Welcome to the AmphibiaTree website!
We haven't posted much new material this summer because the Editor has been traveling. But this will change soon
These pages provide news from the community about recent research on amphibians. New papers are added regularly.
Just 10 years after its official discovery, one of Texas' rarest amphibians is in immediate danger of extinction. That's why last week the Center for Biological Diversity and Save Our Springs Alliance filed a notice of intent to sue for emergency protections. The two-inch-long Jollyville Plateau salamander spends its entire life underwater and has experienced serious decline, as well as deformities, from urban development polluting its spring and wet-cave habitats. Now it's in more danger than ever from the city of Austin's planned construction of a water-treatment plant in the heart of its habitat. In fact, one population has already been lost to the mere drilling of a test well.
From the AWeb site:
"A tiny new frog (the Old World's smallest) has been discovered living and breeding inside pitcher plants on Borneo. Das and Haas (2010) describe the new species, Microhyla nepenthicola, in the journal Zootaxa. Adult male frogs measure between 10.6 and 12.8 mm in snout-vent length (SVL); new metamorphs measure just 3.5 mm on average (one-third the diameter of a pea). Although pitcher plants are carnivorous and consume insects that fall in, Microhyla nepenthicola tadpoles suffer no ill effects from developing inside the pitcher's digestive liquid.
from the AmphibiaWeb site:
Can amphibians in the wild be saved from the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis, using bioaugmentation of naturally occurring amphibian anti-fungal skin bacteria? This summer will be the first test, in California.
From AmphibiaWeb News:
What distinguishes invasive amphibian species at the earliest stage of becoming invasive?
From AmphibiaWeb News:
Can chytridiomycosis be treated in the wild?
More...
