Zoology Commons^™

A New Species Of Callulina (Anura: Microhylidae) From The West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, Rafael O. De Sá, Simon P. Loader, Alan Channing

Biology Faculty Publications

The description of the species Callulina kreffti was based on specimens collected in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Successive collecting has shown this species to be widely distributed through the Eastern Arc Mountains. Advertisement calls from populations in the type locality of Callulina kreffti were compared with calls from populations in the West Usambara Mountains. Analysis of the calls suggested that these two populations of Callulina represent two separate taxa. Subsequent morphological and molecular investigations indicated that these two populations are distinct. Herein, we describe a new Callulina species on the basis of call, morphology and molecular sequences.

A New Toad (Anura: Bufonidae) From Uruguay, Raúl Maneyro, Diego Arrieta, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

A new species of toad is described from small streams in the hills of Cuchilla de Haedo and Cuchilla Grande in northeastern Uruguay. Specimens of the new species were previously mistaken for Bufo arenarum; they differ from B.arenarum by having elongated parotoid glands and reddish-brown parotoid and cephalic crests. A discriminant analysis resulted in three groups corresponding to B. arenarum, Bufo rufus, and the specimens herein described as a new species.

Rare, Threatened And Endangered Species Of Oregon (2004), James S. Kagan, Sue Vrilakas, Eleanor P. Gaines, Cliff Alton, Fern Mcarthur, Kuuipo Walsh, Eric Scheuering, John A. Christy, Jon Hak, Claudine Tobalske, Annie Weiland, Theresa Koloszar, Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Extinction is a natural process. Today, however, plant and animal species are disappearing world-wide at an accelerated pace. Based on current trends, half of the species on earth will be extinct within the next 100 years. The major cause of this phenomenon is large-scale destruction of native habitats, which has increased since European settlement began in the mid 1800's - in Oregon and throughout the New World.

Once lost, a species can never be recovered, and there is no way of knowing how useful it may have been. We do know that human beings and many of their industries depend …

On The Engimatic Distribution Of The Honduran Endemic Leptodactylus Silvanimbus (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae), W. R. Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá, Sarah Muller

Biology Faculty Publications

Most species of the frog genus Leptodactylus occur in South America, and all authors who have treated the zoogeography of the genus have concluded that it originated somewhere in South America (e.g., Savage 1982). Savage (1982, 518) summarized the historical herpetofaunal units of the Neotropics as follows: "All evidence points to an ancient contiguity and essential similarity of a generalized tropical herpetofauna that ranged over tropical North, Middle, and most of South America in Cretaceous-Paleocene times. Descendents of this fauna are represented today by the South and Middle American tracks (Elements). To the north of this fauna ranged a subtropical-temperate …

Características Histológicas De La Tumefacción Frontal De Melanophryniscus (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae), Daniel E. Naya, José A. Langone, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Se analizó la histología tegumentaria de la región cefálica en seis especies del género Melanophryniscus, pertenecientes a los grupos stelzneri (4) y tumifrons (2), con el objetivo de esclarecer la estructura de la tumefacción frontal y su posible función. Las características generales de la histología del grupo stelzneri, coincidieron con las descripciones tegumentarias existentes para el género. Sin embargo, la región cefálica frontal en las dos especies del grupo tumifrons muestran cambios histológicos correlacionados a la tumefacción frontal. Esta estructura presenta una organización similar a otras macroglándulas presentes en la dermis de anuros (e.g., parotoides, paracnémicas), y por tanto se …

Hatching Asynchrony, Survival, And The Fitness Of Alternative Adult Morphs In Ambystoma Talpoideum, Travis J. Ryan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum, exhibits both aquatic (gilled) and terrestrial (metamorphosed) adult morphologies. Previous studies have shown the existence of body-size advantages associated with the terrestrial morph in A. talpoideum and other polymorphic salamanders (e.g., A. tigrinum). However, aquatic adult A. talpoideum mature at a younger age and often breed earlier than terrestrial adults. We tested the hypothesis that early maturation and reproduction in aquatic adults increase fitness (irrespective of body size). We reared larval A. talpoideum in mesocosms and varied the timing of hatching, with early-hatching larvae representing the offspring from early-breeding aquatic adults, and late-hatching larvae representing …