High thermal quality rookeries facilitate high thermoregulatory accuracy in pregnant female rattlesnakes.

Temperature is a primary factor influencing organismal development, and the fluctuating daily and seasonal thermal regimes of temperate climates may challenge the ability of viviparous reptiles to optimize body temperatures during gestation. Testing how viviparous reptiles navigate highly variable thermal conditions (e.g.

Gape-limited invasive predator frequently kills avian prey that are too large to swallow.

Gape-limited predators (e.g., snakes, many fish) are not generally expected to pose a predation threat to prey that are too large for them to swallow.

Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae) can survive the winter under semi-natural conditions well beyond their current invasive range.

The Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae, formerly Tupinambis merianae) is a large lizard from South America. Now established and invasive in southern Florida, and it poses threats to populations of many native species. Models suggest much of the southern United States may contain suitable temperature regimes for this species, yet there is considerable uncertainty regarding either the potential for range expansion northward out of tropical and subtropical zones or the potential for the species establishing elsewhere following additional independent introductions.

Patterns of head shape and scutellation in Drymarchon couperi (Squamata: Colubridae) reveal a single species.

Krysko et al. (2016a) used analyses of DNA sequence data to reveal two genetic lineages of Drymarchon couperi. The Atlantic lineage contained specimens from southeastern Georgia and eastern peninsular Florida, and the Gulf Coast lineage contained specimens from western and southern peninsular Florida as well as western Florida, southern Alabama, and southern Mississippi.

Serum-based inhibition of pitviper venom by eastern indigo snakes ().

When organisms possess chemical defenses, their predators may eventually evolve resistance to their toxins. Eastern indigo snakes (; EIS) prey on pitvipers and are suspected to possess physiological resistance to their venom. In this study, we formally investigated this hypothesis using microassays that measured the ability of EIS blood sera to inhibit (A) hemolytic and (B) snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP) activity of copperhead () venom.

Reduced innate immunity of Cuban Treefrogs at leading edge of range expansion.

During geographic range expansion, populations of non-indigenous species at the invasion front may benefit from directing resources away from immune defense. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the strength of two innate immune components in populations of invasive Cuban Treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) in a long-colonized area (core region) and at the invasion front (leading-edge region). First, we compared the region-specific metabolic response of frogs injected with an endotoxin that induces systemic inflammation (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) to sham-injected control frogs pooled from both regions.