SquaMates

Happy World Lizard Day! Today we talk about the biggest lizards that ever roamed the Earth: mosasaurs! These giant aquatic lizards are often forgotten when we talk about shape diversity in squamates, but they were some of the most specialised and remarkable lizards ever. We dive into their diversity, history, origins, and extinction in this special episode. We also talk about the incredible Mirasaurus, the weird new reptile with bizarre integument structures that recently made the cover of Nature with an illustration by co-host Gabriel!

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Links, Citations, and Other Resources

Spiekman, S.N.F., Foth, C., Rossi, V., Gascó Martín, C., Slater, T.S., Bath Enright, O.G., Dollman, K.N., Serafini, G., Seegis, D., Grauvogel-Stamm, L., McNamara, M.E., Sues, H.-D. & Schoch, R.R. (2025) Triassic diapsid shows early diversification of skin appendages in reptiles. Nature, 643(8074):1297–1303. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09167-9

Follow the show and the hosts on social media!

SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon • bluesky

Hiral Naik: website • instagram • bluesky
The post SquaMates Ep. 36: Is this a mosasaur? first appeared on SquaMates.

Happy World Snake Day! Today, we talk about snake ecosystem services, human-snake conflicts, and opine on various snake-related outreach personalities you probably know from television or youtube. Be prepared for some hot takes as we finally address the elephant trunk snake in the room!

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Links, Citations, and Other Resources

Check out other things going on this week for Snake Week: http://snakeweek.org/

Quah, E. S. H., Grismer, L. L., & Anuar, M. S. S. (2023). Observations and description of a rare escape mechanism in a snake: Cartwheeling in Pseudorabdion longiceps (Cantor, 1847) (Squamata, Colubridea). Biotropica, 55, 568–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.13213

Footage of a cartwheeling snake is available here: https://youtu.be/sMoHNVCXHG8?si=8Awzzgb9-RTAHnse&t=1256

A call to action: Drop us a comment and let us know How do you reach people in your community, to educate them about snakes?

Episode shout-outs:

Mark O’Shea

Jeff Corwin

Madagascar Life on the Edge, a documentary feat. Mark

Earyn McGee

Follow the show and the hosts on social media!

SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon • bluesky

Hiral Naik: website • instagram • bluesky
The post SquaMates Ep. 35: The Elephant Trunk Snake in the Room first appeared on SquaMates.

We dive into one of the most popular pet reptiles in the trade: Pogona vitticeps, the bearded dragon—its relatives, origins in the trade, and popularity.

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Episode Citations

ExoTerra website on Pogona vitticeps, including discussion of their origins in the trade

Episode shout-outs:

Bill Strand – Chameleon Academy Podcast

Follow the show and the hosts on social media!

SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon • bluesky

Hiral Naik: website • instagram • bluesky
The post SquaMates Ep. 34: M-m-m-my Pogona! first appeared on SquaMates.

What is this‽ Two episodes in one week‽ That’s right! It’s May 9th, International Chameleon Day! In this episode, we give a deep dive into chameleon diversity, ecology, and evolution, and chameleon analogues across the world!

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Works in Frogress:

Get Ethan’s Skink Zine! Also in physical format! See more awesome illustrations like this one:

Vences, M., Miralles, A., Ineich, I., Rakotoarison, A., Glasenapp, C., Scherz, M.D., Köhler, J., Glaw, F. & Raselimanana, A.P. (2025) An updated survey of molecular diversity in Madagascar’s velvet geckos, genus Blaesodactylus, with description of a new species from the island’s arid West. Zootaxa, 5620(2):230–254. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5620.2.2

Correction

Mark forgot to mention the chameleon genus Nadzikambia! This is a genus that formerly belonged to Chamaeleo and then Bradypodion. There are only two species. They look much like other arboreal chamaeleonine chameleons.

Episode Citaitons

Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Vences & Glaw Verlags GbR, Cologne, Germany, 496 pp. Third Edition.

Nečas, P. & Schmidt, W. (2004) Stummelschwanzchamäleons: Miniaturdrachen [!] des Regenwaldes: die Gattungen Brookesia und Rhampholeon. Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 255 pp.

Tilbury, C.R. (2018) Chameleons of Africa: An Atlas, Including the Chameleons of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Chimaira Buchhandelsgesellschaft mbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 643 pp.

Tolley, K.A. & Herrel, A. (2013) The Biology of Chameleons. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California USA, University of California Press, 288 pp.

Tolley, K.A., Townsend, T.M. & Vences, M. (2013) Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 280(1759):20130184 (8 pp.). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.0184

Episode shout-outs:

Chris Anderson

Bill Strand – Chameleon Academy Podcast

Follow the show and the hosts on social media!

SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon • bluesky

Hiral Naik: website • instagram • bluesky
The post SquaMates Ep. 33: Chameleon Day Bonanza! first appeared on SquaMates.

Hiral is a Doctor of Science now, Mark is about to become an Associate Professor, and the art world continues to be mad and heavily affected by changes to the social media landscape! In this episode, we talk about art and scientific illustration, hemipenes, ectothermy, snake and salamander courtship and reproduction, and what you can do to help your local amphibians.

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Questions in this episode came from:

@SaurianCYH.bsky.social

@Biscotto_al_latte on Instagram

@eyesonthedirt on Instagram

@loquaciousky.bsky.social‬

loch-ness-connoisseur.tumblr.com

Follow the show and the hosts on social media!

SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon • bluesky

Hiral Naik: website • instagram • bluesky
The post SquaMates Ep. 32: It was only a (cloacal) kiss, how did it end up like this? first appeared on SquaMates.