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i New speciesdiscoveryinaneraof declines b of affected most globally. extinctions the and declines dramatic with exhibit and except continents all Antarctica on found are which Caudata toads), the contrast, and ( anurans the are numerous most America; in India; (salamanders andnewts)areconcentrated inNorth and America and distributedmainlyinthe tropicsofSouth distributional legless Gymnophiona(caecilians) arelesswell known the show richness ofthe three ordersofamphibians: the below cartograms The Orders more speciesoflivingfrogsthanmammals! an now are There 7,000, slowing. is year per described species over to risen increase of almost 60%, with nosignthatnumbersof has species recognized reported 4,013 species buttodaythenumberof In 1985, Species Frost’s Amphibian ofthe World rise. to continues discovered being species new numberof the collapse, population amphibian and extinctions of documentation increasing with counter-intuitive that seem might It discovery. exciting species of age an in also are we group, vertebrate age ofamphibiansbeingthe mostimperiled extinct. Therefore, it is paradoxical that as we face an now describingspecies already believed tohavegone somecases,“forensic taxonomy”since, we in are some Indeed, not threatened. as work their described have systematists amphibian are feel scientists unknown, leaving onlyhalfofamphibianswhich threatened andthe statusofabout20%remains Approximately 30%ofamphibianspecies are The Paradox i a n

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4 2 3 9 6 Caecilian Richness AmphibiaWeb trackstheparadox: amphibian species! Pyron, R. A. & J.J. Wiens. 2011. A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia with over 2,800 species, and a revised a and species, 2,800 over with Amphibia of phylogeny large-scale A 2011. Wiens. J.J. & A. R. Pyron, In 2012, we celebrate the description of the 7,000 1985. ed. D.R., Frost, the of description the celebrate we 2012, In Treeare availableatAmphibiaWeb.org/taxonomy. Amphibian Family the for figures and downloadable and support taxonomy, current our scientific statement, stability, on focused criteria full A audience. broad a for taxonomy working a provide to usefulness of set a Committee uses Steering AmphibiaWeb the A of experts. subcommittee from taxonomic feedback solicit and additions, new track changes, taxonomic document to try we end, that To community. broader the species forthe purposes ofourspecies accountsaswellaserviceto AmphibiaWeb aims toprovideastable reference systemforamphibian Why track? AmphibiaWeb. At right, we illustratethefamilytree availableon amphibian representing morethan250millionyearsofevolution. across distributed Life. diversity, includingnewdiscoveries fromdiverselineages of appears Tree effort Amphibian Taxonomic the understanding to taxonomy post-1985 from contributions represent tips) the of one-third the of 900 than nearly 2,900 species included inthisphylogeny (approximately More 1985. in Frost by provided summary highlighted in green all species thatdonotappear in the Inthe treediversity. relationships andphylogenetic above, we past threedecades hascontributed toour knowledge of Wiens 2011)toillustrate the wayinwhichtaxonomyoverthe sequence dataofnearly athird ofamphibianspecies(Pyron& We used the latest published phylogeny based onDNA 543-583. classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. and salamanders, frogs, extant of classification Press, Inc.andtheAssociation ofSystematicsCollections, Lawrence, KS. Amphibian Species ofthe World:ATaxonomicandGeographicalReference field work, dataonamphibianbiodiversity, andconservationpolicyonaglobalscale. Cartograms are a novel way for biologists and planners to gauge the effectiveness and balance of necessarily do.Cartogramsreflectthese politicalrealities. planners conservation and biologists, boundaries, political recognize not do amphibians While the state of amphibian diversity and discovery for use in conservation planning and assessment. Usually diagram. efficient an applied tosocialandeconomicdata, we present areacartogramsofbiodiversity datatohighlight in data numerical relevant, geographically present Cartograms Why UseCartograms? field andtaxonomicworkisbeing done. state of knowledge as the effort being conducted. The New Species Discovery cartogram reflects where in the world Peru (120), India (114), and China (84). Diagramming biodiversity data by country demonstrates as much about the tracked newspecies(2005- The cartogramaboveillustrateswhere newamphibianspecies havebeen discovered AmphibiaWebregularly since New SpeciesCount Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution and Phylogenetics Molecular 0 1 7 2 4 1 1 1 0 - - 1

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0 0 1 0 7 2 New SpeciesDiscovery total species , 551, Allen 0 4 1 2 6 2012). The top four countries for new species discovery are Brazil (172 new species), new (172 Brazil are discovery species new for countries four top The 2012). 1 5 1 - -

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9 8 3 8 9 3 7 4 0 Newman’s density-equalizingcartogramalgorithm. Toad (Andrieuetal2008)toimplementGastnerand Scape- program JAVA named appropriately the used GIS layer with these attributes. With this shapefile, we vector a prepare to (ESRI) 10 ArcGIS and ArcInfo used by countryfromtheAmphibiaWeb database, and To createthe cartograms,we compiledspeciestallies countries even thoughtheir shapeisdistorted. zero flow recognize still to us allows maintaining This boundaries. between while distorting thus boundaries uniformly national equalized is density the until value low of of areas from away diffuse value Areas high an attribute topology. recognizable maintaining to while proportion in distorted we purposely Specifically Gastner andNewman (2004)inwhicharea is distribution. of method cartogram diffusion-based the implement geographic their onamphibianspeciesup-to-date datacompiled and most the visualize to cartogram density-equalizing or continuous a called technique cartographic a use We How didyoudothat? Gastner, M.T.&Newman,M.E.J.2004.Diffusion-basedmethodforproducing Andrieu, D.,Kaiser,C.,Ourednik,A.&Lévy,J.2008.ScapeToad[software].ChôrosLaboratory, Frog Richness Mantellinae Boophinae Laliostominae Rhacophorinae Buergeriinae Pyxicephalinae Cacosterninae Occidozyginae Dicroglossinae Scaphiophryninae Phrynomerinae Otophryninae Microhylinae Melanobatrachinae Kalophryninae Hoplophryninae Gastrophryinae Dyscophinae Cophylinae Asterophryinae Strabomantinae Holoadeninae Phyzelaphryninae Eleutherodactylinae Hyloxalinae Dendrobatinae Colostethinae Aromobatinae Phyllomedusinae Pelodryadinae Hylinae Hyalinobatrachinae Centroleninae Myobatrachinae Limnodynastinae Discoglossinae Alytinae Necturinae Proteinae Salamandrinae Pleurodelinae Salamandrininae Plethodontinae Hemidactyliinae SUBFAMILY density-equalizing maps. EPFL-ENAC-INTER. 101 (20):7499-7504. http://scapetoad.choros.ch Rhinatrematidae FAMILY Dicroglossidae Ranixalidae Ranidae Ptychadenidae Phrynobatrachidae Nyctibatrachidae Micrixalidae Conrauidae Ceratobatrachidae Hemisotidae Strabomantidae Eleutherodactylidae Ceuthomantidae Dendrobatidae Centrolenidae Allophrynidae Telmatobiidae Rhinodermatidae Odontophrynidae Hylodidae Cycloramphidae Ceratophryidae Bufonidae Batrachylidae Alsodidae Calyptocephalellidae Nasikabatrachidae Heleophrynidae Pelobatidae Pelodytidae Scaphiopodidae Rhinophrynidae Leiopelmatidae Ascaphidae Plethodontidae Amphiumidae Rhyacotritonidae Proteidae Salamandridae Dicamptodontidae Ambystomatidae Sirenidae Hynobiidae Cryptobranchidae Siphonopidae Dermophiidae Indotyphlidae Typhlonetidae Caeciliidae Herpelidae Scolecomorphidae Ichthyophiidae Chikilidae Proceedings oftheNationalAcademySciencesUSA . Become anAmphibiaWeb contributor! Help RecordSpecies! with fullcreditstotheoriginalauthorandAmphibiaWeb. iNaturalist AmphibiaWeb species accountsappear onbothEOL Via webservice, anddynamicallyupdated original How toContribute: AmphibiaWeb accounts? Where elsecan you find contributing. Log ontoiNaturalist.org tostart Global AmphibianBioblitz. onthe citizenscientists fellow observations withscience and Record andshareyour Darrel Frost R. Tim Halliday TendrilsConor Loughridge andThe Wiggly RoderickMel Museum ofVertebrate Zoology UC Berkeley Undergraduate Apprentices CalPhotos contributors Thanks Thanks totheHERPNETinstitutions species pages. Content is shared with partners with shared is Content pages. species . ContactAmphibiaWeb withyourideas • Shareamphibianphotos, sound • Write accounts, species orhaveyour •

to speciesaccounts recordings, andvideos, whichare linked herpetology studentscontribute *Taxonomic Subcommittee University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Research Assistant Mingna (Vicky)Zhuang CIBIO Institute, Portugal Senior Associate Arie van derMeijden University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Senior Associate Kellie Whittaker University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Senior Associate Carol L.Spencer University ofTexas, Austin Senior Associate David C.Cannatella* California Academy ofSciences Senior Associate David C.Blackburn* University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Associate Director &Coordinator Michelle S.Koo University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Database Programmer, andFounder Joyce Gross San Francisco State University Associate Director andFounder Vance Vredenburg University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Director andFounder David B.Wake* AmphibiaWeb Team Partners CalPhotos and

August 2012, MSK