New & Improved Species Profiles

8/24/2026

What was Problematic?

Hello everyone, from Ty. I am being very forward with this article as it is an update and not a research paper. We have had this website since 2021, so around five years. I have yet to finish all of the species profiles on the site. Shame on me. Now, I have had some great changes from our start to now. For example, my day job in 2021 allowed me to work on the website for much of my shift as it was a more reactionary job. In other words, if something came up, I had to deal with it immediately, but there was a lot of down time. My current day job gives me no time to do such. This is not a complaint, but an explanation to why I have slowed down a lot. I started to do some math, and realized that if I focused one hour a day (seven days a week) on species profiles, I could finish them in about 1.6 years (without including proof-reading time). That said, this isn't a sustainable pace and there is an issue beyond finishing these profiles. A lot changes in five years. We have new information and sometimes I just make mistakes that have to be fixed. Sometimes our maps somehow default to other maps, and photos will do the same. I believe this is due to the file names being too similar. I also didn't still love the layout. I wanted to convey more information in less time. So, I decided we needed to do an overhaul to our profiles. I started looking around at some online guides, not for herps but for other taxons. I was inspired to make some changes I feel the herping hobby could greatly benefit from. For example, Cornell has some great bird sources between Merlin and All About Birds. So, what could I do to make a Merlin for Virginia herps? I think of this particularly, as we do hope to eventually make an app for Herping Virginia's Herp Guide since the website doesn't have the cleanest mobile view and an offline version would be really nice to have in the field. Obviously I don't want to make a 1:1 copy of Merlin, but I will say they are a major inspiration.

So, I sat down and rebuilt our format for profiles and started rewriting some of the profiles from scratch. Hopefully, by having a more solid format, this will speed progress along. So, what should you expect? First, the buttons for the new profiles will look the same, but have "*New Profile*" displayed under them. When you click in, there will be sections. The following will break down each section.

Photos & Quick Facts

First, I made a major change to our photos when one comes into the page. I had mixed reviews to this section, as some folks loved being able to see 40+ photos of some species and others found it overwhelming. Especially, when one is clicking through to look for the one photo they want to see (like a venter photo). In response, I decided to only have six or less photos in this section. This allows me to show a lot of variation, without it being too much. The slide show is not automatic and there are options to click whichever photo one desires to see. What about the people who really like having as many photos as possible to compare to? Well, I have done something special for them down at the end of the profile.

Description & Behavior

This is where I describe the animal and the behavior. I am trying to keep this to two paragraphs (first of description and second on behavior), but this will not always be the case. In the behavior section, I will slide in some tricks on finding these animals in many cases. Looks for things like: "They are active on wet nights, and often can be found by road cruising in such conditions." or "They shelter under debris during the day, and can often be found by flipping boards, logs, and tin." The description is pretty rudimentary. I also am doing my best to explain some of the scientific terminology better for new herpers, such as: "Two large "bumps" (parotid glands) behind the eye, over the tympanum (eardrum) are present."

Habitat

One of the features I wanted to do better on was habitat and range. I take pride in saying that Herping Virginia has some of the best range maps for Virginia species. There are some details I wish I could change, but for county level, it does its job. That said, habitat can be quite complicated. How do we simplify this for human understanding? Well, I decided it best to have a slideshow here of several habitat types for each species. I then include a paragraph on where we see this species and why.

Calls

For frogs particularrly, there will be a "Calls" section. This will show typical calling seasons, sonograms, and a short description of the call in addition to actual audio of the species.

Similar Species

One thing I have wanted to make better is how we explain similar species. This is where I took some inspiration from All About Birds. They have a feature that allows one to compare two species side-by-side. The best way I could do this is to put the profile species on the left in a slideshow of a few photos and similar species in a slideshow on the right that you can click through. As we continue to add to the profiles, you will be able to view similar species' profiles by clicking on their names or photos in this section. There is a paragraph to help explain some points in better detail, such as this species "often has" or "typically has" what ever traits.

Taxonomy & Phylogeny

One of my favorite new features is the Taxonomy & Phylogeny section. This helps to show relationships and name changes over time. For example, there is a lot of confusion in the general public on what is a Common Box Turtle, Woodland Box Turtle, vs. Eastern Box Turtle. These are essentially all the same animal under different common names for our Virginia standards.

We also see confusion with some groups such as skinks (many think are salamanders) and spadefoots and narrowmouths (often referred to as toads). Some species hybridize or form complicated complexes. This section is designed to help with those confusions. There will be paragraphs aiding with explaining all of this.

Special Sections

Some species will have "specialized sections". Venomous snakes may have a section called "Venom", Spotted Salamanders will have a "Life Cycle" section, and other species may have sections I have yet to consider.

Works Cited (when Necessary)

That should be pretty clear... Many times what I am talking about is "common knowledge" (ex. "Northern Watersnakes are generally found around water.") which is not easy to cite or is always citable and therefore does not require citation. When I do have to cite is when I use a particular source to make a claim. This often is in debated cases and or in the phylogeny. There may not be multiple studies into the phylogeny of a particular genus or two studies may conflict. In conflicts, unless there is good reason to ignore one side (such as a major error or claims that require too many assumptions) I try to give both sides, while sticking to scientific consensus. If I buck the general consensus, I should make a good note why. Usually this occurs with ID, as there are several over-generalized "tricks" that I believe we all should be better at scrutinizing. Many of these comes from the slow shifting of literature where phrases like "often have" shifts to "have" as it is copied into new wording time and time again.

Gallery

Remember when I said I had something special for anyone who likes looking at 40+ examples of one species? Well, this is for you. You can see all of these photos in a gallery and enlarge anyone you want to look at. This gives one the opportunity to see dozens of examples at a glance, and compare and contrast individuals.

Final Thoughts

So, I hope these changes make sense to everyone. This format also makes it easier for me to come back later and add new sections. Expect to see more and more profiles change over over the next few years. For now, if you wish to visit a new profile to try it, the one referenced throughout this article is the Fowler's Toad. I have also put together one for the Queensnake that you may explore. Thank you all for your support!