Vipers, vipers everywhere. In this episode we muddle our way through some venom research, and learn about the methods employed working out how widespread bushmasters are. Species of the bi-week is a frankly outstanding forest dweller from Costa Rica. 

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FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

González-Maya, José F., Fernando Castañeda, Rufino González, Jesús Pacheco, and Gerardo Ceballos. 2014. “Distribution, Range Extension, and Conservation of the Endemic Black-Headed Bushmaster (Lachesis melanocephala) in Costa Rica and Panama.” Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9 (2):369–77.

Roodt, Adolfo Rafael de, Leslie Victoria Boyer, Laura Cecilia Lanari, Lucia Irazu, Rodrigo Daniel Laskowicz, Paula Leticia Sabattini, and Carlos Fabián Damin. 2016. “Venom Yield and Its Relationship with Body Size and Fang Separation of Pit Vipers from Argentina.” Toxicon 121 (October):22–29.

Species of the Bi-Week:

Doan, Tiffany M., Andrew J. Mason, Todd A. Castoe, Mahmood Sasa, and Christopher L. Parkinson. 2016. “A Cryptic Palm-Pitviper Species (Squamata: Viperidae: Bothriechis) from the Costa Rican Highlands, with Notes on the Variation within B. Nigroviridis.” Zootaxa 4138 (2):271.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Dias, Lourdes, Mariana A.P. Rodrigues, André L. Rennó, Alessandra Stroka, Bruna R. Inoue, Patrícia C. Panunto, Anibal R. Melgarejo, and Stephen Hyslop. 2016. “Hemodynamic Responses to Lachesis Muta (South American Bushmaster) Snake Venom in Anesthetized Rats.” Toxicon 123 (December):1–14.

Fenwick, A. M., Gutberlet, R. L., Evans, J. A., & Parkinson, C. L. (2009). Morphological and molecular evidence for phylogeny and classification of South American pitvipers, genera Bothrops, Bothriopsis, and Bothrocophias (Serpentes: Viperidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 156(3), 617-640.

Maritz, Bryan, Johannes Penner, Marcio Martins, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović, Stephen Spear, Laura R.V. Alencar, Jesús Sigala-Rodriguez, et al. 2016. “Identifying Global Priorities for the Conservation of Vipers.” Biological Conservation 204:94–102.

Quillfeldt, Petra, Jan O. Engler, Janet R.D. Silk, and Richard A. Phillips. 2017. “Influence of Device Accuracy and Choice of Algorithm for Species Distribution Modelling of Seabirds: A Case Study Using Black-Browed Albatrosses.” Journal of Avian Biology 48 (12):1549–55.

Rogalski, Aymeric, Christoffer Soerensen, Bianca op den Brouw, Callum Lister, Daniel Dashevsky, Kevin Arbuckle, Alexandra Gloria, et al. 2017. “Differential Procoagulant Effects of Saw-Scaled Viper (Serpentes: Viperidae: Echis ) Snake Venoms on Human Plasma and the Narrow Taxonomic Ranges of Antivenom Efficacies.” Toxicology Letters 280 (June):159–70.

Other Links/Mentions:

Birds deliberately spreading fire – Bonta, Mark, Robert Gosford, Dick Eussen, Nathan Ferguson, Erana Loveless, and Maxwell Witwer. 2017. “Intentional Fire-Spreading by ‘Firehawk’ Raptors in Northern Australia.” Journal of Ethnobiology 37 (4):700–718. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-37.4.700.

Orca talking, The Guardian – https://youtu.be/hqB1jRVw7Bw

Bushmaster video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIERce2M30

King cobra vs reticulated python photo – https://www.facebook.com/TheReptileReport/posts/1469028556542349

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com