Biodiversity Blog
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American Eels in the Fish Collection
(CLICK ON PHOTO FOR VIDEO) Pulling eels out of a bucket of ice water demonstrates how difficult eels are to hold and not to mention their ability to produce copious slime.
The Biodiversity Center’s Ichthyology Collection is working with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to document and study American Eels in Texas with the primary aim be... 
CAMPUS BIODIVERSITY: Blue Jays
Photo: Darren Swim Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) on campus are hard to miss. With their striking colors and shrill calls, in addition to their assertive behavior, they are one of the more attention-getting birds at UT. The genus name Cyanocitta derives from the Greek words 'kyaneos,' 'kitta,' and 'kissa'. ‘Kyaneos’ mean blue, a...
Waller Creek Finds a Place in the Sun
article by Kristin Phillips, Sustainability Communications and Events Coordinator, Assistant Manager Waller Creek — the corridor that enlivens The University of Texas at Austin just east of the original Forty Acres — is gaining center stage. Until recently, the creek had been simultaneously central to campus and nearly invisible, as noted in the pr...Featured Species: Chihuahua Catfish (Ictalurus sp. Chihuahua Catfish)
by Dr. Dean Hendrickson (Curator of Ichthyology)
The very rare and still scientifically undescribed Chihuahua Catfish, "Ictalurus sp." is known only from streams of the Río Grande basin. It looks superficially a lot like the common Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), and hybridizes with that species. Non-hybrids, however, are identi... How Birds like Tower Girl Keep Cool in the Hot Summers
Tower Girl cools down using "gular fluttering."
As Central Texas moves deeper into the summer months, we Austinites like to find relief from the oppressive heat by wearing shorts and t-shirts, consuming cool drinks, and ducking inside air-conditioned spaces. If you have been watching our resident Peregrine falcon, Tower Gir... 
A Mile-Long Classroom
Marie Lorenz captured the work of freshman design Paige Giordano by Kristin Phillips, Communications & Events Coordinator in the Office of Sustainability A physics professor looks for elusive wood ducks on daily walks to the gym; an engineering class collects vials of water to determine alkalinity; a theater group—barefoot and...Featured Species: Nolina nelsonii
Nolina nelsonii growing at the corner of Inner Campus Dr. and Whitis Ave., the University of Texas at Austin
by Dr. José Panero, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center
The gardens surrounding the BIO Building and the Teaching Greenhouse have several interesting plants donated in y... Texas Biodiversity Day
If you happened to be strolling down the East Mall on the warm afternoon of April 23rd, you might have noticed some tables holding cases of pinned insects, or perhaps some skulls and specimen jars. The event you passed was for Texas Biodiversity Day, and the Biodiversity Center participated to promote outreach and awareness, and to assist... Field Herpetology Class Meets the Spot-tailed Earless Lizard
by Dr. Travis LaDuc, Curator of Herpetology, Department of Integrative Biology
(Photo: Ian Wright)
The Spot-tailed Earless Lizard (Holbrookia lacerata) is a small (70 mm snout-vent length), enigmatic lizard historically found across much of the Edwards Plateau, parts of the Permian Basin in west Texas, and parts of the south Te... Featured Species: Hypoponera inexorata
This rare, mostly underground ant species was not known from UT’s Brackenridge Field Lab until this year, when Curator of Entomology Alex Wild found one by chance under a stone. He snapped this photograph, possibly the first photograph taken of H. inexorata in the field. Colonies are small and subterranean, often near other species of ants. The wor... Biodiversity Center Sponsors Freshman Research Initiative Course
Biodiversity Discovery FRI Students Christiana Peek, Evan Samsky, Hannah Gilbreath, Thomas Johnston and Ari Nehrbass prepare to sample vegetation at BFL (Photo: Alejandro Santillana)
By Nicole Elmer and Dr. Susan Devitt
The Freshman Research Initiative is a pioneering program allowing first-year students chances for hands-on resea... 
Fishes of Texas project works with Smithsonian Museum
The shovelnose sturgeon currently ranges throughout much of the Mississippi drainage, including the Red River in Texas. A disjunct population once existed in the Rio Grande River of Texas and New Mexico. This is known primarily from archeological material and historic accounts, but the specimen record is limited for this population. Nearly a centur...
Fire Ants and their Phorid Fly Foes: Brackenridge Field Lab and Biodiversity Collections Engage Visitors at UT Explore 2018
UT Explore was held on Saturday March 3rd, drawing a large crowd of families, students, and teachers. The annual event seeks to encourage community interest in research and higher education, and the important impact UT has on Austin and the world at large.
Social Media Leads Researchers to New Eel Discoveries in Texas
American eels
This was written by Nicole Elmer, Melissa Casarez, and Dean Hendrickson
Citizen-science and social networking outreach efforts often yield benefits for researchers. This is no more evident than here in the University of Texas’ Hendrickson Lab (home of the Fishes of Texas project) with a recent surprising discovery of... 
Towards a periodic table of niches or exploring the lizard niche hypervolume
Authors: Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt, Nicolás Pelegrin, Daniel B. Fitzgerald, and Kirk O. Winemiller Ecologists begin to construct a Periodic Table of Niches Redsands study area in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia – 55 species of lizards, including the thorny devil Moloch horridus, occur in sympatry here.(Cre...
Featured Species - Pecos Pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis)
This species was once one of the most abundant fishes in the Pecos River, but is now restricted to Salt Creek in Texas and just a few locations in New Mexico due to hybridization with Sheepshead Minnow (C. variegatus) and groundwater pumping. As a result, it is classified as Threatened in Texas. It has a wide tolerance for physiochemical factors su...
Featured Species - Toothless Blindcat (Trogloglanis pattersoni)
The Toothless Blindcat, Trogloglanis pattersoni, is one of two highly cave-adapted eyeless and depigmented catfishes known only from the deepest parts of the Edwards Aquifer under San Antonio, TX. Specimens from its humanly inaccessible habitat have come only from a few very deep city water wells near the area of the aquifer where salin...
Celebrating the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center
The UT Austin Plant Resources Center is now called The Billie L. Turner Plant Resoruces Center. On the ocassion of the new name, several faculty members and prominent Texas botanists, including Dr. Turner himself, gathered to celebrate botanical research and kick off a new chapter in the history of the herbarium.
