An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras is provided. The list includes three amphibian species (Ptychohyla euthysanota, Bolitoglossa odonnelli, Oedipina chortiorum) and two reptile species (Laemanctus waltersi [elevated from subspecies status], Epictia phenops) not included in the most recent checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the country. Also, one amphibian ge...

In reptiles, sex-determining mechanisms have evolved repeatedly and reversibly between genotypic and temperature-dependent sex determination. The gene Dmrt1 directs male determination in chicken (and presumably other birds), and regulates sex differentiation in animals as distantly related as fruit flies, nematodes and humans. Here, we show a consistent molecular difference in Dmrt1 between rep...

Model intercomparison exercises have identified radionuclide transfer predictions as the greatest source of uncertainty in biota dose assessments. One wildlife group for which few transfer data exist is reptiles, Given that reptiles are an important, and often protected, component of many ecosystems and that assessments of radiation impact on ecosystems are becoming increasingly necessary due t...

Two prevailing paradigms explain the diversity of sex-determining modes in reptiles. Many researchers, particularly those who study reptiles, consider genetic and environmental sex-determining mechanisms to be fundamentally different, and that one can be demonstrated experimentally to the exclusion of the other. Other researchers, principally those who take a broader taxonomic perspective, argu...

Exotic reptiles originating from the wild can be carriers of many different pathogens and some of them can infect humans. Reptiles imported into Slovenia from 2000 to 2005, specimens of native species taken from the wild and captive bred species were investigated. A total of 949 reptiles (55 snakes, 331 lizards and 563 turtles), belonging to 68 different species, were examined for the presence ...

1) Fat or too plentiful diets (associated to obesity and increased abdominal fat bodies). Diagnosed in badly fed crocodiles, lizards and turtles (Maccolini 2010). 2) Reduced activity. Absence of exercise. Diagnosed in monitors and turtles (Stahl 2003). 3) Physiologic disorder. Lack of hibernation. Lack of reproduction. Diagnosed in tortoises and iguanas. 4) Chronic hyporexia and stress. It decr...

Scincus oficinalis Laur and Chalcides ocellatus Forskal were chosen as representatives of oviparous and viviparous lizards, respectively. Both lizards excrete their urinary constituents in the form of dry, hard concretions. The material employed in the present work was collected, during the summer, from twenty healthy lizards of each species. The procedure followed in the present investigation ...

Reptiles are among the oldest known amniotes and are highly diverse in their morphology and ecological niches. These animals have an evolutionarily ancient innate-immune system that is of great interest to scientists trying to identify new and useful antimicrobial peptides. Significant work in the last decade in the fields of biochemistry, proteomics and genomics has begun to reveal the complex...

Liver mitochondria from the desert tortoise Gopherus agassizii and the Texas tortoise G. berlandieri contain glutamine synthetase, the enzyme used by birds and higher reptiles to detoxify ammonia generated intramitochondrially during amino acid catabolism. Tortoise mitochondria also contain carbamyl phosphate synthetase-I and ornithine transcarbamylase, the enzymes used by mammals for this purp...

the updated checklist of amphibians and reptiles of qom province, central iran is presented. totally 46 species, 35 genera and 17 families of reptiles and amphibians are reported in the area. the most diverse suborder is serpentes with 19 species or 41.3% of the reptile species richness of the region. the most specious families with high diversification are ranked respectively: colubridae with ...