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Publications (59)
Transposable elements (TEs) compose a substantial proportion of the largest eukaryotic genomes. TE diversity has been hypothesized to be negatively correlated with genome size, yet empirical demonstrations of such a relationship in a phylogenetic context are largely lacking. Furthermore, the most abundant type of TEs in genomes varies across groups...
Amphibian ecology and distribution are strongly correlated with climate. Regional patterns of amphibian biodiversity
are intimately linked to temperature, evapotranspiration rate, and clines in humidity. While amphibians are and will
continue to be adversely affected by recent and projected changes in climate, research suggests that adaptation
may...
As the most threatened vertebrate class on earth, amphibians are at the forefront of the biodiversity crisis, with the recognition of global amphibian declines and extinctions dating back several decades now. The current Amphibian Conservation Action Plan is adopting two strategies to address the goal of the amelioration of the amphibian crisis: th...
Genome size variation in eukaryotes has myriad effects on organismal biology from the genomic to whole-organism level. Large genome size may be associated with lower selection efficiency because lower effective population sizes allow fixation of deleterious mutations via genetic drift, increasing genome size and decreasing selection efficiency. Bec...
Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Formal Comment revisits a Perspective that advocated for the adoption of compassionate collection practices, querying whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection.
Genetic diversity is the raw material of evolution, yet the reasons why it varies among species remain poorly understood. While studies at deeper phylogenetic scales point to the influence of life history traits on genetic diversity, it appears to be more affected by population size but less predictable at shallower scales. We used proxies for popu...
We describe a new species of plethodontid salamander of the genus Pseudoeurycea from the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico. The new species is distinguished from all other species in the genus by morphological and genetic features and by coloration. Based on a mtDNA phylogeny, the new species belongs to the Pseudoeurycea juarezi group and is mo...
Host microbial communities are increasingly seen as an important component of host health. In amphibians, the first land vertebrates that are threatened by a fungal skin disease globally, our understanding of the factors influencing the microbiome of amphibian skin remains incomplete because recent studies have focused almost exclusively on bacteri...
Indotyphlops braminus is a snake introduced into Mexican territory; it can be found in different republic states. In Veracruz, it has previously been reported from three municipalities. Our observations in the present note provide four new records for the distribution of I. braminus in Veracruz.
Emergent infectious disease caused by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ( Bsal ) represents one of the major causes of biodiversity loss in amphibians. While Bd has affected amphibians worldwide, Bsal remains restricted to Asia and Europe, but also could be a major threat for salamander...
The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) is implicated in global mass die-offs and declines in amphibians. In Mesoamerica, the Bd epidemic wave hypothesis is supported by detection of Bd in historic museum specimens collected over the last century, yet the timing and impact of the early stages of the wave remain poorly understood....
Genome size (C-value) can affect organismal traits across levels of biological organization from tissue complexity to metabolism. Neotropical salamanders show wide variation in genome and body sizes, including several clades with miniature species. Because miniaturization imposes strong constraints on morphology and development and because genome s...
The genus Chiropterotriton is endemic to Mexico with a geographical distribution along the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra de Juárez. The recent use of molecular tools has shown that Mexico’s amphibian diversity is highly underestimated, including a large number of cryptic, unnamed species. Chiropterotriton has...
Lambert et al . question our retrospective and holistic epidemiological assessment of the role of chytridiomycosis in amphibian declines. Their alternative assessment is narrow and provides an incomplete evaluation of evidence. Adopting this approach limits understanding of infectious disease impacts and hampers conservation efforts. We reaffirm th...
Of the 42 Critically Endangered species of plethodontid salamanders that occur in Mexico, thirteen have not been reported in more than ten years. Given the lack of reports since 1976, the minute plethodontid salamander Thorius narismagnus is widely considered as missing. However, this report describes the rediscovery of this minute salamander at th...
Biodiversity loss is one major outcome of human-mediated ecosystem disturbance. One way that humans have triggered wildlife declines is by transporting disease-causing agents to remote areas of the world. Amphibians have been hit particularly hard by disease due in part to a globally distributed pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobat...
Biodiversity loss is one major outcome of human-mediated ecosys- tem disturbance. One way that humans have triggered wildlife declines is by transporting disease-causing agents to remote areas of the world. Amphibians have been hit particularly hard by disease due in part to a globally distributed pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrob...
Microbial symbionts are increasingly recognized as playing a critical role in organismal health across a wide range of hosts. Amphibians are unique hosts in that their skin helps to regulate the exchange of water, ions, and gases, and it plays an active role in defense against pathogens through the synthesis of anti-microbial peptides. The microbio...
The demise of amphibians?
Rapid spread of disease is a hazard in our interconnected world. The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was identified in amphibian populations about 20 years ago and has caused death and species extinction at a global scale. Scheele et al. found that the fungus has caused declines in amphibian populations every...
Protected areas (PAs) have been the most important conservation instrument worldwide and are reaching the coverage percentage suggested internationally (17%), but with the risk of not being ecologically representative, which is particularly concerning for threatened species. Using a database of records from museums, literature, and our fieldwork, w...
Chiropterotriton is a relatively small genus that comprises 15 species with great morphological and ecological diversity. In previous studies, molecular data provided evidence for a considerable number of species that remain undescribed. In this study, we describe one new species, Chiropterotriton chico sp. nov. based on molecular and morphological...
Only two species of Ixalotriton, I. Niger and I. parvus, are currently known, and both are endemic to small regions of Chiapas, México. An additional population of black Ixalotriton has recently been reported from caves on Cerro Baúl, near the only known locality of I. parvus. We conducted morphological and molecular analyses of animals from the ne...
Geography plays a paramount role in many aspects of speciation, including the amount of morphological and niche variation expected between sister species. Current species distributions, when coupled with phylogenies, offer valuable information on likely modes of geographic speciation. I briefly review past studies of the geography of speciation in...
Pleistocene glaciations have profoundly affected patterns of genetic diversity within many species. Temperate alpine organisms likely experienced dramatic range shifts, given that much of their habitat was glaciated during this time. While the effects of glaciations are relatively well understood, the spatial locations of refugia and processes that...
We describe a new plethodontid salamander species of the genus Isthmura, known only from one locality in the mountainous region of central Veracruz, Mexico. Like its congeners, Isthmura corrugata sp. nov. has a large and robust body, but it is easily distinguished from the other species in the genus by the absence of any spot or mark on the dorsum...
We describe three new species of minute salamanders, genus Thorius, from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. Until now only a single species, T. minutissimus, has been reported from this region, although molecular data have long shown extensive genetic differentiation among geographically disjunct populations. Adult Thorius pinicola sp. nov...
The Sierra Madre del Sur (SMS) of southern Mexico is known for its exceptionally high levels of amphibian endemism, but knowledge of species’ ranges in the region is incomplete. Here, we report new locality records for Eleutherodactylus syristes (Hoyt, 1965) from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. Previously, this species was known only from the Pa...
While salamanders have a predominantly north-temperate distribution, one of the most stunning radiations of species occurred in the only group to significantly penetrate the tropics, the bolitoglossines. Biogeographic hypotheses for the group have evolved as a result of the discovery of new species and lineages, from approximately 30 species in a s...
Species of the genus Chiropterotriton are distributed through much of northern and eastern Mexico. The genus has presented taxonomic difficulties, with a number of species waiting to be described. We describe two new species, Chiropterotriton cieloensis sp. nov. and Chiropterotriton infernalis sp. nov., from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas based on...
The Neotropical bolitoglossine salamanders represent an impressive adaptive radiation, comprising roughly 40% of global salamander species diversity. Despite decades of morphological studies and molecular work, a robust multilocus phylogenetic hypothesis based on DNA sequence data is lacking for the group. We estimated species trees based on multil...
The cloud forests of Mesoamerica are notable for their high endemism, and plethodontid salamanders provide a striking example of divergence and microendemism across cloud forest blocks at a regional level. Salamanders that make use of arboreal bromeliad microhabitats in the cloud forest appear to be especially prone to divergence driven by natural...
We conducted a first survey of the amphibians and reptiles of the Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve in June 2010, during the rainy season in Costa Rica. We found a total of 30 species of amphibians and reptiles in 15 families during our weeklong survey, including 15 frogs, 2 salamanders, 7 lizards, and 6 snakes. We compare our results to those of a pr...
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...
We describe a new species of large black Bolitoglossa from the Sierra de las Minas and adjacent regions of Guatemala based on both morphological and molecular data. The new species, specimens of which were formerly assigned to Bolitoglossa meliana (Melanistic Salamander), is distinguished by its dark coloration, numerous teeth, and large size. We p...
Bromeliad phytotelmata are frequently used by several Neotropical amphibian taxa, possibly due to their high humidity, microclimatic stability, and role as a refuge from predators. Indeed, the ability of phytotelmata to buffer against adverse environmental conditions may be instrumental in allowing some amphibian species to survive during periods o...
We describe a new species of the plethodontid salamander genus Cryptotriton from Honduras after comparing morphological, molecular, and osteological data from the holotype to that of the other nominal forms of the genus. The new species differs from all of the known species of Cryptotriton in at least one character from all three datasets. We also...
The small size and apparent external morphological similarity of the minute salamanders of the genus Thorius have long hindered evolutionary studies of the group. We estimate gene and species trees within the genus using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from nearly all named and many candidate species and find three main clades. We use this phylogenet...
Background
The complex geological history of Mesoamerica provides the opportunity to study the impact of multiple biogeographic barriers on population differentiation. We examine phylogeographic patterns in a clade of lowland salamanders (Bolitoglossa subgenus Nanotriton) using two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene. We use several phylogeogr...
Papenfuss and Wake (1987) described a new species of plethodontid salamander from northern Oaxaca, Mexico, which they named Nototriton adelos. The species was assigned to Nototriton primarily on the basis of its similarity to members of that widespread genus, which as then constituted ranged from Oaxaca, Mexico, to east-central Costa Rica. At that...
Aim Montane Central America offers an ideal system for testing geographical hypotheses of species diversification. We examined how the complex geological history of Nuclear Central America has shaped the diversification of a genus of cloud-forest-inhabiting salamanders (Dendrotriton). We applied parametric models of geographical range evolution to...
We describe five new species of lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae) from high mountain habitats along the border between Costa Rica and Panama: Bolitoglossa splendida, Bolitoglossa aureogularis, Bolitoglossa kamuk, Nototriton matama, and Oedipina nimaso. We also present phylogenetic hypotheses for the new taxa (with the exception of the Oedipina)...
AbstractWe describe a new species of Bolitoglossa (Nanotriton) from the Sierra de Juárez and Sierra Mixe of Oaxaca, Mexico. Bolitoglossa chinanteca
sp. n. is distinguished from the three other species in the subgenus Nanotriton by its more robust body, by having substantial numbers of maxillary teeth and differences in relative head width, foot wid...
A new species of snake of the genus Sibon (Squamata: Colubridae) is described from La Montaña de las Granadillas, part of the Sierra del Merendón in eastern Guatemala. Sibon merendonensis is part of the S. annulatus group, and differs from other members of the group in its scale row formula, head scalation and body size. The new species is known on...
Amphibians highlight the global biodiversity crisis because ∼40% of all amphibian species are currently in decline. Species have disappeared even in protected habitats (e.g., the enigmatic extinction of the golden toad, Bufo periglenes, from Costa Rica). The emergence of a fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been implicated in...
We describe a new species of Pseudoeurycea from the cloud forests of Huatusco in the state of Veracruz, México. This species belongs to the P. cephalica complex. Pseudoeurycea cafetalera sp. nov. is sister to the clade formed by P. cephalica and P. quetzalanensis. The new species is diagnosed by a stout body, long stout legs, short digits, somewhat...
Se describe una nueva especie de Bolitoglossa (Magnadigita) del grupo rostrata de un solo sitio de bosque nuboso del lado sur de la Sierra de las Minas en el oriente de Guatemala, una región de alta diversidad biológica para varios grupos de organismos. Ésta especie se distingue de los otros miembros del subgénero por su morfología y analisis molec...
Peripatric speciation and the importance of founder effects have long been controversial, and multilocus sequence data and coalescent methods now allow hypotheses of peripatric speciation to be tested in a rigorous manner. Using a multilocus phylogeographical data set for two species of salamanders (genus Hydromantes) from the Sierra Nevada of Cali...
We describe a new species of Oedipina (subgenus Oeditriton) from the highlands of north-central Nicaragua. The new species is most closely related to Oedipina kasios, a premontane species from north-central Honduras, and O. quadra, a lowland species from northern and eastern Honduras. It differs from O. kasios and O. quadra in molecular characters...
A new species of lungless salamander (Plethodontidae) is described from the mountains of eastern Guatemala. The new species is distinguished from all other members of its genus by its yellow ventral coloration. It is geographically closest to its sister taxon, Cryptotriton veraepacis, from which it differs in several osteological features as well a...
A new species of Asian warty newt, Paramesotriton ermizhaoi, is described from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. This species is easily distinguished from other congeners by external morphology and osteology. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial data place P. ermizhaoi as a possible sister taxon to P. hongkongensis and P....
We document major declines of many species of salamanders at several sites in Central America and Mexico, with emphasis on the San Marcos region of Guatemala, one of the best studied and most diverse salamander communities in the Neotropics. Profound declines of several formerly abundant species, including 2 apparent extinctions, are revealed. Terr...
Aim Floristic blocks and areas of endemism resulting from a parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) using raw floristic data versus data generated from distributional modelling for 130 species in the genus Senecio Tourn. ex L. distributed in the Mediterranean‐type climate area of Central Chile were compared, and the results were used to identify con...
