Biodiversity, including small predators such as dragonflies and other aquatic bugs that attack and consume parasites, may improve the health of amphibians, according to a team of researchers. Amphibians have experienced marked declines in the wild around the world in recent decades, the team added. Leer más.

Lizards and other reptiles are not normally considered venomous, but a number of lizard species actually do produce and use venom. The most classic venomous lizard is no doubt the gila monster — a heavy-bodied lizard. As the first in the world, a group of researchers has made a comprehensive description of the proteins in the venom which can prove to be relevant in connection with developing new types of drugs. Leer más.

Tropical turtle fossils discovered in Wyoming reveal that when Earth got warmer, prehistoric turtles headed north. But if today’s turtles try the same technique to cope with warming habitats, they might run into trouble. Leer más.

We describe a new species of krait (Elapidae, Bungarus) from Baluchistan, Iran and that differs from all species of Bungarus except its closest relative Bungarus sindanus by having 17 dorsal midbody scale rows. Leer más.

Amazonia contains one of the world’s richest biotas, but origins of this diversity remain obscure. Onset of the Amazon River drainage at approximately 10.5 Ma represented a major shift in Neotropical ecosystems, and proto-Amazonian biotas just prior to this pivotal episode are integral to understanding origins of Amazonian biodiversity, yet vertebrate fossil evidence is extraordinarily rare. Leer más.