Daniel Jablonski

First confirmed occurrence of the desert racer snake known as 𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘪 in Lebanon. 🐍

This study fills a significant distributional gap for the genus Psammophis in the Levant: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.177920

A remarkable new book by Philippos Katsiyiannis and Elias Tzoras has just been published, offering a comprehensive overview of the amphibians and reptiles of the Peloponnese. The volume also includes a chapter dedicated to the biogeography of this exceptionally rich and fascinating herpetofauna.

Convergently evolved linear actuators in ballistic tongues Zeng et al. show that salamanders and chameleons converged on a similar solution to launch ballistic tongues using muscles squeezing a skeletal rod, enabling rapid, single-axis energy transfer. This s...

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Endemic taxon or environmentally induced colour morph?

New paper on the genetics of the insular subspecies of Platyceps najadum (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Kalymnos, Greece: zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php...

Whole-genome ancestry of an Old Kingdom Egyptian - Nature Whole-genome sequencing of an ancient male Egyptian revealed a mixture of North African Neolithic and eastern Fertile Crescent ancestry, suggesting human migration between Egypt and Mesopotamia by the...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Video shows snake trying to eat prey 10 times her size "The hare was lying on the ground moving its four legs jerkily and head with difficulty," researchers said.

A snake in Denmark trying to eat a hare **10× its size**
🔗 www.newsweek.com/watch-snake-...

More than it can chew: ambitious adder takes on hare See footage of the interaction below.

An adult female common European adder (Vipera berus) attempted to kill and swallow a young European hare (Lepus europaeus) nearly ten times its own mass.

See the ambitious adder's attempt and learn more about its scientific relevance on the @pensoft.net blog:

blog.pensoft.net/2025/07/01/a...

New Book on the Snakes of Iraqi Kurdistan
The first illustrated field guide to the region’s snakes, published in two languages – English and Kurdish. It includes photographs, maps, and detailed information on the diversity of local snake species.
chimaira.de #snakes #herpetology #Iraq #Kurdistan

The Balkans in Central Europe: a case of introduced lineage of Podarcis muralis in Slovakia highlighting the impact of international trading and climate change herpetozoa.pensoft.net/articles.php...

Overly optimistic adder, Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758), killing and intending to swallow an oversized young hare, Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 In snakes, predatory attacks on oversized prey are not uncommon. Here, we describe an adult female Vipera berus that likely bit and intended to swallow an oversized young hare, Lepus europaeus. The es...

Overly optimistic adder, Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758), killing and intending to swallow an oversized young hare, Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 herpetozoa.pensoft.net/articles.php...

just published
europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ej...

Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage - Nature Pastoralism spread through cultural diffusion into the Green Sahara, where an isolated, distinct North African ancestry persisted.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A gray wolf clone with dire wolf DNA edits.

It's not a dire wolf. It's a gray wolf clone with 20 dire-wolf gene edits, and with some dire wolf traits. And here's my story! Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/s...

Frog-derived synthetic peptides display anti-infective activity against Gram-negative pathogens Synthetic peptides, inspired by the natural defenses of amphibians, demonstrate selective activity against Gram-negative pathogens while sparing the gut microbiota and Gram-positive strains. Rationall...

Frog-derived synthetic peptides display anti-infective activity against Gram-negative pathogens: Trends in Biotechnology www.cell.com/trends/biote...

Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming - Nature A 4 °C global temperature increase would push 7.5% of amphibian species beyond their physiological limits.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Untangling the Wallacean Shortfall: The herpetofauna of central-eastern Afghanistan including two snake species new for the reptiles list of the country | Zootaxa

🐍 New snake records in Afghanistan! 🏔️

Our latest study in Zootaxa expands the known herpetofauna, adding Lycodon bicolor & Spalerosophis arenarius to the country’s species list!

doi.org/10.11646/zoo...

#Herpetology #Snakes #Afghanistan #Biodiversity

Dans #The_Science_of_Nature vol.112 (17) #OpenAccess
Une étude moléculaire sur des cuisses de grenouilles consommées en Suisse et mal étiquetées recèlent une biodiversité insoupçonnée.
Espèces d'origines diverses, exotiques,envahissantes ou inconnues des zoologistes!
#Amphibian #Biological_invasion

Genome-wide patterns of diversity in the European midwife toad complex: phylogeographic and conservation prospects - Conservation Genetics Assessing how genetic diversity is spatially structured underlies many research questions in evolutionary ecology and contributes to understanding the factors implicated in population declines and ext...

Patrones de diversidad genómica en el sapo partero común: perspectivas filogeográficas y de conservación. Open access:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@chrisdufresnes.bsky.social @benwielstra.bsky.social @

Want to learn more about Syria’s amphibians? 🐸🌍

Check out our chapter in the vol. 11 of Amphibian Biology from the Middle East! 📖
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

@chrisdufresnes.bsky.social
@springer1842.bsky.social

#Herpetology #Amphibians #Syria #MiddleEast

Jedovaté ropuchy osídlili krajiny vzdialené aj tisíce kilometrov, ich výskum prirovnáva zoológ k detektívnej práci Zoológ Daniel Jablonski a jeho kolegovia zistili, že ropucha ázijská (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) nie je jeden druh, ale dva. Výskum publikovali v januári vo vedeckom časopise Nature Communications. T...

Do you enjoy science communication? Read more (in Slovak) from science journalist @otakarhorak.bsky.social on Denník N

dennikn.sk/4440314/jedo...

Speciation and historical invasions of the Asian black-spined toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) - Nature Communications The Asian black-spined toad is a widespread, poisonous, invasive amphibian. Here, the authors use genomic and DNA-barcoding data from this toad to document its complex evolutionary history, two distin...

Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Herpetology #Biogeography #Evolution #amphibians #InvasiveSpecies #MaritimeRoutes

Our study on Duttaphrynus melanostictus evolution published in Nature Communication. We showed how these toads likely spread across the Indian Ocean via human transport, from ancient trade routes to modern shipping. 🌍🐸
@chrisdufresnes.bsky.social
@naturecomms.bsky.social
@comeniusuni.bsky.social