Today, March 31 2009, the Herpetology class of College of Charleston went on another field trip into the woods and found many different creatures. One herp that we found was the Sternotherus odoratus (Musk Turtle). It was a young turtle because it was only about 2 inches long. Adult Musk turtle's grow to about 5 inches long. They were identified by their small plastron and squarish pectoral scutes. Also, this little one left my hands smelling really really bad!

-Shahila Sriskanda SC

This Plethedon cinereus was found on 3/26/09 near a small ephemeral pond near Rush Run in Somerville, Ohio. It was about 50 degrees F and a bit overcast with light wind gusts. This individual was found under a decomposing log about 2m from the edge of a small ephemeral pond about 20-30 feet in diameter. These individuals are terrestrial undergoing larval development within the egg. This individual was about 2.75 in. long, and this species ranges from 2.25 - 4 in. in length.
Identifiers of this species are the large red mid-dorsal stripe and an black belly mottled with spots. usually they have 19 costal grooves but can range 17-22 in number. Variations in color of the mid-dorsal stripe can occur in blue, gray, yellow, and led-backed (absence of stripe), but red is most common. They produce 6-9 eggs per clutch, usually in rotting wood, from a pedicel. They are the top predator in the detritus food chain. They range from southern Canada to the Carolinas and east of Minnesota to the Atlantic coast.

William Hauer
Miami University, Student

Spring Peeper

On March 26, our class visited Rush Run in Somerville, Ohio. It was breezy, around 45 degrees farenheit. We were in a corn stalk field that was submerged in water. It was lightly raining and there were a lot of frog and bird calls going on. I caught a Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) as it hopped from a stalk into the water. I caught it and it happened to be a pair of amplexing spring peepers. The male was much darker than the female who had a very distinct cross on her back. The male was darker and had no visible cross on his back. The male used his large thumbs to grip the female during mating. He did not let go the during the time that we had caught him. The male typically drops sperm onto the eggs as the female lays them.

Spring peepers are very small, some only reaching a size of 0.75 in. They usually have a distinct cross on there backs and range in color from tan to olive green or even gray. Females are lighter than males and larger. Their call is a very distinct peeping noise and only males are able to make this noise. They typically breed between March and June and can lay up to 900 eggs in one cycle. They eat small arachnids and insects and are nocturnal. They are found in marshy, wet areas in ponds with no fish.

Ryan D.

Cricket Frog

Thursday, March 26th our class visited Rush Run in Sommerville, OH about fifteen minutes outside of Oxford. It was a cool day and it had been raining the day before and that morning. We visited two ponds that were in a field with tall grass. In the second pond we visited I found a Blanchard's cricket frog, Acris crepitans, in the grass surrounding the pond. These frogs are about 1 in. long and are generally light brown or gray with black stripes on the thighs and a dark triangle between the eyes. Blanchard's cricket frogs are also wartier and thicker than other cricket frogs. They are named after a herpetologist from the University of Michigan. These cricket frogs are generally found in the muddy or marshy areas surrounding a permanent pond, which is similar to the area where I found this one, and emerge from hibernation in late March to early April.

Kelly Young

Oxford, OH

Herps out in the wild west!

For spring break I took a trip to Sedona, AZ. Although the weather was somewhat chilly (think 45-55 degrees Celsius), there were these small lizards everywhere! They were on boulders and trees close to a stream behind our resort. Most of them would scurry off pretty quickly, but the first one I saw stayed pretty still and would raise up onto his toe tips so he looked bigger when I got close (I'm assuming it was a defense mechanism...). We decided that these lizards I saw everywhere were probably tree lizards, Urosaurus ornatus, one of the most common and widespread lizards in Arizona. It occupies a pretty wide geographic range, residing in places at sea level up to about 9000' above sea level.

-Lindsey Stewart, TN

I was at work last night, March 21, 2009, when I found this snake. I think it is an Eastern Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis sauritus. The Eastern Ribbon Snake likes to be around water sources and is a little lighter in color than the Western Ribbon Snake. The snake I found was laying on the sidewalk near a creek. I was surprised to see a snake out so soon in the year, it was only about 50 degrees outside. He barely moved the entire time I looked at him and while I took the picture. When I walked back by the same spot later in the night he was gone.

Haley Brown

Memphis, TN

Our College of Charleston herpetology class just went on a field trip today to the Francis Marion National Forest. This little guy is a ground skink, or Scincella lateralis. It was very easy to identify because of his dark stripe and the absence of light strips. The field guide says that the tails are very easy to break off. This skink was currently in the process of growing out a new tail. They are very fast so they are very hard to catch.

Shenna McBride
SC

Marbled Salamander

Today the Herpetology class of College of Charleston went to the Francis Marion National Park and found this little critter, the Marbled Salamander Ambystoma opacum. This was an easy one to name because of its obvious white crossbars and black on the lower sides and belly. It was about 4 inches long.

Shahila Sriskanda

I was on my way to class one morning and I found this little guy on the sidewalk bricks. He is a Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis). He was about 5 inches long and was mottled green and brown. My field guide says that it has color changing abilities but is very poor in comparison to true chameleons. The plain greenish color and pinkish throat fan in addition to its small size is what sets it apart from other lizards.

-Shenna McBride
SC

Herps!

G'day everyone! Just wanted to share some pictures from a recent trip to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. Needed something to do during spring break and made a day of it, boy did I have fun! Granted, I didn't find any of these guys in the wild like some of you have, but close enough. hehehe.

Above: Rhinoceros viper (Bitis nasicornis)

Coloration is an adaptive trait, depending on habitat. These guys are in the puff adder family.

Above: Boelen's Python (Morelia boeleni)
Not very much in known about these beautiful animals, being discovered only 50 years ago. The colors on these animals are amazing, never seen anything like it.

Above: Emerald Tree Boa (Corallus caninus)
They are nocturnal and arboreal. This is a non-venomous boa species from S. America.

Above & Below: Gould's Monitor (Varanus gouldii)

They are from Australia and remain in burrows during the dry season. This one was in the middle of a shed. They will stand on their hind legs to get a better look around...he obviously did not care what was going on.

He was too cute! Glad he did not suddenly decide to open those eyes while I snapped a pic. : P

To the Left: Green Tree Python (Morelia viridis)
Found in New Guinea and on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia. Due to habitat destruction, they too are endangered in their native habitats.

To the Left: African Spur Tortoise (Geochelone sulcuta)
Feeding time!

I wouldn't want to run into that big guy, American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), in the wild...no siree. He was beautiful though.

To the Left: Galapagos Giant Tortoise (Geochelone nigra porteri)

They can live upwards of 170 years. These guys are endangered.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I sure had a ball taking them. I work with domestic and exotic animals, but none to this magnitude! Have a good day everyone! Ciao.

Melanie Pigott

College of Charleston, Dr. Welch

Lithobates sphenocephalus (southern leopard frog)

It was March 9Th at about 8:00 pm and it was the first warm night of the spring/summer. I just finished running when I decided tonight would be a great night to get one of my blog post done. I locked my puppy up and grabbed a flash light. I went back to the same place that brought me so much luck last time. This was my pool area. I heard several different frog calls. The calls being Pseudacris triseriata, Pseudacris crucifer and Lithobates spenocephalus. I started to graze over our pool cover with a flash light when I saw some movement under some leaves. I immediately ran over to see what it was and it happened to be this little guy. This guy is a part of the genus Lithobates and species name sphenocephalus. The common name being southern leopard frog. These frogs are mostly found in shallow, fresh waters and they are mostly nocturnal. They eat mostly insects and breeding occurs year round. The ironic thing about this find is that I have lived at my house for 10 years and have never seen this frog species. During the summer we have several different types of frogs hopping around our house, I just never stop and see how many different kinds. Now that I have found two different species I am interested to see how diverse my house is when dealing with frog species.

Lauren Trouy (Memphis, TN)

Pseudacris Triseriata (Western Chorus Frog)

At about 10:00 on February 11Th, I was coming home from coaching volleyball when I heard a sound I just learned in Herpetology class. The noise sounded like someone running their fingers down a comb. The sound was coming from my pool area. We cover our pool during the winter and needless to say this is a mating site for all sorts of herps. It was a cool, cloudy night with moderate winds and good weather to find some early breeders. I ran in the house grabbed a flash light and my little brother and we went "herping"! It did not take long until we found this little guy. This guy is a part of the Pseudacris genus and species name triseriata. The common name being the western chorus frog. This species of frogs are often found in less permanent water environments. This reduces the chances of their eggs being harmed by predators. An interesting fact I found about these creatures is that their eggs and larvae development are dependent upon the temperature of the water. The colder the water the longer it takes the eggs/larvae to develop. Their breeding season is said to be from mid-March through late May, but it seems this little guy was hoping to breed early. The Tennessee weather this year is probably not helping either!

Lauren Trouy (Memphis, TN)

Turtles

I had a little trouble identifying these guys, one is because we have just finished with amphibians and have yet to start on reptiles. With a little help we believe that these turtles are Yellow-bellied slider. Their scientific name is Trachemys scripta scripta. The picture is a little blurry and I'm sorry that my camera is not the best. There were about 10 -12 of these guys all around a pond where I keep my horse. The pond is pretty deep and has trees all around it for them to climb up and sun bathe. It was really windy the day that I was out there but these guys were sunbathing none the less. The turtles are omnivorus, eating things from small fish to aquatic plants. They can live in pretty much rivers, ponds, lakes and anywhere there is plentiful water and food. I hope to see these guys much more often in the summer time and maybe they may let me take a better photo of their good sides.

Rebecca Thorne (Memphis, TN)

We recently went on a field trip to Francis Marion National Park in SC.  For those of you not on the trip, our teacher and TA set out about 10 traps in a beautiful area covered in about 2 feet of water a day before our trip.  On our outing we wiggled into waders and went exploring.  The first seven or so traps we checked were null of life except some rather large water beetles and crayfish, though rather cool, were not what we were hoping to find.  The class split up and went searching. The only herps found were about half a dozen southern cricket frogs (Acris gryllus).  As we were about to be quizzed on the calls of these frogs, we were particularly alert to the cricket frog's tiny chirp throughout the area.

After much searching and almost giving up on the area, we checked the last three traps.  Low and behold, in one of the last traps we found a surprise.  Or rather two surprises: a pig frog (Lithobates grylio) and a lesser siren (Siren intermedia).  

I was personally most excited by the salamander.  As much time as I spent stomping around woods, streams, ponds, what have you, as a child, I never managed to find any salamanders. Hooray for me for finally accomplishing a childhood dream.

On top of our amazing herp findings, the scenery was beautiful and would have sufficed had we not found anything (but I am very glad we did).

Sara Smith

College of Charleston

Sea Turtle Hospital

Last semester I had an internship at the South Carolina Aquarium working in the Sea Turtle Hospital.  If you are an SC resident, I would enthusiastically give two thumbs up for interning over there.  While I was there, we were caring for 11 sea turtles suffering from a variety of maladies and one box turtle who had a chipped plastron.  Most of the turtles had been hit by boats.  As can be seen in this picture of North Myrtle, a juvenile loggerhead.  He (or she) came in about midway through my internship and no one believed he would survive.  His carapace had seven fractures running through it and was completely unstable.  Any time N. Myrtle would move bits of its shell would shift in different directions.  Furthermore, he came in with pneumonia.  So for about 3 hours a day we would sit a nebulize him (give him medicine through inhalation) which is very tedious as turtles don't breathe but once every 5-20 minutes.

 

As you can see in the after picture, karatin is beginning to move into the wounds and make his shell much more stable.  However, it is still doubtful if North Myrtle will be able to be released into the wild.  

While most of the injuries the hospital sees are boating related, they also receive turtles who too close to shark teeth as well as turtles that have been almost drowned or are cold-shocked by becoming trapped in fishing nets.  Most of the turtle injuries are due to human interactions.  

Of sea turtle strandings (turtles found deserted along the beach), only about 10% are still alive.  Many of the dead turtles are brought into the aquarium and, along with DNR, necropsies (animal autopsies) are performed to find the cause of death.  Often there are differing means for the turtles' deaths but one common factor in most of the animals is the accumulation of garbage found within the turtles stomachs or intestines. Plastic bags, styrofoam, etc are all ingested by the turtles. 

Myrtle, a young Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, also found his way into the hospital after being struck by a motor boat.  His wounds were likewise very traumatic and survival looked slim.  His wound was on his head and cut his face almost in half.  They wired it shut, as you can see.  This little guy is having much more trouble than North Myrtle.  He is most likely blind in his left eye, can't dive lower than a foot (he is stuck floating at the surface), and has trouble eating.  Still the fact he survived is pretty impressive.

Moral of the story: don't litter and be careful with your motor boats.

Sara Smith

College of Charleston