We report on nesting phenology, nest success, and life history traits of Green Salamanders (Aneides aeneus) in DuPont State Recreational Forest on the Blue Ridge Escarpment in North Carolina during 2011–2022. We examined relationships between weather (i.e., maximum temperature, precipitation, relative humidity) and (1) onset of ovipositing; (2) egg hatching; and (3) nest success. We conducted 3,429 surveys of 276 nests. Nesting phenology and life history traits were comparable to those previously reported in 1949–1950 and in 1970 from the same region as our study. Initiation of oviposition and egg hatching was associated with lack of precipitation and higher temperature, respectively, during the 24-h period of the event. No relationships were found for weather and nest success during July and August during the study period. Nest success ranged 44–96%, and failure was attributed to predation and animals that compromised integrity of eggs. These results suggest that environmental conditions outside brood crevices influence initiation of ovipositing and egg hatching. Our findings also suggest that nesting phenology and fecundity of Green Salamanders have remained stable on the Blue Ridge Escarpment between 1949 and 2022. In addition, these findings do not support the assertion that seasonal drought during the brooding period is a factor in breeding failure. Further research is needed on environmental cues related to onset of oviposition and egg hatching in terrestrial-nesting plethodontids.

Over nearly two decades, I observed and amassed a capture-mark-recapture study to estimate maximum natural lifespan and lifetime distance moved in a population of Common Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana). The focal population, near the high-latitude margin of their geographic distribution (43.4 °N), was characterized by reduced abundance and diversity of predators. During 12 study years between 2004 and 2017, I marked 5,298 individual animals and annually attempted to recapture the same lizards. Of these, 2,989 were determined to be one year old at the time of first capture, with 359 (12%) recaptured in at least one subsequent year. After allowing sufficient time for animals to age out of the population naturally, I estimated that the maximum lifespan for this species is at least 7 years, which is longer than previously reported. I determined that 34 (1.1%) of these lizards survived to be at least four years of age, potentially representing a significant demographic influence for populations at higher latitudes. Moreover, I detected a significant male-bias in the sex ratio of survivors by age two. Using GPS coordinates for each annual capture, I determined that males and females did not differ in movement distances from their initial capture location as adults. Rather, individuals generally moved very little over the course of their adult lifetimes (average between first and last coordinates = 27.9 m; median = 14.4 m). Long, sedentary lives may be the norm, rather than the exception, in rangeedge populations of lizards with less abundant predators.

Several aspects of orientation, spatial navigation abilities, and use of space in amphibians have received some attention in research analyses in natural environments. However, given the lack of information on spatial cognition of terrestrial toads (Rhinella arenarum) in the wild, we collected data on space use dynamics in their natural habitat. Sampling was conducted around the Chascomús Lagoon, Argentina, for two spring-summer seasons (from October to March). Toads were marked, their locations GPS-recorded, and the type of shelters used was identified. Results indicated that most toads exclusively used drain-type shelters, while a smaller proportion used field-type shelters. Those toads that shared a shelter had a greater overlap of home ranges than those that did not. There was no association between size of home ranges and sex, or type of shelter used. No differences were found in distance from shelter to home range centroid between different groups of toads. Data revealed that toads were inconsistent in directions moved and distance traveled. In addition, as expected, toads were more active on days of higher maximum temperatures and rainfall, and when fewer days had elapsed since rainy days. This basic information on space use of this species in their natural environment promotes future spatial orientation studies to allow comparisons with previous results on use of reference cues obtained under controlled laboratory conditions.

Pre-Pleistocene fossils of Anolis lizards from the mainland of the Americas are exceedingly rare: only two specimens referred to a single species have been described previously. Here we report on a third specimen, preserved (as are the other two) in Miocene amber from Chiapas, Mexico, and consisting primarily of the anterior vertebrae of the caudal sequence. Despite the fragmentary nature of the fossil, it preserves key osteological characters that permit confident referral to the Anolis clade and further suggest placement within the Dactyloa subclade in a clade of three extant species within the Anolis aequatorialis series. The Chiapan provenance of the fossil indicates that the geographic distribution of the Dactyloa clade (and possibly that of the A. aequatorialis series) extended considerably farther north during the Miocene. Although the new fossil represents a different part of the body than the two fossils representing the fossil species Anolis electrum, its inferred phylogenetic relationships are the same as one of the several possible phylogenetic relationships of that species and thus allow for the possibility that all three specimens belong to the same species.