Kerry Cobb

Several members of the KU herpetology division joined the Kansas Herpetological Society recently for their biannual herp survey which took place near Russell, Kansas from April 24th to the 26th. Russell is in the heart of post rock country. This term comes from the presence of many old limestone fence posts built by the early settlers to this prairie. With few trees, the abundence of limestone just beneath the surface provided an excellent resource for building barbed wire fences. Much of this same rock, having been exposed, cracked and weathered, provides excellent hiding spots for an array of snakes, lizards, and frogs not found in Lawrence, KS.

Rafe Brown and Jackson Leibach search beneath exposed rock along a hillside

Just one of the many neat finds. This milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) from just a couple of hours drive to the West looks a bit different than the ones we are used to finding around Lawrence. 

KU Herpetology received this photo recently of a lizard found inside of a shipping container arriving from the Philippines. Can you identify this species? It's unlikely that this lizard did in fact come from the Philippines. How it got into a shippment of goods from Southeast Asia is quite a mystery.

The KU Herpetology Division was in attendance at last night's Sexy Science event held at the Natural History Museum.  The event, which was very well attended, invited attendees to explore the suggestive side of natural history and hosted representatives from Herpetology as well as Entomology and Ornithology. Matt Buehler, Andressa Bezerra, Manuella Folly, Jackson Leibach and myself were there with a display of reptile and amphibian specimens which typify some of the fascinating reproductive biology in these organisms. For example did you know that some species of lizards are able to clone themselves? That's right. And you might be surprised that they can be found here in our own backyard. The New Mexico whiptail of the American Southwest is one well studied example. The entire species is composed of females which reproduce by cloning themselves. What makes them even more interesting is that the entire species is the result of a hybridization between two closely related species, the little striped whiptail and the western whiptail. This cloning phenomenon may actually occur more frequently that we thought. Species that typically reproduce through sex such as the copperheads, which are quite common around Lawrence, Kansas, have shown they have the ability to clone themselves as well.  Why they do so is still a mystery. A mystery that if solved may tell us something about the evolution of sex in animals.  

Matt Buehler talking to some visitors about reproduction in frogs.

Jackson Leibach pointing out the hemipenes of a reticulated python

News has been circulating recently of work conducted by Dr. Rafe Brown along with other members of the Herpetology Division, which was focused on Philippine wildlife trafficking in Manila's black markets. The story even shared the top of KU's facebook page with news of president Barack Obama's visit to the campus last week. Follow the link to read all about Brown's unexpected findings during a 5 year investigation into Manila's illicit wildlife trade http://bit.ly/15552Sa 

PhD student Scott Travers recently shared an article from the Solomon Star featuring a 2 week biodiversity research expedition he took part in while leading his own expedition to the island nation. This two week trip was organized by Ecological Solutions Solomon Islands and along with Travers was composed of a multinational team representing a number of fields in the biosciences.