprop.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: All air breathing animals require freshwater for proper metabolism. Sea turtles spend pretty much their whole lives in saltwater, so where do they get freshwater? There is no tap with freshwater available, so sea turtles gain access to freshwater in two ways. One is from the food they eat, but the primary source is from seawater. The turtles drink seawater where once entering the bloodstream, it goes through salt glands located near the eyes where the saltwater is desalinated, thus the concentrated salt content is filtered, then secreted out through tear ducts. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Never Seen Much Less Heard:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Caeciliaens are indeed not only strange amphibians but just plain strange animals period. They all are fossorial,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> except for one aquatic family, <i>Typhlonectidae</i> and are similar in appearance to other fossorial creatures from earthworms through legless amphisbaenians to the burrowing blind snakes. In fact caecilians when encountered and commonly named are incorrectly labeled snakes or worms and as even eels for typhlonectid species. Typhlonectids are fully aquatic, but still behave as their fellow fossorial caecilians by burrowing in the mud of water beds.<br />
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In being fossorial (living underground), the general body plan is a legless, arm less trunk with practically no distinction between the head or tail; in other words you can't make heads nor tails of these underground dwelling burrowing animals. These animals are listed as vermiform in that their body plan is worm-like.<br />
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Fossorial animals with alike body plans as compared to the caecilian <i>Dermophis mexicanus</i>:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <i>Dermpohis mexicanus</i> ~ caecilian</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2. </span><i>Typhlops vermicularis</i> ~ blind snake</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC00gFkWSIKIkcljG-Ofjq11dAOc7IsQ1LwsO9F-xw37TznJuMQfGH5BIxyhR7PqQIEikqsXVqE_A_eOhyJ1d56etgpATd9UGZtaFD_tkPQQShkS-ZUw4oKI_gu8gKiN6jmA-DtJcuufWV/s1600/Amphisbaena+alba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC00gFkWSIKIkcljG-Ofjq11dAOc7IsQ1LwsO9F-xw37TznJuMQfGH5BIxyhR7PqQIEikqsXVqE_A_eOhyJ1d56etgpATd9UGZtaFD_tkPQQShkS-ZUw4oKI_gu8gKiN6jmA-DtJcuufWV/s200/Amphisbaena+alba.jpg" height="135" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> <i>Amphisbaena alba</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbJdeflvqOPY5sZPaN2HNZvVCxBrcbJ9YW3kvoRiid1jwSQBdiyAUR23Tflbcu5R1PUisM9rmFH5-yufzd5uv8V7QYnEA89mY4y6-P-V76AZVMZqAZyawDg7EDpvrRGCcXjtEKBzIOYMO/s1600/Terriwalkeris+terraereginae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbJdeflvqOPY5sZPaN2HNZvVCxBrcbJ9YW3kvoRiid1jwSQBdiyAUR23Tflbcu5R1PUisM9rmFH5-yufzd5uv8V7QYnEA89mY4y6-P-V76AZVMZqAZyawDg7EDpvrRGCcXjtEKBzIOYMO/s200/Terriwalkeris+terraereginae.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fossorial caecilians also share with these other animals greatly reduced, vestigial or absent eyes and annuli (superficially segmented skin folds), but what they do not share with them are tentacles. With the two exceptions of the tentacled snake, <i>Erpeton tentaculatum</i> and the star nosed mole, <i>Condylura cristata</i>, I know of no other tentacled vertebrate. Well technically anyway, for in understanding the functions of vibrissae, perhaps there is at least a corollary link between caecilian tentacles and mammalian vibrissae. Oh, by the way, vibrissa is a whisker and the visbrissae (whiskers) act as a sensory receptor as well.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These caecilian sensory tentacles, dependent upon species, may or may not be protruded and are originated from modified tear ducts. So without doubt, whiskers included or not, caecilians are the only vertebrate to possess motile tentacles.</span><br />
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In going back and adding to the earlier article, 'Caecilian Skin Feeding', caecilians are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth). In all reproduction examples, caecilian young, even in the fetal stage are equipped with 'infant teeth.' Inside the mouths of adults though, there are dozens of needle sharp teeth that are used to grab hold of fossorial invertebrates, termites, insect larvae, mollusks, smaller frogs, snakes and lizards and perhaps other caecilians. These teeth are used only for grabbing and gripping as food is swallowed whole. Imagine that, an amphibian with a mouth chock full of sharpened teeth.<br />
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Caecilian literature is rife with inaccuracies, for we know very little about actual behaviors due to their subterranean existence. Owing to this, authors like to label the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">m as secretive, but this is not the case at all. They do not lead a retiring and secretive life, but are quite active and agile, burrowing in the pursuit of prey and each other. The mother in most species performs in the duties of maternal and parental care.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_-c_RFm3J8Cl25MHQyRlvLRnrsjRtKPEtv2C0aGTZ4s_DUXJjHIn2m-5pYIlx0HfONuJEoF8K5Hx3aGwRsmU-EBT4kUujl8Zkof35aSCN4RU1LnAiSwHmrxsT2WgWQCSGnAHq2i4GCcf/s1600/Atretochoana+eiselti+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_-c_RFm3J8Cl25MHQyRlvLRnrsjRtKPEtv2C0aGTZ4s_DUXJjHIn2m-5pYIlx0HfONuJEoF8K5Hx3aGwRsmU-EBT4kUujl8Zkof35aSCN4RU1LnAiSwHmrxsT2WgWQCSGnAHq2i4GCcf/s200/Atretochoana+eiselti+1.jpg" height="101" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">5.</span> </span><i>Atretochoana eiselti</i> ~ profile</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2efv_tSQV93fIE4rBX479kkum-YVj6A7UzXFiG71boP9AUUuEalci1wOC8U-CFpJy0gWuFUoxqhf8Tf6mJD8xcTwMnS8q44Iuz0ZYQw5I1t_YxP9FaILEuXtiXysRVU0DkgVatracbpnH/s1600/Atretochoana+eiselti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2efv_tSQV93fIE4rBX479kkum-YVj6A7UzXFiG71boP9AUUuEalci1wOC8U-CFpJy0gWuFUoxqhf8Tf6mJD8xcTwMnS8q44Iuz0ZYQw5I1t_YxP9FaILEuXtiXysRVU0DkgVatracbpnH/s200/Atretochoana+eiselti.jpg" height="101" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span> <i>Atretochoana eiselti</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But, due to our lack of exposure we cannot be so sure on the number of extant species and specie populations that are going about conducting their business below our feet. Some species are only known from a few specimens and one lungless aquatic species, <i>Atretochoana eiselti</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is known from just two 19th century preserved specimens, until now. 6 <i>A. eiselti</i> species were found near the mouth of the Amazon river this 2011.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCy4dr0iR6ilS16h2Ayknsvo5HGTSrULsJALwQiLeoz414MMpV6o6lv2pXSdFP-fCRyXbOE4OFn374YNKQyPGdpxE3QuWDC4NN4GXoqZRPLPug6_zPrICKhh-_ix4a9yw8cyn02JBuD6W/s1600/gegeneophis+mhadeiensis.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCy4dr0iR6ilS16h2Ayknsvo5HGTSrULsJALwQiLeoz414MMpV6o6lv2pXSdFP-fCRyXbOE4OFn374YNKQyPGdpxE3QuWDC4NN4GXoqZRPLPug6_zPrICKhh-_ix4a9yw8cyn02JBuD6W/s200/gegeneophis+mhadeiensis.jpeg" height="82" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span> <i>Gegenophis mhadeinsis</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although the genus <i>Gegeneophis</i> is the most diverse caecilian genera, specimen of species are hard to find. A new genus species was recently discovered in the Belguam district of India. Only 3 specimens have been collected for the species, <i>Gegenophis mhadeinsis</i>. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4m6ObbqCHIIf2GAKr1rqBko2OCdhVglKmklhnq2t7XfhUUwDkS032-KAMNzt8y5aInfFmZnGTsz1NZ3zT7L8YLVhjCUDndhI4C7odm8AqkVC5zawoKpaKIk-uHHuvpPzZFq1nh0S3HD0y/s1600/Living-pink-spaghetti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4m6ObbqCHIIf2GAKr1rqBko2OCdhVglKmklhnq2t7XfhUUwDkS032-KAMNzt8y5aInfFmZnGTsz1NZ3zT7L8YLVhjCUDndhI4C7odm8AqkVC5zawoKpaKIk-uHHuvpPzZFq1nh0S3HD0y/s200/Living-pink-spaghetti.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span> </span><i>B. fischeri</i> ~ Living pink spaghetti</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Boulengerula fischeri</i> for twenty years was known from only one specimen, until a few more specimens were rediscovered in 2007 in Rwanda. The way the caecilian specimens were collected was by scientists having local natives go out and collect earthworms, which the caecilian looks like. Commonly known as the living pink spaghetti caecilian, it most certainly lives up to its name. With 200 vertebrae for support, the living pink spaghetti obtains a length of 400mm/15.75in with a mere diameter of only 5mm/.20in.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPnxmOjJC4_sKgziZvSLQLEQmDQSn9HWx0eloBEISZbMef60Sr8FkvN4w4xdkqD_yanxjG2m0l7opPDNfb7jDvBWBqgigBoSRzUD50etVprsImPZ3U39dgLy35TzIL3jYxCv9l4obHU5z/s1600/Caecilita+iwokramae+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPnxmOjJC4_sKgziZvSLQLEQmDQSn9HWx0eloBEISZbMef60Sr8FkvN4w4xdkqD_yanxjG2m0l7opPDNfb7jDvBWBqgigBoSRzUD50etVprsImPZ3U39dgLy35TzIL3jYxCv9l4obHU5z/s200/Caecilita+iwokramae+1.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">9.</span> <i>Caecilita iwokramae</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In being taxon monotypic, meaning that there is only one biological species of its kind, <i>Caecilita iwokramae</i> is known from only one specimen found in the mid 1990s in Guyana within the Iwokrama scrub forest. What is unusual about this caecilian is that it is lungless, but nonetheless is also terrestrial. More about this highly unusual caecilian will be addressed in a near-future 'Quick Facts' article. Plus you can read a bit more about it now under the 'Caecilians' section in 'AMPHIBIANS'.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1. J. Campbell (UTA.ed); 2. Kiril Kapustin; 3. Cristiano Nogueira; 4. source: Zooillogics; 5. source: Natural History Museum London, UK; 6. source: Natural History Museum London, UK; 7. Varad B. Giri; 8. John Measey; 9. Marvalee H. Wake/Maureen A. Donnelly tomography scan.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: The primarily aquatic siren during times of drought will bury into the mud bottoms, form a secreted mucus cocoon around itself and aestivate dropping metabolism down some 70% and lose up to 85% of body mass while waiting it out for over a year if necessary until the waters come back.<br />
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<b>R</b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">aining Frogs:</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">09/17/2011</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the past three decades their has been a steady and sometimes accelerated decline in amphibian populations worldwide. The three main culprits in this disappearance is the chytrid fungus, pollution and habitat loss.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But for all you frog aficionados out there...there's good news. 12 previously unknown species have been reported as found in India within the borders of the Western Ghats forests.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is a photo of one they are initially calling the meowing night frog, due to its call sounding more like a cat's meow than a frog's chirp.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfG1B-Wetbj646vkTxLLFeOp0ry6w6ONoWaiY4sX1YwRWG1rJz24hU4MHk_8dGfgTqWh05BP5IyAy4p_Dr1_mQ6ChZDnp5ymsULTg8r9zp7zbv0JdjSVAddfIJpikzeHgfIjjH5AjFCiNf/s1600/new-frog-india-meow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfG1B-Wetbj646vkTxLLFeOp0ry6w6ONoWaiY4sX1YwRWG1rJz24hU4MHk_8dGfgTqWh05BP5IyAy4p_Dr1_mQ6ChZDnp5ymsULTg8r9zp7zbv0JdjSVAddfIJpikzeHgfIjjH5AjFCiNf/s320/new-frog-india-meow.jpg" height="162" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meowing night frog ~ newly found Indian species</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Go to the Huffington Post link below if you want to read about it and view pictures of the specimens. If you do, please note the distinctive shapes of the eye pupils.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/17/12-new-frog-species-discovered-india_n_967469.html#s364188">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/17/12-new-frog-species-discovered-india_n_967469.html#s364188</a> </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: By far the reigning champion in frog jumping is the Mascarene rocket frog (<i>Ptychadena mascareniensis</i>). This little frog, no bigger than 50mm/2in can leap an astonishing 5.33m/17.5ft in a single bound.<br />
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S</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hrewd Shrew:</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why bring up information on a small mammal on a site dedicated to reptiles and amphibians? I'll answer that question with a question. What does the Northern Short-tailed Shrew of North America have in common with the Gila Monster lizard (<i>Heloderma suspectum</i>) and rear-fanged snakes? </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHJ1w54tH3-4dp3nILXxjWco7w9ltu5VFGWYMo0WKO989iY7Cxa3idOEB3VgqeHicGKxRgLxHvhGa5u-E-X-wXxmAeODax3BbbINDMeMiGWp93S50EPhX3MlyK9QtUN6uJLZUupM7_4TQ/s1600/Blarina_brevicauda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHJ1w54tH3-4dp3nILXxjWco7w9ltu5VFGWYMo0WKO989iY7Cxa3idOEB3VgqeHicGKxRgLxHvhGa5u-E-X-wXxmAeODax3BbbINDMeMiGWp93S50EPhX3MlyK9QtUN6uJLZUupM7_4TQ/s200/Blarina_brevicauda.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern short-tailed shrew</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The answer is that this unique shrew is one of the few mammals that possesses a salivary toxic brew that is much like in nature to Gila Monster toxin and is delivered by grooves in the teeth much like the arrangement in rear-fanged snake teeth. The bite from one of these cute but deadly shrews is enough to kill an animal much larger than itself, but is primarily used to subdue and paralyze smaller prey. Fortunately for humans though, the glands that produce the toxin are tiny, therefore the minute amounts injected into wounds of a victim the size of humans, only localized painful swelling around the bite area is the end result. Nonetheless, the toxin is potent.<br />
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For an averaged sized shrew weighing 15 g/0.53 oz, the animal has the potential to carry a produced quantity </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of 160 mg/.006 oz of venom. The lethal dose (LD/50) for an eastern cottontail rabbit is 7 mg/.0003 oz per 1 kg/2.20 lbs the weight of the rabbit. With an average weight of 1.34 kg/2.95 lbs, as you can see, the rabbit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">could succumb to an injection from one single bite. <br />
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The Northern Short-tailed Shrew, <i>Blarina brevecauda</i> shares this venomous mammalian trait with other </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Blarina</i> shrew species. The neurotoxin is composed primarily of two active ingredients that are produced and secreted into the mouth's saliva by submaxillary and sublingual glands located just beneath the incisor tooth in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the lower mandible.<br />
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Two active ingredients have been isolated in the toxic brew. One, named after the shrew family, <i>Soricidae</i> is</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> soricidin, an active peptide that causes paralysis. The other active ingredient is a much more potent immobilizing agent and is known as blarinisin (BLTX) named after the genus, <i>Blarina</i>. BLTX is a glycoprotein containing a catalytic triad of serine proteases known as kallikrein that induces blood vessel wall dilation, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hypo-tension, irregular respiration, then convulsions followed by death in lethal doses. <br />
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This type neurotoxin is chemically identical to that of GTX toxin found in the venomous lizard, <i>Helodermatidae</i> family, but co-evolved </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">separately and independently in the two mammalian and reptilian animal groups producing it. The method of delivery in injections is via a duct that carries the ejected venom from the glands up a groove located on the outer side of the lower incisor, thus finally directed into the bite site.<br />
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Snake, lizard or shrew, it doesn't matter, nature always extends surprises in both subtle and marked ways.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDIT: Gilles Gonthier</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Amphiumas, an aquatic salamander, consist of three species with each ranking determined by the number of toes on their tiny, no more than 2cm/0.79in legs. <i>Amphiuma tridactylum</i> has 3 toes, <i>A. means</i> has two and <i>A. pholeter</i> is the one-toed amphiuma. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Formidable Foes:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just as in the earlier article of crocodilian versus shark, another apex predator for the crocodilian to compete with are the larger constrictors. Boas, pythons and anacondas, which actually are boas, will turn a crocodilian predator into prey or vice versa...the crocodilian turns the big snake from predator into prey. During the confrontation, it all usually depends on which is the bigger. The bigger snake usually wins out over the smaller crocodilian and the larger crocodilian normally takes the smaller snake.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the Florida Everglades, instrusive big snakes are becoming a problem for the natural fauna. Floridians who collected baby pythons thought that they made cute pets, then the snake grew-up. It grew so large that they decided maybe this wasn't the best pet after all. The best thing they thought to do was to dump it into the Everglades swampland. These invasive snakes that can obtain lengths of over 6.2m/20ft, are disrupting the natural ecology of the Everglades biome.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">About the only natural predator that can cull these snakes that lay or give birth of up to a hundred young, is the alligator. You may recall in October of 2005, there was a battle that occurred between a 4m/13.2ft Burmese python and a 2m/6.6ft long alligator. They both lost. Wildlife researchers with the South Florida Natural Resources Center came across the grisly scene with the alligator protuding from the snake's ruptured body.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ee photo.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCL3wP5VHfDoPEtl5dyDslEFZ2ZX2jRrbfBpeC4P265zFTSIalbqZtAegubxurZwv6ni19r_eJhpxw6pjv7Y7vQfql4QGtHhrBMgwFO2LhzL88KJNY4AJ2CRukR9XwTCpKCu6ij29m7Tg/s1600/gator_python.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCL3wP5VHfDoPEtl5dyDslEFZ2ZX2jRrbfBpeC4P265zFTSIalbqZtAegubxurZwv6ni19r_eJhpxw6pjv7Y7vQfql4QGtHhrBMgwFO2LhzL88KJNY4AJ2CRukR9XwTCpKCu6ij29m7Tg/s200/gator_python.jpg" height="153" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scientists initially concluded that the snake simply bit off more than it could chew and busted a gut. Then another theory evolved that perhaps another gator came to the swallowed gator's aid as the snake's head was missing, but that was axed as gators tear off flesh; they do not neatly slice it in half as was evidenced by the severed neck.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For whatever reason for the missing snake head, gators have the ability to greatly reduce metabolism dropping the heart down to 1-2 heartbeats per minute. Perhaps the snake thought the gator was truly dead, then swallowed it only for the gator to revive inside then struggle and claw through the snake's innards. Unfortunately for the gator though, his head was still inside the snake closer to gastric juices and perished along with the snake. Inside the snake, only his hind limbs and not his forelimbs and mouth were in position to put up enough resistance at this stage. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you link to the video below, you will see the revival of an alligator after he is two-thirds swallowed by an intrusive Everglades snake.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZYyx3HC1sk&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZYyx3HC1sk&feature=related</a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apparently these apex predator battles between crocodilian and snake have been going on for millions of years as well. From the Cerrejon Formation in northern Colombia, the site where the world's largest known snake fossils were recovered, a new crocodilian fossil find has just been discovered. Nomenclated as <i>Acherontisuchus guajiraensis</i>, this extinct crocodiliform species was in excess of 6.1m/20ft from head to tail and belonged to the dryosaurid family that survived the mass extinction 65 mya that killed off the dinosaurs, but only to become extinct themselves 35 mya.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AdmIkEWR2uMrHUnx-TY4nRUqYltk0nHfn9SQCkOlwpHzfMDP-9uPHX_aTntS8LrSm8Eq17LWTToHwX4vS58kRm7IYyUAd1zhziO9NxVtYKqnAdHoUVTuefSKkuI6XuuLV2UxE47MNP0C/s1600/croc+vs.+titanoboa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AdmIkEWR2uMrHUnx-TY4nRUqYltk0nHfn9SQCkOlwpHzfMDP-9uPHX_aTntS8LrSm8Eq17LWTToHwX4vS58kRm7IYyUAd1zhziO9NxVtYKqnAdHoUVTuefSKkuI6XuuLV2UxE47MNP0C/s320/croc+vs.+titanoboa.jpg" height="148" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> Two apex predators competing side-by-side</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Cerrejon Formation was once a tropical landscape and what is unusual about<i> Acherontisuchus</i>, is it lived here permanently in freshwater. All prior dryosaurid fossils are coastal or marine and was thought that only juveniles would go up into freshwater from coastal rivers to elude predation and their elders.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZgPzgTCp5iBWfk8EiLWxWdR1Yl0ePn6Y56OLUxcERBufcbU4E74ls9licw_R-09DhvX-xtlMwRiJwkS7WTF_cVvI_oyPeDdm9hd5F3MoGfQjprsbLbisJNqqT0q3PcB-18YHLqJB91K/s1600/Titanoboa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZgPzgTCp5iBWfk8EiLWxWdR1Yl0ePn6Y56OLUxcERBufcbU4E74ls9licw_R-09DhvX-xtlMwRiJwkS7WTF_cVvI_oyPeDdm9hd5F3MoGfQjprsbLbisJNqqT0q3PcB-18YHLqJB91K/s200/Titanoboa.jpg" height="200" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> </span>titanoboa vs acherontisuchus</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this tropical setting though, this crocodilian lived side-by-side 58-60 mya with <i>Titanoboa cerrejonesis</i>, a snake that grew between 12-13.6m/40-45ft in length and weighed 1,134kg/2,500lbs. A snake that size must have had an enormous appetite for large main courses. It is easy to perceive that there were great battles between these two colossal predators and whichever won the match, most probably was due to the larger one. Maturing snakes got it from the crocodilian and mature crocodilians got it from the adult snake.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. source: Everglades National Park Service; 2. illustrator Danielle Byerley; 3. illustrator James Guerney</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">ID YA KNOW</span>: The black mamba, <i>Dendroaspis polylepis</i> can reach sustained speeds over long distances of 20kph/12.46mph. In short bursts of speed, the snake has been clocked at 23kph/14mph. It achieves this traveling with a third of the anterior body off the ground. Black mambas do not use their speed for hunting, but for fleeing dangerous encounters.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>H. Belcheri</i> ~ most venomous snake?</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Not So Fast:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> After an extensive 2010 study with accurate instrumentation and precision results in venom potency, the Faint banded sea snake, <i>Hydrophis belcheri</i> won out hands down over the next two runner-ups in the Beaked sea snake, <i>Enhydrina schistosa</i> and the Inland taipan, <i>Oxyuranus microlepidotus</i>. The Faint banded has a toxicity coefficient efficacy venom rating of over a 100 times that of the other two.<br />
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Not so fast...<br />
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...you can't believe everything you read over the internet. Though there are many articles claiming there was a study conducted and concluded that the faint banded sea snake possesses the most potent venom of all snakes, one cannot find one bit of evidence of the testing, its methods, its results, the breakdown of venom chemistry and who or what entity did the testing. These internet articles most likely are just duplicates of one reading one and simply copying down the information just to post the regurgitated material but once again.<br />
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There simply is no data provided in this supposed analysis of the most potent snake venom. I even added words in my opening paragraph to embellish the too generalized wording of all the websites claiming this test was conducted. All these sites claim a few venom milligrams can kill 1000 people and that the faint banded snake's venom is 100 times more dangerous than the taipan's and beaked sea snake's. Hardly much documentation there, is it? <br />
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Many factors come into play on how would a claim of this nature be factual. Did the testing not only include concentrate, but also delivery amount. A coral snake's (<i>Micrurus fulvius</i>) overall neurotoxic venom is far more potent per unit concentrate than a western diamondback rattler's (<i>Crotalus atrox</i>) overall hemotoxic venom. A rattler envenomation though, is far more damaging to tissue and issues larger amounts. Even if the envenomation dose is not enough to kill you, there will be permanent tissue damage. Whereas if envenomated with coral snake venom from an encounter, the dosage is much lower and if you survive, there is complete recovery.<br />
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What was the LD50 results? LD50 is the <i>L</i>ethal <i>D</i>ose measure achieved in a substance that will kill half the sample animal population once the material is administered. The substance is measured in milligrams per kilogram of the test animal's body weight. The lower the LD50 amount, the more toxicity exhibited in the substance. LD50 values though cannot be directly extrapolated from one specie to the other. <br />
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Then there are other values, such as LC50 (<i>L</i>ethal <i>C</i>oncentration, 50%) and LCt50 (<i>L</i>ethal <i>C</i>oncentration over <i>t</i>ime), which measures the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population during a specified time duration.<br />
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There is not one shred of evidence in results of this test. Not a single documented statement.</span><br />
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There are intramuscular LD50 tests that have been conducted on Faint banded venom and the averaged results are 0.155mg/kg. Now that is potent and no one can argue that Faint banded sea snake venom isn't lethal, but the intramuscular LD50 for the Reef sea snake (<i>Hydrophis ornatus</i>) is lower at 0.120mg/kg. For the lowest intramuscular LD50 snake venom measurement that I know of is at 0.082mg/kg for the Black banded sea snake (<i>Hydrophis melanosoma</i>).<br />
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To be truthful, I was rooting for this test to have been for real, for this type of information is interesting. What it appears to be though is over zealous Faint banded sea snake fans rooting a little too hard blinded by faith. To slap on a little philosophy here...<br />
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Faith is a good personal item to identify with, but it cannot be measured in a test tube, nor be the result of any scientific methodology. Faith is not accuracy, it is intention only and has no place in the science classroom. Always continue to keep your hopes high, but wishing for something to be isn't going to necessarily make it so. I believe the jury is still out on this final deliberation. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDIT: You Tube (BalisticBean).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:<b> </b>The fossorial reptile family, <i>Amphisbaenidae</i> gets its name from the combination of two Greek words, <i>amphis</i> (both ways) and<i> bainein</i> (to go), which were transliterated into Latin under the one word, <i>amphisbaena</i> in describing a mythical two-headed serpent. The reptile amphisbaenia does appear that way and at first glance, it is difficult on which end is the tail and which is the head, until closer inspection.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vampire Frog:</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't be too fearful, for although very uncommon, there is a vampire frog among us that flies into the night and has two fangs. Even though Halloween is just around the corner from this first day of October, this is not just another spook story, but is for real. Well, kind of...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwWo1QdRYlQaq3Q_sq5-DMHC-pBs9pdXJqQwCoaKbFhZ81TYHLLvg9YppFS3NqRGTe3OzCdiYshVqKBHXdJODwvjgFEc2P6iIu6eUEZyCO1WLfv_kux_WGy3EhUV4BPmvg_K3rdCZuqMY/s1600/Rhacophorus+vampyrus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwWo1QdRYlQaq3Q_sq5-DMHC-pBs9pdXJqQwCoaKbFhZ81TYHLLvg9YppFS3NqRGTe3OzCdiYshVqKBHXdJODwvjgFEc2P6iIu6eUEZyCO1WLfv_kux_WGy3EhUV4BPmvg_K3rdCZuqMY/s200/Rhacophorus+vampyrus.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> The vampire flying frog</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The frog in question haunts the southern clouded jungles of Vietnam and since its discovery in 2008, has been colloquially dubbed the vampire flying frog while classified as a new species with the title,<i> Rhacophorus vampyrus</i>. The frog is only 5cm/2in long and spends its entire life from egg to adult in the tree canopies. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It has no need to climb down from the trees, for insect food sources are multiple in number up there and when it comes to reproducing, the eggs are laid in tree trunks with recesses, holes or cavities that collect, pool and retain rain water. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even though the frog still has full toe webbing on all four feet, it has no need to use them in swimming. Instead, the frog utilizes the webbing by extending out the legs and spreading the webbed toes to not fly, but glide from tree to tree. <i>Rhacophorus vampyrus</i> is an aerialist.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpkT4-zilTKoJqdPC_rTvG91AqABVSlHh8h-67UzW8zRcD37Geyghgq4SrScbwFcI0BRPeV8MyBinidepzsducBZQqGU1weV7_U-6GdVjzHjfaXYOxKCrggiLCFqcsj2QofatUk1Ss7zu/s1600/vampire-flying-frog-fangs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpkT4-zilTKoJqdPC_rTvG91AqABVSlHh8h-67UzW8zRcD37Geyghgq4SrScbwFcI0BRPeV8MyBinidepzsducBZQqGU1weV7_U-6GdVjzHjfaXYOxKCrggiLCFqcsj2QofatUk1Ss7zu/s200/vampire-flying-frog-fangs.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> Fangs of the tadpole</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The adult frogs do not possess fangs, but their tadpoles do. Two black fangs in the upper and front jaw are present. Though tadpole species normally have a minute beak, this is the first tadpole known to possess fangs. Their function is unclear, but some guesses are that since some tadpole species lay fertile eggs in pooled water, also lay infertile eggs for the hatching tadpoles to consume; perhaps, the female adult does this as well and the fangs are for slicing into the infertile eggs. Or, they may be for access to any type of food that may enter the pool such as beetles with hard chitinous elytras (forewings).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once the tadpole metamorphoses, it loses the fangs.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum; 2. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Though some argue that the water boa, known as the common anaconda (<i>Eunectes murinus</i>) is the world's heaviest and largest snake, they may have the heaviest right, but no anaconda in the wilds have exceeded the lengths of the wild reticulated python (<i>Python recticulatus</i>). Exceeding 9.1m/30ft, this python, if stretched out would reach the third story of a tall building.</span><br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>M</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">outhful:</b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you think that the above tadpole with fangs story is interesting, check out this bad boy. The animal of concern here is <i>Caecilia abitaguae</i> with no common name as yet in any language. It is only found in two Ecuadoran localities in the Andes 1,400-1,600m/ 4,620-5,280ft asl. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmo3h457MCCE3dE5okTNeOz9WZZ7ybzd8xZ7n_yCFKlf8kUEWVH4AHU1GNObH87eYra3oFNnCTrNYm8TwjaJE7m3TgEtuJQRkU9-_yP2vWtRypYkMhdi79uLO7yHJPT1Pj8hax_FJIFwfD/s1600/Caecilia_abitaguae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmo3h457MCCE3dE5okTNeOz9WZZ7ybzd8xZ7n_yCFKlf8kUEWVH4AHU1GNObH87eYra3oFNnCTrNYm8TwjaJE7m3TgEtuJQRkU9-_yP2vWtRypYkMhdi79uLO7yHJPT1Pj8hax_FJIFwfD/s200/Caecilia_abitaguae.jpg" height="129" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <i>Caecilia abitaguae</i> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The two specific locations are on the slopes of the Eastern Cordillera and near the larger town, Banos in Abitagua where it gets its name.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Its preferred habitat is moist soils in subtropical to tropical montane environments where it searches for its invertebrate prey such as worms and beetle larvae </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This animal is a caecilian which is an amphibian such as frogs and salamanders. As most amphibians go, they do not possess true teeth and that's what makes caecilians a bit unusual in the amphibian realm, for their mouth is loaded with teeth. In fact there are double rows of recurved teeth in the upper jaw. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcEYV4aPPwtxGfGep1wty_dB3wq04oarCVS7WT9QolafPKCkODonKIVYZXCAs2XQwQQI_lYMdnsqENUKqDCi13IO8S3MjbMTtuoWeymElkRsVj_9LgWg-9CI5CduYeYw_eqt5YX7BOXLA/s1600/C_abitague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcEYV4aPPwtxGfGep1wty_dB3wq04oarCVS7WT9QolafPKCkODonKIVYZXCAs2XQwQQI_lYMdnsqENUKqDCi13IO8S3MjbMTtuoWeymElkRsVj_9LgWg-9CI5CduYeYw_eqt5YX7BOXLA/s200/C_abitague.jpg" height="200" width="127" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They utilize the razor sharp teeth to seize, then firmly hold onto their prey; even victims double their size. Once the prey are grasped, the caecilian then longitudinally body rolls much like a crocodile would, tearing off chunks and pieces of the prey to swallow. No, they don't chew with these teeth, they just bite with them.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VaPzEtNqLgIeLUBL-QPvKt3wezDsppLoB0NSeMDNdM1JHlw4c0sQfymGDyKmSBqNYh6cl012xUEtd2_ivUT4OpmTa8s96-a9JPf8U07O5UPp8vK8-i5HbifcLviOUP9A0o4SfwPhq8VF/s1600/Caecilia+abitague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VaPzEtNqLgIeLUBL-QPvKt3wezDsppLoB0NSeMDNdM1JHlw4c0sQfymGDyKmSBqNYh6cl012xUEtd2_ivUT4OpmTa8s96-a9JPf8U07O5UPp8vK8-i5HbifcLviOUP9A0o4SfwPhq8VF/s200/Caecilia+abitague.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once prey are seized by <i>C. abitaguae</i>, such as this earthworm in the photo, it is going nowhere but down the caecilian's gullet and in pieces no less.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. source: Russian website Owl, 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals'; 2. MarioYanez-Munoz/Miguel Ergiles 3. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Luis Recalde (EcoMinga). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> </span>Lungless salamanders (plethodontids) as adults breathe via cutaneous gas respiration (through the skin), but also through thin membranes located in the mouth and throat. </span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Three of a Kind</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lick on and look closely at the three snake photos below. Which one do you think clearly is a gray-banded kingsnake?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <i>Lampropeltis mexicana</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij23vQlcCJWdlXQ_-tT3Ls-6lA9FfPjBX-y4z0aPAEE3xeRw-CESKxOy5PP_RDh2G34VqFEKy-cWXB7Mgb9GHjNLeBxUqVp5moRyzXMgxTst1xT3DBzkmJYfxpihgTbINAd1us8LJBuBOu/s1600/Gray+bnd%2527d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij23vQlcCJWdlXQ_-tT3Ls-6lA9FfPjBX-y4z0aPAEE3xeRw-CESKxOy5PP_RDh2G34VqFEKy-cWXB7Mgb9GHjNLeBxUqVp5moRyzXMgxTst1xT3DBzkmJYfxpihgTbINAd1us8LJBuBOu/s200/Gray+bnd%2527d.jpg" height="118" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <i>Lampropeltis mexicana</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPJdsSmaYHeqNCe_FAVmaov_2p3BbnGj1jSmBkACqVSjHIjcuS5Q902MNSeLpQF_L0bBuYVnsZh_zah2Q3WuDK3f6_HfynJ2nU-3DxQsgFfD8a9Mr0t31PA2X1TzmSbMIMiGZD22Aabin/s1600/gray+bnd%2527d+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPJdsSmaYHeqNCe_FAVmaov_2p3BbnGj1jSmBkACqVSjHIjcuS5Q902MNSeLpQF_L0bBuYVnsZh_zah2Q3WuDK3f6_HfynJ2nU-3DxQsgFfD8a9Mr0t31PA2X1TzmSbMIMiGZD22Aabin/s200/gray+bnd%2527d+1.jpg" height="121" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span><i>Lampropeltis mexicana</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br />I</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f you guessed the first photo, you are correct. But just as well, if you guessed the second or third one as the gray-banded kingsnake, you were right also. </span><br />
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Due to polymorphism (highly variable color and pattern morphs within a species), <i>Lampropeltis mexicana</i>, the gray-banded kingsnake does appear as another snake species when comparing specimens side-by-side. None of the photos aren't even a subspecies, just the same species representing differing color patterns.</span><br />
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Although this kingsnake is primarily nocturnal, therefore less encountered, it was once considered rare due to confusion of all the variable colors. But after careful studies, it proved to be a far more common snake species than originally first thought found in its Mexico and Texas habitat range.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">1. Dr. Robert S. Simmons; 2. K. H. Switak; 3. Dr. Robert S. Simmons </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The diminutive North American, Great Plains narrow-mouthed frog (<i>Gastrophryne olivacea</i>) that reaches a maximum length of 4.1cm/1.625in, often shares burrows with moles, lizards and tarantulas. Still unknown as to why, but it is apparent the unlikely roommates live in harmony. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></span></div>
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<b>A</b> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Long Tail Tale:</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know of no other tail that is longer on an animal as measured against the body length than the tail possessed by the Asian long-tailed grass lizard (<i>Takydromus sexlineatus</i>). This lizard's tail can exceed six times its body length.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like most skinks and geckos, the tail has perforated fracture planes and indeed the long-tailed lizard displays caudal autonomy, the casting off capability of the tail. When a tail is severed, the tail vertebrae break along the fracture plane while overlying muscle and tissue thins and separates. The broken-off tail will then go through nerve spasms in hopes of distracting a predator.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is an escape strategy that evolved very early in lizard evolution. The trauma to the remaining tail vertebrae stimulates dormant tissue cells to activate and regenerate a new tail. During the process though, the lizard has lost ground on social status, as the tail is significant in social ranking. Also, this energetic highly active diurnal lizard expends a lot of energy in the tail regeneration process that could be used for other lizard activities. But still, it beats being some predator's last dinner.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXp628JZ1HYXF3_QVPYkUAc-Idh3_nKn6Gpp1fWMhZVibeL4amJZt6ARTHEXoCajeBnAYLWfPNJPdvc9DvYISHP2-6VCkCYs6I0NvcgiAMLgu_iAQuOWlsiR_U5-rcIUHtwuq8OCrM3w4j/s1600/Takydromus+sexlineautus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXp628JZ1HYXF3_QVPYkUAc-Idh3_nKn6Gpp1fWMhZVibeL4amJZt6ARTHEXoCajeBnAYLWfPNJPdvc9DvYISHP2-6VCkCYs6I0NvcgiAMLgu_iAQuOWlsiR_U5-rcIUHtwuq8OCrM3w4j/s320/Takydromus+sexlineautus.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Takydromus sexlineatus</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In addition, this lizard whose lifespan is ~ 5 years, lives a lot of that time up in the branches of trees as it is arboreal. The long tail is prehensile enhancing the lizards agility and maneuverability among the limbs and branches in the tree canopies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDIT: John White</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Except for members in the subfamily, <i>Eubelpharinae</i> all geckos have no eyelids as their other lizard kin do. Instead, for eye protection there is a fixed transparent membrane that they will lick with their long tongues to wipe and keep clean. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">W</span><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here'd All the Boys Go:</span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gals, do you ever feel like that there just simply aren't any decent boys around to be had? Well, females of the common reed frog species, <i>Hyperolius viridiflavus</i> have come up with an ingenious plan when this occurs. When certain populations of the species' males drop drastically, a number of females, instead of going out and searching for males, simply turn themselves into males. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5gooEscsxGmE9pmf22FPl04Sp3ORi2y9fgzxzhDRxFd0jnPDGK_Pv_IPlhQyggw0rfHijKc9n3ZlfySOwwr00srnkGOh_ag-jC8pSOvws_OHTxkMIKt9RdwZOntczTMEf_l_1VPeDSiE/s1600/Hyperolius+veridiflavus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5gooEscsxGmE9pmf22FPl04Sp3ORi2y9fgzxzhDRxFd0jnPDGK_Pv_IPlhQyggw0rfHijKc9n3ZlfySOwwr00srnkGOh_ag-jC8pSOvws_OHTxkMIKt9RdwZOntczTMEf_l_1VPeDSiE/s200/Hyperolius+veridiflavus.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hyperolius viridiflavus</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In response to an outside stimulus when male populations are low, females will transform themselves into males to keep the frog reproductive cycle viable and it works well.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he common reed frog is one of the more healthier population species of frogs found in central African tropical to sub-tropical and savanna zones of around eleven countries. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The exact nature of the transformation is unclear and complex, but when male populations are low, a chemical trigger activates in a number of females affecting genes to disintegrate female sex organs and replace them with the development of the male organs.<br />
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X</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">X chromosomes in sexual reproduction normally produce females and XY chromosomes, with the Y donated from the male, produce males. Beyond this, apparently there is a gene within these chromosomes that also affect the outcome of the sex and with common reed frogs, this gene can still be retained and activated outside and beyond embryo development well into adulthood. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a process known as protogyny, where in the animal kingdom females may experience some form of external or internal stimuli to sex-change turning into males. More specifically, it is disinhibition, which infers that the presence of males prevent female protogynous sex-changing, but upon removal of males the female may switch sexes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDIT: Nick Hobgood (Nhobgood)</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: A group of toads is known as a knot.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></span></div>
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<b>T</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he Toxin Scavenger:</b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The 1m/3.3ft Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is the only extant species in its genus, but with two subspecies, is found worldwide in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. This oceanic turtle may be found in the open seas but primarily haunts coral shorelines and lagoons foraging for food. And, it is the diet of this sea turtle that sets it apart from all other sea turtles and organisms in general.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikP8t4-G65CmGj8s6F2Jj6jxmQdqf_ffMr0G3IiLzyzGbOc7QxU_WFroG68CH70jaoX6yG-ZjidHlPpj4Dk2aPxsUxNQ0L8rgD3JLVJf2v3KuF0VP0ZvwLOTt32qw7meEpL321la5nyQaj/s1600/Eretmochelys+imbricata.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikP8t4-G65CmGj8s6F2Jj6jxmQdqf_ffMr0G3IiLzyzGbOc7QxU_WFroG68CH70jaoX6yG-ZjidHlPpj4Dk2aPxsUxNQ0L8rgD3JLVJf2v3KuF0VP0ZvwLOTt32qw7meEpL321la5nyQaj/s200/Eretmochelys+imbricata.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">E. imbricatus</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Hawksbill is a true omnivore, but is extensively a spongivore with 70-95% of their diet consisting of sponges. Of the around 5,000 species of sponges, which are an animal and not a plant, 12 of them give off topical toxic chemicals and compounds and if ingested are highly lethal to organisms. Though the Hawksbill's diet is specific in not eating most sponge species, these toxic ones are indeed on its menu.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ome of these sponge species eaten by this turtle, with no affects except for nutritional intake, are <i>Aaptos aaptos</i>, <i>Chondrilla nucula</i>, <i>Reniera sarai</i>, <i>Speciospongia vesparium</i>, <i>Suberites domuncula</i> and <i>Tethya actinia</i>. These sponges contain toxins like okadaic acid that inhibits protein activity and the polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salt compound (APS), which is lytic to organism cells in that it promotes and allows transfection of viruses into these cells</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, the Hawksbill dines on certain sponges loaded with siliceous spicules, such as species in the genus' <i>Ancorina</i> and <i>Placospongia</i> that would otherwise play havoc on any other multicellular organism's digestive tract</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sponges are filter feeders and take in vast amounts of present chemical pollutants and bacteria. This alone in itself can pose a threat to organisms as hazardous materials. In fact it is documented, not by consumption, but simply by topical use in application, humans have experienced toxic shock syndrome when bathing with sponges due to the filtered and accumulated toxins.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In addition, the Hawksbill rounds out his diet with other toxic animals such as comb jellies, jelly fish, Portuguese man-o-wars, sea anemones and the highly dangerous hydrozoan. All these animals are cniderans possessing stinging cells that deter an animal from messing with them. But it appears that the Hawksbill has total immunity from the stings effects.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQBzKtHXcCJvRo_fWuT2Z7rO4gI3yHtq1US93NYZ8aFA3aegEIn1V_XeL451FSDpnhuoO0zMchQ0G0XCa8rk6Ge6oZrvTqP4aBZp65-e27oT2JyJrv0pJnp0vWHJNwczDJZ9OxUqZjOcj/s1600/E.+imbricatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQBzKtHXcCJvRo_fWuT2Z7rO4gI3yHtq1US93NYZ8aFA3aegEIn1V_XeL451FSDpnhuoO0zMchQ0G0XCa8rk6Ge6oZrvTqP4aBZp65-e27oT2JyJrv0pJnp0vWHJNwczDJZ9OxUqZjOcj/s200/E.+imbricatus.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of these ingested toxins form a cocktail that registers into the skin of the turtle known as chelonitoxin, creating a risk in eating the Hawksbill's meat from burning sensations to coma and death</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his turtle is critically endangered, not due to its diet, but from man slaughtering them for its meat and carapace. Tortoise shell products derive from the Hawksbill. </span><br />
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I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t just seems that we would want more to be interested in understanding how this turtle is immune to its dietary constituents as it lives instead of killing this gentle creature for food delicacies and cosmetics effects</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: 1. Fabio Ehengruber; 2. Nick Caloyianis</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Crocodilians swallow stones (gastroliths) that are retained in their intestinal tracts enabling the animal to dive deeper into water.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>L</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ike a Rolling Tire:</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. platycephalus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Mt. Lyell salamander, <i>Hydromantes platycephalus</i> belongs to the lungless salamander family, <i>Plethodontidae</i>, therefore is distinguished in having no lungs, is fully terrestrial where eggs are laid on moist land and hatch as miniature adults. In addition, this salamander has distinctive vertical slits that are naso-labial grooves lined with glands for chemoreception. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is endemic to California with isolated population pockets dispersed throughout the mountainous Sierra Nevada range. The Mt. Lyell salamander's coloration is very granite-like in appearance</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hen it comes to defense, salamanders have come up with a few strategies. Anti-predator salamander mechanisms are secretion of a foul tasting mucoid body slime, the exudation of irritants, while some are aposematic in coloration advertising skin toxicity. With some of the bigger and more aggressive ones, they are willing to bite back and tail lash</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">alamander escape methods include immobility freeze, aggressive posturing, rapid flipping, un-flipping, coiling and uncoiling movements, body writhing, and the old standby... locomotive fleeing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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The Mt. Lyell salamander for defense, does secrete a body slime that is a burning irritant to eyes, nose and throat, but what this salamander is noted for is its choice of escape...it coils up and rolls downhill like a tire. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>H. platycephalus</i> habitat</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Living in mountainous terrain, it aids greatly in devising a method for traveling down. When threatened, the Mt. Lyell has devised an ingenious method for doing exactly that.<br />
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Consisting of coiling the body and tail together and tucking in the limbs and head, this salamander forms his body into a round configuration that can now passively roll down inclines to escape danger.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he body is essentially rubberized with the flexibility to absorb any shock created by the bumps and hard rock surface experienced</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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B</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">elow is a BBC short filming, along with the convergent evolutionary mother-of-pearl moth catepillar (</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pleuroptya ruralis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), this amazing salamander's unique escape method.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Gary Nafis; 2. Will Richardson</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: A natural collection of frogs is called an army.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Anthropomorphism:</b> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes we are so vain in our attempts to place human traits and qualities onto other animals that it appears we demean the animal's own characteristic traits as invalid to our recognition of being worthwhile. Only if it shares our cognitive thoughts and emotive aspects will we then deem that animal as worthy of our interests. <br />
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A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nthropomorphism, as defined states an instance where any human attribute is placed upon another animal or plant, or even any nonliving items or inanimate objects such as the wind, the planets, phenomena and abstract concepts such as deities</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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To the stern scholar, this may seem a bit trivial, but in the process, it is a mode of human interests in attempting to understand his environment by simply relating to it and is a much better process than anthropocentric thoughts that view mankind as separated from the rest of worldly and universal happenings and life. Anthropocentrism is more degrading in exempting other life forms as just there, well below the realm of mankind that even portrays divisions of superiority within its own rank in the guises of ethnicity, race, culture and social status.<br />
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A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nthropomorphic views have enticed me enough to include the two following reptile stories. Reptiles are not guided by emotion, they do not emotionally bond to one another nor do they care much for each other; even hints of parental or maternal care is very rare in the reptilian world. It's not wrong or right in lacking or having emotional traits, it's just a species' evolutionary strategy and response to natural selection in evolving it or not</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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N</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ow keep in mind, reptiles are not guided by emotional bonding and we should not attempt placement of human emotion into reptile motives. But these next two stories, certainly give credence in doing just that. As you read and watch the stories, recall all along that these were and are wild animals, they did not grow up in a zoo or circus surroundings</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'ll start ya off with the snake story and end with the crocodile, so here goes..</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he small jungle village of Sit Tbow in Cambodia in 2000 had a strange visitor come visit, go into a home and finally remain beside an infant boy named Sambath Uon. Three times the boy's father picked up the visitor and took it back into the jungles, only for three times more for the visitor to return and stay beside the boy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he visitor at the time was a months old Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus). Now Burmese pythons do indeed have a natural fear of people and prefer to first flee during an encounter, but not this particular one; it preferred to risk going into human habitation to, for some unknown reason, remain beside the boy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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F</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ast forwarding to 2008, the boy is now seven-years-old and the snake is 4.8m/15.84ft. Nonetheless, the two are inseparable during daytime play and in sleeping evening hours, which is even more unusual in that Burmese pythons are nocturnal by nature making them more active at night. The villagers have come to accept the relationship and even consider the boy/snake bond as good fortune for the village. <br />
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P</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">resently, the inseparable duo still do their daily routines even though the snake has reached a length of 5.75 meters or 19 feet. </span><br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his snake, who happens to be a female, could easily overpower and destroy the boy, but has never exhibited any form of hostility towards Sambath, even during periods of rough housing as boys will do</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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Here are a couple of photos and a National Geographic video for your viewing pleasure: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his final story concerns a man and crocodile bond occurring on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It all began 22 years ago when Chito found an emaciated, but full grown adult American crocodile (Crocodlyus acutus) weighing a mere 68kg/150lbs along the banks of the Parismina River in the province of Limsn.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The animal had been shot through the left eye by an irate farmer due to the crocodile attacking his livestock cattle. Near death, the brave Chito, enlisted some friends to help him lift the creature into his boat where he then took the decimated crocodile to his home to try and nurse it back to health. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being an animal lover and more so with those in obvious suffering, Chito vigilantly worked day and night to revive the crocodile by hand feeding him, applying and administering medication and even sleeping with him for the first six months of recovery. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally, Pocho, the name Chito gave the crocodile had fully recovered from the man's constant care and slowly over the process of Chito getting closer, then touching and hugging, Pocho had accepted and bonded with him in an amazing way for reptilian acceptance of another animal.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After ten years of closeness, then play, the now 444.5kg/980lb 5.15m/17ft Pocho comes when Chito calls for him. Once Chito had began training the crocodile, word got out and then the unusual bond became history. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today, tourists from all over the world come to see the man and beast perform in a park with a 161 square kilometer/100 square mile lake. No one else dares to enter the water with Pocho but Chito, for it is far too dangerous.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How a crocodile can recognize another individual species through an emotional attachment is hard to explain, but no less occurs in this instance. Chito and Pocho perform everyday for audiences without incidence and along with the crowd, Pocho seems to enjoy it as well. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here are a few photos and a 2009 video of this amazing friendship bond:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDITS:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Both snake and crocodile pictures are compliments of Barcroft Media; </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have to end on a sad note here. On this day of December 03, 2011, I just found out that Pocho the crocodile passed away of natural causes just this past October 10, 2011. He was nearing 60 years old when his human friend, Chito arranged a funeral and memorial service for him shortly after his death. When asked if he would replace Pocho with another crocodile, with quivering voice Chito responded, "Pocho is Pocho, there is no more Pocho. He will be the only Pocho there ever was." Rest peacefully Pocho... </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you would </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">like to view the funeral procession and service, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79-PmOnNhTw" target="_blank">click here</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; text-align: justify;">ID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">: Caecilian members from the family, </span><i style="color: black; text-align: justify;">Rhinatrematidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; text-align: justify;"> are considered to be the sister group of all caecilians. This hypothesis is based on the fact that rhinatrematids possess the most primitive cardiovascular system of all other caecilian phylogenetic morphologies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; text-align: justify;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Caecilian Lunglessness:</b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_61SpZ36V-yC3k8E2EjRSl8kaRljcAKB-rnlG35oEPkFaunLdLsglKR4lgakf6Z32KabuIHIQAfyfV4-hvR23LMOZAMEhfcEYHrPxnoC8RC71cdunYaa89SUZDMNfDTft8QYQ54Wae9m/s1600/Caecilita+iwokramae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_61SpZ36V-yC3k8E2EjRSl8kaRljcAKB-rnlG35oEPkFaunLdLsglKR4lgakf6Z32KabuIHIQAfyfV4-hvR23LMOZAMEhfcEYHrPxnoC8RC71cdunYaa89SUZDMNfDTft8QYQ54Wae9m/s200/Caecilita+iwokramae.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1. </span><i>C. iwokramae</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Both known lungless caecilians, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Typhlonectes eiselti</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caecilita iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> differ more than they are similar. They both share characteristics not found in other caecilian species in the absence of lungs, having their choanae (posterior nasal apertures located on roof of mouth) covered over by skin in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T. eiselti</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and by the oral mucosa (epithelial mucus membrane layer) in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, lacking pulmonary vessels and both breathe through cautaneous gas exhange. Other than these four items, they differ. <br />
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<i>T</i></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>. eiselti</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> is rather large at 738mm/29.1in and is wholly aquatic. It also has evolutionary osteological aquatic modifications of the skull, has large nare (nostril) openings like other caecilians and measures a total length of 700mm/27.5in. In contrast, </span><i>C. iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> is wholly fossorial and is tiny for caecilians overall, with a reported total length of only 112mm/4.41in. In fact, the etymology of the monotypic generic given name, </span><i>Caecilita</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> refers to 'tiny caecilian.' In addition, all modifications commited to being lungless are only in those of soft tissue, not in osteology and the tiny caecilian's nares are sealed over by skin</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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N</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ow mind you, both these species have had described analysis and data recorded only from preserved specimens, as live specimens have currently not been found for evaluation. There are only two preserved specimens of </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. eiselti</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> first described in 1995 and fully described in 1998 and just one preserved </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> fully described in 2009, originally found live in Guyana's Iwokramae Forest years before in 1997. Solvency in preserved specimens, such as ethanol and formaldehyde can distort physiological, even morphological characteristics. With this in mind though, the science teams accounted for any preservative discrepancies and corrected the data. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">any publishings list <i>Idiocranium russeli</i> as the smallest caecilian and indeed, it is small. But with a total length of 114mm/4.49in, it is not the smallest. That recognition should go to <i>Caecilita iwokramae</i> sharing it with the Seychelles' caecilian, <i>Grandisonia brevis</i>, which also has been recorded at is longest length of only 112mm/4.41in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <i>C. iwokramae</i> is the smallest New World species, while<i> G. brevis</i> is the smallest Old World.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2thlfJHdOTLnI2AA9SFQ_v9r01HOXrUvii05h9JaW7_9z3a90Cx6WZ9MjpPiOOzlWGOqRjLpoqCFed4oYkSwBTd-oHQS4Y1kQS2D2pq2iHCcHkq9ripcJKp9OSV3Hz8TnH5knfqXum_R/s1600/Caecilita+iwokramae+1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2thlfJHdOTLnI2AA9SFQ_v9r01HOXrUvii05h9JaW7_9z3a90Cx6WZ9MjpPiOOzlWGOqRjLpoqCFed4oYkSwBTd-oHQS4Y1kQS2D2pq2iHCcHkq9ripcJKp9OSV3Hz8TnH5knfqXum_R/s200/Caecilita+iwokramae+1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The photograph to the right of the preserved <i>Caecilita iwokramae</i> in (a) shows the two choanae covered over by oral mucosa, while (b) shows the cloaca location on a single annulus and (c) displaying the dorsal terminus side ending with the earthworm-like in appearance medial keel displaying no tail. This physiological trait among others are similar to caecilian members and is why <i>C. iwokramae</i> has been classified as paraphyletic under the <i>Cecilidae</i> family.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are two standard hypotheses of why amphibians of lunged ancestry have resorted to lunglessness. One is the rheotactic argument, where in aquatic rheotropic behavior, an organism aligns itself with the flow of water current (positive) for maximum oxygenation or against it (negative). The other is the buccopharyngeal, where a muscular pump forces ventilation, thus inhalation and exhalation of air into body.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It appears that <i>A. eiselti</i> developed lunglessness due to positive rheotropism in an aquatic environment with a cylindrical body and narrow head allowing maximum oxygenation flow over the cutaneous respiratory body. Plethodontids comprise the largest salamander family and are lungless. With their terrestrial stage in temperate environments, the buccalpharyngeal concept compliments their lungless evolvement by facilitating increased cutaneous buccal gas exchange.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">o where does that leave </span><i>Caecilita iwokramae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">? It appears evolution has created a third amphibian route to lunglessness. In its small size, along with two newly discovered lungless </span><i>Bombinatorid</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> tiny frogs no more than 70mm/2.8in, smallness exhibits an impact on respiration. The loss of lungs may have been facilitated through small size by the surface-to-volume ratio. The smaller body surface area of these animals creates proportionally a relatively higher volume-to-surface ratio making gaseous exchange via cutaneous respiration and buccal cavities more effective than lung respiration.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">P</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOTO CREDITS: Both 1 & 2 by Marvalee H. Wake & Maureen A. Donnelly</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: In representing over 500 species, the frog genus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eleutherodactylus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> not only has the most member species for amphibians, it is the largest genus in sheer number of species than any other vertebrate genera</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>An Amazing Tail:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Can you gander a guess at what the image displayed in the photo to the left represents? Is it some sort of life form or merely an inanimate object? If it is life, is it some sort of flora or fauna? Is it whole or part of a larger object?<br />
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I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f you're stumped and haven't peeked at the following pictures, what the image in the photo to the left is exposing is one of the weirdest tails of any animal and in particular for any snake. This tail is attached to and belongs to a viper known as, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pseudocerastes urarachnoides</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and as its name implies, has been commonly dubbed the, spider-tailed viper</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cientifically discovered just a few years ago in 2006, the snake is uncommon where it is found in western Iran as being endemic to the Zagros Mountains. The genus, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pseudocerastes</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">' range covers the North Arabian Desert from the Sinai and southern Israel, Jordan, Iraq, east to Afghanistan and Pakistan with an isolated population in northern Oman. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQNgSLkRy-Lk_czl8ZGaSGMQGbN7ieYdt77L9zrxFOxTw16z9WNU5C6f5g93mxOXPhjtUSk_AwqAP6jM4WPGVgga4ZmI0A0mJJYPGf6U_sfSHaYkjKACiZ2SoYPG1HJ9x6EgeZ681rBpm/s1600/Pseudocerastes+urarachnoides.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQNgSLkRy-Lk_czl8ZGaSGMQGbN7ieYdt77L9zrxFOxTw16z9WNU5C6f5g93mxOXPhjtUSk_AwqAP6jM4WPGVgga4ZmI0A0mJJYPGf6U_sfSHaYkjKACiZ2SoYPG1HJ9x6EgeZ681rBpm/s200/Pseudocerastes+urarachnoides.jpeg" height="142" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>P. urarachnoides</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In being a viper, it naturally injects venom into prey or intruders with solenoglyph fangs. This snake is a sit and wait ambush serpent, as most vipers are, but in addition, it uses its tail as a caudal lure in vibrating, wiggling and wriggling it, appearing as an injured spider in distress in order to gain the curiosity of and lure in potential prey. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSjF4GzVAUnxSsCQBoGBMPoZs6bRcsA9xfHq2p7YWGwF-FnS-MBgIp184nkoEQ5ueT9udVakQsgi-1WKwGDSMjpsVy0Pq3-fWp9wowNTJsqsoW3JEC_J3hK-o6h7Lbtf0CPOgAkQ4XcOx/s1600/Pseodcerastes+urarachnoides+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSjF4GzVAUnxSsCQBoGBMPoZs6bRcsA9xfHq2p7YWGwF-FnS-MBgIp184nkoEQ5ueT9udVakQsgi-1WKwGDSMjpsVy0Pq3-fWp9wowNTJsqsoW3JEC_J3hK-o6h7Lbtf0CPOgAkQ4XcOx/s200/Pseodcerastes+urarachnoides+1.jpeg" height="142" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Closer view of head & tail</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Prey is primarily native birds, such as larks and the snake utilizes the caudal luring to get them into striking range. To envenomate a quick reacting bird, its strike must be very rapid and efficient and indeed it is. This snake has a timed strike of less than 0.5 seconds from the initial strike, envenomation to recoil. After recoil, the snake will assume a waiting position for the venom to take effect by coiling and putting the caudal lure near its head and mouth.<br />
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O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ther animals this 840mm/33.1in snake is perhaps a natural predator of are other smaller reptiles, including snakes and small mammals that may be attracted to the luring.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nother oddity in this snake's features is that it can relax and extend its rugose scales. The anterior portion of the tongue is a light whitish pink and narrower than the back half that is a more uniform dark snake tongue color. As inhabiting burrows, uses slow direct movement when exiting the burrow, but incorporates lateral movement when traveling.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is without doubt one of the oddest snakes. To close out this article, I leave you with the following short video of the snake in action performing it's caudal luring.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwyXpCJGVry_OikgKufxG5gd_mydpSTHksnDDxktqkoC4bcc79Kq_6QBIEno3tKY0EYNMmRTYGtZsqhKa2Rcg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Steven C. Anderson; 2. & 3. Omid Mozaffari; Video - Steven C. Anderson</span></span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQRsAI6rYaCTauJuWh3uu6EfNxY7libuRmRzWULXwupVmMyGWC9ZWU0jIRD8vH0GDjdWecr2sd4_RnwDHGTFBsitnKuA2jNUscLEsoe6e9ZpIrUp-fnK-TIqVtFfNOUWXwZzeIzBtWDG5/s1600/gecko2.jpg" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ID YA KNOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphiumas have 28 times the amount of DNA than humans do and have the largest sized individual cells of any other vertebrate</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span> <br />
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty's Eye in the Beholder:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hether right or wrong, in taking advantage of certain genetic traits, by either highlighting them or hiding them in a specific species' genome, breeding wild animals has satisfied the requirements of man's rural cultures to his massive societies as a necessary building block of where we are today. The beast of burden, the edible livestock, the fellow hunter and the cosmetic disposal for our enjoyment have all gone along for the ride in man's rise for well over 15,000 years now</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though normally, I do not like it at all, when man begins to tinker with the genetics of wild animals to simply produce an animal that is more appealing to our sense of burden, companionship or mere aesthetics. Although I must say, when it comes to beauty in a human's viewpoint, man's tinkering in snake breeding has come up with some exceptionally beautiful specimens. <br />
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S</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ince most boid hybrids are fertile when back cross bred, their viable offspring from hybrid to hybrid are fertile as well. Breeders have taken advantage of this in coming up with some visually elegant specimens. The drawback is that these hybrid specimens could never be introduced back into the wilds, for the conspicuous coloration would make their success rate of survival as nil</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It is true though that in the wilds when polymorph phases interlap in native territories, they will interbreed naturally and produce hybrid species, but even they don't stand much of a chance for survival.<br />
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If you like snakes or not, you'll have to concur that these are some magnificent animals.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> N</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">evertheless without further argument, through selective breeding, here are some exceptionally produced animals. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-8QzeE8uFnUauq9Qi8kQsvPaWU0qnIi4BM0srTKYWrJ1NGNyn8Ts9FSAexpLWRDUWrxo5-2ubVqdCfgGW0X1KL-6coVucAiUd5JWS1qDWykHdAHDcTIgJgUrLNnXSe-vGKVCtZfweCTA/s1600/Morelia-viridis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-8QzeE8uFnUauq9Qi8kQsvPaWU0qnIi4BM0srTKYWrJ1NGNyn8Ts9FSAexpLWRDUWrxo5-2ubVqdCfgGW0X1KL-6coVucAiUd5JWS1qDWykHdAHDcTIgJgUrLNnXSe-vGKVCtZfweCTA/s200/Morelia-viridis.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Moreila viridis</i> ~ natural coloration</span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3r8VMiXHDHz6l5e6Z7R_w_bx-1MebhsF7y7nVSKhlDvPNgcG-IjYaaCCkeKXOsd0uVBHi6RKljQegLnNCGj8PJztp7SyOQzl8SKAzpyw7Z9idhRgSDNH0YqZD4DCJ-DcSAzOQb38ZcH9k/s1600/M.+Viridis+Canary+Chondro.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3r8VMiXHDHz6l5e6Z7R_w_bx-1MebhsF7y7nVSKhlDvPNgcG-IjYaaCCkeKXOsd0uVBHi6RKljQegLnNCGj8PJztp7SyOQzl8SKAzpyw7Z9idhRgSDNH0YqZD4DCJ-DcSAzOQb38ZcH9k/s200/M.+Viridis+Canary+Chondro.JPG" height="158" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ </span>C<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">anary</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> chondro </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMEzwQQ9oTl8MVERlZR65vduIZvxt0HaD0EHuL6xlr_RWmPY-h9uq5IgPB6CMWY13lt2St89cM6py_lwWjTjdzn-oPNEPMyFyVUEgBuwYY7lP4V4aJZ9Y9on3wqXsK8lcUyIMUIgj8NDt/s1600/M.+viridis+canary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMEzwQQ9oTl8MVERlZR65vduIZvxt0HaD0EHuL6xlr_RWmPY-h9uq5IgPB6CMWY13lt2St89cM6py_lwWjTjdzn-oPNEPMyFyVUEgBuwYY7lP4V4aJZ9Y9on3wqXsK8lcUyIMUIgj8NDt/s200/M.+viridis+canary.jpg" height="137" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Canary chondrophil</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUiYJWEjArtNg1EpnJ4UVn17-whEuWXYzxAQ4D-1AVYV1rYlHWWfSVwOvbul5vz4U8m03V4iU6TsUn1rTZv9lL2LkK2-BZwH4TYZYDCl_WKciANAe4hAD6DDXFP_TYP71fW1PFTKaf0x1/s1600/M.+Viridis+blk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUiYJWEjArtNg1EpnJ4UVn17-whEuWXYzxAQ4D-1AVYV1rYlHWWfSVwOvbul5vz4U8m03V4iU6TsUn1rTZv9lL2LkK2-BZwH4TYZYDCl_WKciANAe4hAD6DDXFP_TYP71fW1PFTKaf0x1/s200/M.+Viridis+blk.jpg" height="180" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ Erythristic deep maroon </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLguU_vkB6w2Q77ETMGG_h21_Q_9R4w5YEA7EgmaANP3E5VCLXWuwoNl2lRIKF4Dz4dAl_RHVlO25SY56HpReyfVdIwxrbG6kfYvp5A4dLdYXAV41xNYc6A4Fjf6_Ny5QDmtB_NrXlxRD/s1600/M.+viridis+Azulacopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLguU_vkB6w2Q77ETMGG_h21_Q_9R4w5YEA7EgmaANP3E5VCLXWuwoNl2lRIKF4Dz4dAl_RHVlO25SY56HpReyfVdIwxrbG6kfYvp5A4dLdYXAV41xNYc6A4Fjf6_Ny5QDmtB_NrXlxRD/s200/M.+viridis+Azulacopy.jpg" height="141" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ Azula copy</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEOa_kL7bCDYwvrJNkewPIRl1G_sVP3EfSRHr7Hi4PxKks8zKhtG25KF9A1sYYprh03pKSnYXEVt8LniAIfu2oI1wcBjOJz03-zYFkRbebSSlcDOnOo4KtnAQ51le3uFaUUJ9a6yxE3YY/s1600/M.+viridis+9.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEOa_kL7bCDYwvrJNkewPIRl1G_sVP3EfSRHr7Hi4PxKks8zKhtG25KF9A1sYYprh03pKSnYXEVt8LniAIfu2oI1wcBjOJz03-zYFkRbebSSlcDOnOo4KtnAQ51le3uFaUUJ9a6yxE3YY/s200/M.+viridis+9.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ Albino hormonal cyano</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMa9sUeZdEPfnNxGBJws8y2e6Uf0BIiLbVIKvp7vUWdQRwN_ToprfIGqVXp2lzWaGQqWa9CMnz1v2qrHtPYq9ASv2IvC9NqQAFPHlYSI37UMV4y6UXoDHj_rSJBYY_so8KYbOhxKol-vyL/s1600/M-viridis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMa9sUeZdEPfnNxGBJws8y2e6Uf0BIiLbVIKvp7vUWdQRwN_ToprfIGqVXp2lzWaGQqWa9CMnz1v2qrHtPYq9ASv2IvC9NqQAFPHlYSI37UMV4y6UXoDHj_rSJBYY_so8KYbOhxKol-vyL/s200/M-viridis.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ Melanistic blueline </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>M. viridis</i> ~ Xanthistic/erythristic</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1.Micha L. Rieser; 2.Damon Salceies; 3. Constrictors Unlimited source: reptileforums.co.uk; 4. Greg Maxwell; 5. source: moreliaviridis.yuko.com; 6. John Leckie source: Morelia Viridis Forum; 7. Richard Viridis; 8. source: surinamboas.com</span>. <br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: Amphisbaenid tail lengths are no more than 6% of their total length. Except for members of the genus, <i>Bipes</i> all other amphisbaenid genera can drop their tails, although they cannot grow back new ones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Natural Beauty:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After viewing some beautiful snakes that man has tinkered with genetically, how about now looking at some frogs that nature has already done the artwork and they are masterpieces:</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJUlvvlL1X5c6cY9XrdeLeKxM5kCpkytPDi2cSE_yAl2jJWs9LeMlWUZnEl-mm0CqqTGwZFLIWSNpOrIckRen3bObvAwMdSF0GNNiSrcz-TsPDgg-uobbZ97fnD-RDj3XTWLPCelEkRts-/s1600/Rantiomeya+benedicta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJUlvvlL1X5c6cY9XrdeLeKxM5kCpkytPDi2cSE_yAl2jJWs9LeMlWUZnEl-mm0CqqTGwZFLIWSNpOrIckRen3bObvAwMdSF0GNNiSrcz-TsPDgg-uobbZ97fnD-RDj3XTWLPCelEkRts-/s200/Rantiomeya+benedicta.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Rantiomeya benedicta</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Rantiomeya fantastica</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2WZMfwBz2NHPw4Qh9juw6Zikcgh7VGW51y-YUQQKz4LhV4WLbGIqv_zt2ZXgTx4mI53A6nsM90dZsEuCcnmS1RFlzCAQOGL-Krp2zzWgfukYlpWX1E2gjPYxTZQ8utvQjjSA_deFkc93R/s1600/Oophaga+sylvatica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2WZMfwBz2NHPw4Qh9juw6Zikcgh7VGW51y-YUQQKz4LhV4WLbGIqv_zt2ZXgTx4mI53A6nsM90dZsEuCcnmS1RFlzCAQOGL-Krp2zzWgfukYlpWX1E2gjPYxTZQ8utvQjjSA_deFkc93R/s200/Oophaga+sylvatica.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Oophaga sylvatica</i></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOl28UMFtQjCQvBJZD5j2w9WlXkrHyqDNHSbDe_RWsptcItdF3zUkTo4mJA2mIIbq9Drs4YxdCtmeqbLsgwqC9EaxGd1d1u8RQfQvcQxK0dgL8yjgEASEc4bmi_f2X7PEYTNytDvemOwP/s1600/Oophaga+pumilio.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOl28UMFtQjCQvBJZD5j2w9WlXkrHyqDNHSbDe_RWsptcItdF3zUkTo4mJA2mIIbq9Drs4YxdCtmeqbLsgwqC9EaxGd1d1u8RQfQvcQxK0dgL8yjgEASEc4bmi_f2X7PEYTNytDvemOwP/s200/Oophaga+pumilio.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Oophaga pumilio</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Dendrobates pumilio</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="color: blue;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOOQFtz4WiDkNhsM8V1ZvDZdNk30G1Wl3EbGpoF9Hm2E-BB6SNQRr2UWB0nma5rShsGzPeDTmksVoEW8Rz0GUgGz1k7_n_wo0TiGUWsEsHvF7taqHOvxNKDza-KcbhiEcXtAwEDsz3UhL/s1600/2-poison+dart+frogs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOOQFtz4WiDkNhsM8V1ZvDZdNk30G1Wl3EbGpoF9Hm2E-BB6SNQRr2UWB0nma5rShsGzPeDTmksVoEW8Rz0GUgGz1k7_n_wo0TiGUWsEsHvF7taqHOvxNKDza-KcbhiEcXtAwEDsz3UhL/s200/2-poison+dart+frogs.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> Dendrobates azureus</i></span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqw7chXyAcOHrloajwHYmkP0-24UQvE1fZorwqA864Dc9_OJ1hwHYznzcNscuDPBqdTplEHddgg51_6V9z5cVxEmmiyXUIMSnRpUEldYrD6FS_dJ6iTTPr_YKw2F2UNJLO48fiRNcIC_p/s1600/Dyscophus+antongilii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqw7chXyAcOHrloajwHYmkP0-24UQvE1fZorwqA864Dc9_OJ1hwHYznzcNscuDPBqdTplEHddgg51_6V9z5cVxEmmiyXUIMSnRpUEldYrD6FS_dJ6iTTPr_YKw2F2UNJLO48fiRNcIC_p/s200/Dyscophus+antongilii.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Discophus antongilii</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">8.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Dendrobates tinctorius</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjez3xdo4ym8N7FcK0ZdA9gNAGPP7MCvWoG0uXb_0n5LBqcaJbUSp6mFwWPQNdO1ds1iwGCP4heLzSglpLNhyZU-mtCu-_bd_GTtkzkcnPBOjN-U9IXxV0xUMAqBjHnv8IGhHxx-fI1bZnG/s1600/Hyla+leucophyllata1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjez3xdo4ym8N7FcK0ZdA9gNAGPP7MCvWoG0uXb_0n5LBqcaJbUSp6mFwWPQNdO1ds1iwGCP4heLzSglpLNhyZU-mtCu-_bd_GTtkzkcnPBOjN-U9IXxV0xUMAqBjHnv8IGhHxx-fI1bZnG/s200/Hyla+leucophyllata1.JPG" height="131" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">9.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Hyla leucophylaata</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">11.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Pseudophryne corroboree </i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUmqiz01_GfolpSKKSHOhuLZlrQp3A23zNf6n_038UN9NBaLpjctpu9kKNUyG5zBMM8c802Df1d6i0cEqVjUBKvkfv_PzJX0-Dyt8nizvqbRBUgOLNvnwoqbEy6DbW9JSfhF2Gka3-ExX/s1600/Agalychnis+craspedopus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUmqiz01_GfolpSKKSHOhuLZlrQp3A23zNf6n_038UN9NBaLpjctpu9kKNUyG5zBMM8c802Df1d6i0cEqVjUBKvkfv_PzJX0-Dyt8nizvqbRBUgOLNvnwoqbEy6DbW9JSfhF2Gka3-ExX/s200/Agalychnis+craspedopus.jpg" height="146" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">13.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Agalychnis craspedopus</i></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And now for the grand finale of the frog world. These two specimens are the crown jewel of frogs, for they cannot be considered as just ugly. No, these two fossorial frogs are so beyond ugly that they have made it full circle and are now back in the beauty ring. You have got to not only appreciate them, but also to love them. Presented now are the two and only...Turtle Frog and Doughnut Frog...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzGUd7kasIzsSbkgtN55aRTa14ZUdlRAvRzWsUx44-1asg1wrhRaJJ86iJKIrbndoDr7wYDJXBMYai6JYo6gznmRPZVVoTlfuginXcV99IbxJGUgIjfRjwlqTjqnSQcric1J1MAiX-KcH/s1600/Myobatrachus+gouldii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzGUd7kasIzsSbkgtN55aRTa14ZUdlRAvRzWsUx44-1asg1wrhRaJJ86iJKIrbndoDr7wYDJXBMYai6JYo6gznmRPZVVoTlfuginXcV99IbxJGUgIjfRjwlqTjqnSQcric1J1MAiX-KcH/s200/Myobatrachus+gouldii.jpg" height="98" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">15.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Myobatrachus gouldii</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyV0eC2rl0aGvMdkzU2aN_w6X0ZvAy9q9JSV9lpH4xlIMYJnw-Ui-7LiSKJp1fdOZw_Gb0WiaWkY9C2nSP1jAiFjNQdmN8ZPQPYWVhO5jXk951PRT6A0MJTzcMcTCmaYHoHbhH7QA85BB/s1600/Nasikabatrachus+sahyadrensis+male.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyV0eC2rl0aGvMdkzU2aN_w6X0ZvAy9q9JSV9lpH4xlIMYJnw-Ui-7LiSKJp1fdOZw_Gb0WiaWkY9C2nSP1jAiFjNQdmN8ZPQPYWVhO5jXk951PRT6A0MJTzcMcTCmaYHoHbhH7QA85BB/s200/Nasikabatrachus+sahyadrensis+male.jpg" height="129" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue;">PHOTO CREDITS: 1.,2,&3Brad Wilson DVM; 4.Sarefo, source: Wikimedia Commons; 5.source: colorsoffauna.tumblr.com; 6.</span><span style="color: blue;">George Grall; 7.Rhett A. Butler; 8.&9.David G. Barkasy; 10.Thomas Ostrowski; 11.Aaron Piras (Flkr); 12.Brad Wilson DVM; 13.Bill Lamar; 14.Paddy Ryan; 15.courtesy: Western Australian Museum; 16.S.U. Saravanakumar.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">DID YA KNOW</span>: Poisonous frogs, no matter the region of the world they come from, receive their lipophilic alkaloid skin toxins from consuming ants. Storing the accumulation of the ants' alkaloid molecules in skin glands, keeps the toxins from affecting the frog. The ants either synthesize the toxins wholesale or acquire them from ingesting plants. When the frogs are kept in captivity and fed an insect diet that doesn't include ants, they soon lose their ability to secrete the toxins</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-74087197886226509472011-08-28T16:17:00.096-07:002014-03-13T11:36:30.875-07:00Reptilian<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reptiles are not quite the first class of vertebrate animals that excelled in the manufacturing of a shelled egg, but are the ones to bring it towards near perfection. This new egg on the block protected the contents from desiccation, so was now independent of water submersion that amphibians were and are bound to. The egg could be laid anywhere on land opening up vast new untouched frontiers for vertebrates. This revolutionary organism concept, relieved the need for an aquatic larval stage as well. Reptiles are fully formed when they hatch or are born. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reptiles are basically characterized by possessing lungs for the inhaling and exhaling of air throughout all stages of life and also in having scales or scutes as an outer layer appended to and protecting the epidermal layers. Of course as just mentioned, they lay eggs, but species representing this class also retain eggs before hatching, give live birth and a handful do not necessarily have to have sex to lay viable eggs or give birth to offspring in a process known as parthenogenesis. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reptiles, with a few exceptions are tetrapods, meaning that they are mobile due to four legs. Even most snakes have vestigial remnants of thigh bones, or even remnants of a pelvic girdle as found in the more primitive typhlopid blind snakes; a hold back from the tetrapod ancestor they evolved from. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Putting together the two main characteristics of reptilian development (amniote/tetrapod) you will see that they go hand-in-hand. The leathery porous but hard shelled reptilian egg possesses three extensive membranes during embryonic development known as the amnion, chorion and allantois. This type of egg always develops tetrapodal limbs onto the fetus bypassing the larval stage, which in turn negated metamorphosis. We call these animals amniotes, which includes reptiles as well as man. Snakes, even though they do not possess limbs are still true reptiles. Upon hatching or being born, snakes do not acquire external limbs due to the Hox gene expression. This, we will elaborate on later under the title 'Snakes'. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">1.</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Tortoise hatchling (amniotic egg)</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amniote features due to the membrane functions gave allowance for respiration in the developing embryo and facilitated waste disposal by providing a reservoir. The membranes also assuaged the developing embryo's need for water by serving the forming kidneys and intestines to act as reserves for water retention.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All mammals, except for the monotremes do not lay eggs. This is due to further evolvement in the development of the placental line of reproduction. Still though, the amniotic egg structures may be found in the placenta of mammals.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reptiles were not the first class of animals to possess amniotic development, so did not come directly from amphibians. That honor comes from creatures that possessed both amphibian and reptilian traits. One of these fossil creatures found is <u>Casineria kiddi</u> from the Lower Carboniferous period around 340 million years ago. Casinera was a small animal reaching a length of 15cm or 5.9in. It was a reptiliomorph that had reptilian osteological (skeletal) characteristics but still retained amphibian features. We know that it was an amniote, not because fossilized casineran eggs have been found, but rather due to the fact the paleontoloigcal finds were discovered in fairly dry environmental strata. In order for laid eggs to survive they had to be amniotic in dry terrain.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Hylonomus</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The earliest true reptiles arrived around 315 million years ago (mya) and were outnumbered by the reptiliomorphs and overshadowed by larger amphibians such as the labyrinthodonts. One of these earliest of reptiles was <u>Hylonomus lyelli</u>. Being no more than 20cm/8in, this animal possessed an anklebone formed by the fusion of three bones; a unique trait found only in all fossil and living reptiles. <i>Hylonomus</i> was an insectivore chomping on the multitudes of insects, millipedes and snails that were around in vast numbers during this period. <i>Hylonomus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'forest mouse' and indeed that is where this creature resided, in successive forests and tree stumps of scale trees during the late Carboniferous. <br />
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The Carbonifeous was steamy during this period and it wasn't until the collapse of the Carboniferous </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rainforests 305 mya that saw reptile groups take off in diversity and populations. Of course the collapse of the rainforests devastated amphibian and non-amniote semi aquatic reptiliomorphs and there were mass extinctions of these groups during this time. This ushered in the end of the Carboniferous and the beginning of the Mesozoic 250 mya, known as the age of reptiles. Hence the reptile became the dominant tetrapod fauna and began to fill every environmental terrestrial niche and later back to the sea and into the air.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Having more room to roam terrestrially and not be limited to shorelines or swampy terrain, reptiles were able to modify diet in what new edible material was being offered. Devolving away from a strict insectivorous (eater of bugs) and piscivorous (eater of fish) diet, reptiles became the first true herbivores (eater of plants) and carnivores (eater of meat). In order to accommodate the harder food material to be firmly held, ripped, shredded and torn or masticated, the skull began to evolve for the facilitation of efficacious jaw muscles. <br />
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The earliest reptiles were anapsids in regards to the skull having holes in it only for the eyes nose and spinal </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chord. Soon afterwards, a group of anapsids split off from the rest and began evolving two branches of skull types. In addition to the eyes, nose and spinal chord holes one of the two branches known as synapsids evolved an additional hole known as the temporal fenestra just behind each eye. The other branch known as diapsids evolved two temporal fenestrae or openings behind each eye. These traits make the skull weigh less and allowed for more powerful jaw muscles by acting as anchors and more space for jaw muscles to perform their services.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A~anapsid B~synapsid C~diapsid</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These three skull types evolved by reptiles continues to be part of the skeletal make-up of all reptiles except for the synapsid reptiles, for they further evolved into mammal-like reptiles that eventually gave way to mammals that still retain the reptilian synapsid skull. The anapsid and diapsid skull types are found in all modern day reptiles and are considered today the true reptiles. In addition, earlier diapsid reptiles too branched off giving rise to birds that still retain this same skull type. I would like to note here that turtles are the only representatives with an anapsid skull. There is a prevailing thought blowing in today's wind that turtles did not directly come from any anapsid extinct line, but rather came from a diapsid line that co-evolved into an anapsid skull type. This is a process known as convergent evolution.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The five general characteristics of reptiles are:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lay or produce amniotic eggs</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reptile metabolism is ectothermic or poikiliothermic</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Skin ends in scales/scutes </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Utilize lungs for breathing throughout life</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Have claws</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Are tetrapods with 4 limbs or possess vestigal limb traits from tetrapod ancestors </span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the class, <i>Reptilia</i> there are currently 4 extant orders represented by 30 families and some 8,225 species.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Classification:</b></span> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would like to forewarn all here that there are new forms of classifying and cladograms to group animals in. Since molecular genetics has come into play, classifications have had to be rearranged. But in being more of a traditionalist, I will stick to a more traditional form of nomenclature, but with DNA results in mind. Also, in hopes of not muddling up the line of modern day or extant reptiles, I'm first including in the classification, extinct groups in an abbreviated format. Further, I will include an extant classification with the inclusion of families. I truly hope this avoids confusion as it makes the list longer. So herein with, lies the classification of reptiles.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">You may come across a classification scheme that splits the Subclass Synapsida in to and replaced with Sauropsida (lizard faces) and Theropsida (beast faces). This classification is supplemental but it does not address the evolution of the skull types. However, it does distinguish outside the context of reptiles the differences between lizards and birds in utilizing Sauropsida and the differences between mammal-like reptiles and mammals under Theropsida.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next is the extant classification down to the nomenclature of families.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know that classifications can become a boring event to view much less study; it's fatiguing. It is definitively an inclusion here, for I feel it conveys in outline form, not only the relationships between reptile species, but a further interrelationship that goes beyond the borders of reptiles and in doing so connects them with us. Humans possess the same parotid glands as reptiles and amphibians do, they're just utilized differently. Parotid glands are salivary glands. These glands are used in all vertebrates to initiate digestion, but further, toads and venomous snakes modified them for toxin and venom manufacture. This is just but one example out of untold many that demonstrates life's connections. Classifications simply outline those connective traits exponentially through genetic lineage and relationship distributions.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sphenodonts:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Sphenodontia</i> is primarily an extinct order with only one living genus and further, <i>Sphenodontia</i> contains only two living species. Besides the <i>Sphenodontidae</i> family including the only two living species, there are two other wholly extinct families, <i>Gephyrosauridae</i> and <i>Pleurosauridae</i>. <i>Sphenodontidae</i> had many genus members, but all are extinct except in the aforementioned genus <i>Sphenodondontia</i>. The two extant species are <u style="font-style: italic;">Sphenodon punctatus</u> and the much rarer <i><u>Sphenodon guntheri</u></i>. There was a third tuatara that we know of, but is now extinct and classified as <u style="font-style: italic;">Sphenodon diversum</u> from a well preserved fossil found in 1885.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Appearing lizard-like, tuataras were first put into the lizard rankings under the suborder <i>Lacertilia</i>. Far from being a lizard, a recent molecular study has shown that tuataras display one of the fastest rates of molecular evolution than exhibited in any other animal group. One physical result of this is though tuatara's sphenodontian ancestral fossil finds are only in strata concurrent to warm climates and environs, tuataras have the uncanny ability to adapt to cold weather conditions and thrive.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The original diapsid skull plan in extinct reptiles is preserved and retained in the tuatara with the upper jaw firmly attached to the skull. The tip of the upper jaw is beak-like separated from the remainder of the jaw by a notch. The tuatara possess a double row of upper teeth with the bottom row fitting neatly in between when the mouth is shut. The teeth are not separate entities, but are merely sharp extensions of the jaw bones jutting through the gums. When these wear down, there is no replacement, so older tuataras have to change their eating habits to a more accommodating softer diet. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Possessing not only reptilian features, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tuataras also display </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">amphibian traits and fish characteristics. The animal, which is unique among amniotes still retains a fish-like spine composed of hourglass shaped vertebrae, concave both before and after attachment to each vertebra. This spine structure is only normal in fish and certain amphibians, the tuatara is the only amniote to possess this.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Displaying uncinate process</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Shared with crocodiles and some lizards, tuatara have gastralia which are rib-like bones and are not attached to the spine. Tuataras do possess true ribs though, represented as small projections with hooked bones found on the rears of each rib. This arrangement is called uncinate processes. This process is found in birds, but the tuatara is the only living tetrapod with fully developed and functional uncinate processes.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unlike all other reptiles, male tuataras possess no penis. For mating purposes, once the female accepts him, the male embraces the female by walking stiff legged around her and presses his cloacal opening against hers, then releases sperm, thus inseminating her.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The most revealing characteristic of tuatara is the third eye or parietal eye located on the top of the head. Though only visible in hatchlings, for in four to six months it's covered over with opaque scales and pigmentation, the third eye still posseses a cornea, lens, retina and a degenerated optic nerve connection to the brain suggesting that it once was a true eye. It's function in adults is not clear, but it may be sensitive to ultraviolet light in determining lightness/darkness cycles as well as in manufacturing vitamin D.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In addition, the parietal eye is a component of the pineal complex connecting it to the pineal gland which functions in the manufacture of melatonin in tuataras during darkness. Though this pineal linked third eye in tuataras is unique, some salamanders have an overall pineal body they utilize as one big eye and use this condition to perceive polarized light, thus determining the position of the sun even under cloud cover aiding in navigation.<br />
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There is only one extant family and genus represented by two species. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tuatara ~ <i>S. punctactus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Northern Tuatara</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Spenodontidae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Sphenodon</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Sphenodon punctatus</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 80cm/31in</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 1.3kg/2.9lb </span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~ 60 + yrs.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Sphenodon punctatus</i> - <i>sphenodon</i> ~ Greek for wedged tooth; <i>punctatus</i> ~ Latin for spotted.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Confined to 32 smaller offshore New Zealand islands. Reports of probable eggs on the main island of New Zealand is encouraging for reestablishment attempts on the mainland, where their former range was extirpated by man and introduced rats.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Greenish brown with a spinal crest running from the head to tail which is larger in males; possess a photo receptive parietal eye dubbed the third eye; no eardrum or ear hole; eyes focus independently with a duplex retina; no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Primarily an insectivore but will take spiders, frogs, lizards, bird eggs and small chicks; is cannibalistic and will take newly hatched tuataras and small juveniles. Tuatara teeth are not separate tissue set in a jawbone socket, but are merely spiny extensions from the jawbone. Over time the projecting spines wear down and are not replaced. In older specimens the diet must change to softer food to accommodate the worn bony projections.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Tuatara adults shed once a year where juveniles shed multiple times; juveniles are diurnal where adults are nocturnal, while all ages are terrestrial with ideal habitat in the forests and shores; reproduce very slowly and take 10-20 yrs. to reach maturity with main growth rates reaching upwards to 35 yrs.; hatchling sexes are determined by the prevalent temperature of the incubating eggs; being temperature dependent, sexes of hatchlings can be biases for overall population; tuataras can tolerate temperatures down to 7 degrees Centigrade or 45 degrees Fahrenheit; has a habit of burrowing and will take up shore bird burrows; both sexes are very territorial and will defend this territory with serious bites; once clamped down will not easily let go of a firm bite; can hold breath up to an hour under water; tuatara is a Maori word meaning 'spiny back.' This species is listed as threatened.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg.png" height="59" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; vertical-align: middle;" width="220" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> Vulnerable (2.3) IUCN</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tuatara ~ <i>S. guntheri</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Sphenodontidae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Sphenodon</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Sphenodon guntheri</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 60cm/2ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ♂~</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1kg/2lbs ♀~</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">500g/1.10lbs </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 70+ yrs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name origin: <i>Sphenodon guntheri</i> - Greek for 'wedge toothed;' discovered by Albert Gunther </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Besides captive breeding programs, <i>S. guntheri</i> is naturally found only on one island known as Northern Brother Island off Cook Strait.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Discription:</b> Has an overall reddish brown color with random lighter or darker spotting interspersed over neck, back and tail regions; heads are large compared to body; spinal crest runs from head to tail which is larger in males; possess a photo receptive parietal eye dubbed the third eye; no eardrum or ear hole; eyes focus independently with a duplex retina; no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> An insectivore but will take spiders, frogs, lizards, bird eggs and small chicks; is cannibalistic and will take newly hatched tuataras and small juveniles. Utilizes the ambush technique more than the northern tuatara, but still seeks and pursues prey.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Behavior is pretty much like the northern tuatara, but would like to include here that at 12-15 months, tuataras have the longest incubation cycle of any reptile from the time eggs are laid to hatching. Females will lay their clutch of eggs </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">during spring season</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> around the same time and area in dugout holes within communal nesting sites or rookeries. Upon approval of a final hole after a few trial diggings, the female will lay on average 7-10 eggs, but up to 19 aren't uncommon. Once laid, she will cover the eggs up and guard them until all the laying females have left the rookery grounds, whereupon she leaves as well. The young hatch as immediately fairly active and will scamper off into the underbrush. This reptile is listed as threatened. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg.png" height="59" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; vertical-align: middle;" width="220" /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (2.3) IUCN</span> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pleurosaur ~ <i>P. goldfussi</i></span></td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pleurosaur</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Pleurosauridae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Pleurosaurus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u>Pleurosaurus goldfussi</u> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 60cm/2ft</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 1.6kg/3.5lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Age: Late </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jurassic 150mya</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Pleurosaurus goldfussi</i> - Greek for 'sideways lizard'; goldfussi from Greek mythology </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Fossil finds have been discovered in present day Bavaria, Germany and other western European spots from ancient dried up lake bed strata.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Possessed a very long and sleek body plan with nostrils set way back on top of the snout just in front of the eyes. The snout was narrow and pointed while the tail was very streamlined and long. The legs were short and weak and most probably the hand phalanges were webbed. Pleurosaurus were one of the very few sphenodonts that lived an aquatic life and was so far removed from most of the reptilian lineage that its sole descendant is the tuatara; no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Small fish, soft invertebrates and possibly small shore or beach animals. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> The extinct pleurosaurs were well streamlined for swimming in fresh water and could either swim by body undulations or lateral whipping of the tail in sinusoidal fashion. The legs most probably weren't used for swimming, but held against the body. The legs could hold up and move the animal for short periods on shore. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Crocodilians:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The order, <i>Crocodylia</i> today is represented by the modern day crocodiles, alligators, caiman and gavials (gharials) that first appeared during the late Cretaceous approximately 85 mya. This group of animals though, come from a line of extinct forms going all the way back to the Triassic Period 220 mya, exhibiting a wide diversity in species during the whole of the Mesozoic Era.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Archosauria</i> is a divisional group of diapsid amniote animals that includes modern day crocodilians, their closest living extant relatives, birds and all the extinct species of crocodilians, dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Archosaur shared characteristics (synapomorphy) pointing to a common ancestor are the fourth trochanter, a prominent femur ridge providing a large site on the femur for muscle attachment, antorbital and mandibular fenestrae present as respectively in front of the eyes and in the jaws and, with exception to secondarily toothless birds, possess teeth set in sockets.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The largest of the crocodilians are the extinct <i>Deinosuchus</i>, an alligator living in the late Cretaceous in what is now north America and <i>Sarcosuchus</i>, a crocodile that lived during the same period in what is now the African continent. <i>Deinosuchus</i> obtained a length up to 12m/40ft, while possessing a width of 1.9m/6.3ft. The extinct, but mature <i>Sarcosuchus</i> was just over forty feet at 12.2m/40.26ft and weighed up to 8000kg/8tons. Though <i>Sarcosuchus</i> dined on a lot of fish, both these crocodilians had rather large dinosaurs to feast on where today's crocodilians have much smaller mammals to prey on. So of course this alligator and crocodile could establish and maintain larger sizes.<br />
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Though the extant caiman of today are relatively small crocodilians, caiman in the extinct genus Purussaurus reached lengths up to 13m/43ft from the much later Miocene epoch 8 mya in what is now South America. <br />
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The smallest extant crocodilian is Cuvier's dwarf crocodile, <i>Paleosuchus palpebrosus</i> of South America obtaining a length no more than 1.5m/5ft in males and 1.2m/4ft in females, while the largest is the saltwater crocodile. The skin of one was documented to have come from a specimen that had obtained a length of 6.1 m/20ft. Analysis of a recent saltwater crocodile skull estimated the length of the animal to have been 6-6.6m/20-21ft. <br />
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Confined to warmer water regions of the world, there are three families, eight genera and twenty-one known </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">species of extant crocodilians. Mature and larger species will look upon man as simply the next meal and attack, kill and consume. With the strongest biting force in the animal kingdom exceeding 34,000Kpa/5,000psi, any crocodilian over 2m/6.6ft can easily kill a human adult. Actually, with this capability in biting force accommodated with numerous conical pointed teeth, a crocodilian of any size or species is dangerous.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocodilian teeth are hollow inside, where a replacement is growing to replace the original once it has worn down or been removed. The mode of capturing prey is always with a hold on its prey utilizing the jaws and teeth, but different strategies are played out first before the derivative bite takes place.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From insects to one ton water buffalo, crocodilians will attack any animal. For aquatic prey, such as fish, turtles and even smaller crocodilians, the crocodilian will simply outswim and overtake its quarry with the mouth. Crocodilians memorize certain watering holes, certain land trails mammals use and even human campsites. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also fancying land animals, a 5m/16.5ft long crocodile is very capable of lying in wait totally invisible in only 3cm/12.2in of muddy water, then will ambush a passing mammal or bird with surprising speed. Depending on the size of the prey, the crocodile will either drag it to the water to drown it if not already dead, or will go into a 'death throw' to knock the larger animal off balance while still on land. The death throw is, while holding onto the animal with its jaws will repeatedly twist around. They also do this to tear chunks from a victim that was too large to swallow in one gulp.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If a crocodile misses its intended victim on land with the initial surge, chances are the animal will get away to see another day, for crocodiles will not pursue its prey no more than .61m/2ft on land preferring instead to conserve energy due to a low stamina in energy consumption. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They are also scavengers and opportunists and will steal a kill from other predators. They possess a few taste buds but are not located on the tongue. Taste buds in crocodilians are located at the back of the throat. If they do not like the taste of something they swallowed, it's too late to spit it out.<br />
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The main anatomical feature that distinguishes the three crocodilian groups is th</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e snout. Alligators have a broader more rounded snout. In the crocodiles it is narrower and more pointed, whereas the gavials or gharials display a very long extended snout that is sharply narrowed ending in a sprouted bulb in the males. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocodilian snouts: (L-R) Gharial, Alligator, Crocodile</span> </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocodilians are well armored with sculpted heads, a scaled body, protruding eyes and nostrils and with well muscled compressed tails, will use them for aquatic propulsion and in defense by whipping. The external ear is covered by a movable skin flap and the eyes are protected by a transparent nictitating membrane sometimes known as a third eyelid. Some birds and sharks also possess this so-called third eyelid. The front feet have five toes and the webbed hind feet have four toes. Scale arrangement, characteristics and alignment is distinctive enough to differentiate each species from another.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All crocodilians possess sensory pits all along the upper and lower jaws that are visible as tiny black pits. Each pit houses bundles of nerve fibers known as dermal pressure receptors (DPR) that are very sensitive to vibration and pressure differentials in surface water. DPRs act as an aid for hunting or detecting intruders in total darkness as the animals are primarily nocturnal. In addition, crocodiles have DPRs on every scale of the body that may further assist in chemical and salinity reception. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Females lay 20-80 elliptical eggs in a cavity previously dug in a sandbank or in vegetation mounds, in which she will guard. Parental care is also conducted by the female from responding to hatchling chirps and gingerly taking them into the mouth for transport to the water's edge. From there she will attend to and protect the hatchlings as chemically recognizing her brood for several weeks to five months. From then on, her hatchlings will disperse and be on their own. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocodilian and crocodylian are both used interchangeably, but the correct vernacular is crocodilian, which is more accurate with the latinization of the Greek word for pebble worm in reference to the texture and shape of these animals. Crocodylian came into play for consistency with the genus term <i>Crocodylus</i> and in the order term <i>Crocodylia</i>, where <i>Crocodilia</i> and <i>Crocodylia</i> are interchangeable.<br />
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Under the extant taxonomic order Crocodylia, there are three families, eight genera and with twenty-three species. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>Alligator mississippiensis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American Alligator</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Alligatoridae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Alligator</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u><b>Alligator mississippiensi</b><b>s</b></u><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 4.85m/16ft confirmed record - 5.84m/19.20ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 510kg/1200lbs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 42.5 yrs. on average in wilds, 60+ yrs. in captivity</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Alligator mississippiensis</i> - Mississippi alligator; Spanish ~ <i>el lagarto</i> from Latin root<i> ille</i> <i>lacerta</i> ~ that lizard; mississippiensis is simply nomenclature for 'of Mississippi.'</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gator with deer</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Suitable habitat is found hugging the USA southeastern coastline all the way from North Carolina through Florida westward to eastern Texas and upwards into the extreme southeast corner of Oklahoma.; the highest populations are in Louisiana and Florida. The alligator (or, if using local colloquial euphemism...gator) prefers slow moving waters such as swamps, oxbow lakes and slower moving rivers and their tributaries. Are very dependent on wetlands and wetlands depend greatly on them by keeping rodent populations in check that might otherwise decimate wetland flora. Are freshwater reptiles, but have been known to venture into brackish water.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> In general has a rounded body, thick muscular limbs with 5 claws on the front legs and 4 on each hind limb; the head is broadened, the body armored with bony plates called osteoderms and possesses a very powerful tail capable enough to break bones when used in defense; tail is also used for propulsion in water and lunging on land; forelimbs end in 5 slightly webbed claws while hind limbs have 4; adult coloration is either black, brown, gray or olive green; thick mats of algae will green the animal while areas high in tannic acid from decaying leaves felled in water produce the darker colors; no matter the dorsal color, the ventral side is always a light creme; juveniles are yellow banded to aid in camouflage; a fair amount of specimens in the overall alligator population are missing an inhibited gene for melanin producing albinism; albino gators occur but are very rare </span>in the wild<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, only because their chance of survival after hatching is extremely slim due to easy detection and sensitivity to the sun, for gators must bask to regulate body temperature; there are no subspecies.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> An adult alligator is truly the apex predator of his ecological biome; adults will</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> take and consume invertebrates, frogs, snakes, turtles, fish, birds and mammals from mice to adult deer and bears, other smaller alligators and the occasional human; will actively hunt on land; juveniles live on snails, other mollusk, larvae, insects, spiders and worms; the tail serves as a fat reservoir; gators can live over two years without eating.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">American gator breathing thru ice</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> American alligators can adapt to cooler conditions better than any other crocodilian; are active in 7.2 °C/45 °F waters where those temperature ranges would kill the American alligators' cousin the American crocodile via unconsciousness then drowning; regions where icing occurs, gators will stick there snout out from the ice to breathe remaining unharmed; in fact, sustained high temperatures lead to increased metabolic cost, stunting growth rates and delaying maturity as is sometimes the case in Florida populations; alligators don't hibernate but become quiescent; gators swallow stones that remain in their gizzard (stomach) much like birds do and dinosaurs did to grind food during digestion; in addition the stones aid in buoyancy control; the swallowed stones are called gastroliths; water cruising with eyes and nostrils just above the surface is routine at 1.6 km/hr or 1.0 mph; faster rates of angulliforme modes in swimming can be maintained exceeding 10 km/hr or 6.25 mph; on land they either belly crawl or high walk keeping the body off the ground surface; in high walking they can gallop in bursts up to 32.19 km/hr or 20.00 mph for short distances; during dry seasons or drought, gators will dig out pits or wallows in sandbars or dried beds to retain water; locally these are known as gator holes and are beneficial to other wildlife; possessing no vocal cords, nonetheless gators make and emit many sounds from hatchling shriek peeps to adult male deep bellows; males bellow by sucking in air, holding it in their lungs then blowing it out in intermittent deep toned roars; bellowing is used in marking territoriality rights, but is most prevalent in courtship; during mating season, males will use infrasound by bellowing with only their head and tail above water; this bellowing position literally makes water directly above the back sprinkle due to infra sound bellowing; this is called the 'water dance'; when their are numerous males performing the 'water dance' as gathered during courtship, its known as the 'alligator dance'; after constructing beyond shoreline on land, an approximate .91 m/3ft tall by 1.8m/6ft wide nest of mud, leaves and twigs, females will lay from 20 up to 50 goose egg sized eggs; further, she covers eggs with decaying vegetation generating heat; ambient temperatures from the heat determines sex of hatchlings; alligator hatchlings from the same nest are called a pod; being one of the most vigilant females in reptile parental care, she guards the eggs, aids in hatching, takes the hatchlings to the water's edge, and guards her pod fiercely until they leave her five months later; 30 years ago alligator populations were so decimated it was thought they would not recover; due to conservative efforts and support, populations rebounded, recovered and are now stable.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">1.</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chinese alligator ~ <i>A. sinensis</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinese (Yangtze) Alligator</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Alligatoridae </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Alligator</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Alligator sinensis</u></b><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Rarely exceeding 1.5m/5ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Up to 44kg/100lbs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 70 yrs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Alligator sinensis</i> - Mississippi alligator; Spanish ~ <i>el lagarto</i> from Latin root<i> ille </i><i>lacerta</i> ~ 'that lizard;' sinesis is Greek meaning 'of China.'</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Once ranged throughout much of China, but is now severely restricted to a few sites along the Yangtze River; one area containing the most specimens is in a protected preserve; prefers freshwater habitat in slow moving rivers & streams, swamps, ponds and lakes. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>A. sinensis</i> ~ juvenile profile</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Is much smaller but considerably similar to American alligator; differences are that the snout is upturned slightly and more tapered; 2 rows of bony ridges run the entire length of dorsum until converging on the tail merging as one; possesses bony plates on eyelids; besides the dorsal osteoderms, the ventral is also armored by ossified scales; teeth are adapted for crushing shells; exhibits slow growth with average 2 year olds barely reaching .61m/2.0ft; juvenile appearance is much like the American alligator but with fewer yellow banding; there are no subspecies. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Hunts chiefly at night time and will eat anything it can capture and small enough to swallow, but mainly subsists on aquatic mussels, snails, frogs and fish; it will aptly accept terrestrial rodents and other smaller mammals; unlike the American alligator will not attack larger animals; is not known to intentionally attack man.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Unlike the Amercan alligator, the Chinese alligator hibernates building elaborate burrows along shorelines; burrows lead to a den site where it will hibernate during winter months; den burrows average 22m/75ft in total length; will hibernate on average 6.5 months and does not eat during this period; mean temperature in a den burrow rarely drops below 10 °C/50 °F; the female builds a nest consisting of mud and decaying plant material, then lays a clutch of 10-50 eggs; dependent on incubation temperature, eggs hatch roughly in 70 days; is the world's rarest extant or living crocodilian; one of only two living alligators, this ol' gator's continuing existence appears grim; man is its only enemy; healthy population numbers have been decimated from damming and draining of its natural habitat, rat poisoning which in turn it eats, flesh being consumed by humans and organs used for medicinal purposes; estimated to be no more than 150 in the wild; since it is a prodigious breeder, hope still remains for our littlest alligator; the Chinese alligator is the basis for the mythological dragon in Chinese folklore.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><i style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paleosuchus palpebrosus</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Alligatoridae</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Paleosuchus<br />
Species: <b><u>Paleosuchus palpebrosus</u></b></span><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: ♂ ~ 1.6m/5.2ft ♀ ~ 1.2m/4ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 6-7kg/13.2-15.4lbs </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Specifically unknown, best estimates 20-40 yrs. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Paleosuchus palpebrosus</i> ~ Greek - <i>palaios</i> meaning 'ancient,' <i>soukhos</i> meaning 'crocodile;' <i>palpebrosus</i> derived from Latin meaning 'bony eyelid,' <i>palpebra~</i>eyelid, <i>osus~</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">full of.</span></span><br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> South America throughout the Amazonian River drainage system and basin comprising the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam & Venezuela; prefers densely forested faster flowing and cooler clear rivers & riverines, but is found also in flooded forests around lakes, in more open stretches of streams in Bolivia and in nutrient poor waters in northeastern Brazil & Venezuela; found in higher elevations reaching down to 6 °C/42.8 °</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">F. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Is the smallest extant crocodilian; first notable caiman feature is prominent highly ossified </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">smooth flat head appearing as wearing a flattened helmet; the skull is set high with a concave snout ending as upturned; pronounced overlapping of the under jaw by the upper; has short backward curving teeth; body is heavily armored with scutes running down the back of the neck and along the back; has more osteoderms (bony plates) than any other crocodilian; double osteoderms are present in ventral scales; head is a chocolate reddish brown with body coloration a deep dark green; tail is marked with encircling light bands to tip; as in all crocodilians possesses cloacal & chin gular musk glands, but this caiman's musk is more odoriferous; musk, found in both sexes is chiefly composed chemically of sterols, triglycerides, fatty acids & steryl esters; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cuvier's dwarf caiman are ectotherms and heterotrophic; there are no subspecies.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Juveniles eat aquatic and shoreline insects, tadpoles, snails, small frogs & fish; In addition to juvenile menus, adults also eat anything else that is available and can be swallowed, such as bigger fish, small mammals & reptiles and a wider variety of insects; fish are the primary food item for adults and this caiman is considered a 'keystone species' in keeping its environment ecologically sound in culling fish and keeping fish populations in check, in particular piranha; most dangerous point in this caiman's life is still while in the egg; many omnivorous and carnivorous animals take eggs, juveniles are vulnerable to shore birds, snakes and other smaller carnivores; due to high ossification of scales, adults do not make good prey for swallowing, but boas, anacondas and jaguars do take their share.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Various prey taken by <i>P. palpebrosus</i>:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Exhibits diverse social behaviors; displays and conveys social messaging through sounds, postures, movements, touch and smell; grump vocalization is produced by expelling air through nostrils and defensive hissing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">where body is inflated to exaggerate size; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">besides vocal sounding, nonverbal sounds are produced by water surface head-slapping, tail-slapping and jaw clapping in showing a range of communication skills; typically is found alone, in pairs or small groups; small groups will migrate vast distances in rivers and across terrain to find less competitive environments; is primarily nocturnal hunting at night and may go inland far from</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="font-size: 13px;">P. palpebrosus</i> ~ basking</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">water source in search of small prey; males are territorial and defend living space, mates and nesting grounds</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from other males; when male's individual status is threatened will hold the head and body erect above water;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> snout structuring is geared for burrowing in which dug burrows are used for shelter; during daylight lays on bottom of water beds or basks in sunlight; peculiar basking habit, where in pairs or alone will elevate heads and close eyes; females and males build nest mounds of mud and vegetation; once female lays a clutch of 10-25 eggs, the male leaves while the female remains, aggressively defending and protecting the nest site; any animal approaching a nest with eggs, even humans, a</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i style="font-size: 13px;">P. palpebrosus</i> ~ resting</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">female will charge; once hatching begins the female may assist, but does not take the hatchlings to water as other </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">crocodilian mothers do; hatchlings are heavily coated in a mucus film that is slower drying than in other crocodilian forms; once the mucoid layer has dried, the hatchlings will on their own accord enter the water; it is suggested the drying process is an anti-algal measure in protecting the hatchlings' softer more vulnerable skin from external growths; once in the water, juveniles are basically on their own as parental care at this stage has not been observed implying it doesn't occur or is rare.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Yacre caiman ~<i> Caiman yacare</i></span> </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Yacare Caiman</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Alligatoridae</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Caiman </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Caiman yacare</u></span><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 2-2,5m/6.74-8.20ft; occasionally 3m/9.84ft. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 5.9kg/13lbs</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Estimations at 30-40 yrs. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Caiman yacare</i> ~ <i>Caiman</i> is a Spanish term for 'crocodilian;' <i>yacare</i> refers to the regional term, 'jacare' used to describe an alligator.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Central portion of South America from southwestern Brazil, northern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia into all of Paraguay; dense populations subsist in the Pantanal region of Brazil; fond of wetlands and lakes containing vegetative mats; also commonly found in faster flowing rivers; is the southern most caiman species.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="font-size: 13px;">C. yacare</i> ~sub-juvenile</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Except for the flanks, scales have well developed osteoderms on rest of body, body coloration is dark to very dark green; head is a rust reddish brown mottled with darker spots more noticeable on throat; certain larger teeth of lower jaw may protrude through upper jaw; total body scheme is similar to <i>Caiman crocodilus</i> in which until recently, yacare caiman was considered a subspecies; no subspecies.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Main diet consists of fish and snails; will take snakes and small mammals while the larger specimen will prey on capybara; another name for this animal is the piranha caiman; one reason is for the aforementioned teeth protrubernce into the upper jaws, the other is for its propensity to preying on piranha; juveniles eat aquatic invertebrates, snails and terrestrial insects trapped in water; the anaconda and jaguar prey on this smaller crocodilian.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i style="font-size: 13px;">C. yacare</i> ~ fishing</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Groups have been observed roaming terrestrially far distances from water sources; in faster moving river waters, likes to go fishing by standing stationary with the mouth open against the current in anticipation of snapping up any fish moving with the current downstream; are communal and where there are healthy populations will aggregate in crowded conditions; though there are healthy populations, they have been extirpated from regions they once inhabited through decimation by human hunting; these caiman quickly reproduce year round peaking during the wet season; females become sexually mature around 10 yrs. of age at around 1m/3.3ft; female makes mounds of mud and vegetation to lay 21-35 eggs; she guards the nesting mound during egg incubation; intensive hunting by man has made the female more prone to abandon nesting area; with a diet that consists of large amounts of snails, they halt the spread of schistosomiasis by their digestive tract killing the trematode vector; this caiman is not yet considered endangered.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">1.</span> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C. mindorensis</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Philippine (Mindoro) Crocodile</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Crocodylidae</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">G</span>enus: Crocodylus</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><u>Crocodylus mindorensis</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Ave ~ 1.5m/5ft; males up to 3m/9.9ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 15kg/33.10lbs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Average & maximal lifespans unknown; estimation ~ 45-55 yrs</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Crocodylus mindorensis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> - Greek ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">krokodeilos</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> literally meaning 'pebble worm' referring to appearance; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">mendoro</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> plus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">ensis </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">is Latin rooted meaning 'belonging to;' </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">mendorensis</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> refers to, 'of Mendoro Island.'</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Has been eliminated and extirpated from most of historical range throughout the Philippine Islands; restricted to pockets in very small populations in the islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro and Negro; a total wild population has been reported by National Geographic (Sept. 2011) to be only 250 specimens and this includes 50 captives that were released into the wilds from a conservatory breeding program in 2009; habitat preference for wetlands and marshes are all but gone from natural areas replaced by anthropomorphic activities of drainage, irrigation and agriculture; slaughter for hides have also played a part in the species decline along with natural and man egg predation playing a 30% role in egg loss; are now restricted to small riverine tributaries, littoral creeks, ponds and small lakes from sea level to higher elevations; has been observed swimming in saline water along the coast of Luzon moving from creek to creek through a sea route. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>C. mindorensis ~</i> first breath </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Is a small freshwater crocodile endemic to the Philippines with a broader snout than normally found in most crocodiles; possesses thick bony plates on dorsal side; as is the usual case in crocodilians, female adults are smaller than males; coloration is normally a golden brown which darkens as animal ages; was originally considered to be a subspecies of <i>C. porosus</i> then recently to <i>C. novaeguineae</i>, but genetic studies confirm its own species status; there are no subspecies. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Consists mainly of fish, but feral pigs, snakes, civet cats and water and shore birds are also taken; juveniles rely on insects that frequent water such as dragonflies, also taken are snails, shrimp and small fish. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Appears to prefer basking in pairs; will vacate rivers during the wet season when river currents are high to smaller creeks; juvenile yearlings are very aggressive towards one another in developing territoriality, but aggression subsides in adults; appear to only mate within the month of January; a gravid female will build either a nest mound or nest hole; mounds are built under shady areas along bank shores composed of leaves, twigs, bamboo, stones and soil; hole nests are constructed in open areas along river and pond banks; during incubation of the 16-27 eggs, both male and female will keep watch over the nest and nest site; female though makes routine visits twice a day with one early in the morning and one in late afternoon; as in all crocodilians, sex determination of developing eggs is ambient temperature dependent; for this crocodile, 30-31 °C/86-87.8 °F produces all females; 33 °C/91.4 °F produces all males; Philippine crocodiles living in mountainous regions have access to deep pools with submerged limestone caves that they will hide in during perceived threats; in other range areas the crocodile utilizes dug burrows in sandy and clay river banks to hide in. This crocodile species is critically threatened. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span><i>C. porosus</i> ~ Saltwater crocodile</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Crocodylidae<br />
G</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">enus: Crocodylus</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><u>Crocodylus porosus</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Ave: 5m/16.5ft; Record recently captured in Bunawan, Philippines - 6.4m/21ft </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Ave: 450kg/990lbs; Record recently captured in Bunawan, Philippines - 1,075kg/2,369lbs</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: On average up to 70 yrs; some do reach 100+<br />
Name Origin: <i>Crocodylus porosus</i> - Greek ~ <i>krokodeilos</i> literally meaning 'pebble worm' referring to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">appearance; <i>porosus</i> means 'full of callosities' from porosis (calosity) + Latin ~ <i>osus</i> (full of) referring to rugose surface of snout.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Eastern India coastline, Southeast Asia, certain Indo-Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia's northern coastline; prefer freshwater swamps and rivers during wet seasons and moving to brackish and salty estuaries during the drier periods; have been observed out at sea; sub-adults are forced out into minor tributaries and streams and into brackish or salt waters.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <i>C. porosus </i>~ black specimen</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> In terms of mass and girth is the largest extant reptile; the broader body is uncharacteristic to crocodiles and was once considered an alligator species due to body broadness; greatest sexual dimorphism of all crocodilians with females being much smaller; for an average population, male lengths are 4.1-5.5m/13-18ft, while typical female size range is 2.3-3.5m/8-11ft; as crocodiles go have a narrower snout than other crocodilians, but the most massive of crocodiles; coloration is typical gray or brown, but can darken to black; have a valve that seals off water from entering the throat when submerged, but cannot consume prey under water as swallowing would open the valve allowing water to enter; must eat either on land or head above water; when mouth is closed teeth protrude from upper and lower jaws; have the fewest scutes or scales on ventral (under or belly) side of all crocodilians; ridges prominent in adults run from eyes to nose; there are no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> juveniles take insects, crustaceans, amphibians, small reptiles and fish; adults as truly the apex predator will take anything that offers itself; but primarily subsists on smaller mammals, larger fish (including sharks) and shore birds; known prey includes turtles, wild boar, kangaroos, water buffalo, dingoes, large cat members, bats, monkeys and man; for as being prey, adults have no natural predators except man; juveniles are eaten by larger fish, raptorial birds, turtles and on occasion very hungry adult crocodiles; in their range, sub-adults may be taken by larger cats such as tigers and leopards; eggs are consumed by monitor lizards.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4.</span> </span><i>C. porosus</i> ~ lunging</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Saltwater crocodiles are aptly named, for they have been observed swimming hundreds of miles out at sea and this ability is probably the factor for their extensive range along varying geographical coastlines; other common names are estuarine crocodile, Indo-Pacific crocodile and the Aussies call them salties; are primarily nocturnal spending daytime basking in thermoregulating body temperature between 30-32 °C/ 84-89.6 °F; males are territorial and the dominant ones acquire and hold onto prime crocodile real estate; through tail propulsion in deeper water, salties can launch themselves out of the water three-quarters of their body lengths; they use this launch/leap technique to get at animals such as bats or monkeys on overhanging branches; prefer the ambush approach, lying very still in wait along the shoreline either submerged or just on the bank for potential prey; in attacking animals from the shoreline, the strike is rapid grabbing the victim with the jaws and taking it to the water, or if is a large animal perform the 'death roll' to make the animal lose its balance where it can then be dragged into water; either the jaw force, or drowning kills the prey; tremendous pressure force is present in their bite; an adult is capable of crushing the skull of an adult bovine when biting; when swimming, legs are held against the body as all propulsion is performed by the tail; will swim cruising at 0.9-1.3m/s or 2-3mph and is very capable of speed bursts up to 6.7-8.0m/s or 15-18mph; on land they can 'belly run' up to 11kph/7mph; due to bulkiness and short legs compared to body mass, salties cannot 'croc gallop' as other crocodile species do; due to tendencies to swim out to sea, individuals have been located in regions they are not native to; saltwater crocodiles have glands in the tongue to desalinate seawater; all crocodilians possess these glands, but are not fully functional or nonfunctional in various species; mating is only performed in water and is surprisingly passive; females lay 40-60 eggs in a mound nest made of vegetation on the banks; females will guard the eggs in anticipation of hatching around 100 days later; upon hatching the baby salties squeal where the female then attentively takes each one to the water's edge; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">during hatching, the mother may sometimes roll unhatched eggs gently around her tongue to facilitate hatching</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; for the next 8 months the young will live together in a group called a creche guarded by the female; in the 1940s salties were extensively hunted for their choice hides, but populations have rebounded since.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Special Note:</b> Saltwater crocodiles probably have killed more people than any other wild animal. No matter of our interpretation of life's ranking, to a salty, humans are simply another mammal food item and they could care less about the protections afforded by our deities.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On February 19, 1945, during the ending of WWII, the Japanese were retreating inland into swampland from advancing British soldiers on Ramree Island. The Japanese were encircled on the small island off the coast of Burma (Myanmar) and had no where to go. On that day's fateful night, 400 Japanese soldiers were killed by saltwater crocodiles in the mangrove swamp which was home to thousands of the reptiles. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With their ambush attack methods, salties are very dangerous to humans and the utmost care should be conducted when in their environment; for in there element, we are not the top predator...they are...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">American crocodile ~ <i>C. acutus</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American Crocodile</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Crocodylidae </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Crocodylus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><i>Crocodylus acutus</i></b><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Ave: 4m/13ft; Record - 5.2m/17ft from Tarcoles River in Costa Rica</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Ave: 382kg/840lbs </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: 50-70 yrs.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Crocodylus acutus</i> - Greek ~ <i>krokodeilos</i> literally meaning 'pebble worm' referring to appearance; Latin ~ <i>acutus</i> meaning 'pointed' in reference to shape of snout.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> The American crocodile is widespread in the Americas; from the southern tip of Florida the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">range extends southward into the Caribbean islands, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and northwards up along Mexico's Pacific coastline, all of Central America and along the coastlines of Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela; inhabits freshwater rivers and swamps, coastal lagoons, brackish coastal waters in mangrove marshes and at sea; the landlocked and hypersaline lake, Lago Enriquillo of the Dominican Republic is the largest lake in the Caribbean and lowest point of any oceanic island lake sitting 40m/131ft below sea level; the largest population of American crocs inhabit this super salty lake. Global warming is having its impact on the American crocodile, in particular in the Florida Everglades; inundation of freshwater by rising seawater may not affect adults, but saltwater will destroy incubating eggs and juveniles have a low tolerance to saltwater; also sex is determined by temperature; rising temperatures will affect sex ratios or destroy the eggs outright, USA populations most probably derived from crocodiles crossing the Florida Straits from Cuba during the last ice age with lower 300 foot sea levels; once established in North America, branched all the way down the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Gulf coastline and cohabited with the American alligator; in the U.S. strays have been reported as far north as South Carolina.</span><br />
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<b>Description:</b> As in all crocodiles the eyes, ears and nostrils are situated atop the head to sense surroundings </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and for ambush attacks while the body is submerged; has a sharp pointed snout and silvery eye irises; having an overall pale gray or olive brown in coloration, lends to camouflage while floating just submerged appearing as a waterlogged log; has a tough scaly hide protected with rows of ossified scutes (scales); eyes are protected by nicitating membranes (third eyelid) and in addition possesses lacrimal glands for producing tears, thus the origin of the phrase, "cryin' crocodile tears"; there are no subspecies.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <i>C. acutus</i> feeding on favored prey</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Throughout life the main diet consists of fish; its fish diet on occasion is complimented with small mammals, birds, turtles, snails, frogs, crabs and carrion; they are opportunistic and if an uncommon encounter with an animal that is normally not pursued it may take it, like larger mammals; juveniles eat invertebrates, small amphibians and fish; juvenile predators are raccoons and alligators in the U.S., larger fish turtles and snakes also take juveniles. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>C. acutus</i> basking with open mouth</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is one of the larger crocodiles, but shows less aggression than the saltwater and Nile crocodiles, though on occasion have attacked and killed humans; in South America, an Amercian croc skull was found and measured at 72.6cm/28.6in; in proportion to croc body sizes the male croc, in which the skull belonged to would have been 6.70m/22ft; in saltier waters, these crocs will osmoregulate to keep body fluids from being salinized; in hunting fish this croc can reach swimming speeds of 32km/hr or 20mph by swimming with not only the tail but body in lateral sinusoidal wave movement; on land using the 'high walk' with straightened legs and body not dragging the ground, can achieve short bursts of 16km/hr or 10mph; will travel inland long distances inland in search of suitable habitat; can go two months without eating; prefers basking alone and with mouth agape; courtship is long-lasting, sometimes for a period of two months; female builds nest during the dry season due to fact that flooding destroys eggs; normally builds nests in holes in favorable sand banks above waterline; if suitable nest sites aren't available, the female is innovative enough to make a nest mound with whatever vegetative material is available; after nest is built normally 30-60 eggs are laid; parental care for the incubating site is mixed from very little of it, to extreme care, even building a burrow next to the nest to stay next to the eggs; eggs hatch normally in coincidence with an oncoming rainy season for a region, which is around 90-100 days after being laid; hatchlings will bark alerting the female, who will aid in hatching by gently cracking the egg; female takes the hatchlings to water's edge and tends to them for only a few days as the juveniles disperse and the female abandons them; where the American croc's range overlaps with the American gator's, the croc is more tolerant of the saltier environs where the gator is more tolerant of the colder regions aiding the two crocodilians to be more dominant in the respective environments; this crocodile is listed as threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>G. gangeticus</i> ~ gharial or gavial</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Gharial</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gavial</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Gavialidae<br />
Genus: Gavialis</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Gavialis gangeticus</u></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: ♂ ~ 4-4.5m/13-15ft, up to 6m/19.7ft; ♀ ~ 3.5-4m/11.5-13ft.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Weight: 159-181kg/350-400lbs. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown; estimates are 40-60 yrs; large size and slow maturity rate lead to longer life spans perhaps up to 70-100 yrs.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Gavialis gangeticus</i> ~ <i>Gavialis</i> is a corrupted form of the Hindi word, <i>gharyial</i> meaning 'crocodile;' <i>gangeticus</i> means 'of the Ganges River' where the Latin <i>icus</i> means 'belonging to;' 'gavial' is a westerner mispronunciation and misspelling of the word 'gharial' rooted from the Hindi word, 'ghariyal' in reference to the <i>ghara</i> (nose protuberance) which means 'mud pot'.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> North Indian subcontinent; former range included not only India and Nepal, but also the extirpated populations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Pakistan; remaining populations are found in India in the Chambal, Gitwa, Mahanadi and Son rivers; Under 50 in population, non-breeding individuals are found in the Indian rivers of Brahmaputra, Ken, Ramgenga and the Yamuna; in Nepal, they are found in the Narayani/Rapti River; under thirty adult non-breeding individuals are in the Nepalese rivers of Babai, Karnali and the Koshi; gharials prefer deeper fast flowing rivers, but congregate on seasonally exposed sandbanks to bask and rest.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> <i>Gavialidae</i> is the most ancient family of extant crocodilians with ancestry dating back to the Cenozoic 65 mya; most prominent feature is the narrowest and longest snout possessed by crocodilians; the snout becomes longer and narrower in aging; the elongated snout has jaws rimmed with 106-110 sharp interlocking teeth; is second largest extant crocodilian behind <i>Crocodylus porosus</i>; with a laterally compressed tail and webbed hind feet are the most aquatic crocodilian; cannot walk on land; leg musculature cannot raise the body off surface, so belly crawls on land; can rapidly belly crawl when threatened; bulbous snout protuberance in males is composed of cartilaginous knobby material; prevention of water entry into the</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Gharial (Gavial) snout</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ear canals while submerged is performed by involuntary muscles that automatically close off the canals under water pressure; coloration is from a mid-lighter gray to darker olive gray with dark bands along back and tail; no subspecies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Is almost exclusively piscivorous (eats fish); on occasion water/shore birds are taken and carrion consumed; human remains have been found as contents inside gharial stomachs, but this is not due to hunting humans as prey, but rather gharials acting as scavengers in eating corpses produced by the Hindi funeral ritual of cremating bodies, then sending them afloat down river; with the long narrow snout there is no advantage to stalking large mammal prey; juveniles prey on insects, tadpoles and smaller fish and frogs; besides hatchlings being preyed on by larger reptiles, birds and fish, adult gharials have no predator except man; aggressive encounters where gharial habitat overlaps with the mugger crocodile, <i>Crocodylus palustris</i> may result in casualties; the aggressor is the mugger and is not in stalking gharials as prey, but in defense of favored basking spots. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Gharials leave water only to bask and nest; the narrow snout is so designed to snap up and hold struggling and slippery prey such as fish; narrow snout also is very efficient in maneuvering snatched fish prey to be swallowed; this crocodilian fishes with varying three strategies; 1) sit and wait approach- anterior body floating or submerged remains motionless on the lookout for fish to pass by; 2) rapid strike- while foraging when a fish is startled will rapidly swing snout to side and grab the fish, the narrow snout lessens drag allowing for one swift whip-like motion; 3) sweeping search- while swimming submerged, snout, head and front of body slowly sweeps through water back and forth in search of prey detected by DPR sensory receptors; gharials are social living in societal groups of one dominant male, numerous females and sub-adult males who the dominant adult male tolerates; other adult males are chased away; gharials mostly hear in subsonic ranges </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and low frequencies in which</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>G. gangeticus</i> ~ ghara</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the ghara vocalization ranges are produced in; the male ghara (snout protuberance) resonates vocalizations in deeper pitches as warnings to other males and in courtships; ghara resonance is produced by forcing exhaled air through the nostrils that are within the ghara; other sounds are hisses, buzzing, various types of groan bawling when injured and underwater jaw slapping conducted by both sexes during courtship; ghara is also a visual aid stimulus to females during courtship; reproduction cycle is dictated by hormones as well as day length and rainfall; pairs mate underwater for a good 30 minutes; female digs pitcher-shaped holes in sandbanks for nesting site at night, lays 12-60 eggs, then carefully covers them with loose unpacked sand; Female fiercely guards the nesting area allowing only her male mate to approach; when hatching begins, hatchlings emit grunts that alerts the mother to uncover them; she does not take the hatchlings to water, they find their own way; mother guards them for several weeks; as male is the only animal allowed by the female around the young, he is docile enough to allow hatchlings to ride his back; is listed as critically endangered due to human encroachment and fragmented populations.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> False Gharial ~ <i>T. schlegelii</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">False Gharial</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Crocodylidae<br />
Genus: Tomistoma</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Tomistoma schlegelii</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span>ength: Averaged 3.5-5m/11.6-16.5ft; ♂ specimens can exceed 5.2m/17ft. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ♂ ~ 150-250kg/330-550lbs; ♀ ~ 90kg/200lbs. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Unknown; estimations 40-60yrs; averaged captives' maximum lifespan - 24.7yrs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Tomistoma schlegelii</i> ~ <i>Tomistoma</i> is Greek meaning 'sharp mouth' derived from 'tomos' (sharp) + 'stoma' (mouth) in reference to slender jaws; <i>schlegelii</i> means 'of Schlegel' referring to Dutch zoologist discoverer, H. Schlegel (1804-1884).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> <i>T. scheleglii</i> ~ in preferred habitat</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Found in Indonesia and Malaysia as restricted to 6 river systems in the islands of Borneo, Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, possibly Sulawesi and the Malay Pennisula; has been extirpated from Thailand and possibly Vietnam; prefers freshwater habitats in peat swamps, lakes and slow moving rivers packed with debris and vegetation mats.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Though paleontological morphology points to closer crocodile relationships (family: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocdylidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), recent phylogenetic molecular and biochemical studies reveal a closer kindred to gavials (family: <i>Gavialidae</i>); is named false gharial or gavial in reference to both species' long narrow snout; false gharial snouts, though much more slender than other crocodilians, are a bit broader than gharial snouts and head tapers more into the snout than do gharials; 3 unique transverse rows of 2 enlarged nuchal (neck) scales are continuous with dorsal scales; post-occipatal are very indistinct or absent altogether; the typical crocodilian high ridge in upper corners above eyes is lacking in the false gharial; adult coloration remains fairly constant to juvenile coloration which is a chocolaty brown with black banding encircling the body & tail; there are no subspecies.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfv6rry_2bvLbtE_NJB6ZzAOA0DUBke40-_U34iyyVRBPmUKyfncKisYK8VjAnMbYe9zXAlpYU6yMt09qNkRoxtoIJBAYHY0r8VJ0DZ3jHJnpjfeBg8kYMTKOVpy69j5XVSSYO-63KDpf/s1600/Tomistoma-eating-turtle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfv6rry_2bvLbtE_NJB6ZzAOA0DUBke40-_U34iyyVRBPmUKyfncKisYK8VjAnMbYe9zXAlpYU6yMt09qNkRoxtoIJBAYHY0r8VJ0DZ3jHJnpjfeBg8kYMTKOVpy69j5XVSSYO-63KDpf/s200/Tomistoma-eating-turtle.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> <i>T. scheleglii</i> ~ eating a turtle</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Though snout shape is geared more towards a piscivorous diet, false gharials are a more generalist predator; captives have been observed to be inept in catching swift fish, but were superior in snapping up tossed food before hitting the water surface; even low flying grackles at the San Antonio Zoo were snatched by false gharials in midair; this suggests that natural food is more opportunistic for wild specimens in taking birds and mammals near water sources such as from low overhanging tree branches; in fact, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in addition to fish, a very recent research conducted and concluded by biologists documented that larger vertebrates such as turtles, birds, fruit bats, monkeys and deer do make-up a good portion of the diet; due to retreating nature during human encounters, false gharials were considered timid towards humans, but at the end of 2008 a fisherman near his Kalimantan village was killed and consumed whole by a ±4m/13.2ft rogue female; earlier, remains of human parts were also found in a false gharial; juveniles diet consists of aquatic and land invertebrates and small fish.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenxCCwz96QTdU0zMdhmhjdx0Oll1gMC-62f-JFdcasu7iyUB3EEv8d-QKQmwg8E9KJd2flf6qJTFN4xg2X0qH8CRWpt0YuAJKNI39XbkOTJkY-NTN-EYrekY5q_hpWBuWygGkQlCb2MAn/s1600/Tomistoma_schlegelii+profile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenxCCwz96QTdU0zMdhmhjdx0Oll1gMC-62f-JFdcasu7iyUB3EEv8d-QKQmwg8E9KJd2flf6qJTFN4xg2X0qH8CRWpt0YuAJKNI39XbkOTJkY-NTN-EYrekY5q_hpWBuWygGkQlCb2MAn/s320/Tomistoma_schlegelii+profile.jpg" height="107" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>T. scheleglii</i> ~ on the lookout for prey</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Density populations remain very low; once covered the whole of Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia, but are now limited to fragmented pockets where currently found; is listed as currently endangered in becoming extinct due to human activity in burning and draining peat swamps, rain forest clearings, fish net drownings and the skin trade; except for man, adult false gharials are the apex predator in their habitat range; occasionally found basking communally but normally is not social and stays clear of each other; during breeding season though, in breeding pools multiple males are tolerant of each other as long as there are multiple females coexisting at the site; females are late to sexually mature in becoming fertile only once reaching lengths of 2.5-3m/8.25-9.9ft; females build mounds of mud, peat and vegetation debris, then lays a clutch of 20-60 eggs; false gharial eggs are the largest of all extant crocodilians; once laying, the female abandons the nesting mound and will not perform any parental care from guarding the nest to assisting and protecting the hatchlings; this results in high mortality rates for juveniles due to predation; the false gharial is threatened.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Turtles, tortoises and terrapins...what is the difference? First off, here in the states they are all three turtles; tortoises and terrapins are just special kinds of turtles. Other than just anatomy, the differences extend into habitat on what type of environment certain species live in and how they make use of it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Turtles are primarily aquatic spending most of their lives in water and are equipped with webbed feet or flippers. Venturing on land usually is only to bask or lay eggs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tortoises are strictly terrestrial with short sturdy legs for firm and steadied walking. Tortoises live in drier terrain and will burrow or go underground when it gets too hot.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Terrapins (of Algonquian origin meaning: 'little turtle') split their amount of time both in water and on land, but are always near a water source.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Chelonia</i>, sometimes listed as a superorder in classifications uniting turtles, tortoises, terrapins with the proto-turtle, <i>Australochelyes</i>, is mainly used for grouping extant turtles under <i>Testudines</i> as the order representing chelonian species along with all extinct turtle lines. This can be confusing, for in a few classification schemes, <i>Chelonia</i> and <i>Testudines</i> are listed side-by-side as one interchangeable order.<br />
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Turtles, an ancient lineage for an extant group, first appeared during the Triassic ~220 mya. Unfortunately today, they appear to be declining and on their way out. Turtle specimens can still be found today, pretty much anywhere so we take them for granted. If turtles had become extinct long ago though, we would marvel at these distinctive vertebrates that took their home with them everywhere they went.<br />
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The shell of a turtle has diagnostic features where the vertebrae, ribs and portions of the pectoral girdle are fused to the dorsal shell known as the carapace. The bottom half of the shell is the plastron. With this arrangement the pectoral and pelvic girdles lie within the ribcage, a design not seen in any other vertebrate.<br />
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The skull of a turtle is also unique among amniotes. Being the only extant vertebrate with an anapsid skull, they lack a temporal fenestra. Turtles have no teeth which are replaced by a keratinous beak. Also unique only in turtles is the orientation of the jaw adductor muscles to the cranium which is angled passing over a specialized trochlea, a boney structure acting as a pulley assemblage.<br />
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There is no final conclusion yet between two main arguments among paleontologists regarding the origin and relationships of turtles to other amniotes. One side considers turtles to have come from a direct ancestral line of anapsids. The other counters that the anapsid skull in turtles evolved as a secondary condition in convergent evolution from original diapsid ancestory skull morphology.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIb0kZ0QisBBBv5IHYJ9IgiUdUNZ3SHyvIUmUTqMNK8a-1PoR5zP2K9nECMt7-0XdT1RuJ7wdVHC5zsfHFWSzBz0K8uRCgVHkdDWttDPfKwTKzwkzJNnSNFzaKKp3TJLU6RpKpu4e9A36l/s1600/Odontochelys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIb0kZ0QisBBBv5IHYJ9IgiUdUNZ3SHyvIUmUTqMNK8a-1PoR5zP2K9nECMt7-0XdT1RuJ7wdVHC5zsfHFWSzBz0K8uRCgVHkdDWttDPfKwTKzwkzJNnSNFzaKKp3TJLU6RpKpu4e9A36l/s200/Odontochelys.jpg" height="200" width="192" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> </span><i>Odontochelys semitestacea</i> ~220mya</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Found in Triassic strata dated 220 mya, three fossils of <i>Odontochelys</i> were excavated from marine deposits in China. The species, <i>Odontochelys semitestacea</i> is the earliest known turtle. The species name literally means 'toothed turtle with a half shell'. Unlike all extant turtles with only a horny beak, <i>Odontochelys</i> possessed teeth embedded in the upper and lower jaws. Also in contrast to all extinct and extant turtle species, this turtle only had a ventral plastron; where a dorsal carapace was absent. Instead of a solid carapace, <i>Odontochelys</i>' dorsum featured broadened ribs like those found in modern-day turtle embryos before the developing transition to ossified plates that make-up the carapace.<br />
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In</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> addition to differences, the <i>Odontochelys</i> skull was far more elongated pre-orbitally as in front of the eyes. In proportion to the body the tail was much longer, the transverse processes were not fused as in all other turtles and the point of articulation between the dorsal ribs and the vertebra were decidedly varying. Also, processes of the scapula (shoulder blade) known as an acrimon that is an anatomical feature articulating with the clavicle (collar bone) is lacking</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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With </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">these primitive turtle features, <i>Odontochelys</i> does appear to be a transitional phase, but living in coastal sea waters, this carapace-less turtle was a descendent from a much older line of fully shelled land living ancestry. Perhaps the lack of a carapace is due to a reversal in turtle evolutionary steps in losing the top shell, opting instead to having the bony top dermally covered with oily flesh as witnessed in <i>Dermochelys</i> (leatherback sea turtles) of today.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFh1cgHiNjb3Nx-uHgI7vKI8opwq3AwhKQsWqMLAJE3sjXcTX-7Cb_Wzifmy_oCVYmeQ72qZgCuU0rTqsNPrIw1j6NKNrBfhvNQEA4bVD-lWp1MeTCcbtuLnN7ppVXvaHjpV2dDYG6Ctp/s1600/Proganochelys_quenstedtii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFh1cgHiNjb3Nx-uHgI7vKI8opwq3AwhKQsWqMLAJE3sjXcTX-7Cb_Wzifmy_oCVYmeQ72qZgCuU0rTqsNPrIw1j6NKNrBfhvNQEA4bVD-lWp1MeTCcbtuLnN7ppVXvaHjpV2dDYG6Ctp/s200/Proganochelys_quenstedtii.jpg" height="175" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> </span><i>Proganochelys quenstedtii</i> ~210mya</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The earliest known fully shelled turtle was <i>Proganochelys</i> hailing from the late Triassic 210 mya. Its overall appearance in life was much like modern day turtles in having no teeth but a horny beak and had the characteristic shell housing formed from bony plates. The plates comprising the carapace and plastron had the ribs fused together into a solid cage protecting internal organs. Though unlike modern species this turtle could not retract its spiny neck and had small denticles on the mouth's palate. It was 1m/3.3ft long</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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All</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> turtles are oviparous with the largest species laying spherical shaped eggs while the rest lay elongated eggs. All species lay eggs in burrows dug in sand or mud and there is no form of parental care after laid and covered. In some species, temperature during egg incubation determines sex, while in others, temperature has no role in sex determination and instead is parentally gene expressed</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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As</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in other reptile member species, turtles shed skin in molting, but do not molt all at once. The shell scutes constitute part of the skin and in counting the rings formed in the smaller and older ones over the newer and larger scutes, in knowing how many times a particular species sheds in a year, it is possible to estimate ages</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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When</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> tortoises shed, a lot of dead skin accumulates into thick knobs or plates that will serve as protection to areas of the body outside the shell</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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All</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> turtles are ectotherms, however due to a high metabolic rate, leatherback sea turtles have a noticeably higher temperature than the surrounding ambient water. Being ectothermic and bulky presents poor pursuit movement, but carnivorous turtles can rapidly move the neck and snap the beak in quick motions</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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Fully</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> aquatic freshwater turtles have their eyes positioned closer to the top of the head while the land dwelling tortoises have eyes positioned to look downwards at what is just in front of them. Sea turtles have salt glands near their eyes that filters then excretes excess salt taken from seawater the animals drank. Turtle eyes in general have exceptional night vision due to a very large number of retina rod cells that also have range sensitivities from UVA to infra red</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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All</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> turtles breathe air with lungs, but with a rigid shell, they cannot breathe as other animals do. Instead of changing the volume of the chest cavity via expansion and contraction of the ribs, turtles employ buccal pumping by pulling air into the mouth which is then pushed into the lungs by oscillations of the bottom of the throat. Secondly, in much the same way as the muscular mammalian diaphragm works, abdominal muscles that cover the posterior opening of the shell contract increasing the internal volume of the shell which henceforth, draws air into the lungs</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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Like</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> aquatic amphibian species, aquatic turtles in northern regions hibernate in the mud bottoms of water bodies. To breathe and rid the body of built-up toxins is a bit of a marvel, but unlike amphibian skin that conducts cutaneous gas exchange, turtles have scales that stop permeation, so survive hibernation in another form. They do take advantage in the ability of water to absorb and store tremendous amounts of heat as compared to ambient cold air temperatures. They also take advantage of another aspect of water and that is once water temperatures go below 3.9 °C/39 °F, it rises. Therefore for a hibernating reptile, a maintained temperature of 3.9 °C/39 °F is quite comfortable</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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This</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> created temperature comfort zone is ideal, for warmer waters hold less dissolved oxygen and below freezing temperatures would create ice crystals that would pierce and rupture the hibernating turtle's cells, thus killing it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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Reducing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> metabolism from 40 heartbeats per 1 minute on a warm summer day down to 1 for every 10 minutes while hibernating is an ideal situation for addressing changed aerobic to anaerobic conditions</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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To</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> get at the water's dissolved oxygen, the throat cavity is lined with multitudes of minute blood vessels that have the capability to extract oxygen from water. In addition, the same arrangement of tissue vessels in thin walled sacs of the anus takes in dissolved oxygen. Slight pumping movements of water from the pharynx and anus take in the dissolved oxygen</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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To</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> combat the build-up of toxins and in particular lactic acid that would otherwise kill it by building up an elevated state of acidosis while hibernating, turtles have countered with calcium. By dissolving minute amounts of calcium from the shell and into the bloodstream, the calcium salts act as a buffer and neutralize the acid</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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For the classification scheme followed here, turtles are under the one order, <i>Testudienes</i>, which in this fashion would then be under the superorder, <i>Chelonia</i> over the two suborders, <i>Cryptodira</i> and <i>Pleurodira</i>. These two suborder groups are defined by the mode of neck retraction. Pleurodiran </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(side neck) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">representatives retract by bringing the neck and head snug to the body in the gap between the carapace and plastron. The larger group of cryptodiran (hidden neck) species have the neck and head retracted by the bending of nuchal vertebrae into a vertical S-shape. Many cryptodires can totally retract the head into the shell</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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In</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> size, turtles are measured by shell length with extant turtles ranging from the male speckled padloper tortoise measuring 6-8cm/2.4-3.1in and weighing in at a mere 95-165g/3.4-5.8oz. to the leatherback sea turtle measuring 2m/6.6ft and weighing 900kg/2,000lbs. The largest turtle ever discovered so far is the extinct late Cretaceous marine sea turtle, <i>Archelon ischyros</i> that reached the length of 4.6m/15ft. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Archelon ischyros</i> ~ 1902 photograph</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are 13 extant families supported by 97 genera and 401 species.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> Stinkpot ~ <i>S. odoratus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Stinkpot (Stinking Jim)</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Kenosternidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Sternotherus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Sternotherus odoratus</u></b><br />
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Length: 7.6-13.7cm/3-5.75in shell length</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 65-95g/2.29-3.35oz</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~55 yrs.<br />
Name Origin: <i>Sternotherus odoratus</i> ~ Is Greek, <i>sterno</i> (chest) and <i>thairos</i> (hinged) in reference to hinged plastron; <i>odoratus</i> is Latin referring to odor produced by musk glands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> North America, ranging from southern Ontario and coastal Maine down to all of Florida and west to central Texas, then back up north to southern Wisconsin; prefers quiet and slow moving shallow waters with soft muddy bottoms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Description:</b> Is a musk turtle and this stinker is also the skunk of the turtle world possessing 2 pairs of musk glands with 2 anteriorly and 2 posteriorly just under the border of the carapace; when disturbed the glands secrete a yellowish fluid that is malodorous and pungent smelling; besides deterring predation, the musk also acts as semiochemical cues in intraspecific communication associated with homesite philopatry, territoriality and sexual behavior as interpreted by the vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSN), which elicits encoded electrical signals; have 2 distinguishing yellow or beige stripes running across each side of the face and along the bottom and top of the nares ending at the slightly pointed beak; possesses fleshy barbels on the chin and throat for sensing bottom dwelling prey; unassuming domed carapace is black, gray or olive brown with 3 longitudinal keels; carapace is usually obscured from algae growth; in not covering the legs, plastron is small with a single inconspicuous anterior hinge; have long tail and neck; highly dimorphic with males having the longer and heavier tail that ends with a blunt horny nail while female's more tapered tail ends sharply pointed; 2 small patches of tilted scales located in the inner surface of male's hind legs is absent in females; skin between the seams of the plastron is more obvious in males; males are slightly larger; juvenile carapace is patterned with irregular dark streaks or spots; there are no subspecies.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A view of the plastron</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Diet:</b> More carnivorous than omnivorous, but will consume aquatic vegetation; juveniles strictly consume animal proteins; finds food by scent; normal diets consists of aquatic insects, tadpoles, snails, mussels that it can easily crack with its beak, crawdads, small fish and about anything else it can catch and eat; will also readily accept the carcasses of dead fish and has been known to scavenge dead mammals in or near water.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> This turtle is an expert climber and can climb 90 degree tree trunks with strong and firm claw grips; likes to bask in overhanging tree branches above water and has been observed in overhanging branches more than 2m/7ft above water; once disturbed will drop immediately into the water; males are feisty and won't hesitate to bite with an extended neck allowing a jaw range reach to its hind limbs; primarily crepuscular and nocturnal, twilight hours and darkness is when it forages most walking or swimming on the bottom of shallow waters; is highly aquatic rarely if ever straying too far from water, for is very restrictive to overland travel; if kept dry for too long dehydrates quicker than most turtles; respires underwater through tongue; mates underwater in the spring whereupon the female lays 2-9 eggs in late spring or early summer in dugout sandy burrows, in shoreline rotting logs or piles of dead vegetation; nested eggs may lay in shade or in total sunshine in which temperature will dictate sexes; certain populations have communal nesting site; eggs hatch in late summer or early fall with hatchlings less than 1cm/0.4in; overwinters burrowed in the muddy water bottoms; when first capturing a wild stinking Jim, be prepared for the foul smell as they will secrete the musk; this turtle species is stable and not threatened. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Pig-nosed turtle ~ <i> C. insculpta</i> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Pig-nosed Turtle</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Carretochelyidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Carretochelys </span><br />
Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Carretochelys insculpta</u><br />
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Length: 70cm/28in shell length<br />
Weight: 20kg/44lbs<br />
Longevity: Maximum 40 yrs.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Carretochelys insculpta</i> ~ <i>Carreto</i> is Latin meaning 'carts' while <i>chelys</i> is Greek describing a lyre instrument that was made with tortoise shell; the Latin <i>insculpta</i> means 'engraved' or 'carved;' put all together is in reference to the flesh covered shell as 'carted engraved tortoise shell.'</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Distribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Most concentrated population is in southern Papua New Guinea with smaller ones in the Top- End of Australia and southern Irian Jaya, Indonesia; the Torres Strait was a land bridge among these land masses during the last interglacial age 5-18 thousand years ago; rising sea temperatures since have cut off the linking between populations, but not long enough in geological terms for the separated populations to begin evolving varying genotypes and morphologies; is found in streams, tributaries and rivers along with large permanent waterholes and lagoons; occasionally may be observed going beyond estuaries into coastal waters foraging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Most distinguishing feature is the long pig-like snout that is a prominent fleshy proboscis terminating as flat with two nostrils; instead of scutes the carapace is covered in thick leathery skin; a median keel is located on the anterior end of the carapace; with no flexible shell margin the peripheral bones are well developed and complete; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as in sea turtles </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the legs are paddle-like acting as flippers with the feet fully enveloped in webbing; only 2 claws on each forelimb flipper extend past webbing; also has 2 small claws on hind feet; rather than a flat plate, the carapace is bony and dome shaped; the plastron is solid connected to the carapace by a resilient bony bridge on both sides; coloration ranges from grays to olive gray to brown; sexual dimorphism is not pronounced and can only be distinguished after 10 yrs. of age where the male has the longer and thicker tail; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Carretochelyids once ranged worldwide but now are all extinct leaving</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the pig-nose as the only extant species in its family and genus; no subspecies. <b> </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Profile of the Pig-nosed</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Di</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>et:</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Is ostensibly 70% herbivorous consuming aquatic plants along with the fruits, flowers, leaves and roots of river bank trees; has a tendency to be omnivorous when crustaceans, molluscs and insects are available; also has been observed acting as a scavenger on the carcasses of larger mammals, like kangaroos that died in the water; juveniles rely more on animal protein consuming aquatic insects & their larvae, worms and carrion; laid eggs were heavily preyed on by the yellow spotted monitor lizard, Varanus panoptes until the cane toad, Bufo marinus was introduced in 1935; this invasive toad was good for the threatened pig-nose for the toad reduced the population of the yellow spotted lizard drastically by preying on juveniles and killing the adults once ingesting the cane toads lethal bufotoxin.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> The snout serves multiple purposes; it allows the turtle to snorkel breathe surface air while observing the underwater when the eyes are submerged; it also is equipped with sensory receptors that aids in locating food in turbid waters or sand; snout also behaves as a channel to the throat where special papillae are located that extract oxygen from the water; with flippers for legs the turtle is almost entirely aquatic; is most active nocturnally; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as far as turtles go, exhibits much aggression towards one another and other turtle species; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">males have an aggressive nature and are more territorial than most turtles; during the cold dry seasons though, a more tolerant disposition is displayed in communal gatherings around thermal vents that line a lot of the rivers; sexual maturity is not reached until 14-16 yrs. old; females lay two clutches per season every two yrs; females will first go through a trial run digging out some sandy burrows for a nesting site, then wait; this instinctual behavior may have evolved in response to checking for egg predators; after a few days of waiting, she then in the dead of night, digs out of the sand banks with her hind flippers a cylindrical hole ~20cm/7.87in deep no more than .50m/2ft from the water's edge; after laying her clutch of 7-19 eggs, she carefully covers them, then leaves them to their own fate; this turtle species is threatened.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span> Smooth Softshell ~ <i>A. mutica</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Smooth Softshell</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Trionychidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Apalone (formerly: Trionyx)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Apalone mutica</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Carapace ~ ♂ 11.5-26.6cm/4.53-10.47in; ♀ 16.5-35.5cm/6.5-14in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Ave ~ 4.5-6kg/9.9-13.2lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Not established, but estimates of over 20 yrs are possible in the wilds.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apalone mutica</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apalos</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Greek meaning 'soft' or 'tender' in reference to carapace; </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">muticus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is Latin for 'curtailed' or 'unarmed' in reference to lack of carapace as opposed to pimply texture ridge spines as found in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apalone spinifera</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><b>istribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Native to temperate central and south-central USA with range extending from Maryland to New Mexico; once, range included Pennsylvania but is now extirpated from that state; prefers fast flowing streams and riverine systems with currents and clean sandy bottoms; believed to have arisen and occurred in N. America since Cretaceous Period</span></b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><b>escription:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> Formerly known as </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Trionyx muticus</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> and is still what I like to refer to it as; since revisioning of world's softshell species, North American softshells have been designated under the genus heading, </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Apalone</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">; overall, the scuteless carapace resembles a pancake or flapjacks as the breakfast item is called in the U.S. south; highly dimorphic in sex sizes; female is much larger than male; male has thicker tail than female; male anal vent is located near the tip of tail while in the female is located near the edge or just under the carapace; female has longer hind claws than males; body has no scutes; carapace lacking scutes covered totally in skin which most probably evolved to abate the gracefulness and agility of the softshell in water; due to rapid coordination and speed in swimming and grasping swift prey, scutes added weight, therefore interfered in swimming abilities, so lost scalation; delicate bone structure and narrow skull with long tubular nostrils; peripheral bones are greatly reduced or lacking causing leathery edging of carapace to flap; plastron is composed of cartilage and incompletely ossified; besides normal breathing of inhaling and exhaling through nostrils and mouth, practices anal and pharyngeal gas transfer and exchange through highly vascular papillae in the anus and throat area; overall coloration is from olive to olive gray or orange brown; carapace is either plain or with circular black marks, black spots and/or black streaks with a yellow or white edging along carapace; there are 2 subspecies, </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Apalone m. mutica</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> & </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Apalone m. calvata</i></b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">here are three species of softshells in America; along with </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. mutica</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">, there is </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. spinifera</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> & </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. ferox</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">; the Florida softshell, </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Apalone ferox</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> differs from the others in being the largest New World softshell, has a longitudinally wrinkled carapace, is olive yellow with gray spotting and tolerates brackish waters; the smooth softshell & spiny softshell, </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. spinifera</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> are symaptric over most of range and are similar in appearance with same coloration and carapace markings, but there are subtle physical differences; smooth softshell nostrils are evenly circular while the spiny is circular possessing a septal ridge through both nostrils; the spiny softshell carapace has small pimply protuberances with a sandpaper texture, while in addition the female spiny has fleshy spiking along the upper anterior of carapace edging; in the photos just below, the top photo is </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. mutica</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> displaying uninterrupted circular nostrils and a smooth carapace; the bottom photo is </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">A. spinifera</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> showing the round nostrils interrupted </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">with the septal ridge and in being female exhibits spiking along the edges of the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> carapace.</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Are strictly carnivorous and opportunistic in diet; is an ambush predator in water either lying in wait partially buried in sandy bottoms for the current to bring prey into close proximity where it rapidly extends neck and snaps food, or remains still usually for crawling prey then using pharyngeal gulping, sucks in prey; will also use their nose to seek food in sediment; on land it will actively hunt with nose sifting through ground litter, or if passes by carrion on land will wholly consume small dead a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nimals or take its fill on larger ones; actively consumes a variety of organisms including fish, amphibians and their larvae, snails, insects, spiders, crayfish, small snakes, while the larger adults may take in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mollusks; known to eat alga, berries and hard nuts</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Submerged in substrate</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Though spends a lot of time submerged, buried and motionless, is a very nimble, agile and swift swimmer and fast terreain runner; is perhaps the fastest turtle to run on land; is considered aquatic spending most of its time in or near water; rarely goes beyond the shorelines; males and young prefer shallow waters while the larger female tends to go into deeper water; will bask on sandy banks and sandbars, but not on tree logs, large rocks or each other as most turtles like; remain submerged for extensive periods of time, extending the long neck for the nostrils to just break the surface for breath; to bury, it first pushes head into substrate pulling with forelimbs and pushing with hind limbs; as body is anteriorly tilted downward, it stirs up the sediment to fall on and cover body, leaving neck and head visible; communicates through visual and tactile cues; hibernates buried in underwater substrate; can be aggressive to each other and other animals in confined quarters, sometimes excessively killing fish long after eating their fill; mates in deep water with male coming up from behind to mount; swim in place for upwards to 20 minutes; non-receptive females are aggressive towards males; females are very alert, but wary and may abandon nesting grounds if disturbed; females dig a nest cavity in sandbanks with little vegetation by using their hind limbs averaging 22.5cm/9in; nests are no more than 18m/59.4ft from water source while normally 6m/19.8ft from water edge; egg clutches are dependent on female size where 1-25, sometimes up to 30 eggs are laid; incubation takes between 8-12 weeks; hatching usually occurs after dusk; hatchlings rely more on their claws than the egg tooth to break through the egg shell and are hatched with lipids to nourish them until they are ready to eat on their own; predation on softshell eggs are from parasitic fly larvae in the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sarcophaghidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> family, fire ants, raccoons and skunks; hatchling predators are fish, shore birds, crows, snapping turtles and water snakes; fully grown adults have no natural predators except for man who considers their flesh a delicacy.</span></div>
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Asian narrow-headed ~ <i>C. chitra</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Asian Narrow-headed Softshell</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Trionchychidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Chitra</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Chitra chitra</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Carapace ~ 110cm/3.61ft</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 100kg/220.46lbs; record- 225kg/500lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Not known, but estimates of over 80 yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Name origin: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Chitra chitra</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Chitra</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> is Hindi meaning 'picture' or 'drawing' referring to carapace design</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> As an Asian softshell turtle, is found in river basins of south and central Java, east and south drainage systems of peninsular Malaysia, portions of Sumatran rivers and the northwest river basin of Thailand; prefers clean rivers with current and sandy bottoms</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Size comparison</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Boldly patterned carapace with stripes and swirls and as one of the world's largest freshwater turtle, easily field identifies this softshell; carapace pattern usually has a distinctive 'V' stripe above nuchal area with striping extending to neck and base of head; neck is long, but can be pulled in due to 7 neck vertebrae formed as wide & flat bones allowing joints to flex 170 degrees giving neck capability to fold in onto itself; carapace is rounded and sometimes slightly rounded; males have a distinguishable thicker & longer tail; possesses a long & narrow head with eyes located near tip of snout; overall carapace and flesh coloration light brown to yellowish brown with lighter pattern markings; plastron is wholly cream-colored to pinkish white; there is one subspecies, Chitra c. chitra and one nominal subspecies, C. c. javanensis.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Are carnivorous and primarily piscivorous with consumption of fish as major diet; on occasion will take freshwater shrimp, crustaceans and clams; as most softshells, lies submerged underneath river bed with head uncovered, rapidly extending neck and quickly snapping up passing prey with its jaws; may pharyngeal gulp in small prey while larger prey will take time once caught to swallow or even larger prey caught will kill then tear apart pieces of flesh</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JPfG7S3Vkrs-2q_yG74IDKMwePfYKWHjtvdXi7GbbttJMwTv8EkM6Zwf_-grz0sdiSfkcdxVKPoCPwoo2rGwJyHAN1BvmwAmPLNLRfMlySKe-A5wTCv50IBoNu3EZeDMgmHiFpJvAZDE/s1600/Chitra_chitra.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JPfG7S3Vkrs-2q_yG74IDKMwePfYKWHjtvdXi7GbbttJMwTv8EkM6Zwf_-grz0sdiSfkcdxVKPoCPwoo2rGwJyHAN1BvmwAmPLNLRfMlySKe-A5wTCv50IBoNu3EZeDMgmHiFpJvAZDE/s200/Chitra_chitra.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Typical prey ambush position</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLtjDsn0B8aQ3zTc957dj4BHSJX-uCftio__fZrBWuGhuFlxrSI5oR8Uc35lE3OJU5cXyQZRGxNIlV4MGpV0I0Sn8vll4DRC9XRmaxl8a-ASxcoV6VQOeWuWd-IWEl8On6Oc4EF5Ohqbw/s1600/Chitra_Eggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLtjDsn0B8aQ3zTc957dj4BHSJX-uCftio__fZrBWuGhuFlxrSI5oR8Uc35lE3OJU5cXyQZRGxNIlV4MGpV0I0Sn8vll4DRC9XRmaxl8a-ASxcoV6VQOeWuWd-IWEl8On6Oc4EF5Ohqbw/s200/Chitra_Eggs.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i> C. chitra</i> egg nest</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>abits:</b> Is diurnal and highly aquatic rarely venturing from the rapid waters it inhabits spending most of time in the deeper waters along steep banks buried in the sand bottoms with neck retracted; use large paddle-like feet that are fully webbed to scoop large amounts river bed substrate over carapace; are powerful swimmers; utilizes cutaneous respiration when submerged; rarely comes ashore and most probably is only the female to lay eggs in sandbanks; though no studies have been conducted, appears this animal may have the ability to change carapace color where in field studies, collected specimen with dark yellow carapaces, changed colors a few days later to light yellow at the research compound; on land walking gait is very deliberate and methodical; female during the dry season will dig a hole ~ 40cm/15.7in deep in sandbank at least 10m/33ft from river edge, then oviposit 60-200 round eggs; eggs primarily composed of carbon (~53%), and oxygen (~35%); consists of ~5.4% calcium in the form of aragonite; shrubbery inhibits female laying activity; appears through hatchery studies, temperature plays a very small role if any in sex determination; hatchlings emerge from nest 55-80 days from being laid; this animal is critically threatened due extensively to human activity through hunting, pet trade, pollution, habitat destruction and destroying of eggs for food, sand mining and dams releasing water flooding nesting sites.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_CR.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Critically Endangered (2.3) IUCN</span> </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>Platysternon megacephalum</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Big-headed turtle</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Platysternidae (Emydidae) (Chelydridae)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Platysternon</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Platysternon megacephalum</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Carapace ~ 9.5-10.5cm/3.74-4.13in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 130-210g/4.6-7.4oz </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Maximum 25-28 yrs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Platysternon megacephalum</i> ~ Is all Greek <i>platy</i> 'broad' <i>sternon</i> 'chest' <i>mega</i> 'large' <i>cephalus</i> related to <i>kephale</i> meaning 'head;' altogether 'broad chested large head.' <br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Throughout Southeast Asia from southern China to Myanmar (Burma)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; prefers fast flowing mountain streams filled with boulders and broken rock with water temperature ranges of 12-23 °C/53-72 °F. <br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Trending is to list this turtle as monotypic pulling it from the family, <i>Emydidae</i> (pond turtle) and putting it under its own newly created family, <i>Platysternidae</i>; originally was listed under <i>Chelydridae</i> (snapping turtles); most distinctive morphology is the overtly large triangular shaped head; due to size head cannot be withdrawn into shell, so for protection, top and both sides of head are covered by 3 armored and bony scutes; unlike most turtles skull is solid bone; upper jaw is hooked with upper and lower jaw edges lined with a secondary toughened horny lining; only skin cheeks between jaws and skin ring surrounding eyes are left unprotected; with this head arrangement, gives a seeming appearance of the <i>Ceratops</i> dinosaurs; exceptionally muscular long thin tail is as long as body and is covered in large scales; carapace is flattened, somewhat rectangular squared off anteriorly and more rounded posteriorly; legs covered in large scales ending with slight toes possessing extra long strong claws; is capable of inflicting deep scratches; carapace coloration is yellowish brown to dark brown sometimes with radiating darker patterning while the plastron is usually yellow and has no hinge; this turtle shows no physical dimorphic features between sexes; 5 subspecies: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Platysternon m. megacephalum</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">P. m</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <i>peguense</i>, <i>P. m. shiui</i>, <i>P. m. tristernalis</i> & <i>P. m. vogeli</i>. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>Big-headed turtle</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> May consume some plant material, but is considered fully carnivorous; with the strong beak will seize and tear up larger fish for manageable swallowing, crushes crustaceans and mollusks shells; insects and other arthropods also taken when opportunity arises.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIL7-dkIDI-aEsIjDMkwBSYEm8DMMOl7ds6Bw4luoZgnZdYrlv0exhFVQeMqjTjxFSIl2qKQ17nZE-ouUM1H5NrhaL6QiJRiOuZaonu02RMmp8uI59v8wVLGT6zttNtXTi1ZUqnY9dtcG_/s1600/Platysternum+megacephalum+hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIL7-dkIDI-aEsIjDMkwBSYEm8DMMOl7ds6Bw4luoZgnZdYrlv0exhFVQeMqjTjxFSIl2qKQ17nZE-ouUM1H5NrhaL6QiJRiOuZaonu02RMmp8uI59v8wVLGT6zttNtXTi1ZUqnY9dtcG_/s200/Platysternum+megacephalum+hd.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Frontal head view</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is a superb climber and has been observed using its beak to grab and lift while utilizing the muscular tail for holding up weight and reach; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with a somewhat reduced bridge between carapace and plastron allowing for a large range of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">limb </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">motion, its heavier head placing center of gravity further forward than experienced in other turtles and with the aforementioned tail & beak adaptations, make this turtle well adept in climbing and walking; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is crepuscular and nocturnal spending daytime burrowed in gravel underwater; is not a good swimmer, relies on strong claws to grasp onto rocks when traveling through rapid water; is partially terrestrial and will climb onto rocks or into trees near water source to occasionally bask; if prey is caught on land prefers to consume it in water; normal first line of defense is to drop the head protecting underside of chin & throat, tuck legs in and pull tail underneath plastron; can inflict a nasty bite with the double reinforced horny jaws; mating habits are unknown; 1-6 eggs are laid, each one at a time in a clutch; eggs are white, but unlike most turtle eggs are not round or spherical but like bird eggs in being ellipsoidal; due to extensive hunting by man for this turtle's meat as once was a common item in Asian marketplaces, is now rare to find in wilds and is listed as endangered.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Status_iucn2.3_EN.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_EN.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Endangered (2.3) IUCN</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Spine-necked swamp ~ <i>A. spixii</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spine-necked Swamp Turtle</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Chelidae</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Acanthochelys</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Acanthochelys spixii</u></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Carapace ~ 17cm/6.7in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 520-884g/1.15-1.95lbs</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Not specifically known; ~ 30 yrs+</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Acanthochelys spixii</i> ~ <i>acanthus</i> is Latin from the Greek word, <i>akanthos</i> meaning 'point' or 'thorn' in reference to neck spines; <i>chelys</i> is Greek for 'turtle;' <i>spixii</i> is in honor of the German zoologist, Johann Baptist von Spix; altogether refers to 'thorned turtle of Spix.'<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Found in the South American countries in southern coastal portions of Brazil, Uruguay, northwestern regions of Argentine and possibly into southern Paraguay; prefers vegetative choke-filled slow moving or still waters as in ponds, swamps and small low current rivers with soft bottoms; may develop populations in roadside ditches with semi-permanent standing water. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_3EKF2iKu_JgQhtO6vYhA-ClYyCq7GK8O7DyJXPAg5HsvqGWqfBi_iO4g6XmdY4vriL7OSzpAHXzzsPm7TOxgaKpuNuIcsFhXZqCOm_bK1T4II89RjsYtu8Rznm5yqfHbX5SYBQH9icy/s1600/Acanthochelys_spixii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_3EKF2iKu_JgQhtO6vYhA-ClYyCq7GK8O7DyJXPAg5HsvqGWqfBi_iO4g6XmdY4vriL7OSzpAHXzzsPm7TOxgaKpuNuIcsFhXZqCOm_bK1T4II89RjsYtu8Rznm5yqfHbX5SYBQH9icy/s200/Acanthochelys_spixii.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2.</span> </span>Groove in carapace & nuchal spines</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>escription:</b> Distinguishing feature of this side-neck turtle is the nuchal fleshy spines or tubercles on the dorsal and sides of the neck; spines on side decrease in size from spines on top; tubercles absent in hatchlings; has a somewhat flattened elliptical carapace with a longitudinal shallow medial groove; carapace groove is absent in juveniles; </span><span class="Apple-style-span">female plastron is flat where male's is more concave and longer; </span><span class="Apple-style-span">head is covered with varying sized scales arranged in 3 to 4 lateral rows above tympanum (eardrum); 2 small gray chin barbels; snout possesses unnotched jaws; anterior portion of limbs are covered in large scales; toes are webbed; tail is relatively short where in males tail is thicker and a bit longer; vent is beyond carapace rim in males and is beneath vent (cloaca) in females; overall carapace, bridge and plastron coloration is either very dark gray or black; flesh is a darker gray; hatchlings have orange to red spotting on plastron and flesh that is lost in older juvenile stages, no recognized subspecies.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5rgiUdYxiXwAO0Tpxkz-zDmdM2YlJ2qq_S_GJvCs2ZdtBEpwyfze4hGazcNJXcNVaNW7WvLslPUvk86K0nVvNfQMiHOnWCE6RcvAWIwVV56cnFqYlxvpoHe8HvKnaot2OFWlsT_w8H9F/s1600/A.+spixii+jvnl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5rgiUdYxiXwAO0Tpxkz-zDmdM2YlJ2qq_S_GJvCs2ZdtBEpwyfze4hGazcNJXcNVaNW7WvLslPUvk86K0nVvNfQMiHOnWCE6RcvAWIwVV56cnFqYlxvpoHe8HvKnaot2OFWlsT_w8H9F/s200/A.+spixii+jvnl.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3.</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hatchling spotting</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L. female R. male</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> This carnivorous turtle is highly an insectivore, eating many insects and their aquatic larvae; also is omnivorous in consuming certain aquatic vegetation; compliments diet with amphibian larvae, smaller and slower amphibians and snails; no matter size or age, insects play a big role in diet. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHlz3hvlKGK5xc6Fz5yok22SR7GxIOuyd9WuRpWq4kitGidhS-PyP4E8pBbkUPbu78Yk5zoa_eozi0VDtGGv-xgrYwjWJ23NFuzvc_h4Sv1kyzPkN77Je7ZXhwxlbFzV2HVHMnvRsHfAy/s1600/A.+spixii+swm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHlz3hvlKGK5xc6Fz5yok22SR7GxIOuyd9WuRpWq4kitGidhS-PyP4E8pBbkUPbu78Yk5zoa_eozi0VDtGGv-xgrYwjWJ23NFuzvc_h4Sv1kyzPkN77Je7ZXhwxlbFzV2HVHMnvRsHfAy/s200/A.+spixii+swm.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><i> </i></span><i>A. spixii </i>swimming</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Typical side-neck position</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>H</b><b>abits:</b> This semi-aquatic turtle prefers to hang out in water no more than 30cm/11.8in deep; even with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">strong leg muscles and toe webbing, is not a strong swimmer; will not venture into deep water unless disturbed or alarmed; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">does not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hibernate in its range; body temperature is usually lower than ambient water or water bottom substrate </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">suggesting a need to bask often, although most basking occurs floating in shallow water and not out onto the river banks, shore or overhanging logs; is a shy turtle and will not attempt to bite, but for defense emits an odor </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">characteristic of wet alfalfa; mating is conducted in shallow water; courtship is initiated by male slowly approaching female face-to-face; if female is not respondent, she will snap at him forcing the male to withdraw, but not give up as once a few minutes elapse, he will repeat the process several times more until she relinquishes; once accepted the male moves to her rear sniffing her cloaca; if female remains receptive, he then mounts her carapace and clasps himself to female with his legs; once intromission occurs, within 30 seconds the male will begin bobbing the head ending in an extended neck with violent head jerking; females may exercise a form of obligate diapause in that fertilization of the eggs are delayed until favorable conditions arise; 5-12 spherical eggs are oviposited some distance away from water into a shallow dug hole; due to the still and shallow waters they inhabit, heavy growths of alga occur on many individuals. Populations of this turtle are mildly dropping.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Status_iucn2.3_NT.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_NT.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Near Threatened (2.3) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Matamata ~ <i>Chelus fimbriatus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Matamata</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Chelidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Chelus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Chelus fimbriatus</u></b><br />
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Length: Carapace ~ 45cm/18in<br />
Weight: 15kg/33lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Lifespan in wild unknown though speculation says 10.5 yrs; captives have lived ~ 36 yrs</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Chelus fimbriatus</i> ~ <i>Chelus</i> is Greek for 'turtle;' <i>fimbriatus</i> is Latin for 'fringed' in reference to flaps along sides of neck & head; altogether refers to 'skin flap turtle.'<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As a long neck member of the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chelidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> family, represents Gondwana; when there were only 2 continents on Earth 510-250 mya, Gondwana was the southern while Laurasia was the northern; chelids evolved in Gondwana; the 2 land masses merged 250 mya to form the supercontinent Pangea only to later rip apart (180 mya due to continental drift) into pieces until eventually forming today's modern continents; most of the original Gondwana chelid distribution remained in the current southern hemisphere, while the matamata lineage evolved from the piece of ripped Gondwana land that is presently South America; no chelid family member is found outside original Gondwana land; matamata currently is found in the Amazon & Orinoco River basins of Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru & Venezuela; prefers shallow bottoms of stagnant to slow moving waters rich in tannin as found in its habitat of streams, rivers, oxbows, muddy lakes, swamps and semi to permanent pools; appears healthiest in slightly acidic waters.<br />
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<b>Description:</b> Most striking features is a flattened neck & triangular head with a very long widened mouth, long nose is tubular; beady small eyes located upwards towards snout, sides of long neck and head are fringed with skin flaps with head displaying many fleshy tubercles; possesses 3 chin barbels; neck is always longer than body vertebrae; webbed forelimbs have 5 claws and hind limbs are rudder shaped; is dimorphic in</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note long neck & chin barbels</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that females are larger, scutes are conical and bear well defined growth rings; rough-scuted oblong carapace has serrated edging and is uniformly black or brown; reduced hingeless plastron is deeply notched in rear and along with narrow bridging is cremish yellow; adult flesh is highly variable in coloration as dependent on population, but generally range from grays through browns with or without darker color patterning on neck & head; throat is pinkish red in young, turning reddish brown in sub adults to darker dull buffs in adults; no subspecies recognized, but populations exhibit enough variability that perhaps later studies will conclude there are indeed distinct races</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Chiefly a piscivore ambushing fish as they swim by, but will take aquatic invertebrates</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> Is nearly a permanently aquatic turtle rarely coming out of water and never ventures from the shorelines; is sedentary remaining motionless on shallow bottoms; coloration and physical body features camouflage and conceal the turtle against the water bottom backdrop littered with mud, leaves and overall brown coloration; is strictly carnivorous; performs sit and wait ambush approach for prey such as small fish to </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note tubular nose</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">swim past; when prey is near enough and has been followed by slowly raising head in prey's direction, rapidly lashes out by extending neck; in expanding throat and opening the wide mouth, a low pressure vacuum is created engulfing and sucking the prey into the mouth; once water is expelled, food is swallowed whole and live; apparently has learning ability as observed in captives raised in rectangular tanks or pools; some captives will exhibit a herding behavior by walking at an angle from one corner along its edge; this caused fish to swim to opposite corner herding together but becoming trapped between turtle and end of aquarium; from there the matamata engulfed as many as could catch; of course this herding strategy cannot </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be performed in a round enclosure and this type of behavior has never been observed in wilds </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note nostrils</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">where there is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">plenty of maneuvering space; it appears these turtles simply learned a hunting advantage in a water enclosure with edges and corners; breathes via snorkeling by extending head allowing just the tip of the nostrils to break surface, then quickly exhales and inhales new breath; possesses highly developed tympanums for detection in hearing; despite presence of tapetum lucidum as an aid in collecting light, eyes are senstive to bright light and give poor vision; skin flaps hold complex sensory nerves that aid in detecting motion; it is highly suspected the neck is innervated giving efficacy in detecting differentials in pressure waves; during courtship in water, males display by extending legs and with mouth agape lunges head towards female while giving movement to lateral flaps on head; the gravid female from late October to early December will lay a clutch of 12-28 round, hard but brittle eggs into a shallow burrow dug out in beaches or higher land along banks; incubation is 2-4 months; 6.35cm/2.5in hatchlings have a yellowish orange carapace and a reddish pink plastron that darkens as they age;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> this turtle species is not threatened, although many have been taken form the wild by collectors.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Spiny turtle ~ <i>Heosemys spinosa</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Spiny Turtle</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Geoemydidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Heosyemys</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Heosyemys spinosa</u></b></span><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Carapace ~ 175-220mm/6.9-8.7in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 1.5-2.0kg/3.3-4.4lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Maximum ~ 23 yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Heosemys spinosa</i> ~ <i>Heosemys</i> references 'eastern turtle'; <i>spinosa</i> is Latin meaning 'thorn' referring to serrated carapace and spiny keel.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Populations distributed throughout hilly areas of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; prefers to be in and around vicinity of small streams in higher rain forest elevations up to 900m/2.970ft</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sub adult with carapace spikes </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Plastron</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Most distinguishing feature is the highly serrated carapace along the marginal scutes and the spiked pleural scutes running down the spine of carapace in sub adults in appearance as one common name alludes to: 'sunburst'; mature adults lose the high definition of spikes and serration as viewed in photo 1 of a grown adult male and female; plastron is rigid and generally hingeless, except in females during oviposition of rather large eggs, when kinetic movement allows posterior plastron lobe to accommodate the exiting of large eggs; a temporal arch is absent on the short skull; feet are slightly webbed, a pair of dorsal lateral sacs known as cloacal bursae are evident on adults projecting from wall of cloaca; carapace coloration is an overall brown to yellowish brown, plastron is buff colored with dark radiating stripes on each scute; legs are gray with yellow scale speckling while head is gray or brown with a yellow to orange spot on each side; no recognized subspecies</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Side view of bridge</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Primarily herbivorous where juveniles strictly are; adults may compliment their diet around 5% with animal protein consuming worms, insects and perhaps the young of smaller vertebrates; appears to have a preference over fruit to other vegetative matter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This semi-aquatic turtle will wander the forest floor near its stream, spending a considerable amount of time on land foraging; will rest under forest floor debris or burrowed in plants; has been observed remaining motionless for days and is probably an energy conservation strategy in response to its naturally cooler higher elevation environment; occasionally basks, but will avoid ambient high heat; mates during the winter months with rain initiating the male to respond to mating rituals; due to size, only 1-2 (on occasion 3) eggs are oviposited by the female, but up to three clutches a year on land under bark and other forest litter debris; ovipositing is done under the dark of night or in early morning crepuscular hours; to accommodate laying of large oblong white eggs, a kinetic hinge develops in female's abdominal scute temporarily fragmenting the inguinal scute; in kind, after 106-145 days of incubation, the hatchlings are large measuring from 55-63.2mm/2.2-2.5in; appears to be prone to internal parasite infestation, in particular nematodes and trematodes; this turtle is threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Status_iucn2.3_EN.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_EN.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Endangered (2.3) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Alligator snapper ~ M. temminckii </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alligator Snapper</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Chelydridae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Macrochelys</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Macrochelys temminckii</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Carapace ~ ave: 66cm/26in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Ave: 80kg/175lb; documented record: 113kg/249lbs </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Dependent upon ambient environmental conditions, varies from 20-70 yrs in the wild. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Macrochelys temminckii</i> ~ <i>Macro</i> for 'big' is Greek and <i>chelys</i> is Latin for 'turtle;' <i>temminckii</i> is in honor of Coenraad J. Temminck, a zoologist and science director; altogether refers to, 'Temminck's large turtle.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>istribution:</b> From eastern-central Texas eastwards to northern Florida & southwest Georgia and up the Mississippi Valley northwards to Kansas, Iowa and extreme southwest Indiana; aquatic bottom dweller of lakes, swamps, bayous and canals throughout its range, but first choice is rivers</span></b>.</div>
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<b>D</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Is a turtle capable of inflicting a bite that will sever fingers; does not possess the strongest force/kg (lb) bite by a turtle, as its bite is a bit more than a human's, but it is the sheer size of the animal and its sharp chitinous jaws; contrary to popular belief, is not as closely related to the common snapper who belongs in the genus, <i>Chelydra</i>; is the only extant representative in the <i>Macrochelys</i> genus, but along with the extinct <i>M. schmidti</i> & <i>M. auffenbergi</i>, <i>Macrochelys</i> hails only from N. America; is the largest N. American freshwater turtle; has a huge head with strongly hooked jaws; eyes surrounded by thin filamentous growths resembling eyelashes; carapace is prominently keeled with an extra row of scutes along sides; plastron is small and cross-shaped; feet are oversized with webbing and well developed claws; overall coloration of flesh is gray & rust red; carapace is naturally brown, but usually darkened by algae growth; plastron is a lighter tan; there are no subspecies.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note wide bite & strong beak</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b><b>iet:</b> This turtle is not a picky eater, but primarily consumes any type fish that swims within striking distance; also consumes snails, mussels, crayfish. frogs, sirens, salamanders, snakes, other small turtles, alligator hatchlings, carrion, fruit, acorns and leafy aquatic plants; also has been known to subdue wading fowl; Aside from humans that hunt it for its meat and cross-shaped plastron, there are no natural enemies for adults; eggs and hatchlings are preyed upon by raccoons, rodents, birds, alligators and large fish. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> The alligator snapper rarely exits the water preferring instead to remain on the water bottoms 40-50 minutes at a time before coming up for a breath of air; males on rare occasions however have been observed basking; exhibits dimorphism, but in this turtle's case, the adult males are larger than the females; while males reach the exceptional sizes, females normally top out at 23kg/50lbs; mature males' cloaca extends beyond carapace, while females' have cloaca at carapace edge or just underneath; hidden reproductive male organs make base of tail thicker than females; though will actively pursue prey, prefers to lie in wait and ambush by fishing; possesses a well camouflaged mouth with a fleshy pink vermiform (worm-like) appendage attached to tip of lower mouth; lying motionless on deep water bottoms with mouth wide open, will wriggle the appendage which acts as a lure in attracting unwary and curious prey; when close enough, the alligator snapper rapidly snaps up the unsuspecting prey and swallows whole; if too large the initial bite severs the prey and chunks will then be consumed; strong jaws & beak are efficient enough to cleanly slice through a wooden broom handle; is most active at night as it moves around on the water bottoms foraging; during daylight hours usually is </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8A31P5lT37adBWPiY8ls0L8rSh4rYgA1RRkh__9-LYxB5e3zwq0Pqg3p76guUr4QA6gqVlUBPkChOVqtfzfWrUQD4lh_8CqRlGQNUovSPDlAo04CujY0I3o3goixKziiFIlVzUSvLa4q/s1600/Macrochelys+temminckii+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8A31P5lT37adBWPiY8ls0L8rSh4rYgA1RRkh__9-LYxB5e3zwq0Pqg3p76guUr4QA6gqVlUBPkChOVqtfzfWrUQD4lh_8CqRlGQNUovSPDlAo04CujY0I3o3goixKziiFIlVzUSvLa4q/s200/Macrochelys+temminckii+4.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Size comparison</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sedentary; under extremer temperatures will quit eating; in mating, the larger male mounts the female in water grasping her shell with all fours then inseminates her; when gravid and ready to lay, is the only time the female will leave water; venturing no more than 50m/160ft from the water's edge where she seeks out wet sand and digs a burrow laying anywhere from 8-52 eggs; female will reproduce once a year at best, while some lay only in alternate years; incubation lasts between 3.5-4.5 months with prevailing nest temperature determining sex; hatchlings look much the same as adults and once crawling out of the nest, scurry for the water's edge; sexual maturity is reached in 11-13 years; due to over hunting for human consumption, this turtle is threatened. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (2.3) IUCN</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrzpbj1Hp5PcwxtRR0Vq46t9vP3gaPLroVGOYlfaq7cOzGrMh1eFD3b_nIt0_iSudP7YNH6VmmGydOaDSKMpxd9wW9JQhxNTMAzS9aJhW2dy3_QSanFOIr4DWho3OjiXdRzvZMkEw2G1g/s1600/Dipsochelys_elephantina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrzpbj1Hp5PcwxtRR0Vq46t9vP3gaPLroVGOYlfaq7cOzGrMh1eFD3b_nIt0_iSudP7YNH6VmmGydOaDSKMpxd9wW9JQhxNTMAzS9aJhW2dy3_QSanFOIr4DWho3OjiXdRzvZMkEw2G1g/s200/Dipsochelys_elephantina.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Aldabra tortoise ~ <i>D. elephantina</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aldabra Tortoise</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Testudinidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Dipsochelys</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Dipsochelys elephantina</u><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Carapace ~ ave. 120cm/47in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: Ave ~ ♂ 250kg/550lbs; ♀ 150kg/330lbs; Fort Worth Zoo male is 360.25kg/ 794.2lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 155 yrs; record life span 255 yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Dipsochelys elephantina</i> ~ <i>Dipso</i> is Greek meaning 'thirst;' <i>chelys</i> is Latin meaning 'turtle;' <i>elephantina</i> is in reference to the Latin word, <i>elephantina</i> meaning, 'pertaining to elephant;' altogether refers to, 'elephant-like thirsty turtle' in regards to lack of access to freshwater habitat, how it drinks through nostrils and huge size.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Native to the Aldabra Atoll and Changu Island near Zanzibar; small populations exist on the islands of Bird, Cerf, Cousin, Cousine, Denis, Moenne & Silhouette in Central Seychelles; introduced to the Seychelles' granitic islands of Curieuse & Fregate and the islands of Mauritius and Reunion; roams the islands and beaches foraging in grasslands, scrub brush, mangrove swamps and coastal dunes; all giant tortoises hail from islands in the Indian & Pacific Oceans; they did not evolve into their huge sizes on these isolated islands as in insular giantism, but rather are the survivors of specie populations from continental mainlands where all remaining populations were wiped out by man; giant tortoises surprisingly float well and that is how they populated the oceanic islands; in time when man discovered these islands many giant tortoise species became extinct; in fact <i>D. elephantina</i> is the only surviving wild Indian Ocean species</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Is one of the largest tortoises known whether extinct, extirpated or extant; carapace is thick domed; plastron is shorter than carapace but covers much of the ventral </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDr-uOqHUXjpJlJYvH1JCaKsaJb6t9_-TX7Mlh2CTzVZDfYf_pIbGOeKRU_huXhhKHi9N2nr4bRWgOknLbmaYcJn0Zfj8NLQn5_yFrO9CXDXCr4_H3vhsLaXD56qt6s71uHU5cFDFDYiGy/s1600/Dipsochelys-elephantina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDr-uOqHUXjpJlJYvH1JCaKsaJb6t9_-TX7Mlh2CTzVZDfYf_pIbGOeKRU_huXhhKHi9N2nr4bRWgOknLbmaYcJn0Zfj8NLQn5_yFrO9CXDXCr4_H3vhsLaXD56qt6s71uHU5cFDFDYiGy/s200/Dipsochelys-elephantina.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note developed tympanum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">body; cervical scute is absent; robust </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">elephantine limbs and pointed head are covered in scales; tympanums are well developed; telescopic neck is exceptionally long even for its size; possesses huge claws for burrowing; has a small tail; displays dimorphism with larger males ensuring ability to mount smaller female during copulation; male tails are longer (30cm/11.8in), female tails are 10cm/3.9in long; there has been much argument and frankly, much confusion on the scientific nomenclature of giant tortoises; normally, it is the common names that are numerous and the scientific name as one; but in this tortoise's case, the common name Aldabra tortoise, where 17 scientific names have been assigned to, the common name has far more universal recognition appeal than does the scientific nomenclature of this animal; currently, <i>D. elephantina</i> is also referred to as <i>Dipsochelys dussumieri</i>; two accepted scientific names can lead to confusion, but in times past, this tortoise was listed under 5 genera (<i>Aldabrachelys, Dipsochelys, Geochelone, Megalochelys</i> & </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Testudo</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) and 3</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjadvOtifODosv6eSVPgqmpDPvXYpRllcsmzHHzhcjrgdAj0voZeMMjFffSyp7AYwJXsiKokAs5wjraN0obDXt49b6a8K20eyVLndJ_lMfI3IjMS5Xqd2Wqs4JNSqw3d3QfLiAkhpZI8Cm/s1600/D.+elephantina+mt%2527ng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjadvOtifODosv6eSVPgqmpDPvXYpRllcsmzHHzhcjrgdAj0voZeMMjFffSyp7AYwJXsiKokAs5wjraN0obDXt49b6a8K20eyVLndJ_lMfI3IjMS5Xqd2Wqs4JNSqw3d3QfLiAkhpZI8Cm/s200/D.+elephantina+mt%2527ng.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>Aldabra tortoise copulating</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">species names </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">elephantina, </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>dussumieri</i> & <i>gigantea</i>); originally all giant tortoise species were listed as one, <i>Testudo gigantea </i>including the Pacific Galapagos giant tortoises; today, there are only 3 extant species with the other 2 being <i>D. holoissa</i> & <i>D. arnoldi</i>; both <i>D. holoissa </i>& <i>arnoldi</i> are no longer found in the wild with only around 5 specimens of <i>D. holoissa</i> in existence; there are no recognized subspecies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<b>D</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Are almost wholly herbivorous, but have been observed eating carrion, even of other tortoises, though eating carcass may be an anomaly; consume all edible vegetation including grasses, shrubs, leaves, herbs, fruits and woody plant stems; up to 20 grasses & herbs have co-evolved into an interesting ground floor mat within tortoise territory called 'tortoise turf' due to tortoise grazing pressures; these plants evolved into dwarfed ground hugging strategies with seed production near the ground as opposed to plant tops in defense of tortoise's close cropping jaws; will roam coastlines seeking beached seashells where their sharp beaks make quick work of to swallow in maintaining calcium levels for their bones and shells</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz4dkTTRxKeY1EkMWnaQBaVrWv4BA6pFxucURkeo81RW8qvaqSK-nB-gQQhhjEvwErVXha5_-VgCcFuouc0-jZCZ1WtBKpxIR3jVNQcfrfvxUfiNFAv1Fh-y-5VBudY4EAnfYc1bzW03T/s1600/D.+elephantina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz4dkTTRxKeY1EkMWnaQBaVrWv4BA6pFxucURkeo81RW8qvaqSK-nB-gQQhhjEvwErVXha5_-VgCcFuouc0-jZCZ1WtBKpxIR3jVNQcfrfvxUfiNFAv1Fh-y-5VBudY4EAnfYc1bzW03T/s200/D.+elephantina.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span>Beach combing for sea shells</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> There are around 100,000 Aldabra tortoises, but are vulnerable to man's exploitative activities; has a peculiar way in obtaining water; first will acquire water from food, but when freahwater is available will drink it through their noses by sucking it in; pointed snout is better suited for getting nostrils into puddles than mouth; there is a vertical ridge within the nostrils that guide water down the throat and with an anchored soft tissue valve, blocks it from entering the olfactory lobe and pulmonary tract; in a small island and arid environment, this is an asset to survival; when leisurely eating from ground or resting, assumes a sprawled position with legs </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">splayed appearing as dead; with</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">long</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Resting positions</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">neck will reach up into shrubbery to get at the leaves; vigorous search for food fells smaller trees and clears out pathways for other animals to use; it appears that tortoises on land where grasses and ground cover is more available, have a more domed carapace and where higher food is more available, the carapace is more flattened; is strictly diurnal, but will retire to burrows or plant shade during hottest period of day; shaded areas may be communal with a herd of tortoises sharing in the shade; when retiring to shaded retreats or burrows, observers remark that individual tortoises will follow the same path to preferred spot; when feeling threatened, aided by long necks can surprisingly strike and lash out swiftly in attempts to gain aggressive bites with their sharp beaks; during courtship as male mounts female, male will emit loud guttural grunts that may be heard up to 1km/1094yds away; during darkness, the only nocturnal activity of this tortoise, the gravid female will dig out a 30cm/11.81in nest in the sand and lay anywhere from 9-25 eggs; first time gravid females may lay only one egg; at times up to half may be infertile; once clutch of eggs are laid the female will then bury the nest and carefully level the sand to conceal location; unfortunately, the land crab, <i>Cardisola carnifex</i>, which is a herbivore, but no less relishes tortoise eggs, will detect the nest and destroy many eggs; after 3.5-7 months, the hatchlings emerge and are wholly black in coloration; sexual maturity age is reached between 15 & 25 years; this tortoise is threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_VU.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Flatback sea turtle ~ <i>N. depressus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flatback Sea Turtle</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Cheloniidae</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Natator</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Natator depressus</u></b><br />
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L</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: Carapace ~ 81-97cm/32-41in </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 60-84kg/132-185lbs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 80 yrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Natator depressus</i> ~ <i>Natator</i> and <i>depressus</i> are Latin for 'swimmer' and 'flat' or 'flattened' respectively; altogether refers to 'flat back swimmer.'<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to northern Australian coastline and its islands and is restricted to waters over the continental shelf of northeastern Australia; within its habitat range prefers turbid inshore coastal waters of bays, coral beds and seagrass shallows; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">due to limited range is very vulnerable to changes in environment, pollution and man's exploits.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note upturned carapace edges</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Description:</b> Before 1988, flatbacks were listed as a green turtle under the genus <i>Chelonia</i>; elliptical carapace is flattened, with upturned margins and 4 pairs of costal (lateral) scutes that are softer & thinner than in other sea turtles; the flexible but firm carapace scutes are waxy, covered by slimy skin aiding in streamlining for a swimming existence; head ending in a pointed beaked snout is covered by one pair of prefrontal scales and 3 postocular scales; as in all turtles the limbs cannot be retracted for protection into the shell housing; neck is also non-retractile; large scales cover dorsum of forelimbs with remaining forelimb areas and hind limbs covered in wrinkly skin; each paddle-like flippered limb displays one large claw; dimorphism in female being larger and male having longer tail due to reproductive organs; overall coloration of carapace is olive green to grayish with pale yellow margins on outer edging; plastron is wholly pale yellow; dorsal side of flippers are grayish with remaining limb area and body being pale yellow and whitish; hatchlings have distinct black edging around carapace scutes exhibiting a reticulated pattern; there are no subspecies</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is carnivorous except for occasional consumption of seaweed; high protein intake diet is from eating benthic invertebrates such as soft corals, sea cucumbers, bryozoans; mollusks & crabs; also consumes prawns, jellyfish & squid; eggs and hatchlings are preyed upon by carnivorous mammals; shore & sea birds and monitor lizards; adult predators are saltwater crocodiles and larger sharks; all life stages have been preyed on by man.<br />
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<b>H</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> Is highly marine aquatic; once male hatchlings hatch from egg and scramble towards the water they never return to land; females only do to lay eggs in a fashioned sand nest; due to physiology, can remain underwater longer than any other sea turtle; once breaking surface, rapidly replaces air in lungs with an explosive exhalation followed by a quick inhale; lungs are wholly adapted to this rapid exchange of spent body gases to atmospheric air preventing gases from boiling or being trapped during deep dives and long submergence; with high concentrations of red blood cells rich in oxygen, blood is shunted from low level oxygen tolerant tissue and pumped to vital areas during submergence; as in other sea turtles, sea reptiles & oceangoing seabirds, flatbacks make use of their food in obtaining fresh drinking water from food intake and possess salt glands that are modified tear ducts to metabolize, collect and secrete excess salt (see: 'The Toxin Scavenger' under Quick Takes for more detail); salt glands also keep sand out of female eyes when nesting on land; eyesight is exceptional in water but are shortsighted in ambient air conditions; has extremely slow </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">maturation process with females becoming sexually mature ~30 years old; mating occurs in shallow waters; gravid female will crawl and drag herself onto the beach she was hatched from looking for a preferable site to dig a nest and lay her eggs in sand dunes or steep leeward beach slopes; females are very wary on land and if </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a disturbance</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7FzEVqUSi6IGsE1g_IyWSswHgJk3Ixc7xbdN3Vq1HD4tKddgY2LJW-VpiFdIe5c-YTDZK-YBsx5kYn7tVSm3lySy1JOD53JSBXlpmbu9KRxrVExtP9YcWSJD5tV9nIV-sVLKGlg320E_/s1600/Natator+depressus+htchl%2527ng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7FzEVqUSi6IGsE1g_IyWSswHgJk3Ixc7xbdN3Vq1HD4tKddgY2LJW-VpiFdIe5c-YTDZK-YBsx5kYn7tVSm3lySy1JOD53JSBXlpmbu9KRxrVExtP9YcWSJD5tV9nIV-sVLKGlg320E_/s200/Natator+depressus+htchl%2527ng.jpg" height="126" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Note hatchling reticulate pattern</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">occurs may abandon nesting and go back to sea; in a tropical setting during first of summer months is most favorable time female comes to shore to lay 2-3 clutches of eggs usually in a small rookery every 2-4 years; once a suitable site is found she will dig a pit out using her front flippers; she will further, this time with hind flippers, hollow out an oval chamber at the bottom of pit; once finished, there she will proceed to lay a clutch of 50-70 eggs; the white eggs being the size of a billiard ball and weighing ~75g/2.65oz are the largest relative to adult size of all sea turtles; once eggs are laid, female then covers them initially with hind flippers; once fully covered she tamps down the sand with her plastron; to conceal any traces of the nest, finally she flings sand over the site with her front flippers; after the job is completed, she returns back to the sea; incubation is ~60 days; hatchlings emerge at night as the largest babies of all sea turtles and are most gifted hatchling & juvenile swimmer; seek out a low open horizon to guide them to the ocean; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the iris of a baby flatback's eyes are blue; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">man's activities of crowded beaches and artificial lighting can disrupt the hatchling's plight to reach water, thus this turtle is threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg/220px-Status_iucn2.3_VU.svg.png" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Vulnerable (3.1) IUCN</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Amphisbaenians:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In discoursing this reptile group, 'amphisbaenian(s)' is accepted. Amphisbaenidae members are listed as 'amphisbaenids', while 'amphisbaena(s)' refers to the genus, <i>Amphisbaena</i>. A bit confusing, but please bear with me. Amphisbaenians under the largest reptile order, <i>Squamata</i> make-up the smallest suborder under <i>Amphisbaenia</i>. Once upon a time, amphisbaenians were listed under the suborder, <i>Sauria</i> as grouped with lizards. But with enough distinction in physiology, morphology and genetics, they were rightfully listed unto their own suborder. E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">xcept for one family with short but sturdy forelimbs supporting claws and an extra bone, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this group is legless, is fossorial and really do not surface unless heavy rains occur saturating underground environs. Noted that <i>Rhineuridae</i> is sometimes a subset listed under the family, <i>Amphisbaenidae</i> as <i>Rhinineurinae</i>, the four <i>Amphisbaenia</i> families are:<br />
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<i>A</i></span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mphisbaenidae</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (true amphisbaenas; 148 species)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Trogonophidae</i> (shortheaded amphisbaenas; 6 species)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. fenestrata</i> ~ head nor tail </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Bipedidae</i> (two-legged amphisbaenas; 4 species)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Rhineuridae</i> (monotypic N. American specie)<br />
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A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s mentioned in being fossorial, these subterranean animals dubbed colloquially as 'worm lizards' have cylindrical elongate bodies with the tail tapered much like the head, hence the suborder name, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphisbaenia</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. The term 'amphisbaena' is Greek that described a mythical snake-like creature bearing two heads on each end. In general, at first glance it is indeed difficult to tell which end is which on amphisbaenians. The skull bones are heavy, solid and partially fused to one another with the snout ending as spade shaped. All these physical traits are adaptations to an underground burrowing life where the animals utilize their head and skull features to shovel through ground while the streamlined body glides through the tunnelings.<br />
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As always, there are exceptions</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. A few amphibaenian genera and even some species within a genus have tails distinctly tapered in comparison to the head. There is also in complete contrast, examples where the tail bluntly ends in a stub making the head appear more tapered.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__tB6Owxl6H2NH5OZiqvx8c9vJ20qtYYCxm1KBAKeu-4QZ76DfdyWWD5LoWUn_JHRmpUs3e6npzTh-7TIHuiAeS83KGuQnDJ4KWaMGvBg0Y1wqcyST9vXQKtBbDqT9OiFVNQAeZKXCj2Y/s1600/Amphisbaena+ridleyi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__tB6Owxl6H2NH5OZiqvx8c9vJ20qtYYCxm1KBAKeu-4QZ76DfdyWWD5LoWUn_JHRmpUs3e6npzTh-7TIHuiAeS83KGuQnDJ4KWaMGvBg0Y1wqcyST9vXQKtBbDqT9OiFVNQAeZKXCj2Y/s200/Amphisbaena+ridleyi.jpg" height="145" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. ridleyi</i> ~ more tapered tail</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYd_hcCcw_kI_t5GbhALvVS7exZDHNawi9J5Nx9e__OtwlNldaotuFQFX3doL_P28J9UH2KzG5GuJJBrynBkLjOyDdK4RIITqwYzMFpGFgPDEHbiE_qQCz1d7pHdHFxvzlQ8-bM2lD7p7K/s1600/Amphisbaena+anaemariae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYd_hcCcw_kI_t5GbhALvVS7exZDHNawi9J5Nx9e__OtwlNldaotuFQFX3doL_P28J9UH2KzG5GuJJBrynBkLjOyDdK4RIITqwYzMFpGFgPDEHbiE_qQCz1d7pHdHFxvzlQ8-bM2lD7p7K/s200/Amphisbaena+anaemariae.jpg" height="136" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. anaemariae</i> ~ blunt tail</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The body is covered in squarish scales that are arranged in segmented rings coursing around the body. This aids in an underground existence in alleviating friction and lessening the chance of soil debris becoming entrapped within the scales. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vestigial eyes are hence, degenerated and appear as tiny black dots under an occular scale. Along with body shape, the scales make the amphisbaenian appear vermicular (segmented earthworm-like) in appearance.<br />
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With the sense of vision greatly reduced, amphisbaenians rely heavily on chemosensory in understanding their ambient surroundings. An olfactory vomeronasal organ known as Jacobson's organ is located on the roof of the mouth not only in these creatures, but all other reptiles and mammals. Where the organ is primarily used in pheromone detection with mammals, in reptiles, it is used to obtain a sense of what is occurring in their immediate surroundings.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note bifurcated tongue</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With a bifurcated (forked) tongue, air molecules are picked up on the extended tongue tips, brought back into the mouth and analyzed by the organ. This is a form of chemotaxis in responding to chemical cues. Having the tongue forked is an advantage in that paired receptor cells are far more efficient in detecting the direction of concentration of the air borne chemical molecules; in other words, finding the source of the smell. With only one tongue, it would be trial and error in determining the source; the hot and cold, cooler, warmer affect. Essentially, the forked tongue is acting as two and is far more efficient in splitting one tongue to perform multidirectional smell detection than it would be in having two tongues. Paired receptors in a forked tongue allows response movement in more directions than just straight forward, so in addition to chemotaxis, these reptiles perform tropotaxis</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ll snakes and some lizards have bifurcated tongues, but it appears that its evolvement is unrelated and is the result of convergent evolution that has occurred up to five times in squamates. In addition to convergent evolution with an elongated cylindrical body, snakes have elongated the right lung and made the left lung diminutive, while in amphisbaenians, the left has been extended with a remnant right lung</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lthough there is no </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tympanum, there still is an auditory canal. The typanum has been covered over and replaced by a scale to resonate underground sounds. In this way, the hearing canal is kept free of soil debris and parasites. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With no pterygoid (palatal) teeth, there is a distinctive median tooth in the upper jaw of all amphisbaenas, but there is contrast in species' teeth and arrangements</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mphisbaenids</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> generally have no more than eight spaced teeth in each of the lower and upper jaws that are pleurodont in dentition in that they are set in grooves fused to the inner surface of the jaw bones. The razor sharp teeth are interlocking when the mouth is closed exacting scissor-like motion. The interlocking of teeth aid in their biting and twisting to tear off chunks of flesh from their victims. An exception to this is </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. ridleyi</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, where the teeth are more blunt accommodating its primary diet of snails in crushing the shell</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. bakeri</i> ~ n</span>ote teeth</span></td></tr>
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W</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hile bipedids and rhineurids possess pleurodoont dentition, their teeth are more conical. Trogonodontids dentition is acrodont whereby, without sockets the teeth are directly fused at the jawbone margins</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he skin fits loosely over the muscles of amphisbaenians and is attached to a vertebra in only a few places. This allows for more efficiency in the awkward movement dealt with in the various modes of tunneling</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mphibaenids and rhineurids with rounder heads utilize a constant up and down sinusoidal</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> motion and like a battering ram, press and disperse the tunneled soil to the sides of the burrow. Trogonophids prefer looser soils where their highly modified spade-shaped head plows through in short </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oscillating movements that forces and disperses soil from the tunneling's center outwards against the walls. Other species with shovel-shaped heads scoop up dirt as they're tunneling tossing it over the head and out of the way. Species with transversely flattened heads not only constantly move the head, but the body sideways in forcing openings. Finally, with five strongly anchored claws and an extended phalange bone on each forelimb, bipedids will either dig by clawing through, or at times will give the forelimbs a rest laying them alongside the body and begin digging with their head.<br />
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I</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nvestigations on Brazilian amphisbaenian's strong neck and main digging muscle, the longissimus dorsi running along the top of the back, were evaluated and testing measures were conducted on their lifting force led by biologist, Carlos Navas and Carlos Jared at the Brazilian, Instituto Butantan in 2004. Amphisbaenian neck </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">strength turned out to be 24 Newtons (N) of force, that is equivalent to the capability of lifting more than 2kg/4.41lbs by this little creature. It was determined that even though the muscle fibers were strictly aerobic and not anerobic, they still had the strength to perform heavy lifts due to the long muscles' effective cross sectional surface area and power output. What makes this unusual, is that normally aerobic muscle tissue is only good for stamina and not strength. The power to lift heavy loads is usually due to anerobic muscle fiber.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">M</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ost species are 15.2cm/6in or less, though </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A. alba</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> can</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> grow over 85cm/33.5in, while the dimunitive </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chirindia rondoense</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> never exceeds 12cm/4.75in.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Most are also oviparous typically laying between one to four large eggs, though the largest species may lay up to sixteen. Maternal care is exhibited and will stay at the nest site tending to the clutch. Females will sometimes lay the eggs in termite or ant nests where not only termite and ant larvae are, beetle larvae will at times exist there as well as a </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">conveniently</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> served meal for the hatchlings. This insect restaurant of sorts also maintains a constant temperature and affords protection from predators. A few species, such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Loveridgea ionidesi</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">i</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are ovoviviparous in bearing live young while embryos have been observed in <i>Leptosternon microcephalum</i> and indeed <i>Trogonophis wiegmanni</i> is viviparous</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he body is segmented in annular rings. Except for <i>Blanus cinereus</i> in the family, <i>Amphisbaenidae</i>, all amphisbaenians have twice the number of annulus rings than they do vertebrae. <i>B. cinereus'</i> number of body annuli corresponds to the same number of vertebrae</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <br />
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Amphisbaenians are carnivorous living primarily on earthworms, insects, insect larvae and a few other invertebrates. They have been known to accept carrion and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphisbaena ridleyi</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> during times of drought in its habitat has been observed to ascend plants and consume nectar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
The short tails are no more than 6% of the total length and with the exception of trogonophids, all species, just like some lizards, have the ability to drop their tails, although in the case of amphisbaenians, the tail cannot be replaced in growing back a new one</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
Limited in range to tropical and subtropical settings, amphisbaenians are almost exclusively Gondawan in original range, but with bipedids and rhineurid in North America existing on lands that originated from land masses that was once a part of Laurasia.<br />
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Fossorial dispersal it is said, is very limited in its range, for subterranean animals cannot tunnel </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24-z54u0rVi1BM6uyvlPj4SJfkK6k_iHw5ZLCHjHW7l2518-lkb_fhVPZ7EqFHO5mWWl5qmoJaZ7_mfyEmcQUfbHamRdJL5oEBL9ke6ajitnXUU-SZODvGxSfsxj7KFsBwYpe7PbPXeEW/s1600/Amphisbaena+wtr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24-z54u0rVi1BM6uyvlPj4SJfkK6k_iHw5ZLCHjHW7l2518-lkb_fhVPZ7EqFHO5mWWl5qmoJaZ7_mfyEmcQUfbHamRdJL5oEBL9ke6ajitnXUU-SZODvGxSfsxj7KFsBwYpe7PbPXeEW/s200/Amphisbaena+wtr.jpg" height="90" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">6.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> lft.) <i>A. alba</i> ~ rt.) <i>A. fulginosa </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">themselves all</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the way from one end of a continent to the opposite side</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. However, amphisbaenians may be a bit awkward on the surface of land in their accordion style fashion of locomotion, but they are adept to swimming. In utilizing serpentine undulation and in keeping the head well raised, they will readily take to water. Currents and even their strong swimming capabilities could afford more distant lands to populate. Though there have been no studies, much less extensive evaluations on amphibaenian aquatic mobility, perhaps there should be.<br />
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G</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">enetic analyses reveal that amphisbaenians closest extant relatives are the lacertid lizards. Though lacertids </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and amphisbaenians diverged and went their separate ways, both groups have their origins emanating from a fossil recently found in Messel Pit, a fossil rich abandoned quarry near the town of Hesse, Germany. The nearly in perfect condition fossil, except for the missing tip of the tail, in question here belongs to </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cryptolacerta hassiaca</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kupX2xtwMyAQR9dEhcwhD4arvtoIgsjMPex3dzDXlQZNul3sqQQZaQF-p_sPBivI1TIfdZZVuP1LJ1WHtOoF10xrtO2wbh4ZztpLSjORC2N2XKIaqTK7_XffWIFZyEB7crRlO2bwyW3J/s1600/cryptolacerta+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kupX2xtwMyAQR9dEhcwhD4arvtoIgsjMPex3dzDXlQZNul3sqQQZaQF-p_sPBivI1TIfdZZVuP1LJ1WHtOoF10xrtO2wbh4ZztpLSjORC2N2XKIaqTK7_XffWIFZyEB7crRlO2bwyW3J/s200/cryptolacerta+%25281%2529.jpg" height="136" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> <i>Cryptolacerta hassiaca</i></span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cryptolacerta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was an Eocene lizard that probably preferred remaining above ground hidden in forest floor litter and sometimes burrowing underground and making tunnels 47 mya. It most definitely was built for both lifestyles</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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This 15.2cm/6in small creature had tiny eyes set in tiny sockets. The articulated skeleton and limbs, though short, are very lacertid-like while the reinforced skull was a prelude to the more heavier fused amphisbaenian skull.<br />
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U</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sing the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cryptolacerta</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> fossil findings as a basal phylogeny clad, lacertids and amphisbaenians sit on adjacent branchings with snakes far away in a distant branch. It verifies that the losing of limbs and the cylindrical body shape arose independently in snakes and amphisbaenians</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <br />
For amphisbaenians the fossil finds points out the fact that the animals first adapted to an underground and burrowing lifestyle due to the head structure. Only after the skull fully thickened and fused, did they begin to lose their legs in parallel reduction while elongating the body, furthering accommodation of a fossorial lifestyle.<br />
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U</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nder the order <i>Squamata</i>, the suborder,<i> Amphisbaenia</i> may on a few occasions, in addition to the four families discussed here, list two more taken from <i>Amphibaenidae</i> as Hyporhinidae and Crythiosauridae.<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Unfortunately, research and documented literature is very limited and hard to come by on amphisbaenian species due to lack of studies of the elusive fossorial creatures. In particular under my format, there are many gaps, but as much as reliable information that could be obtained, it is presented below.<br />
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</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNipfW_096ga77PI7HbThfBfdko99nfaEhHHrTfGwV9tIcdx8mOOwJcsg1koY0VEOKfL4sCF5TnF_UyaOTTbmEzkOdpzvYstVkGx6kuF04BbkAhULRa3vy_M4KEr_tcq4NsLCcCILUiZL/s1600/Blanus+cinereus+circl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNipfW_096ga77PI7HbThfBfdko99nfaEhHHrTfGwV9tIcdx8mOOwJcsg1koY0VEOKfL4sCF5TnF_UyaOTTbmEzkOdpzvYstVkGx6kuF04BbkAhULRa3vy_M4KEr_tcq4NsLCcCILUiZL/s200/Blanus+cinereus+circl.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Iberian worm ~ <i>B. cinereus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">berian Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Amphisbaenidae (Blanidae)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Blanus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Blanus cinereus</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 16-30cm/5.9-11;.8in </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">♀ mean SVL~20.3cm/8in; ♂ mean SVL~19.1cm/7.5in</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 7.2-9.8g/.25-.35oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Up to 16yrs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Blanus cinereus</i> ~ <i>Blanus</i> an Old English derogatory colloquial phrase meaning, 'bleaching my dirty anus'; <i>cinereus</i> is New Latin meaning 'ash colored' that was derived from the Old Latin word, <i>cinis</i> meaning ashes or embers.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> This species is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula occurring in central & southern Spain and throughout Portugal; found from sea level to 1800m/5,940ft in piney woods preferring to remain primarily underground actively burrowing from February to November, while rest of the year may be found on the surface or lodged under rocks, loose stony soil or in surface tunneling of rotted out roots</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> With certain taxonomy zoologists, there is a push to list the genus, <i>Blanus</i> into </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CZqTTqvLLONkoE6BFPMQICP1ym9d1vyIWCmx5QdFNHxLqb-jHpePjAu-HtGQ0xOubeh35gCUHP952EW4uqA1mxkMDrY0BB98jCi6FAaige38vttmyuuw2wRgpTCLGL8qUH6hsH9Kw_dX/s1600/Blanus+cinereus+fc+opn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CZqTTqvLLONkoE6BFPMQICP1ym9d1vyIWCmx5QdFNHxLqb-jHpePjAu-HtGQ0xOubeh35gCUHP952EW4uqA1mxkMDrY0BB98jCi6FAaige38vttmyuuw2wRgpTCLGL8qUH6hsH9Kw_dX/s200/Blanus+cinereus+fc+opn.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>B. cinereus</i> profile</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">its own family, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blanidae involving 5 species; trunk scales arranged in orderly rings around body with 110-125 body and 220-22 rings about the tail; body scales are rectangular in shape; front of head entailing one large prefrontal scale is used for burrowing; head & tail are slightly tapered; a skin fold is present where the head meets the body; atrophied eyes are covered over by epidermal tissue and may be able to distinguish shapes and form but indeed detects light variation and shadows; both dorsal and ventral sides are uniformly colored; young are normally a light pink where adults are from a pinkish violet to reddish brown; the snout is usually lighter in color; recently <i>B. mettetali</i> was delisted as a subspecies and listed as a species in its own right; currently there are no subspecies listed.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> Consumes ants, termites and other small invertebrates in particular arthropods in larval stage; exhibits more of a specialized diet than generalist therefore is an active hunter; seeks out higher protein and fat diet (energy rich prey) bypassing certain ant species for more nutritious bearing ones; in captivity displays an aggressive predatory attitude consuming anything small enough, so may also be an opportunist in its diet; birds are the main predator taking individuals that have surfaced or when searching for worms may encounter and consume an Iberian worm lizard whether it was by chance mistake or intentional</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79sp9sdd9Bnys8HIFe_dMoklJ8_Qq8C8UtsyJMp9fFlkY_jkWZ0ZAPtUla15jtMObJRccQp-DixETn0Ez8JUD_svjR52WN5c_ZwBJaoDNvmXvtznNnMg7_splRQVXGFIPTS4WuLipvZHH/s1600/Blanus+cinereus+tl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79sp9sdd9Bnys8HIFe_dMoklJ8_Qq8C8UtsyJMp9fFlkY_jkWZ0ZAPtUla15jtMObJRccQp-DixETn0Ez8JUD_svjR52WN5c_ZwBJaoDNvmXvtznNnMg7_splRQVXGFIPTS4WuLipvZHH/s200/Blanus+cinereus+tl.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>Blanus cinereus</i>, note neck fold</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> The Iberian worm lizard is an active creature that warms itself up; regulates temperature by absorbing heat in soils and stone heated up by sun; seeks out prey and each other through sense of smell, touch and chemo signaling; both sexes possess precloacal glands that produce copious holocrine secretions, in particular during breeding season; when tunneling, chemical secretions are distributed up against the tunnel walls; these secretion trails help aid in sex determinations, intraspecific communication, home range and territorial recognition; chemical analysis has determined holocrine secretions are at least a cocktail of 29 chemicals ranging from lipophilic compounds, steroids, carboxylic acid, waxy esters to </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">methyl ether </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgOVHRxwFwYREl0MXYGORAfkeBiAjcisGoiEeMjMerEPU_t4PHkgWqE6rVX0cJhRpVIfe2RbLllMa9M21Lojgd-2txFvF_ykCXvUR_jBfRdX7rR-2b7vpbizQMHuxU0xj1pZTUncLB9J3/s1600/Blanus-cinereus+arb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgOVHRxwFwYREl0MXYGORAfkeBiAjcisGoiEeMjMerEPU_t4PHkgWqE6rVX0cJhRpVIfe2RbLllMa9M21Lojgd-2txFvF_ykCXvUR_jBfRdX7rR-2b7vpbizQMHuxU0xj1pZTUncLB9J3/s200/Blanus-cinereus+arb.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Defense clinging </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and squalene</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; varying proportions of compounds are expressed in both sexes with squalene dominating in males; this is indicative of putative pheromone production; there are two main forms of defense posturing; one is lifting the relatively short tail displaying the cloaca while the other, if twigs are available, is to wrap themselves around it in a gripping manner; this defense method primarily is conducted towards birds that prey on them; though breeding has not been observed, it is conducted in late winter or early spring; in late spring, the oviparous female lays usually a single oval egg, though two are not uncommon underground or beneath rocks; parental care has not been observed; in their range, most locals consider them venomous and indiscriminately kill them; when picked up, they will not hesitate to bite, but the mouth and teeth are too small to do any tissue damage on humans; stresses are sequential loss of habitat and low birthrates though populations don't appear threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Speckled worm ~ <i>A. fuliginosa</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Speckled Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Amphisbaenidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Amphisbaena</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Amphisbaena fuliginosa</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: 30-45cm/12-18in total length (TL)<br />
Weight: ~ 84.1g/2.97oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lifespan: Data on longevity in wilds or captives is not available.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Amphisbaena fuliginosa</i> ~ <i>Amphisbaena</i> refers to the mythological account of a two-headed creature in ancient Greek literature, while in Latin, <i>amphisbaena</i> means 'to move in both ways'; <i>fuliginosus</i> is a Latin adjective describing a dark brown coloration; altogether refers to the, 'dark colored two-headed serpent'.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> A population is found on the island of Trinidad with dispersal in Central & South America in the countries of Panama, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname & Venezuela; prefers tropical-subtropical zones from zero to 363.6m/1200ft in elevation burrowing underneath broadleaf forests, grasslands, savannas & shrublands</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Darker form</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> In scale counts, body annuli, preanal pores and coloration, there is much geographical variation in this species; in general with fused skull, head is relatively massive with a prominent snout; tail clavate (thickened at distal end); body annuli count ranges from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">180-220 with autotomy annulus placed between fifth-seventh; preanal pores 6-10; nasal scales are large and in contact with second supralabial scale; prefrontal scales are moderate in size forming together a hexagonal configuration; there is only one subocular scale that may be split in certain specimens; vestigial eyes are visible but rudimentary; teeth are anguimorph in that they are like anguid lizards replacing teeth in rows as opposed to directly upwards from a rooted socket in the jaw; in overall coloration, head, body & tail background color is white or a very light yellow in some forms; irregardless of the speckled common name, the darker patterns are not speckles but more of a random variegated checkered effect and ranges in coloration from a very dark brown to purplish to black; head coloration frequently may only display the background white; due to physical variances, this species once was listed with 5 subspecies, but now they all have been elevated to species level; the former subspecies were, <i>A. fuliginosa amazonica</i>, <i>A. f. bassleri</i>, <i>A. f. fuliginosa</i>, <i>A. f. varia</i> & <i>A. f. wiedi</i>; currently there are no recognized subspecies.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Whiter form</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Diet:</b> Strictly carniv</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">orous, this predator preys on any invertebrate it can overpower as it burrows through soils in search of food; invertebrates include insects, ground spiders, worms and larvae; very small vertebrates such as the small-eared shrew if encountered could also be possibly taken; with strong teeth and jaws, prey is clamped down on by the teeth, crunched, torn, eviscerated and consumed; prominent predators are the coral snakes, in particular the species </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micrurus ancoralis</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b>H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> <i>A. fuliginosa</i> originally is Amazonian radiating out into other regions from that point; although strictly fossorial, only surfacing during heavy rains, its ability to burrow proficiently and swim for kilometers at a time, has allowed this species to disperse successfully; from rainforest species there is broad morphological variation in other geographical forms; tail lengths and head width in relation to body lengths are regressing in species of the cerrado (tropical Brazilian savannas) and other more remote geographical locations distanced from </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Crunching down a cricket</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amazonia</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; for terrain and burrowing mobility, concertina motion is preferred much like worms travel; in aquatic environments it utilizes the serpentene motion in swimming, oscillating in sinusoidal fashion; along with its dispersal abilities, <i>A. fuliginosa</i> tolerates different environments in crossing ecological barriers as well as physical barriers between two biomes; in being underground most of the time, relies heavily on chemoreception; as most amphisbaenians, it is nocturnal and is most active at night in foraging or finding mates; being oviparous, eggs are cleidoic in that there is little exchange with outside environment such as atmospheric gases or liquids; though very little is known of breeding habits, it appears eggs are laid in leaf litter layers rather than subterranean; due to this species successes in dispersal of established populations, it is not considered threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> White-bellied worm lizard ~ <i>A. alba</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">White-Bellied Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Amphisbaenidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Amphisbaena</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Amphisbaena alba</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Length: Ave. SVL ~ 29-82cm/11.4-32.3; max. total length (TL) up to 85cm/33.4in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 185g/6.52oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: Maximum life span ~ 15.1 yrs</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Amphisbaena alba</i> ~ <i>Amphisbaena</i> refers to the mythological account of a two-headed creature in ancient Greek literature, while in Latin, <i>amphisbaena</i> means 'to move in both ways';</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>alba</i> comes from the Old English word, <i>olbe</i> rooted from the latin phrase, <i>vestis alba</i> meaning 'white vestment'; altogether refers to 'white-bellied two-headed serpent'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>Distribution:</b> Widespread throughout South America, it is found in the tropical & Amazon jungles, tropical savannas (cerrados) and cultivated fields of Brazil and in the Andes tropical forests of countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru & Venezuela and in the Atlantic forests of Argentina, French Guiana, Guiana, Paraguay, Surinam & Uruguay; populations also are found in Panama and the island nation of Trinidad & Tobago in semi tropical forests.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n4VmGmW4KS1fOhW0zYr6i1oE-98el-MMWQlv7PIEy2QO49iCfKEJqXvILBsA_eZ7gJi8yHyuXDt83mJw-ZwCK-7lMLGVvkEBwiIViQRVWt7fKDla_N0muzB08KEy9iWaocX0S-R9PP4d/s1600/amphisbaena+alba+hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n4VmGmW4KS1fOhW0zYr6i1oE-98el-MMWQlv7PIEy2QO49iCfKEJqXvILBsA_eZ7gJi8yHyuXDt83mJw-ZwCK-7lMLGVvkEBwiIViQRVWt7fKDla_N0muzB08KEy9iWaocX0S-R9PP4d/s200/amphisbaena+alba+hd.jpg" height="161" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Dorsal view of head</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Description:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>A. alba</i> is the longest and largest of all amphisbaenians, capable of reaching a length of 85cm/ 33.5in with a 5.1cm/2in body diameter width and weigh 210g/7.41oz; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the head slightly tapers in triangular fashion with a rounded snout shaped for its style of burrowing; vestigial eyes are distinctive but rudimentary; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">teeth are anguimorph in that they are like anguid lizards replacing teeth in rows as opposed to directly upwards from a rooted socket in the jaw; 2-3 rows of replacement teeth are interdentally in line and migrate to replace the fused tooth that was damaged or lost; upper & lower jaw teeth are stout & conical and interlock; upper jaw possesses one large tooth with six smaller ones in upper jaw; typical of other amphisbaenians, scales form rings around the body; dorsal individual scales form small irregular rectangles while rectangular ventral scales are more indistinct appearing as long strips extending across ventrum</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; tail only makes </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">up 6% of total</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> length and</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CJiWhGwPxIxeIWwuyZKHswmY9ba_57d-cjDvwDGtDoZ7f7j3Tya0SAumWAoAEosYvf-z9AgUMuo94-7DLS3AT93yEZ0tqGbqEbGAFSE4qzAf5xzfv29YIBJu9_8n2ZBcfTYmxUoaJ44M/s1600/Amphisbaena+alba+vntrl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CJiWhGwPxIxeIWwuyZKHswmY9ba_57d-cjDvwDGtDoZ7f7j3Tya0SAumWAoAEosYvf-z9AgUMuo94-7DLS3AT93yEZ0tqGbqEbGAFSE4qzAf5xzfv29YIBJu9_8n2ZBcfTYmxUoaJ44M/s200/Amphisbaena+alba+vntrl.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> White ventrum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cannot break away from body as in other amphisbaenians; body annuli vary from 194-248 while tail displays 13-21; dorsal coloration is an overall yellowish cream color to an uniform reddish medium brown; dorsal coloration begins transition on sides to a ventral solid white; hatchlings, which may be as long as 120 mm/4.72in display peculiar blotched patterns; currently there are no recognized subspecies.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> <i>A. alba</i> is considered a generalist in diet; it will eat anything it can tear up and swallow with its strong jaws and teeth from invertebrates, larvae, small vertebrates and even plant material; ground snakes are the primary predator with known predation by the yellow-tail cribo (<i>Drymarchon c. corais)</i>.<br />
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<b>Habits:</b> <i>A. alba</i> is primarily nocturnal in foraging, but in its burrowing, may be active during diurnal periods; relies heavily on its hearing and smell receptors in identifying prey and communicating with its kind; snout scales pick up vibrations where signals are sent to the inner ear for analysis; smell is exceptional and can detect the leaf-cutter ant species, <i>Atta cephalotes</i> pheromones; this leaf-cutter ant forms deep subterranean galleries and has an end section where it dumps detritus material and dead ants; this heap pile is called a garbage tip; the amphisbaenid follows the pheromone trail to the garbage tips; what attracts the amphisbaenian there is a particular large beetle (<i>Coelosis biloba</i>) that lays eggs among the organic matter; particularly large & plump larvae hatch from the eggs feeding off the detritus material; <i>A. alba</i> are very fond of consuming these beetle grub; the amphisbaenian and beetle are facultative inquilines (beneficiaries of symbiotic relationships, but not wholly dependent upon) with the ants; there is a myriad array of associations in the unique symbiotic relationships; the ant and beetle are considered to be mutualism symbiosis in that both participants benefit in the beetle larvae having access to food and in the ant having its waste consumed; between the amphisbaenid and ant it is considered commnealism symbiosis where only one participant benefits due to the ant indirectly providing a source of beetle larva prey for <i>A. alba</i>; the relationship between amphisbaenid and beetle is parasitism symbiosis where one benefits at the expense of the other being consumed or harmed; also, there exists an obligate parasite tongue worm from the subclass, <i>Pentastomida</i>; this tongue worm utilizes the beetle larvae as its intermediate host in the larva supporting the parasite's eggs; <i>A. alba</i> serves as its definitive host where the tongue worm lives in its respiratory tract; with degenerative body parts, the tongue worm cannot exist freely and relies on its hosts for sustenance and </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXHgvCZG_pUycdZtj1SjWk3ko2BlppFl7lQeFK6epuLJm0Aav-C5x0XltbMo6zKMCN_gBGDwi6hnRNrhCar4v89J8tHKkOToJcU22l0oj_9q9XDNx8tEEB8E98yag59KSDpCgiYbgnZZB/s1600/Amphisbaena+alba+skl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXHgvCZG_pUycdZtj1SjWk3ko2BlppFl7lQeFK6epuLJm0Aav-C5x0XltbMo6zKMCN_gBGDwi6hnRNrhCar4v89J8tHKkOToJcU22l0oj_9q9XDNx8tEEB8E98yag59KSDpCgiYbgnZZB/s320/Amphisbaena+alba+skl.jpg" height="127" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>A. alba</i> skull; Note: strong jaws & interlocking teeth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">existence; <i>A. alba</i> is an astute burrower and with its strong jaws & teeth will crush, shred, tear apart and swallow any small animal it detects and comes in contact with while burrowing; the only time this amphisbaenid surfaces is during heavy rains, to seek the safety, shelter and food underneath leaf litter; for defense the animal is quite capable of inflicting wounding bites; on the ground surface, if cornered will slightly raise its tail and head, elevating just enough to expose both ends of white underbelly; </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> 5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Surface defense posturing</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this confuses an encircling predator as to which end is which; when burrowing, it is well adept</span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to accelerate burrowing in making a hasty retreat; this amphisbaenid is oviparous seasonally laying clutch sizes of 8-16 oval eggs during the dry season; nest sites are underground and may use the sites of the attine ant colonies to deposit their eggs; the induced ambient humidity and temperature range in the ant sites are very conducive to the amphisbaenid's egg incubation; with one of the widest ranges in amphisbaenian distribution, <i>A. alba</i> total population is not considered threatened although localized communities are becoming rarer due to dam constructions and habitat destruction.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Zarudny's worm lizard ~ <i>D. zarudnyi</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Zarudny's Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Trogonophidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Diplometopon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Diplometopon zarudnyi</u><br />
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Length: 10-23cm/3.9-9.1in total length (TL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 7.6g/0.26oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: No data available</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Diplometopon zarudnyi</i> ~ <i>Diplometopon</i> is Greek derived from<i> diploos</i> meaning 'double' and the word of modern Greek, <i>metopon</i> meaning 'forehead' that was derived from the ancient Greek prefix, <i>meta</i> & suffix, <i>ops</i>; <i>zarudnyi</i> is in honor of the Ukranian naturalist, explorer & zoologist, Nikolai A. Zarudny; all together refers to, 'Zarudny's doubled forehead' amphisbaenian.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Found in the coastal & inland aeolian sands of the Arabian Peninsula from 0-122m/0-400ft in W. Iran, S. Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, north central Saudi Arabia & the United Arab</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNk0HHBM5BArWmqMYhyphenhyphenplLhNnIzDmOhfXRsFIXkfm0UO71GiLf1Da7eSuYbSbCIYJCkVyTnBVTvo5SqZutsuYrMnyN895CToWID1m69__ZAg6lYD5D-bH1Fl2NfHujm3Kj55bg3chYQYe/s1600/Diplometopon+zarudnyi+cls.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNk0HHBM5BArWmqMYhyphenhyphenplLhNnIzDmOhfXRsFIXkfm0UO71GiLf1Da7eSuYbSbCIYJCkVyTnBVTvo5SqZutsuYrMnyN895CToWID1m69__ZAg6lYD5D-bH1Fl2NfHujm3Kj55bg3chYQYe/s200/Diplometopon+zarudnyi+cls.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Close-up of spaded head</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">E</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mirates</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This amphisbaenian is monotypic within its genus; as in all trogonophids, the body is triangular in cross-section as opposed to being cylindrical in all other amphisbaenian family members; with its peculiar spade-shaped head <i>D. zarudnyi</i> is the most derived & divergent trogonophid in evolutionary trends; the skull has a strong craniofacial angulation with a rostral digging blade; the facial segment is highly foreshortened and flattened; the animal uses its type head for burrowing by oscillation (side-to-side movements) in dislodging soils to the sides of the tunneling walls; there is an extra-columella bone element lateral to the mandible specifically for picking up ground sound waves received and transmitted via the upper and </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJZ_y-Xsp4Z1YKEAYeaF08qXdRMf2hc8Rcos3rXexa3MDKCyJe2Jckj9Kh1ikRqXXC6E1p7jry4U9xfFxBt2QVrVtvqiZgnW9CqK4FJSD5-_IIaJAVEgO0HOd31JasfeCGqrnRY11ckPs/s1600/Diplometopon+zarudnyi+skl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJZ_y-Xsp4Z1YKEAYeaF08qXdRMf2hc8Rcos3rXexa3MDKCyJe2Jckj9Kh1ikRqXXC6E1p7jry4U9xfFxBt2QVrVtvqiZgnW9CqK4FJSD5-_IIaJAVEgO0HOd31JasfeCGqrnRY11ckPs/s200/Diplometopon+zarudnyi+skl.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>D. zarudnyi</i> skull</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lower </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">jaw bones; </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prefrontal, posifrontal, postorbital, lacrimal & jugal skull bone elements are completely absent; facial portion of skull is ventrally curved and angled to cranial portion; possess an enlarged sternal plate; known as acrodont, teeth are not set in sockets, but rather consolidated with summit of alveolar ridge; teeth are stout, sharply tipped and recurved; eyes, covered by a clear scale, are vestigial but not as rudimentary as most other amphisbaenians; the very short tail is tapered to a point; unlike most amphisbaenians, caudal autotomy in that they cannot drop their tail; ventrum scales are smooth; body annuli number 178+; overall coloration is a light violet to pinkish with dorsal random brown spotting; there are no recognized subspecies.<br />
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<b>Diet:</b> Food consumption mainly consists of ants & termites or any other small arthropod and their larvae that are found in <i>D. zarudnyi</i> range; it is possible when available they may scavenge the corpses of larger animals as in a lab setting, they will readily tear flesh from a dead rat and consume it; potential predators are birds of prey and snakes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCfABIAiC-jCCc4Dx_AqyjABu5i8hLH-gxAntaSoP7uYWAzUHw2JqAIDXaFhkjIn5I0CDzXl4lAoJfHd2ev16PMoSZfy38md8-BNaIP1yqyxd-ix_l3l0EZEsHZcBkgaHN1QHi-iiOTuy/s1600/Diplometopon_zarudnyi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCfABIAiC-jCCc4Dx_AqyjABu5i8hLH-gxAntaSoP7uYWAzUHw2JqAIDXaFhkjIn5I0CDzXl4lAoJfHd2ev16PMoSZfy38md8-BNaIP1yqyxd-ix_l3l0EZEsHZcBkgaHN1QHi-iiOTuy/s200/Diplometopon_zarudnyi2.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Beginning to burrow</span></td></tr>
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<b>H</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">abits</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Are one of the most effective and efficient burrowers; in burrowing, they alternate a rotational movement of the head from side-to-side (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oscillation); this constant motion simultaneously shaves off soil and packs it up against the wall; as the animal tunnels through </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in harder earth,</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> it leaves its body's triangular impression; in loose desert sands, burrowing is incredibly expedient; on a hard smooth surface this amphisbaenian cannot travel due to lack of a gripping surface, so basically will squirm in place; is nocturnal and will surface at night in foraging for much longer periods than most amphisbaenians; metabolism can tolerate high temperatures as long as is not in direct sunlight; during hotter periods digs further down, but most of active time is spent on or just below the surface during night or cooler periods; will leave tracks in sand from last night's activity; travels on surface or in loose soils via lateral undulation or rectilinear locomotion; may also be found under rocks on </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">urface during daylight;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sound waves </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">received</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxxwdl7tzlarA-1y7576jMje9GkP5gLBWHHlIkydIXIbCwdTy8-1NxFLx67Io3KN9oBVWcZ2th8SVYW8AX0rJnKb5X7C7yXGs-6cBvXOLtWwoMAcQJm2hMliVIe1M7LeSPRzrqjSReaPE/s1600/Diplometopon+zrudnys+trl" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxxwdl7tzlarA-1y7576jMje9GkP5gLBWHHlIkydIXIbCwdTy8-1NxFLx67Io3KN9oBVWcZ2th8SVYW8AX0rJnKb5X7C7yXGs-6cBvXOLtWwoMAcQJm2hMliVIe1M7LeSPRzrqjSReaPE/s200/Diplometopon+zrudnys+trl" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: justify;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> Leaving tracks</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and transmitted through mandibles to the inner ear give this amphisbaenian exceptional auditory abilities in being able to detect and locate an ant or termites meters or yards away; alveolar cells found in the hinge regions of the cephalic integument are most developed in fossorial animals; for unknown reasons <i>D. zarudnyi</i> do not possess these cells; insemination may only briefly precede fertilization as the female shows no seminal crypts to store spermatozoa for future ovulation; are oviparous laying eggs underground; due to wide range and lack of invasive intrusions such as habitat destruction, this species has adapted well to its arid but hostile environment and is not considered threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Angled worm lizard ~ <i>A. anguliceps</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Angled Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Trogonophidae </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Agamodon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Agamodon anguliceps</u></b><br />
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Length: 10.16-20.32cm/4-8in snout-to vent length (SVL) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 4-11g/.14-39oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: No data available</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Agamodon anguliceps</i> ~ <i>Agam</i> is in reference to the Greek leader 'Agamemnom'; <i>odon</i> is in reference to the Greek word, <i>odontos</i> for 'tooth'; <i>angul</i> is Old English meaning 'angle' and <i>ceps</i> is Latin for 'head'; altogether refers to 'mighty toothed angle headed' amphisbaenian.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>istribution:</b> Found in the Horn of Africa </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">primarily </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the country of Somalia, but also in Djibouti, Eritrea & Ethiopia; prefers coastal subtropical & tropical forests, but may also be found in hard compacted soils of arid grasslands, savannas & shrublands</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> As in all trogonophids body is triangular, but is sub-triangular and not as noticeably compressed; overall, body is shorter and thicker in comparison to other amphisbaenians; cephalic shield is planed and is a distinctive wedge on front of head having a large rostral scale forming an inverted U-shaped sharp ridge; head is strongly depressed with snout projected & truncated; nasal scale is moderate in size located between rostral, loreal and the 3 labial scales; there are no prefrontal, postfrontal, occipital, or supraoccular scales; acrodont teeth are anchylosed to parapet of jaws; eyes are distinct and functional to an extent; anywhere from 123-137 body annuli; 15-19 tail annuli; tail is very short and is tapered sharply to a pointed end; has one of the pointiest tails of all amphisbaenians; may be from 0 to 6 preanal pores; overall dorsum coloration is yellow shaded with very dark brown to deep maroonish blotching; ventrum is lite pink to purplish pink; currently there are 2 recognized subspecies; they are: <i>A. a. anguliceps</i> & <i>A. a. immaculatus</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. <b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Body traits</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Di</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>et:</b> Menu mostly consists of grubs, ants and termites, but other invertebrates are also readily accepted; gut samples have also been observed to contain the remnants of small vertebrates that were torn up into bite sizes to consume; it is not known in the wilds if it preys off small vertebrates or simply is an opportunist as a scavenger in consuming the carcass of a dead vertebrate it comes across; in caged lab environments, it has killed, bit off pieces of flesh and chewed up small vertebrates; potential predators are other ground reptiles, birds of prey and small mammal predators that inhabit its range</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b> H</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>abits:</b> With its unique head, is able to swiftly swim through loose sand or loamy soil by slicing through with its head oscillations; head gear can also slice through compact soils as well; while tunneling it braces itself with the backside for grip and torque to thrust the oscillating head forward; is nocturnal and vertically drills downward during daylight hours to around 30cm/11.81in; when dusk arrives travels upwards just below surface of ground to at times surface once darkness is full; when threatened will roll over exposing the purplish pink </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Beginning the dig</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">underbelly and play dead</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; geared more for a fossorial lifestyle, when on the surface attempts to travel simply by imitating its tunneling techniques in moving its head back and forth with little body aid; needless to say is very clumsy on any surface; the eyes are one of the most functional amphisbaenian set for sight; there is less reduction in lenses than found in other species and there is evidence of efficacy in retinal organization; is the only known amphisbaenian to possess any remnants of eye muscles; there have been no reproductive studies nor evaluations on reproduction, but appears that it is oviparous; it is currently considered as not threatened, but with little exposure to population sizes, a more detailed study should be conducted before stating this species existence is healthy and not in a state of decline.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Checkerboard worm lizard</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Checkerboard Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Trogonophidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Trogonophis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Trogonophis wiegmanni</u><br />
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Length: 11.3-24cm/4.6-9.4in snout-to-vent length (SVL) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: 5.7-14.5g/.20-.51oz</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: ~ 4-7yrs</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Trogonophis wiegmanni</i> ~ <i>Trogonophis</i> is Latin derived from the Greek words, <i>trogon</i> meaning to 'gnaw' and <i>ophis</i> for 'serpent'; <i>wiegmanni</i> is in honor of the German zoologist, A. Fr. August Wiegmann (1802-1841); altogether refers to, 'Wiegmann's gnawing serpent'</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Found on the Mediterranean Spanish islands of Ceuta, Chafarinas & Meililla and the North African countries of northern Algeria, all of Morocco and west-central Tunisia; prefers the habitat of moist soils covered by rock, stones and other ground cover in ecosystems of grasslands, oak & juniper forests, sand patches and steppes from 0-1900/0-6270ft asl. <br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>escription:</b> Is the only extant <i>Trogonophidae </i>representative to North Africa and currently is monotypic within its genus; having a triangular cross-section, body height is greater than width; ventrum is slightly concave forming a somewhat inverted U; <i>T. wiegmanni</i> is one of the more primitive amphisbaenians and the most primitive trogonophid; in head scalation, a large pentagonal rostral exists with 2 pairs of large cephalic plates; there are also 2 squarish frontals followed by 2 triangular postfrontals; loreal is normally separated from the small occular that is surrounded by 5-8 smaller plates; acrodont teeth are placed on the edge of jaw and are useful for not only tearing but chewing and gnawing; there is no evidence of dentition on pterygoid (a muscle process descending from sphenoid bone); eyes are distinct but rudimentary and covered by a clear or clouded scale; as the sphenodon, lacks alveolar cells found in hinge region of cephalic integument of all other lepidosaurians; this is peculiar, for these cells are most developed in burrowing species; all other amphisbaenians possess the cavum as lined with alveolar epithelium; tail is quite short and as in all trogonophids, does not display caudal </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>T. wiegmanni</i> profile</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">autotomy (tail dropping); external nasal gland is huge and mainly intraconchal or shell shaped; is the only amphisbaenian to possess an epipterygoid, a bone or cartilage sitting upon the pterygoid bone found in the skulls of lizards; overall coloration of dorsum is a cream tone off-white with rectangular checkered pattern and speckled dark brown to black markings; ventrum also has dark checkered and speckled markings, but fewer in number over a lighter ground white; currently there are 2 subspecies in <i>T. w. wiegmanni</i> & <i>T. w. elegans</i>; subspecies morphology variation is essentially coloration with </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T. w. wiegmanni</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> displaying a yellowish ground color and <i>T. w. elegans</i> in having a whitish gray to pink one; nomenclature listing may change as recent mtDNA analysis shows <i>T. wiegmanni</i> & <i>T. w. wiegmanni</i> as comparable, but <i>T. w. elegans</i> as genetically variable from the other two; once a specimen of <i>T. w. wiegmanni</i> is dropped in alcohol preservative, there is no color variation or distinction from <i>T. wiegmanni</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; as for <i>T. w. elegans</i>, endemic to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco up to 1900m/6270ft, it has been isolated in a different environment of a much more temperate climate and wetter soils; different ecological demands in isolated zones </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfx47W4e0dgRAW2-c0_v5Ar6FjQBLatHLGKMgeOP8lQ8GUZFbNKJ5E8riUhYP6ITNv0iTlLmmgDZbKWxJhmTKgzEtCyCBoh0pEjg8AUIWtlurjZvMdN6f1gYIpwiVeqKyrKeww5M3OIst/s1600/Trogonophis_wiegmanni_elegans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfx47W4e0dgRAW2-c0_v5Ar6FjQBLatHLGKMgeOP8lQ8GUZFbNKJ5E8riUhYP6ITNv0iTlLmmgDZbKWxJhmTKgzEtCyCBoh0pEjg8AUIWtlurjZvMdN6f1gYIpwiVeqKyrKeww5M3OIst/s200/Trogonophis_wiegmanni_elegans.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>T. w. elegans</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">; note color variance</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">indeed do lead in steps towards speciation; in the near future, <i>T. w. elegans</i> may be placed as a distinct species</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<br />
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<b>D</b><b>iet:</b> In search of prey below and above ground, primary diet consists of social and aggregated insects such as ants and termites; arthropod larvae and worms are also included; hard bodied insects may be consumed as well such as locusts and grasshoppers; predators are larger reptiles, carnivorous small mammals and birds of prey.<br />
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<b>H</b><b>abits:</b> This amphisbaenian may be commonly found on the surface or just underneath rock or ground cover more so than most other species; is primarily nocturnal, but may be found on the</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDfaL6v5ngi_yurlcFRx4JEpXWcq_INPIYC9C5XRFzUbwbyG875pCdrzqACwcATxVFeIsfX_TayFNcy0Y7VVTjtqZ-OILtnwyrSglxL2karprfAHfRnxvht9rOHfCGQ3SpJWo5Y1qT1ib/s1600/Trogonophis+wiegmanni+y'llo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDfaL6v5ngi_yurlcFRx4JEpXWcq_INPIYC9C5XRFzUbwbyG875pCdrzqACwcATxVFeIsfX_TayFNcy0Y7VVTjtqZ-OILtnwyrSglxL2karprfAHfRnxvht9rOHfCGQ3SpJWo5Y1qT1ib/s200/Trogonophis+wiegmanni+y'llo.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>T. w. wiegmanni</i> pair mating; note color</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">surface as active in daylight during inclement weather or breeding season; in frequenting the surface, they leave twisted tracks on soft soils; amphisbaenians are thigmotherms (an animal that draws heat into its its body from a heated object) obtaining heat through contact with soils and rocks; <i>T. wiegmanni</i> picks selected rocks to go under and maintain desirable body temperature ranges; even though there is not much deviation from rock temperatures in the morning and in the evening, they prefer regulating body temperature under rocks during the latter afternoon hours; this is a voluntary preference behavior exhibited by the reptile; in reaching body temperature stabilization, the amphisbaenian will then move on; juveniles appear to prefer reaching a higher body temperature than do adults; this form of body </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">temperature maintenance is very similar to the</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Neonate size comparison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">d</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iurnal epigeal (active above soil surface) lizards; chemical smell and auditory cues are essential in determining food sources, predator presence and inner species communication; ground vibration are constantly received and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">analyzed whether underground or above; so too chemoreception is constantly engaged; with the forked tongue picking up air molecules and sending the particles to the Jacobson's organ for evaluation, this amphisbaenian is consistently checking for ambient conditions and awareness; in its oscillation of the head in digging by slicing through soil, the tail is utilized as an anchor to give forward thrust; in being one of the more primitive amphisbaenians, remnants of the thoracic & pelvic bones are evident; appear to hibernate during colder months; male and female socially pair off and aggregate under rocks, though males never aggregate together, nor are females ever seen together; in mating during the dry season, the mated pair will entwine and love-bite each other just below and above the ground surface; <i>T. wiegmanni</i> is a viviparous reptile with the female giving birth in the early fall; the neonate born alive is around one-third the size of the adult; due to the largeness of the newborn, 1-3 are born, though there are reports of up to 5; due to physical size, this is hard to comprehend the female giving birth to five neonates where each are one-third her size; that would be one pregnant momma; females are found with neonates suggesting parental care; one of the most common amphisbaenians encountered, <i>T. wiegmanni</i> is not considered as threatened.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Ajolte ~ <i>B. biporus</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ajolte</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Bipedidae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Bipes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <u style="font-weight: bold;">Bipes biporus</u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 17-24cm/6.7-9.5in snout-to-vent length (SVL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 5.2g/.18oz </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity:</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3.5 to possibly 7yrs in the wilds</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Bipes biporus</i> ~ <i>Bipes</i> is the Latin nominative for <i>biped</i> meaning 'two-footed'; <i>bi</i> is Latin for two and <i>porus</i> is also Latin derived from the Greek word <i>poros</i> meaning 'pore'; altogether refers to the 'double pored two-footed' amphisbaenian.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note mole-like feet</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Distribution:</b> Endemic to western Baja California, Mexico found near surface in sandy soils.<br />
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<b>Description: </b>The immediate observation when viewing this amphisbaenian is that it has two forelimbs when all other amphisbaenians have none, except for members in the family, <i>Bipedidae</i>, who also possess a well developed pectoral girdle; attached to the short but stout limbs are five toes on each foot with powerful claws well equipped for digging through sandy substrate; another common name is Mexican mole lizard, for the large feet with claws appear similar to mole forelimbs; the genus <i>Bipes</i>, with 3 species is monotypic under <i>Bipedidae</i>; there was once listed 4 species, but <i>Bipes alvarezi</i> is no longer considered a distinct species and has been absorbed into <i>Bipes canaliculatus</i> exhibiting 4-5 toes, while the third bipedid is <i>Bipes tridactylus </i>that always has 3 toes on each foot; vestigial remnants of hind limbs and pelvic girdle are evident in osteological structure; bipedids are thin with <i>B. biporus</i> measuring only 6.5mm or a quarter of an inch around the midsection of the body; as vermiform (earthworm-like), skin is contiguous in segmentation; there are 2 dorsal annuli for each vertebrate; considerably less ventrum annuli than dorsum with presence of intercalated annuli on both dorsal & ventral surfaces; dorsal annuli: 242-261; caudal annuli of non-autotomized tails: 24-3; 27-32 dorsum segments per mid-body annulus; 24-30 ventrum segments per mid-body annulus; there exist 2 preanal pores that gives rise to the species name; caudal autotomy exists where tail breaks off between 6th & 10th caudal annulus; once tail is severed, no new tail is regrown, but severed area heals well; tail is 10% of body length; overall coloration is pink trending lighter as it ages; certain individuals display at times a bluish hue; there are no current subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iet:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is a generalist predator, but primarily feasts upon ants & termites; will also take other ground dwelling arthropods including hard-bodied insects with chitenous exoskeletons such as beetles and spiders; grubs are also consumed and perhaps small lizards; all prey items taken are smaller than gap of the amphisbaenian's mouth; predation is rare for this strict fossorial amphisbaenian; predators are essentially slim snakes that can enter </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. biporus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> tunnel systems such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phyllorhynchus decurtatus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> or nocturnal snakes when </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. biporus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> may surface, such as the rear-fanged night snake, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hypsiglena torquata</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Climbing ability</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Habits:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> With two stout forelimbs and a prehensile tail that can hold a light grip, this amphisbaenian can climb; rarely though does it exit its self-constructed tunnels; is nocturnal and darkness is the only time it will uncommonly forage on the ground's surface and that is usually underneath ground debris such as rocks & fallen bark; on the ground surface, is clumsy in traveling flailing its short limbs in swimming stroke fashion; once entering a tunnel can make a hasty retreat from surface threats; in burrows travels by concertina & rectilinear locomotion via peristalsis movement of the segments; digging is performed by forelimbs with tunneling rarely reaching any deeper than 30.5cm/12in and is normally just below surface from 2.5-15.2cm/1-6in; is not a thermoregulator; during daytime usually rests in tunnels near shrubs, brush or posts, where it can migrate to shade or sunny points; for defense </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. biporus</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> voluntarily drops its tail by squeezing muscles along the weak point; detecting motion is vital for reptile predators and since the main predators are snakes, its severed tail will wiggle and bounce distracting its adversary and give time to attempt a retreat; 33% of males in a statistical population have caudal autotomized healed sites, where females are around 27%; whenever capturing prey from </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">surface; will quickly </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">drag it</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">down a nearby tunnel for consumption; auditory conduction is unique </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Exiting a tunnel</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">B. </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>biporus</i> in that the columella does not have a cartilaginous or bony extracolumella passing laterally to the labial skin; instead terminal disk of columella ends in fibrous tissue beneath a deep fold of skin forming a nuchal constriction; arrangement gives <i>B. biporus</i> a high ranking among reptiles in sound detection; females are sexually active at 18.5cm/7.3in or at 45 months; breeds and lays eggs underground in tunnel system; females reproduce every other year and lay 1-4 eggs in July; mean clutch size per gravid female is 2.2; eggs hatch in late September with hatchlings at 90mm/3.54in in length gaining 20-60mm/.79-2.36in in length the first year; <i>B. biporus</i> is active throughout the year and seems unaffected from adverse weather such as long sustained droughts; this species is not considered as threatened. </span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">1.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Florida worm lizard ~ <i>R. floridana</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Florida Worm Lizard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Family: Rhineuridae</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genus: Rhineura</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Species: <b><u>Rhineura floridana</u></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />L</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ength: 18-28cm/7-11in SVL; record: 40.6cm/16in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weight: ~ 7.7-10.4g/.27-.37oz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longevity: No data available</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Name Origin: <i>Rhineura floridana</i> ~ <i>Rhinos</i> is Greek meaning 'nose' and <i>eurys</i> is also Greek meaning 'broad'; <i>floridana</i> refers to belonging to the state of Florida; altogether is in reference to the, 'Florida broad nosed' amphisbaenian.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">istribution:</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is endemic within 28 counties of central to northern peninsular Florida with reported observations in a single locality of extreme southern Georgia in Lanier County; due to ancient divergence between southern central Lake Wales ridge populations to northern central ones, through mtDNA analysis there is evidence of geographical genetic structure variability to possibly suggest speciation; as the only extant member of <i>Rhineuridae</i>, the family is descended from amphisbaenians 60 mya in the Paleocene strata of Wyoming & northern plains of U.S.; rhineurids existed pre Miocene; since Miocene, 5-23 mya post Miocene fossils of rhineurids are only <i>R. floridana</i> found exclusively in Florida peninsula; prefers tunneling in dry soils beneath dry sand pine scrub and conifer woods.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">escription:</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Highly segmented and with a wider and rounded posterior, appears as very</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyg27OYP2sNjU-zLwISY70tJRJcPPHZlvQ7pI0KwjGoR6gfueEeYCR7XgXK8b_COW5_Jy1Jk3l-sKM2pfZYOuDdk0Zf2mbf3fB2OC3JtM39yqxrLfLyfxqEPsx2OoIlqfSYgFSVbUVP97/s1600/Rhineura+floridana+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyg27OYP2sNjU-zLwISY70tJRJcPPHZlvQ7pI0KwjGoR6gfueEeYCR7XgXK8b_COW5_Jy1Jk3l-sKM2pfZYOuDdk0Zf2mbf3fB2OC3JtM39yqxrLfLyfxqEPsx2OoIlqfSYgFSVbUVP97/s200/Rhineura+floridana+3.jpg" height="108" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">2.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> <i>R. floridana</i> is vermiform</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vermiform </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(worm-like); tiny scales are arranged in rings creating the segmentation; closer inspection reveals a highly scaled head; adapted to an extreme fossorial lifestyle; has a hard scaled shovel-like head with a countersunk lower jaw to keep soil from entering mouth; snout is wedge-shaped; eyes are barely discernible underneath skin and scale; tail is covered by small cone-shaped tubercules; the cylindrical body measures no more than 7.9-9.7mm/.31-.38in with central portion of body no more than 12mm/.47in; internal ear is attached to sides of face to pick up and receive vibrations traversing through ground for analysis; coloration is pink to whitish pink in older specimens with head and tail at times exhibiting darker pinkish red patterns; there are currently no recognized subspecies.<br />
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<b>D</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>iet:</b> Substantially subsists on ants and termites, but will take other ground dwelling invertebrates such as spiders, worms and insect larvae; slender burrowing snakes and birds are primary predators; birds of all sizes that specialize in searching for earthworms commonly unearth this amphisbaenian mistaking it for an earthworm</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">3.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"> Note: tail tubercules (bumps)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Habits:</b> Is highly fossorial rarely surfacing; primary instance of surfacing is when heavy rains innundate soils forcing the reptile out of the ground; this gave rise to another colloquial and common name, 'thunderworm' by locals; it may emerge in numbers during thunder storms; on rare occasions without intimidation or enforcement, will poke their head out of a tunnel and evaluate the ambient surface with its forked tongue taking in molecule samples to be appraised by the Jacobson's organ located at roof of mouth; this act is very seldom and usually is acted out from underneath ground litter such as leaves; for grasping prey, one center tooth located in front of upper jaw is larger than the other teeth; covered by a single large premaxillary & parietal scale, the head is depressed with a projecting snout that the amphisbaenian uses to construct tunnels by forcing the snout and head into the soil moving the head in up and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">down </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">motions,</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">4.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Profile of hea</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">d</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thus packing soil away from its direction of movement;</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> also, nasal passages are located on bottom of snout as opposed to normally being on top to keep soil debris out; whenever on or near surface, if threatened it backs into its tunnel; to elude disturbance, its slightly widened and flattened tail serves as a plug for any intruder to gain entrance into its tunnel; breeding and egg deposition occur underground; during mid to late summer, the female will lay 1-3 eggs in a burrow chamber; eggs hatch in early fall, with fully developed hatchlings around 10.2cm/4in; an extinct rhinureid, <i>Rhineura hatcherii</i> lived in what is now the South Dakota badlands 29-34 mya; it differed from <i>R. floridana</i> in having up to 7 maxillary and dentary teeth and also possessed a sagittal crest (a ridge of bone running lengthwise along mid-line atop the skull; <i>R. floridana</i> population is currently not considered threatened.</span><br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_LC.svg.png" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i> </i> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">REPTILIAN PHOTO CREDITS:</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DISCUSSION:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 1. source: Wikipedia (German); 2. source: DK Images (2001); 3. Peter Bockman (derivitive work)</span>.<br />
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S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHENODONTS:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1. Nicola Nelson.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sphenodont Species:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 1. source: Mail Online (06/2007); 2. source: reptiles.net; 3. illustrator Nobu Tamura.</span><br />
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C</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ROCODILIANS:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1. source: Worsley School; 2. source: Hbk33, based on Tomascastelazo, Postdblf, Greverod & Knilob of Flikr.</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocodilian Species:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span><i><span style="color: purple;">A. mississippiensis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. source: aquaticcommunity.com; 2. Terri Jenkins (US Fish & Wildlife); 3. Brian Metts. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">A. sinesis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. John Thorbjarnarson; 2. Adam Britton. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">P. palpebrosus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. source: McDonald Wildlife Photography; 2. Daniel Heuclin; 3. Roger Le Guen; 4. Daniel Heuclin; 5 Adam Britton; 6. Marc van Roosmalen. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. yacare</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Francois Gohier; 2. J. Stolfi; 3. Pete Oxford; 4. Mark Jones. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. mindorensis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. M. VanWeerd; 2. source: Philippine Mindoro Hatchery & Conservation. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. porosus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Saint Augustine Alligator Farm; 2. Sam Abev; 3. Indrek Urvet; 4. J. Patrick Fischer. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. acutus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Gianfranco Lanzelti; 2. Tomas Castelazo; 3. Prof. Harry Messel. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">G. gangeticus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Adam Jones; 2. Matei Bat' ha; 3. Justin Griffiths. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">T. schlegelii</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Gerald & Buff Corsi 2. Ruchira Somaweera; 3. Jean-Philippe Delobelle; 4. Haplochromis</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">. </span><br />
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T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">URTLES:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1. illustrator Nobu Tampara; 2. illustrator Stanton F. Fink; 3. Frederic A. Lucas (1902).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Turtle Species:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span><i><span style="color: purple;">S. odoratus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. John White; 2. Laurent Lebois. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. insculpta</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Karelj (Czech Republic); 2. D. Parer & E. Parer-Cook. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">A. mutica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Suzanne L. Collins; Composite Photo, Top & Bottom: Chris Smith; 2. Kathrin Holzer (Hobby Garten). </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. chitra</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. John C. Murphy; 2. courtesy of Malaysian Conservancy; 3. source: PhotoSynthesys.com; 4. Wachira Kitimasak PhD. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">P. megacephalum</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Cindy Yuen; 2. Zig Leszcznski; 3. Vladimir Motycka. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">A. spixii</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. source: empireoftheturtle.com 2. courtesy of Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society 3. Stefano Reda 4. source: WWW.sauria.info 5. Richard Lunsford 6. Mario Sacramento.</span><span style="color: magenta;"> </span><i><span style="color: purple;">C. fimbriatus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">source: perpustakaan.blogspot.com</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> 2. source: modn.konin.pl (Poland); 3. Jose Cassimiro; 4. source: infotortuga.com (DFA). </span><i><span style="color: purple;">H. spinosa</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. Saed Cantas (source: Reptile forums UK); 2. source: empireoftheturtle.com; 3. courtesy of Satucita Freshwater Turtle conservation; 4. courtesy of Satucita Freshwater Turtle Conservation. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">M. temminckii</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">- 1. source: Texasturtles.org; 2. Ranita Anita; 3.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Mitch Ray source: Project Noah. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>D. elephantina</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1. source: visualphotos.com; 2. Vassil; 3. Stanislav Krejcik; 4. Ralph Nieuwbor; 5.Martin Harvey. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>N. depressus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- 1& 2 Brett Leis; 3. Purpleturtle57</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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A</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">MPHISBAENIANS: </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. source: kingsnake.com; 2. Ivan Sazima; 3. Cristiano Nogueira; 4. Dr. Zoltan Takacs; 5. source: kingsnake.com; 6. Gleomar F. Maschio, Ana Prudente, Tami Mott; 7. Johannes Muller.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amphisbaenian species: <i><span style="color: purple;">B. cinereus</span><span style="color: blue;">- </span></i><span style="color: blue;">1. Lars D. Bruun; 2. Frank Deschandol; 3. J. Gallego; 4. Jorge Martinez Huelves. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">A. fuliginosa</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Mark O'Shea; 2. Karl J. Franklin (UTA); 3. source: encyclopedia.mitrasites.com; 4. Christopher V. Anderson. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">A. alba</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Marina Marchezini; 2. source: The Herpetofauna of Trinidad & Tobago; 3. Jason & Jenna Weigner; 4. source: Digimorph.Org; 5. Jose Ramon Marrufo. </span><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">D. zarudnyi</span><span style="color: blue;"><i>-</i> source: alsirhan.com; 2. Mark O'Shea; 3. source: Digimorph.Org; 4. </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nate Kley;</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 5. S. Alfarraj, source: mekshat.com. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">A. anguliceps</span><span style="color: blue;">- 1. source: inseparabile.com (Italy) 2. H.G. Cogger & R.G. Zweifel; 3. source: englishclass.jp (Japan). </span><i><span style="color: purple;">T. wiegmanni</span></i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Gabri Mtnez; 2.&3. Luis Garcia-Cardenete; 4. Milan Korinek; 5. Gabri Mtnez. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">B. biporus</span></i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Theodore J. Papenfuss (1982); 2. source: bluechameleon.org; 3. courtesy of Universal Images Group; 4 Bill Love. </span><i><span style="color: purple;">Rhineura floridana</span></i><span style="color: blue;">- 1. Bill Love; 2. Kenneth Krysko; 3. Peter G. May; 4.source: superstock.com</span>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXMGFOee60xGbVgPkLHiS0eFKfmp3u4xgoN9LmSH2qXUi23sDzs0nve9vJ5VKJm7-XzzYNqZZwvrKBenzWt9utKjAs0B10-W66WyEuj5kuy3gn_j0zFT7K10DqFcZF4q0A_pLF0TcCeQq/s1600/barbie+conquers+fear+snake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXMGFOee60xGbVgPkLHiS0eFKfmp3u4xgoN9LmSH2qXUi23sDzs0nve9vJ5VKJm7-XzzYNqZZwvrKBenzWt9utKjAs0B10-W66WyEuj5kuy3gn_j0zFT7K10DqFcZF4q0A_pLF0TcCeQq/s320/barbie+conquers+fear+snake.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My daughter's Barbie conquered her fear of snakes...</td></tr>
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-71027850466633298352011-08-27T15:08:00.000-07:002014-03-28T12:41:41.035-07:00About Me<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidR_8dBFyj3qqdALP67jftNDrA04xVBwvrsr7EtvdeIkKncU8jQw7Qeizu-b3qjZLOqcjtZyWe95exNZB-tSpSImQ8foGv_E4e8mUgI_Agx37bxsIWI7YRGFD6ayrqi4a-HwoTQ7__3yC/s200/Herpetology+is+not+a+disease.jpg" height="200" width="170" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT ME</b></span></div>
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Although I have never pursued a formal career in herpetology I have always collected and extensively studied the critters all my life, starting at the age of four. Never though did I keep them as inventory stock for sale or as captives. I simply collected, observed then released them.<br />
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I was told once by a dear family member that I am no writer.<br />
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For some reason that comment didn't put the holster on my need to write.<br />
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On topics of interests, I feel we're all compelled to convey whether we're versed in oratory and writing skills or not. Getting the point across is tantamount to most of us. Further through correspondence, I would like to not only aid people in becoming more conscious and aware of nature, but too, understand the impact we humans have in and on this wonderful planet. It is a true stewardship of responsibility.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2Q5d0q6YIVDoNwgLn8z8_AfAMiK3kdEmq7DkeU3u6R02bN9nykbU_6EBQsowt3z9Fa9rOGwLroiZDMPk6laED2JxOoH2Db7EFGL4SXn5p-nbODHtXRWw2orUCMU-GEktO-A8Tm5tZi-c/s1600/BJ+Sudan2+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2Q5d0q6YIVDoNwgLn8z8_AfAMiK3kdEmq7DkeU3u6R02bN9nykbU_6EBQsowt3z9Fa9rOGwLroiZDMPk6laED2JxOoH2Db7EFGL4SXn5p-nbODHtXRWw2orUCMU-GEktO-A8Tm5tZi-c/s320/BJ+Sudan2+cropped.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me holding a rock python I found dead when working in Nigeria.</td></tr>
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In having a bachelors from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) majoring in geology with a minor in natural history, I have a career consulting in seismic geophysics and in environmentally compliant chemical coating formulations. I tell ya what, a lot of technical conveyance and verbiage has to be produced. Other than these mundane technical writings, reaching out with compassionate interpretation to people about nature, the physical world, animals and especially herpetology...gives credence to my core values.<br />
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I only have strong interests and a pure passion for these animals studied under herpetology and want to further understand their world in relation to my world. If you are similar in thought and these subjects drive you, I would like to hear from you.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFa5QMvjP_gnmQk-OxBncb8Dm2BHBFdNOvs9KWsJAUUWg7RZQ9aVMU1Sur4cH-mukACJ3n7W60x6Cr6A8Umi0OWusmYA1VjdKLZwDhskB_cAc-7g31pEashK_2lhx2fz6KeNAX42Pdf1Kz/s1600/phyton+sebae+Sudan+Dec+81.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFa5QMvjP_gnmQk-OxBncb8Dm2BHBFdNOvs9KWsJAUUWg7RZQ9aVMU1Sur4cH-mukACJ3n7W60x6Cr6A8Umi0OWusmYA1VjdKLZwDhskB_cAc-7g31pEashK_2lhx2fz6KeNAX42Pdf1Kz/s320/phyton+sebae+Sudan+Dec+81.jpg" height="320" width="163" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with <i>Python sebae</i> in Sudan.</td></tr>
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Please do holler here to pronounce your knowledge, or later go back to the homepage and click on the shared stories button. Give voice to your opinions and experiences of snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, etc...<br />
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I will do my utmost best in responding timely to questions and stories.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTKab9EzQlhGx-uLiYquBJIh8b5UCcOWj_TRzJTs9fRAIqRG6M5mCWEzrty01nhQ-ryLl4ohG0mUJPz3QMcOMkoXnz0LE2DOu_THKXaeStmyJY9a712KaUAvheQ6kZnSzw-OvnvMOgD0NV/s1600/pet+snake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTKab9EzQlhGx-uLiYquBJIh8b5UCcOWj_TRzJTs9fRAIqRG6M5mCWEzrty01nhQ-ryLl4ohG0mUJPz3QMcOMkoXnz0LE2DOu_THKXaeStmyJY9a712KaUAvheQ6kZnSzw-OvnvMOgD0NV/s320/pet+snake.jpg" height="203" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Texas Bullsnake I kept as a pet in my apartment in Texas.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebkm_it7bWm8-B6nKbu1uM-AaHr9hv59KScGMPPkwRntrqkHvDJoqNl3Aj4bzyK707EGyc1Sa8hF-RmLpdVxGeOTl0jkf6TW1BqhFq6WM4sP27shk9SSlPXdfP5v0_hmK0YRhSnaQ3o1U/s1600/Jesus+lizard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebkm_it7bWm8-B6nKbu1uM-AaHr9hv59KScGMPPkwRntrqkHvDJoqNl3Aj4bzyK707EGyc1Sa8hF-RmLpdVxGeOTl0jkf6TW1BqhFq6WM4sP27shk9SSlPXdfP5v0_hmK0YRhSnaQ3o1U/s320/Jesus+lizard.jpg" height="320" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caught my first Jesus lizard in Belize</td></tr>
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Now for the shocking revelation: I have a wife whom I love and adore. She is the best of mother bears when it comes to our children's welfare...<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWqVWUdr3xDdRAiFsOBc9re7dVI5K9-EzCMll-pe9m885l6Zukx0GyKZzbp2gJg5tLshnNwLAYPOGNpnPQ-pOeIlX2EU8v8jwbEnhneqU_rg_ItZtBNVnzAxArm_Z3lPiaXDFKDRLxztf/s400/Get+that+snake+outta+here.jpg" height="363" width="400" /></div>
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<a href="http://www.theshticks.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><b>Source</b></span></a></div>
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...but the woman is absolutely a concrete walled road block when it comes to having animals in or around the house.<br />
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Even an usual pet, such as a dog or cat is a no-no to her, much less my fancies to have a snake or two to hang around the environs. She is insistent on her feelings that no other animal under any circumstance is to have its DNA molecules intermingling with her family's under one rooftop.<br />
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So, for all you Herpers out there that have a more forgiving spouse...live dang it all, live...<br />
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And go head-on, don't be shy. Ask a question, share your story and/or leave a comment in the comment sections.<br />
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Regards,<br />
BJAB.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-84797045713987530422011-08-27T06:10:00.001-07:002014-04-03T09:15:44.467-07:0010 Animals We Are Running Out Of & One We Did<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">10 Animals We Are Running Out Of & One We Did</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkm9V7hZjbufFbueakKLLUHJX0UCITAM1i61wOM70CB-TnGoAVlv3jL6bfFSDLroWW5SXBRFY93zuzveVuEGRa6HYaPUENONWJnzDgeEuzOJ6RhKOPKhzDh-ZNJO13LZ4Ni_DMbV4QRJXu/s1600/cowboy+snake+dude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkm9V7hZjbufFbueakKLLUHJX0UCITAM1i61wOM70CB-TnGoAVlv3jL6bfFSDLroWW5SXBRFY93zuzveVuEGRa6HYaPUENONWJnzDgeEuzOJ6RhKOPKhzDh-ZNJO13LZ4Ni_DMbV4QRJXu/s200/cowboy+snake+dude.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Five Endangered Reptiles:</span><br />
1. The Eastern Indigo Snake<br />
2. The Galapagos Land Iguana<br />
3. The American Crocodile<br />
4. The Beaded Lizard<br />
5. The Kemp's Ridley Sea turtle<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Five Endangered Amphibians:</span><br />
1. The Houston Toad<br />
2. The Greater Siren<br />
3. The Gliding Leaf Frog<br />
4. The Texas Blind Salamander<br />
5. The One-toed Amphiuma<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One Recent Extinction:</span><br />
1. The Golden Toad (last seen May 15, 1989; designated extinct since 2005)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxYweFaO27JHLTFawH_48vRHOJ4Fq6X0tIDT6FuN4NWMpeUdloeJRUzwHymTASpWmXsIePgNwpZCtV8QzP_DvGlRzROntYDkAlxO2rxPUZxjUEE9BZOMrv4ObBzNtWLRRxJ6pebH7iT9H/s1600/Bufo_periglenes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxYweFaO27JHLTFawH_48vRHOJ4Fq6X0tIDT6FuN4NWMpeUdloeJRUzwHymTASpWmXsIePgNwpZCtV8QzP_DvGlRzROntYDkAlxO2rxPUZxjUEE9BZOMrv4ObBzNtWLRRxJ6pebH7iT9H/s320/Bufo_periglenes.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bufo periglenes</i> ~ The Golden toad</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Photo: Charles H. Smith</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">With all Earth's animals divided into the two groups: invertebrate and vertebrate, 97% would be listed as invertebrates, leaving 3% as vertebrates, including hominids, in which man belongs to. Of all the planet's species, including here also plants and microbes, 99.9% are extinct leaving only 0.1% of species as currently living. Presently, scientists have described 1.7 million living species. Man directly, or indirectly has accelerated extinctions. Some do argue that as long as there is life, extinction will be a normal occurring event and is natural irregardless of man. This may be true, but for modern Holocene times since man has made his appearance, the rate of species extinctions is estimated to be 500 times more than the 'background' averaged natural extinction rates ever since life first recorded itself in the evolutionary time scale here on planet Earth.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1613821131"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Extinction is a scary word, for it means gone forever...</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1613821131"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">All species are tied into nature, for it not only courses through us, nature is within us. No matter how much effort is involved in perceiving man as separate, through his/her religions, societies, cultures or thoughts...man is simply another species strand connected to the web of Earth's life. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Once a species becomes extinct, a part of life's whole web becomes unraveled...that one now missing link weakens the whole of the chain. At times this could be good for the surviving species, but for the most part, it is a negative impetus for the survivors. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As far as the conservation status of species goes, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the main global authority. The loosely knitted system of common, uncommon, </span><span style="font-size: large;">threatened, endangered, rare, and extinct has been superseded. Major species assessors and governmental entities supply IUCN with updated and pertinent data on all organism species. The major aim of the IUCN is to have each and every Earth species reevaluated every five years with, among others, the concerning factors of current species populations, disease, the health of ecological biomes and habitat destruction. Once a species population is threatened it is listed as red.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The IUCN Red List chart supersedes all other categories and is as follows:</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" class="vertical-navbox nowraplinks" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0.4em; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: right; color: black; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-top: 0.2em; text-align: center; width: 22em;"><tbody>
<tr><th class="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.4em; padding-right: 0.4em; padding-top: 0.2em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_status" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Conservation status">Conservation status</a></th></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0em; padding-right: 0.3em; padding-top: 0em;">by risk of extinction</td></tr>
<tr><td class="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: green; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: white; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 0.2em;">Extinct</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.2em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Extinction">Extinct</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_in_the_Wild" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Extinct in the Wild">Extinct in the Wild</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: green; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: white; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 0.2em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatened_species" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Threatened species"><span style="color: white;">Threatened</span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.2em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critically_Endangered" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Critically Endangered">Critically Endangered</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Endangered species">Endangered</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerable_species" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Vulnerable species">Vulnerable</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: green; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: white; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 0.2em;">At lower risk</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.2em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_Dependent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Conservation Dependent">Conservation Dependent</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Threatened" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Near Threatened">Near Threatened</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_Concern" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Least Concern">Least Concern</a></td></tr>
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<b>See also</b><br />
<strong class="selflink" style="white-space: nowrap;">IUCN Red List</strong><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_Conservation_of_Nature" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="International Union for Conservation of Nature">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a><br />
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<map id="ImageMap_1_858774236" name="ImageMap_1_858774236"></map><img alt="IUCN conservation statuses" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Status_iucn3.1.svg/240px-Status_iucn3.1.svg.png" height="64" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; vertical-align: middle;" usemap="#ImageMap_1_858774236" width="240" /></div>
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Regards,<br />
BJAB.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-50591399114655928872011-08-27T05:00:00.001-07:002014-01-21T10:14:01.467-08:00Herpetology Cartoons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Herpetology Cartoons</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=kwan16"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsr2Vj-1DS6hH6Su8nYCl_jfShyphenhyphenCWaGO8fm1KElK8ZrogP9dg0vhmRVfSQ8CO5g0qB_O0OeZq4MHrBXMBQoINGGBSgFtwSuYWc9pFeaa5eGYLWfo7d6eUX0e8hrZdOf3qRVYY7hbnNjLn/s320/ereptile+dysfunction.jpg" height="320" width="302" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=kwan16"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><b>Source</b></span></a></div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgs6BWaPrFppjC26T0kXMXB7wqmW144kheCI6MycT_ZNimWDVatB0gLtWAddVasHlKdfNYtTOGgfkNKRgg6PMAxAXaS0C8Y5VJ1TQezetBM-joBWHhmuAjqYI1iMN5V8xYUZ3C-TkCcjGB/s320/bit+my+lip.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></div>
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<a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=mgon302"><b>Source</b></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpD5qWVvv0VLbPzgAGLX1V82FDU42cmbJxVQHDw3VrnuCJcnM6TIFe-plXjlKXGhLXq5IpAptrp7gKINdQV0qoYqnVFfs_NePIzYGlu_2dey0aEu-HsTdxPvDOqaCXZHVVi7fSwfpBtNa/s1600/Turtle+Psyche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpD5qWVvv0VLbPzgAGLX1V82FDU42cmbJxVQHDw3VrnuCJcnM6TIFe-plXjlKXGhLXq5IpAptrp7gKINdQV0qoYqnVFfs_NePIzYGlu_2dey0aEu-HsTdxPvDOqaCXZHVVi7fSwfpBtNa/s320/Turtle+Psyche.jpg" height="320" width="285" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=jhan873"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Source</span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kZoUMub2yRAMb9PqoWnAfNbkeVQNrenZFlx2-6nt4TrpIYW_EnopmHOXYb9cnvq_3g1Z6-1x62tD4fp-i6XklawVNk78lCSi0wrVpgp4YqNrczDM5GAo-biqrKnOJIkZWdPVLuvRT22b/s1600/Ogga+the+Cane+Toad.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kZoUMub2yRAMb9PqoWnAfNbkeVQNrenZFlx2-6nt4TrpIYW_EnopmHOXYb9cnvq_3g1Z6-1x62tD4fp-i6XklawVNk78lCSi0wrVpgp4YqNrczDM5GAo-biqrKnOJIkZWdPVLuvRT22b/s400/Ogga+the+Cane+Toad.gif" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ogga the Cane Toad by Matthew James Taylor</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pEhK5dkPsyzsxiwQt11OlascIpG91JjtivxCl2n5C1bpqLoR5Xrz68MIzmpjq0jhWp-tVjU5JPnKIEljhE899KzetP970IvavMaElyeO9qPm6oWDZ8KwXkukTKwrHEbW39PQ9grIxPDD/s1600/21395.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pEhK5dkPsyzsxiwQt11OlascIpG91JjtivxCl2n5C1bpqLoR5Xrz68MIzmpjq0jhWp-tVjU5JPnKIEljhE899KzetP970IvavMaElyeO9qPm6oWDZ8KwXkukTKwrHEbW39PQ9grIxPDD/s320/21395.jpg" height="294" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqDNcsHMHbusnYzJv-vTJt7wcD-GvQal5tU9KpVLL1v5AfVVSO4HWpC1TxZpJi5XeksKH9kghIGblektnyFQd_AZn95x-7agRWdptXyXfb2BzXTQ2hwjbcMTE5s79hbNCxguoBqJX0i-1/s1600/21396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqDNcsHMHbusnYzJv-vTJt7wcD-GvQal5tU9KpVLL1v5AfVVSO4HWpC1TxZpJi5XeksKH9kghIGblektnyFQd_AZn95x-7agRWdptXyXfb2BzXTQ2hwjbcMTE5s79hbNCxguoBqJX0i-1/s320/21396.jpg" height="276" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqu1eZY5oaToyRKmtKLo1RqKjnsUcZRx_L1faY5vTlM3R9VheMZi7XnuEeyntjdT42ufxEinRb4r8-tDTFvjfsKSSKVVAeQvVjX0pf8R5t_TvSgtTUYkD7zXEuA0Tc9zALxrYmyXA-eFwD/s1600/22861.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqu1eZY5oaToyRKmtKLo1RqKjnsUcZRx_L1faY5vTlM3R9VheMZi7XnuEeyntjdT42ufxEinRb4r8-tDTFvjfsKSSKVVAeQvVjX0pf8R5t_TvSgtTUYkD7zXEuA0Tc9zALxrYmyXA-eFwD/s320/22861.jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcFceytxoB-AXpOgJSRAzPJbYGwKW-_HCSdJTLy1FEjwUldT1S0F4l7O56Nx-NZE7tyBJcv26RP7Ni7QJpruB4l7XQZNcXCr4MqbmSyOtnprX-FfMeEa1XeOn-2gqf3TlSXjMrTij34G8/s1600/21306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcFceytxoB-AXpOgJSRAzPJbYGwKW-_HCSdJTLy1FEjwUldT1S0F4l7O56Nx-NZE7tyBJcv26RP7Ni7QJpruB4l7XQZNcXCr4MqbmSyOtnprX-FfMeEa1XeOn-2gqf3TlSXjMrTij34G8/s320/21306.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwp_GiS5OsCbnQE2kvS7y2UIeSGSmaxpXX11E6Qe-i1QPkXoWcr_P1ibYuVsf-rX1k-_e90iLc6fl3CFZSA3uCwGlUvEibMjmDesLdkKYa-E8QSuYEaXv9Faiu52UGHFseV9dGPbi1twi/s1600/21364.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwp_GiS5OsCbnQE2kvS7y2UIeSGSmaxpXX11E6Qe-i1QPkXoWcr_P1ibYuVsf-rX1k-_e90iLc6fl3CFZSA3uCwGlUvEibMjmDesLdkKYa-E8QSuYEaXv9Faiu52UGHFseV9dGPbi1twi/s320/21364.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQjmf138fFdmo8WGOeD_WN0f9pBNDJp2TSddOwHVy7Ppv5HW50HsOULDTBfGpfYyWA5raVKXZW1IpSp4CEQNgUb4K0Dt1PN0asWDRc7oDbtdS49w48JfwDqBndXcx7h2XTnjBR40gS5Aa/s1600/jco0374l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQjmf138fFdmo8WGOeD_WN0f9pBNDJp2TSddOwHVy7Ppv5HW50HsOULDTBfGpfYyWA5raVKXZW1IpSp4CEQNgUb4K0Dt1PN0asWDRc7oDbtdS49w48JfwDqBndXcx7h2XTnjBR40gS5Aa/s320/jco0374l.jpg" height="232" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By: Jack Corbett<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">The last six cartoons are by the most revered Jack Corbett, a cartoonist extraordinaire who hails from Oregon. As myself, he developed a keen curiosity and interest in reptiles and amphibians at a very early youthful age. After awhile, he quit collecting them for keeps, but then started drawing and making cartoons out of them. He continued the pursuit of his cartoons, which are now recognized throughout herpetology circles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Above is just a sampling of his character's wit in drawing cartoons. Myself personally, feel that the last frog/toad cartoon is a pure stroke of genius. If you would like to see what else Jack offers you can contact him at: </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">CORBETT9011@comcast.ne</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">t</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">or view his store website at:</span> </span><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/jackcorbettcartoons">http://www.zazzle.com/jackcorbettcartoons</a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYuWLkPEu1N5wLhSeai15b0z6ghF3mE_XkCZLWX1yDE2SvNS6XxtnLb3sDbeZeHB_1fm61MnYWuKHnDRq7rJMYL9fCt3PkeXn_KtL14jSoh-8yPIOQpC2Ku8Ap2rRRpl9O9YsIqlnnDXT/s1600/img944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYuWLkPEu1N5wLhSeai15b0z6ghF3mE_XkCZLWX1yDE2SvNS6XxtnLb3sDbeZeHB_1fm61MnYWuKHnDRq7rJMYL9fCt3PkeXn_KtL14jSoh-8yPIOQpC2Ku8Ap2rRRpl9O9YsIqlnnDXT/s1600/img944.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">My own hand at doodling</td></tr>
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B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198031413598207019.post-39169401291537660862011-08-27T02:24:00.000-07:002014-01-17T09:53:23.798-08:00Herpetology is Not a Disease<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Herpetology is Not a Disease...</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">...it is the scientific name for the study of reptiles and amphibians (including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians, amphisbaenians, frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, sirens and caecilians). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif;">If never before exposed to the study, perhaps your thoughts referred to herpes, which is the viral disease. The prefix </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">herpe</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif;"> means 'creeping things' in </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Greek and is the root of both terms.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Although many among us have an innate morbid fear of snakes and all things that crawl with scales, or hops with warts or jumps with slimy skin; the study of these animals under the title herpetology we now see is not in reference to disease, but merely is a route to a better understanding of the animal kingdom overall and thus ultimately...ourselves...</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Regards,</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">BJA </span></span></span><br />
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</span></span>B.J. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137540326984581238noreply@blogger.com0