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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Jun 7

More evidence for the successful use of wildlife underpasses! 🐸🦎

Scaryanne Denton 🎃🧡 @mariannedenton.bsky.social · Jun 6

The kind of good news I’m grateful for.

TY @hwahl16.bsky.social for sending this my way 💚

Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% with Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows | UVM News | The University of Vermont

A new UVM-led study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders and other amphibians migrating across roads.

www.uvm.edu

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

ARG UK @argroupsuk.bsky.social · May 7

Announcing our Vanishing Viper 2025 conference to be held in September at Chester This special two-day event focused on our native adder, Viper berus, seeks to unlock the drivers behind adder declines & determine how research & landscape-level projects can meet the challenges #vanishingviper2025

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

Amelia Harvey @ameliaharvey.bsky.social · Apr 15

Hi all! I've been shortlisted for the BIAZA Photo Competition 2025 in the Native Species category!📸 Please can you vote for my photo on their Facebook! (just by reacting to my submission!)

www.facebook.com/share/16MksF... - voting closes on Thursday night!

The image below is the one to look for!🐍

An adder basking in the sun on top of bracken

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Apr 8

It was a great day, we were able to create some nice hibernacula for the adders! 🐍

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Apr 2

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to give it a go! I've noticed that if the lasso disturbs just a little bit of grass, the lizards sometimes chase it like an insect has just landed. Too much movement though and they're off...

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Apr 1

Very cool, I imagine my lasso wouldn't do very well even with baby alligators 😅

Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Mar 31

I've had a few captures, but many more failed attempts so I'm hoping this is a skill I improve over time. For now, the photos show a male common lizard I caught and sampled over the weekend 🦎🤙

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Mar 31

My first experience with lizard lassoing was in Peru over 10 years ago, where I captured Amazonian lizards to record their body temperatures. Fast forward to the present day, and I'm trying my luck again!

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Mar 31

For my PhD, I need to catch lizards to take a mouth swab to retrieve a DNA sample. In comes the lizard lasso! A fishing rod with a small lasso loop tied to the end, I sneak up on lizards as they bask and (hopefully) slip them into the lasso 🦎

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social · Mar 9

American researchers looking for funding: @euraxessudc.bsky.social is an all-purpose platform for researchers & scientists seeking to advance their careers by moving to EU countries.This link includes job, funding, hosting opportunities, & career development guidance. euraxess.ec.europa.eu

EURAXESS | Research in motion

Explore academic positions and career development opportunities through Euraxess, a unique pan-European initiative, which implements the HRS4R Charter to deliver information and support-services to re...

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Mar 1

This week marked the true beginning of my PhD, where we got out and collected our first common lizard DNA samples! This will all feed into mapping lizard population genetics across the UK, and to hopefully work towards a brighter future for these little guys in the age of nature's decline 🤙🦎

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

IUCN Snake Specialist Group @iucn-snake.bsky.social · Feb 24

India experiences an extreme burden from snakebite each year, averaging 58,000 snakebite deaths annually. Some good news to help combat this problem: a new app for everyday Indians to connect with snake catchers and hospitals across India in times of emergency to help prevent and manage snakebite.

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 23

Here are the viviparous lizard and toad! 🐸🦎

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 23

Spring has certainly arrived in the UK with the first herp sightings of the year this week! 🐍🦎🐸

✅️Common frog (Rana temporaria), pair in amplexus
✅️Common toad (Bufo bufo)
✅️Smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris)
✅️Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara)
✅️European adder (Vipera berus)

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

Jean-Pierre Vacher @jpvacher.bsky.social · Feb 16

Quite important for European herpetology, the scientific name of the Alpine newt shifts again to Mesotriton alpestris:
www.salamandra-journal.com/index.php/co...

#amphibians #herpetology #newts #Mesotriton

Mutz, T. & W. Böhme

Ichthyosaura as a generic nomen for the Alpine Newt (Caudata: Salamandridae): a doubtful case of literarian archeology. pp. 41-52. Abstract. Since the partition of the traditional genus Triturus Rafi...

www.salamandra-journal.com

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 12

Thanks to all who turned out in the cold and damp weather to set up our reptile survey at Chasewater.
A collaborative effort between BBCARG, SASARG and the Chasewater rangers, this is the first crucial step in mapping herps across the site! 🦎 🐍 🐸

Photos thanks to Steve Holland

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 7

This is attributed to the common lizards inhabiting a different habitat, usually wetter than the smooth snakes like.

Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 7

Maybe to help our smooth snakes, we should be ensuring they have plenty of lizard prey? 🦎🐍

On the southern England heaths, smooth snakes live with and prey on common lizards, but common lizards didn't appear in the Hungarian snake's diets which instead included other lacertid lizards.

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 7

New paper on smooth snake ecology! 🐍

✅️ snake diet in Hungary consists mainly of lizards (65%)

✅️ snake occupancy is attributed to lizard prey availability

✅️ no evidence that smooth snakes negatively impact meadow vipers

Implications for Britain's populations? 🐍🦎

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Smooth Snake is not a threat to the Meadow Viper: predator–prey interactions of a reptile specialist snake - Community Ecology

Ecological data on the Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca) remains limited. Previous studies report that it mainly consumes lizards, but also mammals and snakes. Its habitat selection remains poorly un...

link.springer.com

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Feb 5

New paper about Aesculapian snake spatial ecology! 🐍

Wolfgang Wüster @wolfgangwuster.bsky.social · Feb 5

NEW PAPER: How do introduced Aesculapian snakes from Central Europe adapt to their new home in North Wales? find out in the new paper by @herphighlights.bsky.social' Tom Major, my former PhD student at @bangoruniversity.bsky.social and @meebangor.bsky.social

dx.doi.org/10.1371/jour...

A reliance on human habitats is key to the success of an introduced predatory reptile

Understanding the success of animals in novel environments is increasingly important as human-mediated introductions continue to move species far beyond their natural ranges. Alongside these introduct...

dx.doi.org

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Jan 24

Disappointed is an understatement 🫠

UK climate and nature bill dropped after deal with Labour backbenchers www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK climate and nature bill dropped after deal with Labour backbenchers

Ministers avoid internal party row by promising potential rebels they will have input into environmental legislation

www.theguardian.com

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Jan 23

Awesome!

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Jan 23

Thanks, that would be great!

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Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺 @lizardkmatt.bsky.social · Jan 18

A selection of before and after pics from heathland habitat management at some of the Walsall heaths we monitor.

Without intervention the heath would succeed into birch and pine woodland, outcompeting the heather that gives the structure needed for common lizards to bask 🦎 Lizard surveys to follow!

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Reposted by Matt Armes 🦎 🇪🇺

Dr Fortunate Mafeta Phaka @green-darkie.bsky.social · Jan 16

Fonseca Species Conservation Fund is now accepting proposals for herpetofauna, freshwater fish, primates & small mammals.
FSCF is for early career conservationists 35 years and younger, provides grants of up to $25,000 to support threatened species conservation.
www.rewild.org/the-fonseca-...

Re:wild | Re:wild.org • Fonseca Species Conservation Fund

The Fonseca Species Conservation Fund is available to young conservationists under the age of 35 in any GEF-eligible country to either start or progress their careers. The FSCF is supported by the GE...

www.rewild.org

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