A recent study compared the components of venom samples from eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus) and eastern coral snakes (Micrurus fulvius) and they observed a curious occurrence (Contrasting Modes and Tempos of Venom Expression Evolution in Two Snake Species by Margres et al. 2015). Leer más.

We describe a new species of Tylototriton from northwestern Vietnam and northern Thailand based on morphological and molecular evidence. Tylototriton anguliceps sp. nov. is distinguishable from all the other congeners by the bright to dark orange markings on the head, body, and tail, prominent dorsal and dorsolateral ridges (crests) on the head, skeletal connection between maxillary and pterygoid, and unique mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Leer más.

In a recent post, we discussed the description of two new Costa Rican anoles, but didn’t draw attention to the fact that all members of the A. pachypus species complex exhibit dewlap dichromatism, with the dewlaps of males and females differing within a species. Shown here are differences in A. tropidolepis (top) and A. pachypus (bottom). Leer más.

Badiane A, Garcia-Porta J, Cervenka J, Kratochvíl L, Sindaco R, Robinson MD, Morales H, Mazuch T, Price T, Amat F, Shobrak MY, Wilms T, Simó-Riudalbas M, Ahmadzadeh F, Papenfuss TJ, Cluchier A, Viglione J, Carranza S. Zootaxa. 2014 Jul 9;3835:33-58. Ir al enlace.

Pablo BURRACO, Rosa ARRIBAS, Saurabh S KULKARNI, Daniel R BUCHHOLZ, Ivan GOMEZ-MESTRE. Current Zoology. 2015. Glucocorticoids play a key role in mediating stress responses in vertebrates. Corticosterone (CORT) is the main glucocorticoid produced in amphibians, birds, and reptiles, and regulates several metabolic functions. The most common methods for quantifying CORT are competitive binding immunoassays: radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). RIA has been broadly used since the 1980’s but it requires radioactivity. Leer más.