A slightly hap-hazard episode looking at some brave lizards facing down an ever present snake menace. Lizards have to stop nest raiding some-how and a couple of recent papers shed some light on how. We also have a well armoured Species of the Bi-week. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Pike, D. A., Clark, R. W., Manica, A., Tseng, H.-Y., Hsu, J.-Y., & Huang, W.-S. (2016). Surf and turf: Predation by egg-eating snakes has led to the evolution of parental care in a terrestrial lizard. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 22207. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22207

Sherbrooke, W. C. (2017). Antipredator Nest Guarding by Female Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma): Iguanian Parental Care. Herpetologica, 73(4), 331–337. https://doi.org/10.1655/Herpetologica-D-17-00028.1

Species of the Bi-Week:

Avila-Pires, T. C., Nogueira, C., & Martins, M. (2019). A new ‘horned’’ Stenocercus from the highlands of southeastern Brazil, and redescription of Stenocercus tricristatus (Reptilia: Tropiduridae)’. Zoologia, 36, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.36.e22909

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Huang, W.-S., Greene, H. W., Chang, T.-J., & Shine, R. (2011). Territorial behavior in Taiwanese kukrisnakes (Oligodon formosanus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(18), 7455–7459. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101804108

Origgi, F. C., Schmidt, B. R., Lohmann, P., Otten, P., Meier, R. K., Pisano, S. R., ... & Gaschen, V. (2018). Bufonid herpesvirus 1 (BfHV1) associated dermatitis and mortality in free ranging common toads (Bufo bufo) in Switzerland. Scientific reports, 8(1), 14737. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32841-0

Willson, J. D., & Winne, C. T. (2016). Evaluating the functional importance of secretive species: A case study of aquatic snake predators in isolated wetlands. Journal of Zoology, 298(4), 266–273. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12311

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

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