And the CofC Herpetology Class Mascot is....

Congratulations to our new class mascot, Hyla cinerea, our abundant and charismatic green treefrog!


Hyla cinerea was selected to serve as our class mascot because it's a local, lowcountry species that we've seen in the field and, in many cases, outside of class.


In the event that Hyla cinerea is unable to complete its duties as class mascot, its term will be completed by the first runner-up, Alligator mississippiensis.


Alligator mississippiensis is another species we've had the pleasure of seeing in the field. Alligators are our only crocodylian species and a conservation success story.


Thanks for all of your entries, thanks for a great semester, and happy future herping! (A. Welch, SC)

I am KING....Eastern Kingsnake that is. Mascot is mine.

I say the Eastern Kingsnake should be our mascot! Snakes throughout history have been used as a symbol for many things in many cultures and in many different countries. In Pharmacology, a snake is seen on its symbol to demonstrate healing. In Hinduism, snakes are a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Through evolution, snakes have been able to form a limbless body that is unique among many animals, yet being limbless does not impair it to be useless but instead are quiet talented in using its body for many physical movements. Another is, they are one of the few species that pretty much can be found in all continents except for the North Pole and Antarctica, meaning it has the ability to survive very well in many diverse environment. Many physicists have studied a variety of snakes to better understand their ways of landing when falling from great heights without any injuries and their ability to be excellent swimmers, in order to help apply these mechanisms to the human world. In the Fashion World, they are seen as being exotic, beautiful creatures, with many of the top designers sculpting fine and luxurious costume-jewelry depicting bodies of snakes. It is a "mysterious" creature that is often misunderstood by a lot of people, but has many powerful and strong talents within it, as well as, having such a rich symbolic history in its past and even in present day.

Now, of course we could use any snake species, but I have a high respect for the Eastern Kingsnake in particular due to it being a non-poisonous snake and has the ability to eat Copperheads and other rattlesnakes. Its body is immune to the venom of pitvipers and that is just astonishing. So ha power to the Eastern Kingsnake!! (Michelle Hou, SC)

Class Mascot

As much as I think captain planet here should be our mascot, I have to pick the American green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) instead! I think this should be our mascot because they are a common SC species and really guys, who doesn’t love a little green tree frog? They also show a lot of things that we learned this semester. For example, cutaneous respiration, toe pads, posture to reduce water loss, waterproof waxing, legs for jumping and climbing, and many other adaptations that we learned about this semester. I think the green tree frog is a great candidate because it is local and most people recognize it.

Jeremy Frank

Campaign for Class Mascot

For those of you who were in lab with me you may have picked up on the fact that ambystomatid salamanders are my favorite herps, and I'm certain Dr. Welch knows this for sure. My bias runs deep with these extraordinary animals, so it seems fitting that I nominate one of them as our class mascot.

The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) would make an excellent mascot, and was adopted as the state amphibian of South Carolina in 1999.

Since its inception into this illustrious position, the spotted salamander has been showing up all over the state providing children with lessons in science, grad students with thesis projects, and other amphibians and reptiles with fashion advice and gossip about the best local hangouts, such as the Francis Marion National Forest and Santee State Forest. Their ancestral life history and biphasic life style gives them the knowledge of both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, making them the most obvious well rounded candidate in this campaign.

Vote for the spotted salamander!

(Ryan M. Wenzel, Charleston, SC)

Our class mascot should be the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta. This large oceanic turtle would be the perfect mascot because it's often thought of as being wise due to its long life. Loggerhead sea turtles can live from 30-62 years. This class has made all of us wiser when it comes to the field of herpetology. Plus, this turtles is totally stoked about being the mascot, just look at his face!

(Lauren Jindracek, SC)

Tiger Salamander

My uncle is an ecologist and about a year and half ago he was doing a study on Barred tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium) in Oklahoma. While he was there he was able to get me a larvae which I have now had the pleasure to watch metamorphosize and grow into a now large 8 inch adult. These guys have a black and yellow pattern that extends upward from the belly to the back. Like all mole salamanders they like to remain in burrows or under things and are rarely seen except during breeding season. These salamanders have huge appetites and feed mostly on worms and grubs, however I’ve found anything that they can fit in their mouth is fair game, mine has even taken baby mice. (Alex Hovey, SC)

black racer

It was a sunny, warm day when we took our class field trip to Ion Swamp trail in Francis Marion State Park. And within 10 minutes someone spotted a black racer (Coluber constrictor). Being familiar with these snakes, I knew it would not be there for long because they are extremely fast. So I quickly grab it by the tail and reeled it in, while managing to get a nice bite. Black racers are quite common to the area. These snakes are predominantly black both on their ventral and dorsal sides with a white chin. (Alex Hovey, SC)

City Stroll

One warm night I decided to take a stroll through the city of Charleston seeing if I could find any reptiles or amphibians. As I rounded a corner of one of the buildings I caught a flash of movement on the building wall and I went in for a closer look. What I found was a pale looking lizard which I later identified as a Mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus). These lizards are not native to the U.S. and its speculated that they got here inadvertently on cargo ships. This one I caught was about 4 inches. These lizards have large eyes and broad toe pads that extend almost the whole length of their toes. They are usually a paler color with bumpy, rough skin. After identifying him I placed him back on the wall and continued on my walk. Next I headed over to Stern center gardens. As I was walking through the gardens I heard a rustle in the leaf litter. I shined my flashlight in that general area where I heard the noise. And after a quick scan I found the culprit: An American toad (Anaxyrus americanus). I identified it as an American toad because it had two large warts in each of its largest dark spots and because its parotoid gland was connected to the eye ridge by a spur. This individual happened to have a light middorsal stripe which may or may not be present in this species. After a few pictures, I released the toad in the same area where I found it. (Alex Hovey, SC)

Extra-credit deadline: Wed noon

Any comments or new posts appearing before noon on Wed, May 4, will be considered for extra credit (as described in previous posts).

Good luck wrapping up the semester!
-AW

GO GATORS GO!--The American Alligator: Class Mascot

In my opinion, I think that the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) should be our classes mascot. It makes perfect sense--they are strong and determined animals, possessing unique adaptations for their environment, and were once a federally endangered species until they recovered and came back in numbers. To add on to this already fascinating list, these reptiles can exceed 60 years--longer than alot of humans. While they may be territorial and aggressive animals, they are an extremely important part of the environment in which they live. These gators have a tendency to dig holes that hold water during droughts obviously making them "Green" or conservation friendly, pretty neat if you ask me!

Fun facts you ask? When Spanish sailors visited the New World they thought that the alligator was a huge lizard, naming it el lagarto meaning 'the lizard." English sailors took this name as allagarter and over time it became the name we know today--alligator!

While it may seem as though alligators have an extremely slow metabolism due to large body size, these magnificent animals can exceed speeds of 3omph that come and go in short bursts--WATCH OUT!

(Samantha Reeves, Charleston SC)

Candidate for Mascot: Eastern Spadefoot Toad

The Eastern Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus Holbrookii) would just love to be nominated as the Herp Class Mascot! I've spoken with Earnest (featured below), and he has asked me to be his campaign mangager. Of course, I agreed right away. Over the course of the semester, we have been digging around looking for herps. No one knows digging better than Earnest, who has his very own spades built into his cute little froggy feet... (hence the genus Scaphiopus: skaphis is Greek for "shovel or spade", and pous is Greek for "foot".) As a professional burrower, he is quite busy, but if chosen to be class mascot he will make appearances to support and encourage the students after heavy rains during the warm months of the year.
Just look into his vertically elliptical pupil, and you will know it was meant to be!




Look... He toadally DIGS herpetology!!!!!

Quenby Keisler

Dwarf Waterdog Mascot!

I think the lovely Dwarf Waterdog (Necturus punctatus) would make a most excellent mascot for Herpetology!

Amphibians are superb icons as they are the unfortunate canaries of many ecosystems - helping in the detection of pollutants and other things going awry in the environment. The dwarf waterdog's vibrant filamentous gills, smiling gape, and tiny eyes set in its large head would make for an admirable mascot in anyone's eyes!

(Channing Derry, SC)

I just really love them:)

As I was sitting on the stairs that lead into the backdoor of my house, I spotted another Anole shading himself from the sun under the lid of our garbage can. I captured a couple of great shots--Enjoy!!

(Samantha Reeves, Charleston SC)

Mascot: Hellbender

The Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is a very large salamander with a flat body and folds of skin. The Hellbender has a large head and tail and very small eyes. I think that this should be our class mascot, because we found a lot of salamanders in the field. This is personally my favorite salamander that we studied and in my opinion, the most memorable. Why not have a memorable mascot for a class full of great memories?

(Alexis Kocher)

Mascot: Albino Alligator

As we saw on our field trip to the SC Aquarium, they have an albino American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). I believe this one should be the mascot for our class. His name is Alabaster. The American alligator is a local species of great abundance. According to CBS News, there are only about 50 albino alligators in the world. I know two of these alligators are at Alligator Adventure in North Myrtle Beach, SC (or they used to be). I think it is really cool that 3 of about 50 are located in this area of South Carolina. There may even be more in aquariums and zoos in SC of which I am unaware.



http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6317438n

Mascot!

So I have always been a fan of the Komodo Dragon, Veranus Komodensis, because it's the world's
largest lizard and it's just so intense with its talons and backward slanting teeth. I personally think
it would make a fantastic mascot. I took the liberty of preparing this little advertisement, hope you enjoy. I enjoyed the class Dr. Welch, thanks!
Bess Pierce

leucistic hognose anecdote

I ran across this interesting story while stumbling around off the search tag 'leucistic pet snakes'.


http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85114

Evidently, leucistic (all white with black eyes, not albino) colored "morphs" have been bred domestically in Python regius at least once successfully.


(TJ Mistler)

Serpents, DNA, Shamanism, Magic, and Biology

a relavent tangent


This link is to a brief interview with anthropologist Jeremy Narby about his book The Cosmic Serpent. I highly recommend all curious people to check it out!


here is the link
http://deoxy.org/narbystew.htm


(TJ Mistler)

Class mascot

With all due respect to Clyde, I'm taking nominations for a class mascot.

Submit your nomination as a comment to this post. Include the common and scientific name, a photo, and explain why you think this species should be our class mascot. (Nominations must be for an amphibian or reptile, no matter how much fun your classmates may have been on field trips!)

All nominations will be considered for extra credit. After grades are turned in I will announce the winning mascot here. The nominator(s) will also be recognized, for bragging rights.

Good luck!

Ion Swamp

On 3-24-11 our class traveled to Francis Marion National Forest to visit the Ion Swamp. This swamp is a series of overgrown rice fields separated by a network of dikes. Here a student found an adult marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum). This salamander is very easily identified by its black and silvery/white marbled coloration. It is thick bodied and has costal grooves. No nasolabial groove is present like those in the family Plethodontidae. This particular salamander was about five or six inches long and was found in the woods bordering the swamp. Marbled salamander larvae are born in the water and metamorphose into terrestrial adults.

We also found a bunch of green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) all those that were found were adults and appeared to be females due to the lack of a dewlap. The anoles were about four inches long and all changed colors from brown to bright green over a few minutes after being caught. Some were caught in the forest bordering the swamp, but I caught a large one in the swamp. They are highly territorial so we made sure to release them very close to where they were found. (Logan Bryan, SC)

Healthy Population of Banded Water Snakes

Our class took a field trip to Dungannon Heritage Preserve in the ACE Basin on 4-21-11. The habitat we investigated was made up of mostly old rice fields turned to swamp. Here we found a vast amount of southern cricket frogs (Acris gryllus) which varied in morphology greatly. We also found four banded water snakes (Nerodia fasciata) all but one were caught in minnow traps. The fourth was found slightly under a log on the outskirts of a swampy area. We knew they were Nerodia due to their keeled scales and dark, thick bodies. They have rounded pupils and fairly slender heads, so we knew they were not cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Furthermore, their bellies were brightly colored with red and yellow alternating marks and faint yellowish bands were on their sides. Two of the water snakes we found appeared to be adults because they were a few feet long. Both of these had tapering tails posterior to their anus, so we deduced that these were females. One of the smaller ones was very aggressive biting one student in the hand and arm many times. The snake that was found under the log flattened its head to make itself appear like a venomous species.

In the same area we caught two of the water snakes (on a dike next to where an old rice trunk appears to have been) I saw a black snake. I yelled, “snake snake”, in hopes Keith, our snake enthused lab TA would come assist. Eventually, with the help of another student we cornered the snake and Keith caught it. The snake turned out to be a black racer (Coluber constrictor). This snake, like one of the water snakes, was very aggressive biting him on the hand and fingers many times. We determined due to the thickness of the tail that this snake was most likely a male. It was several feet long with a very thin body, and probably an adult. It was all black with a dark grey belly and smooth scales. (Logan Bryan, SC)

Kayak camping and Herping

Two Summers ago my girlfriend and I went kayak campign on Eschaw creek in the Francis Marion National Forest. Eschaw creek is a tributary of the Santee River. We took some time to herp on our trip and managed to find some pretty cool stuff.

On the way out there we found a dead snake in the roadd. The snake was long and black with smooth scales. Based on the smooth scales, black coloration, slender body, and head shape we identified this snake as a black racer Coluber constrictor. These snakes are fast moving active foragers and are commonly seen crossing forest roads. It is not a suprise that we found this one dead on the road.

We saw one small alligator (~4 ft) while paddling to our camp site but we could not get close enough for a photo. Arriving at the campsite we took some time to set up camp and then went exploring. We found several large sliders, a southern toad, and an eastern spade foot toad, none of which I photographed. After flipping over several logs we came across my favorite salamander species, the marbled salamadner (Ambystoma opacum). This Salamander was identifiable as a member of ambystomatidae because of its robust size, lack of nasolabial grooves, and conspicuous costal grooves. It was identifiable as a marbled salamander by its unique silvery/grey dorsal pattern. The photos aren't the best because of the camera I was using but the salamander is still easily identifable based on the dorsal pattern. These salamdnres are typical of low swampy areas such as eschaw creek but are also found on drier sites. They are sit and wait predators with small home ranges. This one probably spends a lot of time under the log where I found it.

Finally on the way back to civilization we came across a reddish snake crossing a forest road. Stopping to examine the snake more closely it became clear it was a corn snake based on the dark spear mark on the dorsal surface of the head and the checkered pattern on the ventral surface. This scientifc name is Elaphe guttata and it is a member of the family Colubridae. These snakes are common in all types of woodlands. This particular specimen was found in a pine flatwood. These snakes are primarily nocturnal but I've personally encountered them frequently crossing roads during the day, especially during the summer. Perhpas they are searching for mates more actively during this time of the year.

(Kevin Maginn, SC)

Exciting finds in Dixie!

On 3-31-11 we took a field trip to Dixie Plantation. Here we retrieved a few turtle traps from a freshwater pond which contained several yellow bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta) of both sexes and one snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). The sex of the yellow bellied sliders can be determined by the length of their claws. Males typically have much longer claws than females that they use to “stroke” her face during courtship. In the picture you can see that the snapping turtle’s plastron is very small, an indication that it lives on the pond floor. A hole in its tongue can be seen, but the purpose of this I do not know. Upon research I found that snapping turtles have a worm-like feature on their tongue for catching prey, so that may be what this is. This turtle was obviously not a juvenile with a plastron width of a little over a foot.
Later in the field trip we visited a swamp on the other side of Dixie Plantation. In the minnow traps here we caught many marbled salamander larvae (Ambystoma opacum). These larvae are aquatic and when they metamorphose they turn into terrestrial adults. One major identifying feature of the marbled salamander larvae is their two rows of light dots: one ventrally and one dorsally.
On the other side of the dike in an adjacent swamp, I pulled up a minnow trap and to my surprise I saw what appeared to be a snake! Then I realized its head and skid did not resemble a reptile’s at all. Excited, I hurried up the bank and opened the trap to discover a two-toed amphiuma (Amphiuma means), the only amphiuma species in the area. We identified this by observing four tiny feet each with two little toes, and no external gills were present. Dr. Welch was particularly excited, because this was the first time she (or us for that matter) had seen a live amphiuma in the field. Based on pure observation I would guess that it was just over a foot long: not big by any means but definitely an adult. We also know it is an adult based on its lack of external gills which are present in larvae before metamorphosis. (Logan Bryan, SC)