DOCSLIB.ORG

Explore, Explain, and Sustain! Newslettter

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Explore, Explain, and Sustain! Newslettter Explore, Explain, and Sustain! Newslett er Issue 1 November 2014 Welcome to the Inaugural Issue of our Newsletter! Welcome to the inaugural issue of the newsletter from the Finally, we are pleased to announce that we are resuming Institute of Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at the publication of the Proceedings of the California Academy California Academy of Sciences. We are excited to be part of Sciences. No time to sleep! We continue to welcome of a dynamic museum team that is growing, innovating, visitors and colleagues to the Academy, fulfilling our role and addressing pressing issues that relate to our core in next-generation science as we “explore the unexplored, strength: biodiversity. The research team at the Academy explain the unexplained, and sustain the unsustained.” currently manages approximately 45 million specimens and conducts research in more than 20 countries. Explore, Explain, and Sustain! This summer, the Academy welcomed our new Executive Director, Dr. Jonathan Foley, who has invited all of us to Meg Lowman participate in shaping the future of the Academy through Chief of Science his “Academy2020” program. This will include our IBSS & Sustainability ADVANCE (not a retreat, since we are looking forward!), the hiring of two new researchers, the acquisition of iNaturalist, which provides a great online platform for citizen science and biodiversity monitoring, and the launch of a major digitization initiative for our collections. Six of our long-serving, outstanding curators have accepted a voluntary retirement plan generously funded by our endowment, but we are thrilled that they will continue their important work under our roof as emeritus curators. The search begins this fall for the first replacement, our Schlinger Chair of Arachnology. Peter Roopnarine, Ph.D., Curator of Geology - Chief Editor Brian Simison, Ph.D, Curator of Genomics - Assistant Editor Charlotte Pfeiffer, Program Coordinator – Managing Editor Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability 1 1 Explore, Explain, and Sustain Newsletter Issue 1 Research Briefs Six Named Curator Emeriti biodiversity hotspots and targets for Charles Griswold, More than 200 years of experience conservation decisions. Ph.D., Schlinger Chair Peter Roopnarine, Curator of Geology of Arachnology, Tom Daniel, Ph.D., Entomology. Charles This year has been one of big Curator, Botany. Tom changes for the Academy, and IBSS is one of the world’s has worked broadly leading experts on is no exception. In addition to the on the biogeography, arrival of Dr. Jonathan Foley, new spiders. His studies evolution, and include the discovery Executive Director, and Dr. Meg ecosystem roles of a Lowman, the new Chief of Science and description of wide variety of new taxa, and the and Sustainability, six of the IBSS’s plants. He has most senior curators also retired biogeography, phylogenetics and discovered and evolutionary biology of this important on September 30th. They include described dozens of Drs. Frank Almeda, Tom Daniel, Bob group. During his career he has new species, published more than 150 discovered and described 322 new Drewes, Charles Griswold, Dave scientific papers and monographs, and Kavanaugh, and John McCosker, who species, 45 new genera, and an developed comprehensive entirely new family of spiders. His together have served the Academy descriptions of one of the most for a total of more than 200 years. work includes his description in 2012 diverse plant families, the of a new genus and family of spiders Our colleagues have transitioned Acanthaceae. immediately to the status of Emeritus - Trogloraptor, found in Oregon caves. curator, and all have the opportunity Trogloraptoridae is the first new to continue with their research at family of spiders discovered in North Robert (Bob) America since the 1890s. the Academy with full access to IBSS Drewes, Ph.D., resources. Here, in our inaugural Curator, Herpetology. newsletter, we wish to thank, Bob’s research has Dave Kavanaugh, celebrate, and honor our colleagues. focused Ph.D., Senior Their stamps on the Academy, overwhelmingly on Curator, research at the Academy, and the the natural history Entomology. Dave’s broader communities of their areas and evolution of love and of expertise will be felt for years to African amphibians unparalleled come. Please join us in recognizing and reptiles, and he expertise are these outstanding individuals. is a legend of African fieldwork. After devoted to a family more than three decades of work on of predatory ground the African mainland, he shifted focus beetles, the Frank Almeda, Ph.D., to the poorly known Gulf of Guinea Carabidae. His fascination stems, in Senior Curator, Islands off west Africa. In addition to part, from their relative diversity and Decker and Martha leading numerous multidisciplinary abundance in cold, isolated places McAllister Chair of expeditions to the islands, he has where changes in the distribution of Botany. Frank is worked tirelessly with the local organisms are often early indicators of world-renowned for populations and government to wider environmental change. He his work on the further education and appreciation of specializes in a particular genus of family the islands’ biological resources. carabids, Nebria, relics from the Ice Melastomataceae, Those efforts culminated in the Age that have provided many addressing questions UNESCO designation of Principe Island surprising discoveries throughout his of botanical diversity, biogeography as a World Biosphere Reserve in 2013. research. In 1973, Dave stumbled and evolution, including the use of upon a brilliant purple beetle while plant families as indicators of walking along the Hoback River in Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability 2 Explore, Explain, and Sustain Newsletter Issue 1 Research Briefs cont’d Wyoming. The closest relative of this find out how these two caecilians beetle, which he officially named species have evolved a reproductive Nebria beverlianna after his wife strategy that suits the weather in their Beverly, is found near glacial rivers in environment. Also we are passionate British Columbia and Alberta at much to learn about the diet of the two mentioned species and their place in higher elevations. Dave’s work has the food chain and how they impact been published in 24 different peer- other creatures that they interact with reviewed journals and as chapters in Cameroon Joins IBSS in their environment. Our findings 14 books. A Student and Curator Profile will inform scientists and stakeholders Charlotte Pfeiffer, Program Coordinator on the needs of caecilians for conservation purposes.” John McCosker, In spring of 2014, the Institute for Ph.D., Senior Curator Biodiversity Science and Sustainability What is the connection between and Chair, Aquatic welcomed it’s first graduate student Cameroon and the research at the Biology. During his from the west african country of Institute for Biodiversity Science and more than 40 years Cameroon. Marcel Talla Kouete was Sustainability? Blackburn says, “The with the Academy, born in Douala, which is located Academy brings strengths from IBSS in John served as in the coastal area of his home studying African biodiversity and from Director of Steinhart country. In Kouete’s early years in the Steinhart Aquarium in animal Aquarium for more Douala, through the early 1970’s husbandry to our work in Cameroon. than two decades, to the late 1980’s, the economy I first did field research in Cameroon was flourishing due to the shipping in 2004 and I’ve been working on as well as the Director of Business and industry off the coast of Cameroon. Finance, Director of Public Programs, the diversity of amphibians there His mother encouraged him to ever since. In the past ten years, and the Interim Executive Director on pursue his education and to pay our work has resulted in discovery two occasions. He eventually became rigorous attention to his schoolwork. of new species, documentation of the first Chair of Aquatic Biology, a He acknowledges the effect this conservation challenges, and new position he has held since 1995. His encouragement had on getting him understanding of the biology of frogs research concerns aquatic animal to where he is today at the university found in Central Africa. I’m particularly evolution and behavior, particularly level. Currently, Kouete is attending excited about being able to work that of snake eels, moray eels, sharks, the M.Sc. program at San Francisco with the Aquarium to learn about the and the fishes of the Galápagos State University. His advisor is David biology of critically endangered frog Islands. His studies of white sharks Blackburn, Ph.D., Associate Curator species from Cameroon.” Kouete in the Department of Herpetology in reminds us that his home country is (Carcharodon carcharias) have result- IBSS. ed in numerous technical and popular a unique biodiversity hot spot with well qualified locals who are willing publications, books, and documenta- Currently, Kouete is studying to reliably carry out field-based ries (NOVA, BBC, National Geographic, caecilians, which are the least experiments and share their accounts and others) have changed our under- known group among amphibians. with other researchers. There are also standing of white shark behavior and In his research, he will be looking the in-country connections between informed public safety policies and at the reproductive biology of two the Academy and local administrative legislation designed to protect the species Herpele
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Towards Evidence-Based Husbandry for Caecilian Amphibians: Substrate Preference in Geotrypetes Seraphini (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Dermophiidae)
    RESEARCH ARTICLE The Herpetological Bulletin 129, 2014: 15-18 Towards evidence-based husbandry for caecilian amphibians: Substrate preference in Geotrypetes seraphini (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Dermophiidae) BENJAMIN TAPLEY1*, ZOE BRYANT1, SEBASTIAN GRANT1, GRANT KOTHER1, YEDRA FEL- TRER1, NIC MASTERS1, TAINA STRIKE1, IRI GILL1, MARK WILKINSON2 & DAVID J GOWER2 1Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY 2Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD *Corresponding author email: [email protected] ABSTRACT - Maintaining caecilians in captivity provides opportunities to study life-history, behaviour and reproductive biology and to investigate and to develop treatment protocols for amphibian chytridiomycosis. Few species of caecilians are maintained in captivity and little has been published on their husbandry. We present data on substrate preference in a group of eight Central African Geotrypetes seraphini (Duméril, 1859). Two substrates were trialled; coir and Megazorb (a waste product from the paper making industry). G. seraphini showed a strong preference for the Megazorb. We anticipate this finding will improve the captive management of this and perhaps also other species of fossorial caecilians, and stimulate evidence-based husbandry practices. INTRODUCTION (Gower & Wilkinson, 2005) and little has been published on the captive husbandry of terrestrial caecilians (Wake, 1994; O’ Reilly, 1996). A basic parameter in terrestrial The paucity of information on caecilian ecology and caecilian husbandry is substrate, but data on tolerances and general neglect of their conservation needs should be of preferences in the wild or in captivity are mostly lacking. concern in light of global amphibian declines (Alford & Terrestrial caecilians are reported from a wide range of Richards 1999; Stuart et al., 2004; Gower & Wilkinson, soil pH (Gundappa et al., 1981; Wake, 1994; Kupfer et 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Protected Area Management Plan Development - SAPO NATIONAL PARK
    Technical Assistance Report Protected Area Management Plan Development - SAPO NATIONAL PARK - Sapo National Park -Vision Statement By the year 2010, a fully restored biodiversity, and well-maintained, properly managed Sapo National Park, with increased public understanding and acceptance, and improved quality of life in communities surrounding the Park. A Cooperative Accomplishment of USDA Forest Service, Forestry Development Authority and Conservation International Steve Anderson and Dennis Gordon- USDA Forest Service May 29, 2005 to June 17, 2005 - 1 - USDA Forest Service, Forestry Development Authority and Conservation International Protected Area Development Management Plan Development Technical Assistance Report Steve Anderson and Dennis Gordon 17 June 2005 Goal Provide support to the FDA, CI and FFI to review and update the Sapo NP management plan, establish a management plan template, develop a program of activities for implementing the plan, and train FDA staff in developing future management plans. Summary Week 1 – Arrived in Monrovia on 29 May and met with Forestry Development Authority (FDA) staff and our two counterpart hosts, Theo Freeman and Morris Kamara, heads of the Wildlife Conservation and Protected Area Management and Protected Area Management respectively. We decided to concentrate on the immediate implementation needs for Sapo NP rather than a revision of existing management plan. The four of us, along with Tyler Christie of Conservation International (CI), worked in the CI office on the following topics: FDA Immediate
    [Show full text]
  • (Bd) Infection in Captive Caecilians
    Research article Itraconazole treatment of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection in captive caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) and the first case of Bd in a wild neotropical caecilian Matthew Rendle1, Benjamin Tapley1, Matthew Perkins1, Gabriela Bittencourt-Silva2, David J. Gower3 and Mark Wilkinson3 1Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY, UK 2 JZAR Research article Research JZAR Department of Environmental Science (Biogeography), University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 27, 4056 Basel, Switzerland 3Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK *Correspondence: Matthew Rendle; [email protected] Keywords: Abstract chytridiomycosis, Geotrypetes seraphini, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is the causative agent of the disease amphibian chytridiomycosis, Potomotyphlus kaupii one of the factors driving amphibian population declines. Bd infections are treatable in at least some cases, but in the Gymnophiona has been little reported, and restricted to heat treatment in the form Article history: of increased environmental temperature. We report the successful treatment of Bd infection in the Received: 16 November 2014 terrestrial African caecilian Geotrypetes seraphini and the prophylactic treatment of the aquatic Accepted: 16 October 2015 neotropical caecilian Potomotyphlus kaupii, using 30 minute immersions in a 0.01% solution of the Published online: 30 October 2015 antifungal itraconazole over a period of 11 days. Previously only recorded in wild African Gymnophiona, our report of Bd in P. kaupii is not only the first record of infection in a wild aquatic caecilian but also in a caecilian of neotropical origin. To improve our understanding of the impact of Bd on caecilians, Bd isolates should be obtained from wild caecilians in order to ascertain what lineages of Bd infect this order.
    [Show full text]
  • July to December 2019 (Pdf)
    2019 Journal Publications July Adelizzi, R. Portmann, J. van Meter, R. (2019). Effect of Individual and Combined Treatments of Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Salt on Growth and Corticosterone Levels of Larval Southern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates sphenocephala). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 77(1), pp.29-39. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31020372 Albecker, M. A. McCoy, M. W. (2019). Local adaptation for enhanced salt tolerance reduces non‐ adaptive plasticity caused by osmotic stress. Evolution, Early View. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/evo.13798 Alvarez, M. D. V. Fernandez, C. Cove, M. V. (2019). Assessing the role of habitat and species interactions in the population decline and detection bias of Neotropical leaf litter frogs in and around La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 14(2), pp.143– 156, e37526. https://neotropical.pensoft.net/article/37526/list/11/ Amat, F. Rivera, X. Romano, A. Sotgiu, G. (2019). Sexual dimorphism in the endemic Sardinian cave salamander (Atylodes genei). Folia Zoologica, 68(2), p.61-65. https://bioone.org/journals/Folia-Zoologica/volume-68/issue-2/fozo.047.2019/Sexual-dimorphism- in-the-endemic-Sardinian-cave-salamander-Atylodes-genei/10.25225/fozo.047.2019.short Amézquita, A, Suárez, G. Palacios-Rodríguez, P. Beltrán, I. Rodríguez, C. Barrientos, L. S. Daza, J. M. Mazariegos, L. (2019). A new species of Pristimantis (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the cloud forests of Colombian western Andes. Zootaxa, 4648(3). https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4648.3.8 Arrivillaga, C. Oakley, J. Ebiner, S. (2019). Predation of Scinax ruber (Anura: Hylidae) tadpoles by a fishing spider of the genus Thaumisia (Araneae: Pisauridae) in south-east Peru.
    [Show full text]
  • CONSERVATION of the CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TOGO SLIPPERY FROG ( Conraua Derooi ), in EASTERN GHANA
    CONSERVATION OF THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TOGO SLIPPERY FROG ( Conraua derooi ), IN EASTERN GHANA Submitted by Ofori-Boateng, C., A. Damoah, G.B. Adum, S. Nsiah, E. Nkrumah and D. Saykay-Tuabeng E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +233 (0)243038771 April 2012 CONSERVATION OF THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TOGO SLIPPERY FROG ( Conraua derooi ), IN EASTERN GHANA CLP project ID: 0143510 This project aimed at protecting the last known viable population of a Critically Endangered frog (the Togo slippery; Conraua derooi ) in Eastern Ghana Project duration: August 2010 – April 2011 Author (s) Ofori-Boateng, C., A. Damoah, G.B. Adum, S. Nsiah, E. Nkrumah and D. Saykay-Tuabeng [email protected] ©April 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank the Forestry Commission of Ghana for permission to carry out this research and conservation work in the Atewa Mountains. We are very grateful to Mr. Moses Sam, (regional manager, Ghana Wildlife Division offices in the western and central regions of Ghana) for supporting this project from the onset. We are thankful to several community members for their help and enthusiasm to promote conservation in their respective communities. Mr. Duodu assisted with our community entry and meeting planning in Sagyimase village. Mr. Mike Ofosu-Takyi provided accommodation for the team members anytime we were near Kibi township. We are also grateful to Mr. Philip Amankwah, Mr. Ibrahim Entsi, Antwi Kwame Prosper and several students and community members who participated in our field work. This work was funded by a future conservationist award from the Conservation Leadership Program (CLP). We are particularly grateful to various help provided by the CLP team particularly, Julie, Stuart, Kiragu and Robyn.
    [Show full text]
  • General Husbandry of Terrestrial (Fossorial) Caecilians in Captivity
    1 GENERAL HUSBANDRY OF TERRESTRIAL (FOSSORIAL) CAECILIANS IN CAPTIVITY Dennis Parmley, Georgia College & State University, Biology Department, Milledgeville GA 31061 ([email protected]) July 2013 INTRODUCTION Caecilians are a rather strange group of limbless, worm-like, and annulated amphibians of the Order Gymnophiona. They have no external ear openings (a stapes is present in some, but not others; Wever and Gans, 1976; Exbrayat, 2006), and their eyes are tiny and covered by skin and/or bone (Duellman and Treub 1986; Wake 1994). While some caecilians are aquatic (e.g., Typhlonectes), the majority of the approximately 34 genera and ca. 165-200 species (Jenkins and Walsh, 1993; Duellman and Trueb 1986; Wilkinson et al., 2011) are terrestrial spending most of their lives underground burrowing in soil or plant litter. In fact, the skeletal and muscular anatomy of fossorial caecilians has been fine tuned for such an underground life by millions of years of evolution (e.g., Estes and Wake, 1972; Jenkins and Walsh, 1993). Living caecilians are primarily pantropical in distribution, occurring for the most part from southern Mexico to Argentina, most of tropical Africa, India, Sri Lanka, and from south China to the Philippines (e.g., Duellman and Trueb, 1986), but they do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia (= southeast of Wallace’s line; Exbrayat, 2006). Over the past several years imported wild caught terrestrial caecilians of a few genera have trickled into the United States pet trade and have been of interest to some herpetoculturists and academicians (personal observation; Gower and Wilkinson, 2005). Caecilian husbandry is, however, still poorly understood and certainly a work in progress (e.g., Wake 1994; O’Reilly 1996).
    [Show full text]
  • Carr, J. 2015. Species Monitoring Recommendations for the Transboundary Area of Greater Gola Peace Park
    Communication Strategy (PARCC Activity 4.2) Ver. 1. Protected Areas Resilient to Climate Change, PARCC West Africa 2015 Species monitoring recommendations for the G reater Gola Peace Park (Liberia and Sierra Leone) ENGLISH Jamie Carr IUCN Global Species Programme 2015 Species monitoring recommendations: Greater Gola Peace Park. The United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is the specialist biodiversity assessment centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world’s foremost intergovernmental environmental organisation. The Centre has been in operation for over 30 years, combining scientific research with practical policy advice. Species monitoring recommendations for the greater Gola Peace Park (Liberia and Sierra Leone), prepared by Jamie Carr., with funding from Global Environment Facility (GEF) via UNEP. Copyright: 2015. United Nations Environment Programme. Reproduction This publication may be reproduced for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission, provided acknowledgement to the source is made. Reuse of any figures is subject to permission from the original rights holders. No use of this publication may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose without permission in writing from UNEP. Applications for permission, with a statement of purpose and extent of reproduction, should be sent to the Director, DCPI, UNEP, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya. Disclaimer: The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP, contributory organisations or editors. The designations employed and the presentations of material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or contributory organisations, editors or publishers concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries or the designation of its name, frontiers or boundaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Herpetological Survey of the Proposed Bambama-Zanaga Mine Site, Department of Lékoumou, Republic of Congo
    Herpetological Conservation and Biology 14(2):470–480. Submitted: 19 June 2018; Accepted: 2 July 2019; Published: 31 August 2019. HERPETOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE PROPOSED BAMBAMA-ZANAGA MINE SITE, DEPARTMENT OF LÉKOUMOU, REPUBLIC OF CONGO ANGE-GHISLAIN ZASSI-BOULOU1, BREDA M. ZIMKUS2, JOSEPH GOMA-TCHIMBAKALA1, SYLVESTRE BOUDZOUMOU1, ANGE MBOUNGOU-LOUIKI1, AND KatE JACKSON3,4 1Institut National de Recherche en Sciences Exactes et Naturelles (IRSEN), Cité Scientifique (Ex-ORSTOM), Château d’eau, Brazzaville, République du Congo 2Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA 3Department of Biology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington 99362, USA 4Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract.—We sampled amphibians and reptiles using rapid assessment techniques in primary forest and forest- savannah mosaic habitat in Lékoumou Department, Republic of Congo, near the Batéké Plateau, as part of an environmental impact assessment for a mining project. We detected 38 amphibian and 36 reptile species. Amphibian species represented 14 genera and 10 families of frogs. Reptile species included 23 snakes (representing 18 genera and six families), 11 lizards (representing 8 genera and five families) and two turtles (representing two genera and two families). Five frogs (Foulassi Screeching Frog, Arthroleptis adelphus, Rio Benito Long-fingered Frog, Cardioglossa gracilis, Ongot Long-fingered Frog, Cardioglossa gratiosa, Bates’ River Frog, Phrynobatrachus batesii, and Uzungwe Grassland/Ridged Frog, Ptychadena uzungwensis), two snakes (Steinhaus’ Worm Snake, Afrotyphlops steinhausi, and Underwood’s Tree Snake, Dipsadoboa underwoodi), and two lizards (Kamdem Toham’s Half-toed Gecko, Hemidactylus kamdemtohami, and Reichenow’s Skink, Lacertaspis reichenowi) represents the first confirmed records for the Republic of Congo.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylotranscriptomic Consolidation of the Jawed Vertebrate Timetree
    Erschienen in: Nature Ecology & Evolution ; 1 (2017), 9. - S. 1370-1378 https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0240-5 Phylotranscriptomic consolidation of the jawed vertebrate timetree Iker Irisarri1,11*, Denis Baurain 2, Henner Brinkmann3, Frédéric Delsuc 4, Jean-Yves Sire5, Alexander Kupfer6, Jörn Petersen3, Michael Jarek7, Axel Meyer 1, Miguel Vences8 and Hervé Philippe9,10* Phylogenomics is extremely powerful but introduces new challenges as no agreement exists on ‘standards’ for data selection, curation and tree inference. We use jawed vertebrates (Gnathostomata) as a model to address these issues. Despite consider- able efforts in resolving their evolutionary history and macroevolution, few studies have included a full phylogenetic diversity of gnathostomes, and some relationships remain controversial. We tested a new bioinformatic pipeline to assemble large and accu- rate phylogenomic datasets from RNA sequencing and found this phylotranscriptomic approach to be successful and highly cost- effective. Increased sequencing effort up to about 10Gbp allows more genes to be recovered, but shallower sequencing (1.5Gbp) is sufficient to obtain thousands of full-length orthologous transcripts. We reconstruct a robust and strongly supported timetree of jawed vertebrates using 7,189 nuclear genes from 100 taxa, including 23 new transcriptomes from previously unsampled key species. Gene jackknifing of genomic data corroborates the robustness of our tree and allows calculating genome-wide divergence times by overcoming gene sampling bias. Mitochondrial genomes prove insufficient to resolve the deepest relationships because of limited signal and among-lineage rate heterogeneity. Our analyses emphasize the importance of large, curated, nuclear datasets to increase the accuracy of phylogenomics and provide a reference framework for the evolutionary history of jawed vertebrates.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Morphology of Caecilian Sperm (Amphibia: Gymnophiona)
    JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY 221:261-276 (1994) Com parative Morphology of Caecilian Sperm (Amp h i bi a: Gym nop h ion a) MAFWALEE H. WAKE Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 ABSTRACT The morphology of mature sperm from the testes of 22 genera and 29 species representing all five families of caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnoph- iona) was examined at the light microscope level in order to: (1)determine the effectiveness of silver-staining techniques on long-preserved, rare material, (2) assess the comparative morphology of sperm quantitatively, (3) compare pat- terns of caecilian sperm morphology with that of other amphibians, and (4) determine if sperm morphology presents any characters useful for systematic analysis. Although patterns of sperm morphology are quite consistent intrage- nerically and intrafamilially, there are inconsistencies as well. Two major types of sperm occur among caecilians: those with very long heads and pointed acrosomes, and those with shorter, wider heads and blunt acrosomes. Several taxa have sperm with undulating membranes on the flagella, but limitations of the technique likely prevented full determination of tail morphology among all taxa. Cluster analysis is more appropriate for these data than is phylogenetic analysis. cc: 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Examination of sperm for purposes of describ- ('70), in a general discussion of aspects of ing comparative sperm morphology within sperm morphology, and especially Fouquette and across lineages
    [Show full text]
  • Metabolic Correlates of Activity in the Caecilian Geotnjpetes Seraphini
    Metabolic Correlates of Activity in the Caecilian Geotnjpetes seraphini Reprinted from COPEIA,1974, No. 3, October 18 pp. 764-769 Made in United States of America Metabolic Correlates of Activity in the Caecilian Geotrypetes semphini Metabolic factors involved in energy production during activity were examined in the West African caecilian Geotrypetes seraphini oc- cidentalis. This species exhibits violent escape behavior during stimula- tion but fatigues rapidly. Measurements of oxygen consumption and lactate production during activity indicate that nearly 90% of the energy produced during 2 min of activity is derived from anaerobic sources. The pattern of oxygen consumption during activity and the morphology of the integument and lungs of caecilians suggest that oxygen uptake is primarily pulmonary rather than cutaneous. HE Amphibia, once a much larger and with superficial annulae caused by the pull T more diverse group, is now represented of muscle-connective tissue elements on the by only three extant orders: Anura (frogs skin. Geotlyp~tes is a member of the and toads), Urodela (salamanders) and Caeciliidae, a relatively generalized family. Gymnophiona (caecilians). Information con- cerning the interrelations and derivations of these groups is of considerable evolutionary Juvenile specimens of Geotrypetes sera- importance, but at present their phylogeny phini occidentalis (mean weight, 1.93 g) were is only a subject of speculation. One of the collected in Tafo, Ghana. They were trans- principal dilficulties in elucidating these ported to the United States and housed at relationships is tlie almost total lack of in- 20-25 C in either aquaria with damp soil formation about the Gymnophiona, in con- or plastic containers with moist paper towels trast to the data available for anurans and for several months belore experimentation.
    [Show full text]
  • Rediscovery, Natural History, and Conservation Status of Idiocranium Russeli Parker, 1936 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Indotyphlidae) David J
    Journal of Natural History, 2015 Vol. 49, Nos. 3–4, 233–253, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2014.939733 Rediscovery, natural history, and conservation status of Idiocranium russeli Parker, 1936 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Indotyphlidae) David J. Gowera*, Marcel T. Koueteb,c, Thomas M. Doherty-Bonea, Echalle S. Ndemed and Mark Wilkinsona aDepartment of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, UK; bProject Cameroon Herpetology, Conservation Biology Foundation, Yaoundé, Cameroon; cZoological Society of London, London, UK; dConservation and Research for Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, Yaounde, Cameroon (Received 15 March 2014; accepted 25 June 2014; first published online 19 August 2014) The indotyphlid caecilian amphibian Idiocranium russeli Parker, 1936 is the only nominal species in its genus. Apart from two additional, largely overlooked locality records that we consider to be of an undescribed species, I. russeli is known with certainty from only a single collection of c.50 specimens from a single locality in 1933. We report new material from fieldwork in 2012 carried out in the vicinity of the type locality. Digging surveys at 34 sites for a total of >2000 person minutes found 50 I. russeli at 15 of these sites, extending the known range of the species by more than 40 km south and from an elevation of c.670 m to 104–820 m. The species probably occurs in nearby Nigeria and in some protected areas, is tolerant of some human disturbance, and is likely to move from Data Deficient to Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Males have relatively longer and wider heads than females.
    [Show full text]