Field Herp Forum

That is a very nice assembly of critters. I lived in MA from mid 1966 to mid 1968 (elementary school) and saw seven of the species that you portrayed. Decades later I am in Louisiana, and I can tell you that the marbled and spotted salamanders, and peepers, are very different in color and pattern do...

How does a guy get a real copy? Amazon only has kindle.
Jeff

hcarlton I watched the video with interest, never having been further south than Orlando. Your populated-places and tourist-spots locales didn't get the excitement meter much beyond 'ho-hum mode', but that is expected in disturbed ports-of-call. At least you showed us what to expect when one steps o...

Zeev This post is fantastic. Every picture has a story, and they all remind me of my few experiences in southern California in the 1960s-1980s. The brown drought is awful, and I know what you mean about it should be green. Owen and I herped during the horrible 1977 drought in central California, whi...

mrfrasier Pygmies are the one reptile of the Pacific Northwest that I have not seen. My Dad lives in Medford (I'm in Louisiana), and on my first of two driving trips to visit him I planned to see a Pygmy. I located an area in southern Lake County that was plastered with localities. To top that, an i...

Were any garter snakes out on the spadefoot night?
Jeff

Not an adder, though.

Vipera seoanei?

Krismunk
Finding an Adder lying out on a gray day reminds me of finding Massassaugas up north. You need the right spot, right conditions (cold and windy), and keep looking.

On the springtime in California theme...
A Northern Pacific Rattlesnake in the Diablo Range in the late 1980s.

Björn

I am
1- very interested in identification of Bornean Calamaria, and
2- a person who does not have a cell phone.
But, I trust that your app will prove to be very useful.
Thanks,

Jeff

Mirza Thanks very much for this interesting trip. That is amazing footwear, blue and yellow crocs for strolling about the mangroves! The mangroves and root projections, and mud, look like our cypress swamps in Louisiana. Also like Louisiana in summer one doesn't see much until dark. One difference i...

KS
I downloaded and magnified the photo, which in that view suggests Ouachitas based on an apparent yellow block behind each eye (though greatly reflected in the upper turtle).
Jeff

No herping down here - a cold front today plunged temperature to 67. You got 58 views. Considering that 55 were by you, the other three people didn't have a response. I have never sought salamanders in Arkansas, but when I strike north to the Ouachitas I shall make note of some of the species I woul...

Porter
A sample from Wright and Wright --


Here is a link to a paper on Lampropeltini phylogeny: https://sierraherps.com/wp-content/uplo ... _2009a.pdf

Jeff

Porter Exact, proportional drawings of head scales of all U.S. snake genera plus many species in each are in the introduction to Wright & Wright (1957) Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Snakes-United-States-Canada/dp/0801482143/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=...

Porter
Believe it or not, it's Aphonopelma johnnycashi, and here is a link to the monograph in which it is described, along with localities: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/6264/

Jeff

I tried to find on-line photos of northwestern Woodhouse's toads with no luck, so I hope you can get a copy of Leonard's book. I have not seen an ontogenetic series of woodhousei from the intermountain west, so I don't know what changes occur in cranial morphology and when they occur. My observation...

This is my favorite sidewinder art, from the epilogue of Raymond B. Cowles' "Desert Journal: Reflections of a Naturalist", published in 1977, two years after Cowles' passing. I left the wording on the page for pertinence after nearly 50 years of prescience.

GH Those are the nice finds - the ones that take a little side effort to find and then the reward. Decades back I would occasionally find brush lizards if I banged into a creosote just right, but years later discovered that they are on every telephone pole in the Mojave! On a trip to the Mojave in 1...

I looked at the anolis photo a couple of weeks back but didn't have an answer. It's of the Norops clade (which includes sagrei as Kelly postulated), and could be any of the three listed in the original message based on general morphology and locality. But, my knowledge of these anoles ends there. In...

After a much more careful look I believe the first toad is woodhousii and the second 'could' be boreas. I've seen grown boreas boreas in N California, Washington and Montana, but have a backup of having seen hundreds of small boreas halophilus in California. I've seen woodhousii/fowleri across their...

mid-September is usually poor in the Mojave, so your finds may be routine for current time of year and conditions.
Jeff

It does take some growth to get the cranial crests to appear - expect them next spring.
Your toads are typical Woodhouse's,
and, thanks for the update - much appreciated.
Jeff

I very much enjoy this post - a good smattering of southwestern herpetofauna - some common, some not. I'm happy to see the Sonoran Horned Lizard and Mohawk Dunes fringetoe. I've seen one of each, but not when they were known to be distinct species, in 1978 and 1989, respectively. I got photos of nei...

Jon In case you haven't received any private input on your Arizona trip: desert is best in the morning, but go uphill during the heat of the day. For bugs, bring a sheet and black light. Hit little-traveled blacktops at night for snakes, centipedes, and maybe a mountain lion. Also, follow any rainst...

1 Smilisca baudini
4 Dendropsophus microcephalus ?
5 Leptodactylus melanonotus
6 Incilius valliceps
7 Scinax staufferi ?

Maybe some help here...

Jeff

Nathan I enjoy your writing style - kept me reading through to the end rather than periodically breaking off to work on manuscripts. First, a 'giant' pygmy, wow! "Smoke hung like an airborne blanket in the room" Up in Natchitoches I once requested the cheapest room at a motel. I think mayb...

I've posted two lengthy replies to your travelogue, and both have 'timed-out', so I guess I will resort to composing a manuscript, and pasting it to 'reply'. Better hurry before this reply disapp....

The final location of our trip was in northern Georgia to find the very last species of Desmognathus that we needed to check off our lifer list: the dwarf black-bellied dusky salamander. Last December Dave Beamer and Alex Pyron showed me a new species of dusky salamander that they had caught a coup...

Look like Woodhouse's to me as well.
Jeff

Yes on the spadefoots. Let the water draw down over the next couple of weeks and they should confirm as metamorph spadefoots.
Jeff

Seeing this comment reminded me of talking to my sister-in-law some years back and she was telling me that her colleague was on the Burma expedition. He told her that several members had expressed concerns over Joe's overly risky (in their eyes) behavior earlier in the expedition and said to each o...

Lateralis On the dead animal tangent: traps for reptiles can logistically (not legally) go unchecked for days, because reptiles can live for several days to weeks in such conditions. Rodents usually perish before 24 hours, which is unfortunate. I have operated scientific trap arrays for years, and t...

Richard Thanks for the report (though common) of multiple males courting a single, large female natricine. Your efforts thwarted a multiple-insemination event that could have resulted in a paternity lawsuit that may have boosted, astronomically, the career of Maury Povitch. As a serious aside -- put...

Off the ring carpet, onto the C coast garters In the stated area, the three-striped species lacking red are the Aquatic T. atratus and terrestrial T. elegans. The former has wee bit wider and yellower stripes than the latter. The relative length of the gulars/chin shields is informative: rear ones l...

Plain-bellied Water Snake, Nerodia erythrogaster. The pale streak atop the crown and darkish bar extending back behind the eye differentiates it from the Common Water Snake, N. sipedon.

You are welcome, and thanks for checking!

Jeff

I just received my $35 Amazon paperback. The paper quality and photographic reproductions are fine, and I am happy that it is 8.5 X 11 size, so the text and photos don't require a magnifying glass. Keep them coming Kevin!
Jeff

Thanks Kevin, just ordered a copy.
Jeff

Thanks Scott, for the detailed list. Hopefully you can add some new species to the local fauna.
Jeff

Scott This is an interesting assortment of snakes that don't get much 'press' in the world snake literature. Beijing is at the same latitude as Philadelphia, hence the low species number. The Gloydius seem to be a real taxonomic puzzle - in the past eight years the number of species has increased fr...

Noah I've never been to the tropics, so I have to vicariously travel with the aid of more daring types as yourself. The Nothopsis is a very strange snake! If it's of any import, I think your finger Dendrophidion is a neonate Erythrolamprus epinephelus juvenalis, and your "not sure of" frog...

Trivial problem if you take countermeasures. Use a metal stake, a short length of chain or cable, and a pair of stainless swivels (like for marine fishing). Ever seen a leg-hold set? Same idea. "Don't let it get away." Jimi is right. We stake the ones that are along rivers, and really sti...

Place large sheets of plywood half in and out of water, summer/early fall, and check mid January to early April.

Jeff

Oh, and Porter, the 'X"s through the eyes in your illustration exemplified graphic humor. Well done! Without extensive verbiage, I was able to conclude that both were dead.
Jeff

I encountered a similar dilemma between two Speckled King Snakes in Louisiana. Differing from your case, the kings' mouths were locked sideways. like a handshake, rather than inverted. Also, the kings being constrictors, the two were locked into a tight ball that was dissembled only when I tossed th...

Folks I'm compiling historical records of the California Tiger Salamanders in the South San Francisco Bay Area, and am looking for any non-vouchered records. I have some 1960s-1970s information, mostly showing sites within current subdivisions that once had tiger sal populations. I know of a few ext...

Kurt I remember the Xeno as well [Quah, E.S.H., Grismer, L.L., Jetten, T., Wood, P.L., Miralles, A., Shahrul Anuar M.S., Guek, K.H.P. & Brady, M.T. (2018b) The rediscovery of Schaefer’s Spine-jawed Snake (Xenophidion schaeferi Günther & Manthey, 1995) (Serpentes, Xenophidiidae) from Peninsul...

Wow Kurt, are you an Anomochilus magnet or have you figured out their niche?
Very impressive...
Jeff

Wow! Nice photography of the usual plus rare critters of southern Arizona. Having lived there and seen these I can appreciate the great photography, and the work that is necessary to find some of these reclusive animals. The gila monsters bursting forth is wonderful, along with so many others. My la...

Merry Christmas, as well, to all.
This year the temerarious peregrinations of the coronavirus left me with few alternatives: according to my employer I could either work from home or do field work! Oh heavens...!

Jeff