Frogs and Reptiles News

July 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth to Rip Apart Their Prey

July 24, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. The study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed ...

Researchers Find That Frogs Can Quickly Increase Their Tolerance to Pesticides

July 16, 2024 — Although there is a large body of research on pests evolving tolerances for the pesticides meant to destroy them, there have been considerably fewer studies on how non-target animals in these ...

New Snake Discovery Rewrites History, Points to North America's Role in Snake Evolution

July 19, 2024 — A new species of fossil snake unearthed in Wyoming is rewriting our understanding of snake evolution. The discovery, based on four remarkably well-preserved specimens found curled together in a ...

Using AI to Scrutinize, Validate Theories on Animal Evolution

July 18, 2024 — By harnessing the power of machine learning, researchers have constructed a framework for analyzing what factors most significantly contribute to a species' genetic ...

Latest Headlines

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Frog 'Saunas' a Lifeline for Endangered Frog Populations

June 26, 2024 — New biologist-designed shelters will help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a deadly fungal disease by regulating their body temperature to fight off ...

The Missing Puzzle Piece: A Striking New Snake Species from the Arabian Peninsula

May 30, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new distinctive and secretive snake species in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. The new species is widely distributed ...

Lazy Predator: A New Species of Mountain Pitviper from China

June 11, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new species of medium-sized venomous snake in Yunnan, China. Ovophis jenkinsi is dark brownish-grey in color with trapezoidal patches on its back. It is endemic to ...

Fishy Mystery of Marine Reptile Solved

June 5, 2024 — The identity of a prehistoric marine reptile has finally been revealed after experts discovered that some of its remains actually belonged to ...

Captivating Blue-Colored Ant Discovered in India's Remote Siang Valley

June 3, 2024 — A new species of blue ant was discovered in Yingku village in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India. It was named Paraparatrechina neela, after the word 'neela' which means blue in various Indian ...

Why Do Dyeing Poison Frogs Tap Dance?

May 28, 2024 — The toe tapping behavior of various amphibians has long attracted attention from researchers and pet owners. Despite being widely documented, the underlying functional role is poorly understood. In a ...

Designing a Better Nest to Help Endangered Turtles

May 23, 2024 — With Ontario's eight species of turtles considered at risk, a new nest designed by researchers has the potential to significantly bolster their struggling populations. The habitat is the first ...

First Effective Treatment Found for Spitting Cobra Snakebite

May 7, 2024 — Scientists have discovered a new snakebite treatment to prevent the devastating tissue damage caused by African spitting cobra venom. Spitting cobra venom is incredibly potent and causes ...

Frog Species Evolved Rapidly in Response to Road Salts

Apr. 23, 2024 — When we think of evolution, we think of a process that happens over hundreds or thousands of years. In research recently published, a species of frog that has evolved over the course of merely 25 ...

Fossil Frogs Share Their Skincare Secrets

Apr. 23, 2024 — Palaeontologists have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts -- it's all down to their skin. Palaeontologists studied 45-million-year-old fossil frogs ...

'Teacher Toads' Can Save Native Animals from Toxic Cane Toads

Apr. 9, 2024 — Scientists from Macquarie University have come up with an innovative way to stop cane toads killing native wildlife by training goannas to avoid eating the deadly ...

The Life Aquatic: A Game Changer for Frog Vision, but Little Difference Between Night and Day

Apr. 4, 2024 — Frogs display a remarkable diversity of species as a whole, but does the same hold true for their visual abilities? A new study sought to answer this question by collaborating with researchers in ...

Discovery Could End Global Amphibian Pandemic

Apr. 3, 2024 — A fungus devastating frogs and toads on nearly every continent may have an Achilles heel. Scientists have discovered a virus that infects the fungus, and that could be engineered to save the ...

Combination of the Climate Crisis and Continued Deforestation May Result in Significant Damage to the Animal World

Mar. 31, 2024 — A new study states that the combination of global warming and extreme heat events, alongside the continued expansion of deforestation in the world, may be devastating for many species of animals, ...

Two Coral Snakes Recorded Battling for Prey in a Scientific First

Mar. 26, 2024 — Two red-tailed coral snakes have been observed competing over a caecilian in the first documented wild case of kleptoparasitism within the family ...

Researchers Name Prehistoric Amphibian Ancestor Discovered in Smithsonian Collection After Kermit the Frog

Mar. 21, 2024 — Scientists have uncovered the fossilized skull of a 270-million-year-old ancient amphibian ancestor in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The team of ...

Why Do Tree Frogs Lay Their Eggs on the Ground?

Mar. 19, 2024 — A curious aspect of tree frogs is that they often lay their eggs on the ground where the risk of predation by natural enemies is greater than in the trees where they live. A research team suggested ...

Genetic Basis for the Evolution of Hair Discovered in the Clawed Frog

Mar. 18, 2024 — The development of hair was of central importance for the evolution of mammals and thus also of humans. However, the evolutionary origin of the genetic program of hair was previously unknown. ...

Rice Paddy Snake Diversification Was Driven by Geological and Environmental Factors in Thailand, Molecular Data Suggests

Mar. 12, 2024 — A new study of rice paddy snakes in Southeast Asia gives key details to their diversification and natural history, adding molecular evidence that the rise of the Khorat Plateau and subsequent ...

New Study Reveals Transgenerational Effects of Pesticide Linuron on Frogs

Mar. 11, 2024 — Grand-offspring of male frogs exposed to the pesticide linuron exhibited changes in their DNA that was linked to significant physiological impacts, a study reveals. The research highlights the ...

Natural History Specimens Have Never Been So Accessible

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers have painstakingly taken computed topography (CT) scans of more than 13,000 individual specimens to create 3D images of more than half of all the world's animal groups, including ...

Halloween Toy Among Plastics Swallowed by Sea Turtles

Mar. 11, 2024 — A Halloween toy was among hundreds of plastic items found in the guts of dead sea turtles in the Mediterranean, a new study ...

Reptile Roadkill Reveals New Threat to Endangered Lizard Species

Mar. 7, 2024 — The chance sighting of a dead snake beside a sandy track in remote Western Australia, and the investigation of its stomach contents, has led researchers to record the first known instance of a ...

Scientists CT Scanned Thousands of Natural History Specimens, Which You Can Access for Free

Mar. 6, 2024 — Natural history museums have entered a new stage of scientific discovery and accessibility with the completion of openVertebrate (oVert), a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions to ...

Lab-Grown Liver Organoid to Speed Up Turtle Research, Making Useful Traits Easier to Harness

Mar. 5, 2024 — Researchers developed protocols for growing organoids that mimic a turtle liver, the first organoids developed for a turtle and only the second for any reptile. The discovery will aid deeper study of ...

Fossils of Giant Sea Lizard With Dagger-Like Teeth Show How Our Oceans Have Fundamentally Changed Since the Dinosaur Era

Mar. 5, 2024 — Fossils of a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived 66 million years ago, show a dramatically more biodiverse ocean ecosystem to what we see ...

8 in 10 Lizards Could Be at Risk Due to Deforestation

Mar. 5, 2024 — These reptiles move around tree trunks to seek warmth or shade. With trees disappearing, they would have trouble controlling their body temperature, a new study ...

Scientists Assemble a Richer Picture of the Plight and Resilience of the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog

Feb. 26, 2024 — Up to only a few inches in length, with a lemon-hued belly, the foothill yellow-legged frog may seem unassuming. But its range once stretched from central Oregon to Baja California. In 2023, it was ...

Snakes Do It Faster, Better: How a Group of Scaly, Legless Lizards Hit the Evolutionary Jackpot

Feb. 22, 2024 — More than 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the first snakes were small lizards that lived alongside other small, nondescript lizards in the shadow of the ...

Snaking Toward a Universal Antivenom

Feb. 21, 2024 — Scientists discovered antibodies that protect against a host of lethal snake ...