Snakebite is a worldwide phenomenon which has dramatic consequences for human health. But how does the ecology of snakes influence its incidence and severity? We first look at snakebite globally, and then focus in on a famous island. Our Species of the Bi-Week is a recently described tree-dwelling serpent. 

FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com

Main Paper References:

Longbottom, J., Shearer, F. M., Devine, M., Alcoba, G., Chappuis, F., Weiss, D. J., … Pigott, D. M. (2018). Vulnerability to snakebite envenoming: A global mapping of hotspots. The Lancet, 392(10148), 673–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31224-8

Yue, S., Bonebrake, T. C., & Gibson, L. (2019). Human-snake Conflict Patterns in a Dense Urban-Forest Mosaic Landscape. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 14(1), 143–154.

Species of the Bi-Week:

Branch, W. R., Bayliss, J., Bittencourt-Silva, G. B., Conradie, W., Engelbrecht, H. M., Loader, S. P., … Tolley, K. A. (2019). A new species of tree snake (Dipsadoboa, Serpentes: Colubridae) from ‘sky island’ forests in northern Mozambique, with notes on other members of the Dipsadoboa werneri group. Zootaxa, 4646(3), 541–563. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4646.3.6

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Akani, G. C., Eyo, E., Odegbune, E., Eniang, E. A., & Luiselli, L. (2002). Ecological patterns of anthropogenic mortality of suburban snakes in an African tropical region. Israel Journal of Zoology, 48(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1092/NL55-UK13-XXQ9-NCYE

Devan-Song, A., Martelli, P., Dudgeon, D., Crow, P., Ades, G., & Karraker, N. E. (2016). Is long-distance translocation an effective mitigation tool for white-lipped pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris) in South China? Biological Conservation, 204, 212–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.10.013

Fourcade, Y., Besnard, A. G., & Secondi, J. (2018). Paintings predict the distribution of species, or the challenge of selecting environmental predictors and evaluation statistics. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27(2), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12684

Wilson, K., Hanks, E., & Johnson, D. (2018). Estimating animal utilization densities using continuous-time Markov chain models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9(5), 1232–1240. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12967

Other Links/Mentions:

https://theconversation.com/unsuitable-antivenoms-are-being-sold-in-africa-costing-lives-83658

Habib AG, Abubakar SB. (2011) Factors affecting snakebite mortality in north-eastern Nigeria. Int Health, 3, 50–55.

Iftime, Alexandru and Iftime, O. (2014): Thanatosis and autohaemorrhaging in the Aesculapian Snake Zamenis longissimus (LAURENTI, 1768), Herpetozoa 26, 3/4, 173-4. 

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

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