Table of contents for February 2024 in Practical Reptile Keeping

A new species of tarantula with a bizarre horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back was recently discovered in Angola a largely underexplored country located at the intersection of several Afrotropical ecoregions in the southwest of the continent. Collected as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, which aims to uncover the undersampled biodiversity in the entire Okavango catchment of Angola, Namibia and Botswana, thereby paving the way for sustainable conservation in the area, the new arachnid has been described by Dr John Midgley and Dr Ian Engelbrecht. Although the new spider (Ceratogyrus attonitifer sp.n.) belongs to a group known as horned baboon spiders, the peculiar protuberance is not present in all of these species. Moreover, in the other species – where it is present – the structure is…

Eleven previously-unknown species of rain frog have just been described by two scientists from the Museum of Zoology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. Discovered in the Ecuadorian Andes, the species have been characterised in detail on the basis of their genetic, morphological (physical appearance) and ecological features as well as their calls. This is a particularly rare event, because of the number of new species that have been found at one time. An amazing total In the case of vertebrate animals generally, most scientific papers only list between one and five new species, because of the obvious difficulty in finding them and the huge amount of work involved in describing each one. Indeed, to put this Ecuadorian discovery into perspective, the last time that a similar number of…

Daniel Hughes liked to catch lizards when he was a child, but never imagined that he would be catching and discovering new species of chameleons when he grew up! Working for his doctorate within the University of Texas at El Paso's (UTEP's) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology programme, he has now discovered three new species of chameleons. This reptilian trio, previously believed to be a single species, were found in different parts of the Albertine Rift area of Central Africa. “We are hopeful that the formal descriptions of these three endemic chameleon species will be used to increase conservation awareness and encourage protection efforts across these irreplaceable regions,” says Hughes. The specimens were collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo mainly by Hughes’ mentor Dr Eli Greenbaum, associate professor of…

S nakes are apex predators,and notably help to keep the world's rodent population in check. If we took this particular group of reptiles out of the food chain, it is doubtful whether other rodent feeders could contain rodents at a level where they did not cause major destruction to crops, become serious pests, or spread disease on a large scale. But, just because snakes are apex predators, that does not mean they themselves are not under threat of becoming prey for other predators. In such cases, they go from being an apex predator to intermediate prey. Let us look at some of those animals which view snakes as food; and there is a considerable number which are willing to pit themselves against snakes - even those that possess deadly venom!…

Tortoises are funny animals. Found over most of the warmer areas of the world, with the notable exception of Australia, they inhabit a huge range of habitats from arid deserts to tropical forests and consequently have a wide range of diets. They are pretty much exclusively vegetarian, but some will eat grasses, others leafy weeds while a small number buck the trend and will scavenge or hunt invertebrates, although admittedly the fastest thing they can catch is probably likely to be a snail! Add to this the fact that they are trapped inside a shell that requires large amounts of calcium for its construction and maintenance and creates all sorts of issues for thermoregulation, and you have an animal that has exacting requirements for the keeper. Unsurprisingly therefore, one of…

A new tree frog species has been discovered during a recent expedition to a remote tabletop mountain at Cordillera del Cóndor, a largely unexplored range in the eastern Andes on the border between Ecuador and Peru. “To reach the tabletop, we walked two days through steep terrain. Then, sweating and exhausted, we arrived at the tabletop where we found a dwarf forest. The rivers were blackwater, having a high content of organic material, and these frogs were living here, on branches of brown shrubs similar in colour to the frogs’ own. These amphibians were difficult to find, because they blended in so well with their background,” explains Alex Achig, one of the field biologists who discovered the new species. A strange arrangement Curiously, the frog has an extraordinary, enlarged claw-like…

A prehistoric crocodile that lived around 180 million years ago has been identified – almost 250 years after the discovery of its fossilised remains. The skull that was found during the 1770s in a Bavarian town has finally been recognised as the now-extinct species Mystriosaurus laurillardi, which lived in tropical waters during the Jurassic Period. For the past 60 years, it was thought the animal belonged to a similar species, known as Steneosaurus bollensis, which existed around the same time. Palaeontologists have now identified the crocodile by analysing fossils unearthed in the UK and Germany. The team, which included Edinburgh scientists, also revealed that another skull, discovered in Yorkshire in the 1800s, belongs to Mystriosaurus laurillardi. “Unravelling the complex history and anatomy of fossils like Mystriosaurus is necessary if we…

Until recently, the black knobby newt (Tylototriton asperrimus) was regarded as a common species inhabiting a large area stretching all the way from central and southern parts of China to Vietnam. Much like most of the other members of the genus Tylototriton, colloquially referred to as crocodile newts or knobby newts, it has been used for centuries by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. Given its wide area of distribution, there was relatively little concern about its future survival. In fact, it is still regarded as Near Threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature‘s Red List. However, over the past decade, the increasing amount of research conducted in the region has revealed that there are, in fact, a number of species that were previously unknown to science, in the…

FEATURE | AXOLOTL My introduction to keeping reptiles and amphibians many years ago started with axolotls. I remember spotting some for sale in a local pet store in the aquarium section. They were the strangest animals that I had ever seen! I was fascinated and immediately knew that I needed to acquire one to learn more about these strange amphibians. This was well before the days of the internet and smart phones, so back then, the only information that I could access came via a book about keeping reptiles and amphibians which had a small section covering the basics of axolotl care. After reading the book and purchasing the axolotl and a suitable set-up, I came home with my axolotl and he stayed in my care for more than 10…

Further information Want to know more about this group of creatures and their care? Then order a copy of our special guide to amphibians today. See the inside back cover for further details. The colourful species, which can grow up to 20cm (8in) long, originates from Yunnan province in China, where it inhabits ponds and slow-moving stretches of water. Up until 1995, it was considered to belong to the same species as the Himalayan crocodile newt (T. verrucosus), although it is much more brightly coloured and less aquatic in its habits. As with many amphibians, its conspicuous appearance serves as a warning, with regard to its toxic skin secretions, which protect it from predators. Nevertheless, large numbers of emperor crocodile newts are being caught and dried on a regular basis,…

Pumpkin toadlets (Brachycephalus ephippium) are tiny, brightlycoloured and poisonous frogs that can be found in the Atlantic forest region of Brazil. During the spawning season, they can be encountered during the day, wandering around the forest floor, producing soft buzzing calls in search of a mate. An international team of researchers led by NYU Abu Dhabi's Sandra Goutte began studying the acoustic communications of these miniature frogs. The scientists then discovered that the amphibians were actually deaf and could not hear their own mating calls, so they were forced to think again. They started to search for alternative visual signals that the frogs might use to communicate with each other instead. Unexpectedly, when they shone an ultraviolet (UV) lamp on the frogs, their backs and heads glowed intensely. The mechanism…

A new green pit viper species belonging to the genus Trimeresurus has been discovered during a herpetological expedition to Arunachal Pradesh in the Himalayan region of India. The team members have now named the newly discovered snake scientifically as Trimeresurus salazar after Salazar Slytherin, the fictional character of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, who is a Parselmouth wizard, credited with being able to talk with serpents, co-founder of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the founder of the House of Slytherin. Explaining the reason behind their decision, the scientists have also accorded it the common name of Salazar's pit viper. The Trimeresurus pit vipers are colourful serpents, distributed widely across east and southeastern parts of Asia. In total, the genus is comprised of at least 48 species, with 15…

The hognose family The western hognose is a member of the Heterodon genus. In total, however, the hognose complex consists of three genera, consisting of 13 species and six subspecies, Genus Heterodon: *Mexican hognose snake - Heterodon kennerlyi *Heterodon nasicus - Western or plains hognose snake - Heterodon nasicus nasicus - Dusty hognose snake - Heterodon nasicus gloydi *Eastern hognose snake - Heterodon platirhinos *Southern hognose snake - Heterodon simus Genus Leioheterodon: *Speckled hognose snake - Leioheterodon geayi *Malagasy giant hognose snake - Leioheterodon madagascariensis *Blonde hognose snake - Leioheterodon modestus Western hognose snakes are the most popular rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous) snakes in the entire hobby – to such an extent that at present, other similar species have been overlooked. The truth of the matter is that the hognose group is…

In terms of big cats, the jaguar rules the South American rainforests, but nevertheless, if you look closely enough, you may find that there are tigers lurking in these jungles too. They come in the form of a tree frog with spectacularly striped patterning, which may be encountered on vegetation above small pools, ponds and swamps; the only clue as to its presence is the abrupt call emitted by competing males attempting to attract a female. The tiger-legged monkey frog (Phyllomedusa tomopterna) is a medium-sized nocturnal tree frog that occurs throughout lowland forests up to an altitude of about 500m (1640ft). It can be encountered over a large region of northern South America, from Ecuador across to Brazil, with the southerly part of its range extending into northern Bolivia. Despite…