Jonathan A Campbell

The University of Texas at Arlington | UTA · Department of Biology

We describe Sceloporus huichol sp. nov., a new species of spiny lizard of the genus Sceloporus, that is found in the mountainous regions of Jalisco and Nayarit in western Mexico. The new species belongs to the torquatus species group and has previously been confused with Sceloporus melanogaster, from which it differs by its smaller size, head color...

We describe a new species of Knob-scaled Lizards of the genus Xenosaurus from the Sierra de Jurez of Oaxaca, Mxico. Although this new species was identified as a distinct, undescribed lineage (and sister taxon to X. grandis) by previous molecular phylogenetic studies of the genus, we documented that it also differs from all of its congeners by a un...

A new snake species of the genus Rena is described from northern Jalisco, Mexico. The new species represents an isolated member of the R. dulcis group in the extreme southwest Mesa Central of the country. We redefine the R. dulcis and R. humilis groups within the genus Rena. The status of the other species allocated to these groups is discussed.

Members of the Crotalus durissus species group are amongst the largest species of rattlesnakes and are of strong medical importance. The taxonomy of the group is convoluted, and the line of what is considered a species, subspecies or populations is hard to define. A recent study split one of the members of the group (C. culminatus) into three speci...

Small, secretive snakes comprise an important part of the herpetofauna of the Neotropics and yet most species are known from a handful of specimens due to their habits and relatively inaccessible localities. The Mexican endemic Rhadinella dysmica is the westernmost species of the genus and was described based on a single adult female. Herein we pro...

Small, secretive snakes comprise an important part of the herpetofauna of the Neotropics and yet most species are known from a handful of specimens due to their habits and relatively inaccessible localities. The Mexican endemic Rhadinella dysmica is the westernmost species of the genus and was described based on a single adult female. Herein we pro...

Senticolis triaspis is a widespread polytypic colubrid snake that ranges from the southwestern United States southward along the Pacific Coast and part of the Atlantic Coast of Mexico to Costa Rica. Three subspecies have been described based on differences in color pattern and scutellation: S. t. intermedia, S. t. mutabilis, and S. t. triaspis. The...

The genus Salvadora has not been subjected to a modern phylogenetic analysis. Described in 1853, its taxonomic history is complex and confusing. In this study, we evaluate the monophyly of the genus and present the first phylogenetic hypothesis based on an analysis of 66 qualitative and quantitative morphological characters of over 1000 specimens r...

Abronia and Mesaspis are two of the five anguid lizard genera in the subfamily Gerrhonotinae. Their members are restricted to Mesoamerica, and most have allopatric distributions. Species of Abronia are primarily arboreal and occur in cloud and seasonally dry pine-oak forests, whereas those of Mesaspis are terrestrial and inhabit mesic microhabitats...

New world coralsnakes of the genus Micrurus are a diverse radiation of highly venomous and brightly colored snakes that range from North Carolina to Argentina. Species in this group have played central roles in developing and testing hypotheses about the evolution of mimicry and aposematism. Despite their diversity and prominence as model systems,...

Recent studies on the phylogeny of pitvipers have revealed that the clade containing the Jumping Pitvipers lacks a generic name. We herein propose a name and discuss problems associated with the nomenclatural history of these snakes.

The Mohave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) is a highly venomous pitviper inhabiting the arid interior deserts, grasslands, and savannas of western North America. Currently two subspecies are recognized: the Northern Mohave Rattlesnake (C. s. scutulatus) ranging from southern California to the southern Central Mexican Plateau, and the Huamantla Ra...

A new species of snake of the genus Salvadora from Oaxaca, Mexico, is described. This taxon was confused with S. intermedia in previous taxonomic descriptions. It is characterized by lacking a pale vertebral stripe and by having incomplete dorsolateral stripes that do not reach the posterior part of the body, which is typical of congeners; by havin...

A new genus and species of colubroid snake is described from the isolated highlands of western Chiapas. This enigmatic little snake possesses a unique suite of characters that defies placing it in any known genus and clearly distinguishes it from all known genera. Several of the most unusual features include subcaudals undivided throughout the leng...

Registramos por primera vez la culebra Coniophanes lateritius para el estado de Guerrero

Reportamos el registro más norteño para la vertiente del Atlántico de la Serpiente Caracolera Jaspeada (Sibon nebulatus) en el estado de Hidalgo, el cual se encuentra aproximadamente a 185 km de distancia en línea recta de la localidad histórica más cercana en la Sierra Norte de Puebla, México. Evaluamos la distribución potencial de esta especie y...

A new species of hylid frog is described from the southwestern edge of the Mexican Plateau from the states of Morelos and Mexico through Michoacán and Jalisco, reaching the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sinaloa and western Durango. The new species is part of the widespread Mexican hylid Sarcohyla bistincta (sensu amplo) complex, comprised of S. bistin...

We describe a new species of Rhadinella from the dry forest and thorn scrub of Valle del Motagua, Guatemala, a region and habitat where the congeners were previously unrecorded. This species is related to the group of Rhadinella that have dark dorsal coloration, which mostly or completely obscures a pattern of longitudinal striping characteristic o...

We present a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the hylid tribe Hylini, with the goals of testing the monophyly of the genera Du- ellmanohyla, Isthmohyla, and Ptychohyla and providing a discussion on the monophyly of Bromeliohyla, Charadrahyla, Ecnomiohyla, Exerodonta, Megastomatohyla, and Sarcohyla. Our results indicate the paraphyly of Ptychohyla...

Delimiting species is a crucial goal of integrative biology, and yet can be misled by homoplasy and high levels of morphological variation. The snake tribe Sonorini contains three genera that have long confounded taxonomists: Chilomeniscus, Chionactis and Sonora. Dynamic colour evolution in this group, including rampant geographic variation in colo...

Chersodromus is an endemic Mexican genus of snakes characterized by fused prefrontals shield. Only two species were previously known within the genus, C. liebmanni and C. rubriventris. We describe two new congeners, one from the Sierra Madre Oriental of northern Puebla and another from the Atlantic lowlands of the Chimalapas region in southeastern...

Several reports are available regarding ticks parasitizing toads of the family Bufonidae. Although ticks can attach to different regions of the body, occurrence of these ectoparasites on parotoid macroglands is unfrequent when compared with other regions of body. In this study, using histology and scanning electron microscopy, we analysed a rare ca...

We describe a new species of anguid lizard of the genus Mesaspis from the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes of northwestern Guatemala. This species reaches a maximum snout–vent length of about 72 mm, making it much smaller than Mesaspis moreletii. In the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes it occurs sympatrically with Mesaspis moreletii temporalis, the only such i...

We describe a new species of Rhadinella from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, Mexico, a region where the genus was previously unknown. This diminutive species is a member of a group of snakes previously allocated in the Rhadinaea godmani group, and more recently transferred to the genus Rhadinella. These snakes may have conspicuous dark longi-...

A newly discovered species of arboreal alligator lizard of the genus Abronia is described from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. It appears to be most closely related to A. mixteca and A. oaxacae, but differs from these species (and others in the subgenus Abronia) in a number of features, including the combination of having two primary te...

The members of the genus Ecnomiohyla from Mexico and Nuclear Central America have had their taxonomic names applied inconsistently in the literature, notably with much confusion surrounding specimens from the Maya Mountains of Belize. We refer those individuals to E. minera and, based on examination of almost all known specimens of Ecnomiohyla from...

I describe a new species of Rhadinella from the Pacific versant of Oaxaca, Mexico, a region where the genus was previously unknown. This diminutive snake is a member of a group of snakes that have dark dorsal coloration, which mostly or completely obfuscates a pattern of longitudinal striping characteristic of most species of Rhadinella. The closes...

Amphibians are threatened by multiple factors, including climate change, habitat loss, and infectious diseases. In Mexico, amphibian declines have been attributed mainly to habitat loss, disease, pollution, and in some cases illegal trafficking of species. Despite evidence of amphibian declines, recent studies have recorded species that had not bee...

A new salamander of the genus Chiropterotriton is described from the Sierra Madre Oriental in southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico. This genus is widespread in the Sierra Madre Oriental, its range extending from Tamaulipas to northern Oaxaca, and it occurs into central Mexico along the mountains associated with the Transverse Volcanic Axis. The species...

We analyzed museum specimens from two regions of Guatemala for the presence of the pathogenic amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) using both histological and PCR-based assays. We determined that the pathogen was present at one site at low prevalence in 1980 and 1981, immediately preceding drastic declines of amphibian in th...

A new minute salamander of the genus Thorius is described from the western highlands of the Mexican state of Guerrero. Previously , three congeners were known from the central portion of the state. The fourth species we herein describe occurs in the western portion of the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero and is allopatric from nearest congeners by...

The Craugastor rhodopis Species Group includes two leaf-litter frog species (C. loki and C. rhodopis). These direct-developing frogs inhabit tropical regions of Mexico and northern Central America. Characterizing diversity within the group has been difficult due to high levels of phenotypic polymorphism within and between species. Because of these...

We report the persistence of Craugastor palenque and expansion of its distribution in Chiapas, Mexico. Previous records of this species were only from the type series. We report records from another locality south of the type locality. These new records confirm the presence of the species, which had not been collected since the 1970s.

A new salamander of the genus Pseudoeurycea is described from the Mexican state of Guerrero, bringing the number of species in this genus known from this state to nine. It occurs on the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the western portion of the state. This new salamander is diagnosed from Guerrero congeners by its morphology and color...

The goal of this study was to compare the richness and endemism patterns of Mexican species of amphibians and reptiles at different spatial scales. We used the best available dataset of distributional ranges generated from ecological niche models and employed geographically weighted regressions (GWRs) to test whether richness and endemism were rela...

We describe a new species of Atractus from Cordillera de los Guacamayos in the Andes of Ecuador. This new species is the largest known species of Atractus, reaching almost 120 cm in total length with a robust habitus. We also use multivariate statistical analyses of morphometric data to look into the taxonomic confusion involving other large, bande...

We describe Incilius aurarius sp. nov., a new species of toad known from several localities on the humid Caribbean slopes of the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, and adjacent highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. This species previously has been confused with populations of Incilius valliceps and Incilius macrocristatus. The new spec...

Studies of population genetics increasingly use next-generation DNA sequencing to identify microsatellite loci in nonmodel organisms. There are, however, relatively few studies that validate the feasibility of transitioning from marker development to experimental application across populations and species. North American coralsnakes of the Micrurus...

Jadin, R.C., Townsend, J.H., Castoe, T.A. & Campbell, J.A. (2012). Cryptic diversity in disjunct populations of Middle American Montane Pitvipers: a systematic reassessment of Cerrophidion godmani. —Zoologica Scripta, 41, 455–470. The discovery and taxonomic recognition of cryptic species has become increasingly frequent with the application of mol...

The Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis) occurs in parts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. In the United States, it is listed as a federally threatened species. Although extensive research has been conducted on populations in the United States, the status of most Mexican populations is unknown. We used mitoch...

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and surrounding areas contain substantial biological diversity. The mountains that make up the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt are a hypothesized biogeographic barrier for the terrestrial fauna found in the region. Several phylogeographic studies have provided genetic evidence in support of this historical narrative; how...

New salamanders of the genus Oedipina are described from the xeric Motagua Valley in eastern Guatemala, the El Trifinio highlands near the Honduras/El Salvador borders, and the Pacific versant of south-central Guatemala. These new species have been previously associated with known species, but possess distinctive foot morphology, different numbers...

Studies of recently isolated populations are useful because observed differences can often be attributed to current environmental variation. Two populations of the lizard Anolis lemurinus have been isolated on the islands of Cayo Menor and Cayo Mayor in the Cayos Cochinos Archipelago of Honduras for less than 15 000 y. We measured 12 morphometric a...

Mexico possesses high levels of endemic biodiversity, especially for squamate reptiles. However, the evolutionary relationships among many reptiles in this region are not well known. The closely related genera of Sonora Baird and Girard 1853 and Procinura Cope 1879 are coralsnake mimics found from the central and western United States to southweste...

As most recently recognized, the name Cerrophidion barbouri Dunn, 1919, refers to a highland species of pitviper endemic to Guerrero, Mexico, of which Agkistrodon browni Shreve, 1938, is considered a junior synonym. This species is rarely collected and prior to recent decades it was known from only a few specimens. A careful re-examination of nearl...

Craugastor uno is a direct-developing frog endemic to high-elevation pine-oak forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Mexico. The species was described from a single female specimen collected in the state of Guerrero, but otherwise remains poorly known. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN and some authors have considered it extinct. A recent repo...

New salamanders in the genera Bolitoglossa and Dendrotriton are described from the highlands of Guatemala. These species are distinguished from their congeners by morphology and molecular differences, including elements of color pattern. These new species of salamanders were collected over the last 30 years, and for many of them the localities of s...

Se describe una nueva especie de Plectrohyla de la Sierra de Miahuatlán al sur de Oaxaca, México. Se conoce de una sola hembra adulta que fue capturada en un bosque de pino y encino a 2550 metros de elevación. La nueva especie es similar a Plectrohyla cembra en tamaño, habito, y en tener el tímpano parcialmente escondido, pero difiere notablemente...

Five specimens of Lepidophyma radula were collected recently near San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca. The species had not been collected since its description in 1942. A redescription of the holotype is presented, including new and important taxonomic characters proposed by other workers.

Se describe una nueva especie de serpiente del género Tantilla a partir de un solo espécimen del sur de Nayarit en el Volcán Ceboruco. Esta especie se encuentra más cercanamente relacionada a aquellas del grupo Tantilla calamarina. Con la adición de esta nueva especie, el grupo contiene ahora siete especies, representado por T. calamarina, Tantilla...

A new species of treefrog is described from the central region of the Western Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, Mexico. This frog Is a member of the genus Charadrahyla, which contains five other species that are restricted to mesic highlands In Mexico. It possesses extensive webbing and In particular a hypertrophied membrane between toes I and II....

Aim We used inferences of phylogenetic relationships and divergence times for three lineages of highland pitvipers to identify broad-scale historical events that have shaped the evolutionary history of Middle American highland taxa, and to test previous hypotheses of Neotropical speciation.

In Honduras, Norops lemurinus (Sauria; Polychrotidae) is distributed along the Atlantic versant of the mainland and on the Caribbean island system consisting of the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos archipelagos. In the Cayos Cochinos, N. lemurinus occurs on two islands, Cayo Menor and Cayo Mayor. The abiotic and biotic environment of these islands di...

Aim We used inferences of phylogenetic relationships and divergence times for three lineages of highland pitvipers to identify broad-scale historical events that have shaped the evolutionary history of Middle American highland taxa, and to test previous hypotheses of Neotropical speciation. Location Middle America (Central America and Mexico). Meth...

A distinctive new species of rattlesnake is described from the western versant of the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, Mexico. This long-tailed rattlesnake cannot be confused with any other species of rattlesnake and is most similar to Crotalus stejnegeri and C. lannomi. The Guerrero species possesses a strikingly distinct color pattern and differ...

Wiens (2007, Q. Rev. Biol. 82, 55–56) recently published a severe critique of Frost et al.'s (2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 297, 1–370) monographic study of amphibian systematics, concluding that it is “a disaster” and recommending that readers “simply ignore this study”. Beyond the hyperbole, Wiens raised four general objections that he regarded...

Stopping further global losses of amphibian populations and species requires an unprecedented conservation response.

During a survey of Guatemalan herpetofauna in the summers of 1998-2000, 29 presumed new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875 were found, seven of which have a distinct elongate-ellipsoidal shape (L/W ratio >or= 1.7) and are described herein. Six of the seven new species are similar in oöcyst length, width and L/W ratio and sporocyst length, width and...

One hundred and seventy snakes were collected in Guatemala and examined for coccidia. Of these, 8 individuals representing 6 host species were positive for Caryospora spp., 6 of which are described as new species. Sporulated oocysts of Caryospora bothriechis n. sp. from Bothriechis aurifer are spheroidal to subspheroidal, 12.7 x 12.5 (12-14 x 12-13...