markscherz

[markscherz]

What is your opinion on all those frog species within Pristimantis and do you think you could potentially list them off like Yakko's World?

At 608 species, there are too many Pristimantis species, and I honestly have no idea how people continue to describe new ones when you have so many congeners to compare to, many of which have never been sequenced. I wonder if they struggle with the same problems that are generated in insect groups, where the same species is described multiple times from different countries because people fail to remember that animals don't give a damn about national borders, and then don't do their homework on the fauna of their neighbours to appropriately rule out species from there as potentially the same.

I could maybe do a Yakko's World/Tom Lehrer's Elements Song version of the genera Stumpffia and Boophis, but I don't really know Pristimantis at all, so no, definitely couldn't list them off.

#taxonomy #animals #frogs #Pristimantis #There's garaffoi sorata betampona tridactyla #and also psologlossa miovaova tetradactyla #be hara megsoni pygmaea analamaina #madagascariensis maledicta and mamitika #etc

[markscherz]

If you ever have a second kid, will you name them A just so you can make a "time for some Q & A" joke every time you do a presentation and have a slide with baby pictures?

There won’t be a second kid, but Q’s middle name starts with an A, so we are already there my friend.

#QAL 9000 #I’m sorry Anon I can’t do that #this is a 2001 a space odyssey reference #god I hated that movie #this is not related to herpetology #answers by mark #anonymous #anon

[markscherz]

Hemicentetes! We get these guys in pitfall traps when trying to catch skinks sometimes. They can be a menace, but I find them very charming. They also often trundle through camp, not paying attention to where they are or dangers around. After all, they’re pretty well protected from the majority of Malagasy predators!

#tenrec #streaked tenrec #Hemicentetes #Hemicentetes semispinosus #I’m guessing

[markscherz]

I'm in the last few months of my phd (on herps) and your frog posts really keep me going

I am so happy, @du-bist-anders, that my little tumblr bog here is helping you get through what I know is an immensely tough thing. I wish you speed and success in this last push, and especially a break once it is over. Because we all deserve a break.

Here are several thousand tadpoles from a pond I visited today with my family. What a glorious display it was.

#phd life #nature #academia #wildlife #animals #answers by mark #du-bist-anders

[markscherz]

You are everything I aspire to be

If parenting has taught me anything, it is the importance of getting down on your hands and knees and teaching not just facts, but love and enthusiasm for the natural world.

This is my son Q and me. I have dozens of photos like this by now, even though he is just two years old.

Every chance I get, I will kneel down with him and show him the little creatures all around us. Especially when they are frogs. He loves frogs for some reason. No idea why.

It is important that we all see this together. It is beautiful. It is magnificent. We are here. It is improbable to the highest degree. It is fleeting, but it is everything we get. And we can get so, so much of it. If we just get our faces into it and really absorb it.

So that's what l'm trying to do here, I guess. Get all of you to join me in the reeds. And I am so happy to have so many of you along for the journey.

#tumblr #lifestyle #advice #life #nature #animals #answers by mark #anon #anonymous #yes the tumblr scientist named his child Q what of it #also you should not aspire to be me #or like me #at all #I am a hot mess #totally chaotic and extremely stressed #months behind on my emails #and badly overcommitted #but of course when all you see are cute frogs I understand why you would feel that way anon #just letting you know that I am struggling just as much as the next person #though of course as a very privileged person it is substantially different than most #my troubles are largely of my own making #anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk

[markscherz]

basically, yes. They drink through their skin, and they need quite a bit of water, so in a dry environment they're very happy for some 'rain'

mutuals feel free to do this

#Dyscophus #frog art #frart

[markscherz]

With more frogs, though.

Wait you wrote coraline?

Sounds like the kind of thing I would do, yes.

#tumblr #it’s quite a place

[markscherz]

Episode 25 of the SquaMates Podcast, hosted by me, palaeo- and concept artist Gabriel Ugueto, comic artist and herp breeder @blackmudpuppy, and snake researcher Hiral Naik, has just dropped on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify!

In this episode we talk about a really cool predation observation, the importance of publishing behavioural or observational notes, and some follow-up on the anaconda mess from Episode 24.

#zoology #animals #podcast #scicomm #biology #herpetology #SquaMates Podcast #caecilians #Micrurus

[markscherz]

#so true #axolotl questions #getalotl answers

[markscherz]

This is going to be SO fun!!

Here’s some in progress art for The Unfamiliars. If you’d like to know when the project launches, you can sign up here!

#Ethan is great you should follow Ethan #and listen to our podcast #SquaMates Podcast #and maybe his D&D podcast

[markscherz]

Just a few moments from a visit to the aquarium with my son today, courtesy of my sister.

#about me #lizard #animals #parenting #personal #trust me to find the herps at the fish place #Gonocephalus #Gonocephalus chamaeleontinus #Q #Q is two and apparently already has a reputation at daycare for going around finding ladybirds and flowers #I think he's going to be a pretty fun human

[markscherz]

With the Reddit 3rd party app crackdown and the ongoing horseshit Elon Musk is pulling with "X", I realize a lot of people here might be pretty new. So I put together a quick and easy guide for using Tumblr for anyone new who might need it.

Tumblr was made by David Karp and we call him Daddy around these parts (^///^)

You are not safe from fandom-gif attacks ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Speaking of fandoms, the tumblr fandoms are always ready to grab their [object] and go to war against the Beliebers ╰(*°▽°*)╯

The only safe refuge from fandom tumblr is with hipster tumblr. If you can get a cool alt-girl to take you under her wing, you might be safe... for now (●'◡'●)

You will watch the first episode of Supernatural... and then you're part of the Winchester family. (Or if you skip right to season 4, we don't blame you. It's where Destiel starts (*/ω＼*))

This is not a glomp-free zone ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Use missing e. It's the only way to make Tumblr useable on Internet Explorer (this is the most popular browser and you're probably using it right now) :-D

Our only adult-supervision is John Green... and even then does that REALLY count as supervision? DFTBA! φ(゜▽゜*)♪

Just this once, everyone lives. It's bigger on the inside. Elementary, my dear Watson.

If you see Misha Collins staring at you, the polite response is "Saving people, hunting things, the family business." O.O

I might lose followers for this, but this blog supports gay rights, and yours should too (14 gifs of Sherlock and The Hobbit)

Tumblr will teach you more about the world than you'll ever learn in school. ○( ＾皿＾)っ

Tread carefully... we have teh yaoiz O.o. Oh you don't know what that means? Well let's just say... it's full of lemons here.

If you see Hannibal Lector in a flower crown, tell him it looks very nice. His boyfriend Will Graham made it for him. (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Do not enter the dog park. The dog park will not harm you.

#this is deeply impressive #how can one so perfectly capture the vibes of 14 years ago? #in this the year of our lord 2024? #when there is an entire panini between then and now #it’s like seeing an oil painting of Da Vinci quality that was painted yesterday #I was there Gandalf #I was there three thousand years ago #this is not related to herpetology

[markscherz]

Hello, I was wondering what criteria you personally use to decide if something is a species or a subspecies?

I quite like Kevin de Queiroz's recent take on the matter, so I will refer you to him. There has been quite a bit of subsequent discussion, some of which I agree with, some of which I think is a bit moronic.

TL;DR: They should be treated as a difference of degree, not of kind, and can conveniently be used to capture the grey zone that we know characterises the incipient stages of speciation.

#speciation #taxonomy #science #zoology #biology #species #subspecies #these are real things #but genera? #genera are an illusion #families doubly so #evolution acts on populations/(sub)species #but higher taxa are just the result of what is filtered out over time #impalaparkedat221b #answers by Mark

[markscherz]

UPDATE!

Huge thanks to @crawfordpress for this fantastic addition to our library!

FIELD GUIDE TO THE FROGS OF JAPER COUNTY

This is a collection of single page gag comics about frogs in the form of a field guide. Released in the spring of 2023. 12 pages. 5.5 X 8.5 in. Blue ink on green copy paper cover. Blue ink on white copy paper for the interior pages. Risograph printed.

#manifesting #highly scientific literature #OP delivered #literally

[markscherz]

Meet Gephyromantis ampondo, one of four new species of frog that my colleagues and I described in a paper published this week in the journal Spixiana. We discovered this species in 2016 on a trip to the mountain of Marojejy in the northeast of Madagascar.

You can read the full paper here.

#frog #new species #biology #zoology #animals #taxonomy #Gephyromantis #Gephyromantis ampondo #Duboimantis #babe wake up four new frogs just dropped

[markscherz]

A snout that pointy says microhylid 'narrow-mouthed frog' to me. Gastrophryne or Hypopachus come pretty close to the mark.

Toad origami, one square sheet of paper

#frogs #frog art #frart

[markscherz]

In honor of Pesach, I thought I'd ask Tumblr's Frog Guy: which frogs were possible contenders for the Frog Plague?

Ptychadena nilotica or Pelophylax saharicus; see this previous ask on precisely this topic :)

#frog plague #pesach #exodus #Ptychadena #Pelophylax #answers by Mark #anon #anonymous