Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

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AndyKraemer
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Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by AndyKraemer »

Hello all,

About a year ago I started a postdoc in Christine Parent's Lab at the University of Idaho, where I would be studying the evolution of the endemic Galápagos land snails. As an avid herper, I was very excited to see the endemic herpetofauna of the archipelago! At this point I have been able to explore 10 of the islands to varying degrees. Here are some of the species I have seen:

First, out of respect to my study system, here are some of the endemic snails of Galápagos:

ImageNaesiotus tortuganus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageNaesiotus nux by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageNaesiotus sp. by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Now on to the good stuff!

First, we have found four species of Giant Tortoise in the wild:

ImageChelonoidis porteri by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageChelonoidis microphyes by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageChelonoidis duncanensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageChelonoidis guentheri by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


And the last of a fallen species:

ImageThe Loss of a Lineage by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Next up, Lava Lizards! In this group the females are the beautiful ones (kinda like me and my wife! Amiright?)

ImageMicrolophus duncanensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageMicrolophus indefatigabilis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageMicrolophus indefatigabilis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageMicrolophus bivittatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageMicrolophus grayii by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageMicrolophus duncanensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Geckos:

ImagePhylodactylus duncanensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImagePhyllodactylus galapagoensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Can you say 'crypsis'?

ImagePhyllodactylus cf. galapagoensis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageGonatodes caudiscutatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageLepidodactylus cf. lugubris by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Snakes:

ImageAntillophis cf. steindachneri by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImagePseudalsophis cf. biserialis by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Two herps with one shot! Can you find the second one?

ImagePseudalsophis cf. slevini by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Iguanas:

ImageConolophus subcristatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageConolophus pallidus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageAmblyrhynchus cristatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageAmblyrhynchus cristatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageAmblyrhynchus cristatus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


Wait, you aren't supposed to be here!! (non-native herps count all the same though)

ImageScinax quinquefasciata by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


A couple avian herps:

ImageLaterallus spilonota by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr

ImageSpheniscus mendiculus by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr


And some local fireworks:

ImageGalápagos fireworks by Andy Kraemer, on Flickr



I'm not very confident about the snake IDs, but I did my best. Let me know if you folks have any questions about the herps I've seen, my research down there, or if you'd like to go herping a little closer to home. I hope to return again in January. My herping goal on that trip is a few more tortoise species and hopefully a Conolophus marthae. Fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Andy
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JEDDLV
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by JEDDLV »

Just Awesome Andy, thank you
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Antonsrkn
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by Antonsrkn »

Incredible! It must be absolutely amazing to get to spend so much time on the Galapagos, I have been to Ecuador 2 times so far and still haven't managed to make it out there. Going for trip #3 in Dec/Jan and still looks unlikely that I'll visit this time. I wasn't aware of the endemic land snails of the Galapagos, however I'm not surprised and would have guessed any snail species out there must be endemic.

Any chance you're looking for a short term field assistant? ;)

I'll be returning to soak in this post more later but now gotta run to a seminar!
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Jeroen Speybroeck
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

Well, that was great! I am usually not too crazy about species-poor destinations, but this archipelago is of course as iconic as they get... Thanks for posting!
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TravisK
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by TravisK »

Talk about a bucket list destination. You lucky bloke!

Do you know how and approximately when Scinax quinquefasciatus was introduced? Most things, besides rats, were brought there intentionally from what I have read not that those 'intentions' weren't bad or wrong.
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Muchobirdnerd
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by Muchobirdnerd »

Nice work. I know this is a herp forum but I'm definitely jealous of the Galapagos Crake!!
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AndyKraemer
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by AndyKraemer »

Thanks all!

I wish I had more money for field assistants! Our equipment gets pretty heavy in the equatorial sun...

The frogs were first recorded in 1998. The hypothesis is that they arrived unintentionally with shipments of produce from the mainland (the main port supplying Galápagos is Guayaquil, which is smack dab in the middle of the frog's native range). Just about every introduction in Galápagos has harmed the native species. They are really doing a number on the native snails, but there is still hope! Baby tortoises of the species endemic to the small island of Pinzon were discovered for the first time in 150 years just last year after rats were irradicated - we also found more snails than pre-irradication, in case you were wondering :)

The crake was very exciting for us too! Even though we spend a lot of time in their habitat, we rarely get to see them. I was lucky enough to chance upon a particularly curious individual on top of Sierra Negra. Interestingly, some think those birds are instrumental for snail interisland colonization.

Cheers,
Andy
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nightdriver
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by nightdriver »

Those shots bring back some great memories :thumb:

I'm inspired to dig out my old slides, crank up the Kodak projector, and terrorize my kids :lol:

-nightdriver
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Hadar
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by Hadar »

Thanks Andy for the great post! You brought back a wave of memories from when I lived on San Cristóbal. It has been 8 years since I left the islands but I'm still in contact with my friends and host family there. It is really sad what is happening there in regards to over development and lack of protection to the environment. Several of the kids I became friends with on the islands have been hired by National Geographic or the Charles Darwin Foundation and are constantly posting amazing photos on Facebook, one of my favorites was a Galápagos snake eating a lava lizard. You got to see an amazing amount of diversity for the Galápagos.

Cheers, Heather
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AndyKraemer
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by AndyKraemer »

Hadar wrote:You brought back a wave of memories from when I lived on San Cristóbal.
Thanks everyone! I agree that the Galápagos is going through some rough times right now, but there's still hope. Heather, how long were you on San Cristóbal? I would love to spend more time exploring that island.
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Hadar
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by Hadar »

AndyKraemer wrote:
Hadar wrote:You brought back a wave of memories from when I lived on San Cristóbal.
Thanks everyone! I agree that the Galápagos is going through some rough times right now, but there's still hope. Heather, how long were you on San Cristóbal? I would love to spend more time exploring that island.
I lived there for a semester while studying marine biology at GAIAS. We traveled to other islands but the campus is on San Cristóbal. San Cristóbal had the best oranges I've eaten anywhere in the world. It is one of the few island there that you can still get lost on. Before I left we got to spend some time at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon. That too was amazing. I've gone back to the Galápagos with my family to visit but it is never long enough. Right now I have a 10 year VISA to Brazil so any side trips will probably be there.
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TJA
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by TJA »

So many great animals -- of course the "classics" are awesome, but I'm partial to those lava lizards!
NACairns
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by NACairns »

Wow Andy, great post. The photography is beautiful and I'm impressed with the lizard diversity. Are the Lepidodactylus lugubris native? Do you know the ploidy level of that population? What is your project looking at?
Thanks for sharing.
Nick
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AndyKraemer
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by AndyKraemer »

NACairns wrote:Are the Lepidodactylus lugubris native? Do you know the ploidy level of that population? What is your project looking at?

Nick
Hi Nick, thanks for your note! The L. lugubris were introduced accidentally: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazon ... ists/5284/

I couldn't tell you their ploidy, and I actually don't know much about herp research currently going on in Galápagos. I'm lucky to hear quite a bit about the conservation efforts when I'm there (which are a bit more 'splashy' and get a lot of press), but we researchers working the trenches for basic knowledge tend to keep more to ourselves when down there.

We are working on several projects at the moment, but basically the snails we study are the most diverse terrestrial group down there. We are trying to understand how they have adapted to their environments, diversified into ~80 species along the way, and colonized just about every island in the archipelago. Finally, part of my work is to look at extinction in the group too - extensive habitat degradation as a result of introduced species and agriculture has coincided with a complete disappearance of about 30% of the species in 40 years. I want to know why some species disappeared, while others are fine. This project is being replicated in Hawaii too, with the goal of getting at some broader patterns of modern extinction.
NACairns
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Re: Herping Galápagos (pic heavy)

Post by NACairns »

Hi Andy,
Thanks for the darwin foundation checklist, some friends are headed to the Galapagos as tourists and I've forwarded it on to them. Being parthenogenic makes L. lugubris a pretty good initial invader so I'm not surprised to hear they are introduced, they are pretty good island hoppers in their own right so I was hoping they might have been "native".

Your researcher sound very cool.
Best,
Nick
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