Herpetological Highlights

Venom can be deadly, but not all venoms are created equal. They serve different purposes and have evolved for different reasons. In this episode we discuss a couple of new papers around the theme of venom, and finish off with a venomous new species for our Species of the Bi-week. Main Paper References: Goetz, S. M., Piccolomini, S., Hoffman, M., Bogan, J., Holding, M. L., Mendonça, M. T., & Steen, D. A. (2019). Serum-based inhibition of pitviper venom by eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi). Biology Open, 5. Healy, K., Carbone, C., & Jackson, A. L. (2019). Snake venom potency and yield are associated with prey-evolution, predator metabolism and habitat structure. Ecology Letters, 22(3), 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13216 Species of the Bi-Week: Captain, A., Deepak, V., Pandit, R., Bhatt, B., & Athreya, R. (2019). A new species of pitviper (Serpentes: Viperidae: Trimeresurus Lacepède, 1804) from West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 26,