Rich Glor
r011g326's blog
Is This Treefrog a Long Way from Home?

We recently received the photograph above from Steven Hallstrom, who owns and operates a sustainable farm just north of Tonganoxie. These photographs are of a frog that Steven observed in abundance earlier this season. Steven notes this frogs apparent similarity with the Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii) and is wondering if this identification could be correct given that this species isn't known from anywhere even close to Kansas (it occurs only in a few isolated patches of pine barren habitat along the Gulf and eastern coasts of the United States).
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Two New Monitor Lizards from the Philippines

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Salamander Lounging on Porch in Johnson County

A resident of Gardner, in Johnson County, KS just sent us this image of a salamander. They photographed this salamander after catching it on their porch on Oct. 23, 2014 (which was a pretty cold night). Who knows the species and its life history?
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Legless Lizard on a Levee

A Lawrence resident spotted the snake seen above on a walk along a levee about 4km S of downtown Lawrence. In this resident's opinion, the pattern and headshape were somewhat atypical for a Kansas snake. Who knows what species it is?
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Visit from Brant Faircloth

over beers at a reception for
visiting LSU professor Brant Faircloth.
Brant Faircloth, LSU Professor and co-inventor of the protocol for sequencing ultraconserved elements that is now widely used by KU researchers, is in town this week for a seminar and workshop. This afternoon (Wednesday, Oct. 22nd) at 4PM, Rob Moyle will be hosting a workshop by Brant on UCE probe set design. This workshop will be held in the 7th floor conference room of Dyche Hall. If you don't have access to the 7th floor of Dyche Hall, please contact someone in the BI for assistance or meet on the steps to the 7th floor at 4PM.
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Special Delivery
The sister of KU Herpetology student Karen Olsen took the photograph above at her house in Florida. Anybody know the species of snake that was in her mailbox?
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Undergraduate Snake Enthusiast Rescues Ratsnake
We just received this report from undergraduate herper Kyle Atkins-Weltman about a recent snake encounter in Lawrence: "As I came back to my apartment from campus, someone from the maintenance crew saw me and asked me if I was the "snake guy," and when I said yes they told me they had found a snake while cleaning an empty apartment and asked if I could identify it. It turned out to be an absolutely BEAUTIFUL Pantherophis emoryi - cute little bugger, too! My guess is that it got in there to escape cold nights or perhaps there were some tasty vittles lying around. I'm going to release it back to the wild in a minute."
Tag Cloud:
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herps
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informatics
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Leonard Krishtalka
Leo Smith
museum
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Scott Travers in the Solomon Islands
PhD student Scott Travers just reported back from the Solomon Islands, where he is in the midst of a National Geographic funded expedition. As you can see from the image above, Scott has already seen one of earth's most amazing lizards - the prehensile tailed skink (Corucia zebrata). Because it is so unusual, Corucia is one of those species that just about every herpetologist knows about. They have amazing tails capable of movement in nearly any dimension, a topic that was the focus of one of my first scientific papers. To the right of Scott, you can see Rafe trying to recreate Scott's moment using a plastic lizard.
Tag Cloud:
A. Townsend Peterson
administration
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antarctica2014
Caroline Chaboo
Chris Beard
entomology
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Herpetology
herps
ichthyology
identification
informatics
invert-paleo
Leonard Krishtalka
Leo Smith
museum
Natural History Museum
ornithology
paleobotany
Paul Selden
Philippines
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Philippines 2010
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Rafe Brown
research
ssar2015
vertebrate-paleontology
Biodiversity Blogs
Identify This Johnson County Basement Invader
The 8-10" long snake pictured above was just found in a basement in rural Johnson County, Kansas. Anybody know what it is?
Tag Cloud:
A. Townsend Peterson
administration
Andrew Short
antarctica2014
Caroline Chaboo
Chris Beard
entomology
fossil
grant
Herpetology
herps
ichthyology
identification
informatics
invert-paleo
Leonard Krishtalka
Leo Smith
museum
Natural History Museum
ornithology
paleobotany
Paul Selden
Philippines
Philippines 2009
Philippines 2010
Philippines 2012
Rafe Brown
research
ssar2015
vertebrate-paleontology
Biodiversity Blogs
Herpetology Lunch Begins for Fall Term
We are having a great start with our Friday Herpetology Lunch meetings for the Fall term. Our lunch on Friday, August 29th included 18 individuals representing seven countries (USA, Brazil, India, Malaysia, China/Tibet, Ecuador, Taiwan). Curator Rich Glor discussed how to assist with development of the division's new website and curatorial assistant Matt Buehler shared some examples of problematic specimens recovered during an assessment of the snake collection.
Tag Cloud:
A. Townsend Peterson
administration
Andrew Short
antarctica2014
Caroline Chaboo
Chris Beard
entomology
fossil
grant
Herpetology
herps
ichthyology
identification
informatics
invert-paleo
Leonard Krishtalka
Leo Smith
museum
Natural History Museum
ornithology
paleobotany
Paul Selden
Philippines
Philippines 2009
Philippines 2010
Philippines 2012
Rafe Brown
research
ssar2015
vertebrate-paleontology