finally there's a new episode of squamatespod and I'm going to listen to it! http://squamatespod.com/archives/2022

it's by @blackmudpuppy , @serpenillus , @markscherz , and @HiralNaik (sadly they don't seem to use their fediverse accounts, *sigh* )

#squamates
#squamatesPod
#herps
#herpetology

@KateShaw has released a new episode: The snakes of Snake Island (a lancehead and a snail-eater), the Martinique Fer-de-lance (a different lancehead), and the Louisiana Pine Snake (a constrictor).

https://strangeanimalspodcast.blubrry.net/2024/07/29/episode-391-welcome-to-snake-island/

#snakes
#squamates
#reptiles
#ferDeLance
#pitVipers

The Mysterious Dibamids https://tetzoo.com/blog/2024/5/13/the-mysterious-dibamids by @TetZoo

"Among the most poorly known of all squamate groups are the #dibamids, a group so obscure that they don’t really have a common or vernacular name... They’re near-limbless, fossorial, snake-shaped, near-blind, insectivorous #squamates mostly occurring in southern and south-eastern Asia (as far east as #NewGuinea). A single species – the #MexicanBlindLizard Anelytropsis papillosus – occurs in eastern #Mexico."

#Squamates with #horns more likely to take 'sit-and-wait' approach to hunting
https://phys.org/news/2023-12-squamates-horns-sit-and-wait-approach.html

Foraging mode constrains the #evolution of cephalic horns in #lizards and #snakes https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0395

"it is not clear if the species modified their hunting habits to accommodate their horns after they evolved for other purposes, such as fighting with rivals for a mate or scaring off predators—or if the horns tended to develop in species that adopted a sit-and-wait approach to hunting."

Many #lizards and #snakes bear horn-like projections over their heads, but why? In a recently published #BiologyLetters @rsocpublishing study, @UAFunMorph members Federico Banfi, Raoul Van Damme, @simonbaeckens and co-authors show how foraging mode shaped the #evolution of cephalic appendages in #squamates.

Check it out: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0395

#NewPaper #Paleontology #Squamates

Brownstein, C.D., Meyer, D.L., Fabbri, M. et al. Evolutionary origins of the prolonged extant squamate radiation. Nat Commun 13, 7087 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34217-5