r011g326's blog

A resident of Lenexa, KS took the photographs above of a lizard on the side of his house in mid-August of 2014. It looks somewhat like a lizard dressed in a spiderman costume. Who can identify the species? Is this a species that has ever been reported in Kansas previously? Is it likely to be a permanent resident of our state?

Undergraduate researcher Catherine Chen recently presented the results of her research at the Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Session in the KU Union. Catherine's work investigated stereotypical display behavior in the lizard Anolis distichus.

A friend of KU Herpetology just sent the photos above and noted that the snake in these images "fell off a roof at ocean adventure" in Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines. Anybody know what species it is? Both photos copyright William Ross from Ocean Adventure, Subic, Luzon.

Dominican naturalist, photographer, and professional guide Miguel Landestoy visited KU Herpetology for several days in early June to view specimens and records from the late Albert Schwartz. Miguel is working to track down some of Schwartz's most unusual discoveries and came to KU primarily to familiarize himself with a few species that are particularly well-represented in Schwartz's material, but rare elsewhere. Check out Miguel's photos on Flickr.

A friend of KU Herpetology in the Endowment office would like to know if we have any thoughts on the identify of the snake whose shed skin was found by some kids heading into a hole near her garage. The sender notes that while the images are reasonably well-lit and in-focus compared to the photos we usually receive that the basket weave chair may have been included to challenge us. Best guess wins a point in the KU Center for Herpetological Accuracy's Annual herp identification contest.

On Thursday, July 10th, KU Herpetology curator Rich Glor hosted a field trip by undergraduate students in the Kansas State Summer REU program under the direction of Drs. Bruce Snyder and Ted Morgan. The long-running K State REU program is analagous to KU's own REU program in ecology and evolutionary biology and has seen completion of a range of interesting undergraduate projects and publications, many relating to biodiversity science.  The members of the K State proved an impressive and engaged group with plenty of good questions. 

The snake photograph above was just taken by a Lawrence resident near the intersection of Kasold and Princeton streets. The snake is clearly a black ratsnake (Pantherophi obsoletu), but why is it so kinky? Did it just swallow a string of ping pong balls? Snake expert and former KU Herpetology trainee Harry Greene offered one possible explanation: "My hunch is that it's root mimicry, a last ditch effort at crypsis--but then I've been accused of seeing mimicry everywhere!"

The herpetology division regularly receives requests for help with snake identification. In most cases, this involves a snake that somebody thinks is venomous on or near their home. We recently received a call from someone near Lawrence who believed they had a Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) in their basement. We asked for a photo and description of the snake, but initially received only the blurry ventral photo above. What do you think? Is this a Copperhead?