Archiv der Kategorie: Reptilien

Fossil treasures of Messel Pit part II: Crocs and gators

The fauna of the area which would later become the Messel pit was quite rich in crocs. Some of them strongly resembled modern crocodylians, but some of them were oddballs which differed strongly from any extant species. The biggest crocodylian … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Amphibien, Krokodile/Crocodylians, Museen, Paläontologie, Reptilien | Schreib einen Kommentar

Shit happens part IX: The fatal snake hunger of a grebe

Bizarre deaths and accidents of animals were already covered for several times on the blog, especially in the shit happens-series. Today I want to feature an interesting specimen to continue this topic. This is a partially dissected great crested grebe … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Reptilien, shit happens, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

A Steneosaurus leg with fossilized skin

It is well known that there are a lot of wonderfully preserved ichthyosaur fossils with skin impressions, especially from the famous Posidonia shale of Holzmaden. But it is much lesser known that there are also some soft tissue impressions of … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Krokodile/Crocodylians, Paläontologie, Reptilien | 2 Kommentare

In search of the black hell adder

Today I made an excursion to the northern Black Forest, with a vague hope to see a common European adder (Vipera berus). This is one of the few remaining areas here around which still has a somewhat bigger population of … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Reptilien | 3 Kommentare

A possible case of tail autophagy observed in Lilford’s wall lizard on Dragonera

In 2014, I made a trip to Dragonera, a small island off the west coast of Majorca. My main focus was to see the endemic variant of Lilford´s wall lizards, Podarcis lilfordi ssp. giglioli, which populates this island. Among the … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Reptilien | Schreib einen Kommentar

Fossil of the day: Pelagosaurus typus with fatal jaw fracture

Today I visited the fossil museum at Dotternhausen, which exhibits nearly exclusively fossils found in the surrounding area. It is located in the Swabian Alps, an area which is famous for various fossil deposits, especially for ammonites and other marine … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Paläontologie, Reptilien | Schreib einen Kommentar

More green lizards: Blue-headed males and tiny juveniles

Today I made another walk in the territory of the local green lizard population. I found again a very nice male specimen with a magnifcient blueish colouration on its head and throat. Another shot: I discovered it already a few … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Reptilien | Schreib einen Kommentar

Starting into the herpetology season part III: On the track of green lizards

Green lizards are not only the largest but also surely the most flamboyant lacertids of central Europe. Besides this, they are also the rarest kind of lizards here around, with only a few handful of often quite local populations. Fortunately, … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Reptilien | 2 Kommentare

A tiny lindworm with huge hidden teeth and bone-armoured skin – The slow worm, largest lizard of Northern Europe

Central and Nothern Europe is not particularly rich in reptiles, and many of the native species are even quite rare and occur only quite locally restricted. In Germany for example, there are only around 13 species, among them five (or … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Reptilien | 6 Kommentare

Der Neuguinea-Flossenfuß, eine echsenfressende Pseudoschlange unter den Geckoartigen

Weiter geht es mit einem wenig bekannten, aber dafür umso interessanteren Reptil, dem Neuguinea-Flossenfuß (Lialis burtonis). Flossenfüße kommen ausschließlich auf Australien und Tasmanien, sowie mit zwei Arten vertreten auch in Neuguinea vor. Sie zeichnen sich durch eine sehr langgezogene schlangenartige … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Reptilien | 4 Kommentare