Sergé Bogaerts

Traditional methods of phylogenetic reconstruction and species delimitation may be impeded by frequent hybridization among lineages. In this study, we conducted phylogenetic and clustering analyses of ddRAD genomic data on the entire genus Salamandra, which includes six species and over 25 subspecies of terrestrial salamanders. We expanded previous...

Hypopigmentation is characterized by the lack of melanin in part or the whole body. For nocturnal or fossorial reptiles, hypopigmentation may be less disadvantageous, as they are less exposed to visually oriented predators. But chromatic anomalies are challenging to observe in fossorial species, such as worm lizards (Amphisbaenia), because they are...

Technological developments now make it possible to employ many markers for many individuals in a phylogeographic setting, even for taxa with large and complex genomes such as salamanders. The banded newt (genus Ommatotriton) from the Near East has been proposed to contain three species (O. nesterovi, O. ophryticus and O. vittatus) with unclear phyl...

EAZA Best Practice Guidelines (Striped) fire salamander, Salamandra salamandra (terrestris) is the first version of the EAZA Best Practice Guidelines for this species. This guideline has evolved out of the growing concern for extinction of local fire salamander populations due to the introduction of the invasive chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium sala...

The salamander genus Salamandra is widespread across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East and is renowned for its conspicuous and polymorphic colouration and diversity of reproductive modes. The phylogenetic relationships within the genus, and especially among the highly polymorphic species S. salamandra, have been very challenging to elucidate,...

Infectious diseases are major drivers of biodiversity loss. The risk of fungal diseases to the survival of threatened animals in nature is determined by a complex interplay between host, pathogen and environment. We here predict the risk of invasion of populations of threatened Mediterranean salamanders of the genus Lyciasalamandra by the pathogeni...

The phylogenetic relationships among members of the family Salamandridae have been repeatedly investigated over the last 90 years, with changing character and taxon sampling. We review the changing composition and the phylogenetic position of salamandrid genera and species groups and add a new phylogeny based exclusively on sequences of nuclear gen...

Cladogramms of Salamandridae phylogenies. (PDF)

Phylogenetic inference of the four nuclear genes. (PDF)

Characters used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Salamandridae. (PDF)

Lack of disease spill-over between adjacent populations has been associated with habitat fragmentation and the absence of population connectivity. We here present a case which describes the absence of the spill-over of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) between two connected subpopulations of fire salamanders (Salamandra sa...

The keeping of exotic pets is currently under debate and governments of several countries are increasingly exploring the regulation, or even the banning, of exotic pet keeping. Major concerns are issues of public health and safety, animal welfare and biodiversity conservation. The keeping of reptiles and amphibians in captivity encompasses all the...

The banded newt (genus Ommatotriton) is widely distributed in the Near East (Anatolia, Caucasus and the Levant) - an understudied region from the perspective of phylogeography. The genus is polytypic, but the number of species included and the phylogenetic relationships between them are not settled. We sequenced two mitochondrial and two nuclear DN...

The study of trophic ecology of terrestrial salamanders is central for a better understanding of their adaptability and dispersal, in particular in Mediterranean ecosystems where their feeding activity is reduced because of prolonged arid periods. Terrestrial salamanders are generalist predators that feed on a large array of invertebrate prey group...

The North African fire salamander, Salamandra algira, is distributed in Algeria, Morocco and Ceuta (Spanish territory located on the north coast of Africa), but until now rather limited information has been available on the populations across the Algerian part of its range. We here provide a first analysis of the phylogeography of this species in A...

Painted frogs (Discoglossus) contain five to six species of Western Palearctic anurans that are mainly distributed in allopatry. We here provide the first comprehensive assessment of the phylogeography of the Moroccan species D. scovazzi and geographically characterize its contact zone with D. pictus in Eastern Morocco. Discoglossus scovazzi shows,...

Painted frogs (Discoglossus) contain 5-6 species of Western Palearctic anurans that are mainly distributed in allopatry. We here provide the first comprehensive assessment of the phylogeography of the Moroccan D. scovazzi and geographically characterize its contact zone with D. pictus in Eastern Morocco. Discoglossus scovazzi shows, in general, a w...

Until now, Asian amphibians appear to have largely escaped declines driven by chytridiomycosis. Vietnamese salamanders that belong to the genus Tylototriton are rare and have a patchy distribution in mountainous areas, falling within the proposed environmental envelope of chytrid infections, surrounded by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infected reg...

Salamandra algira is patchily distributed from north-western Morocco to eastern Algeria. Its occurrence in Tunisia is under debate. In order to examine the presence of S. algira in Tunisia, three field trips were made to suitable habitats in the Medjerda mountains in north-eastern Tunisia. Additionally, phenotypic and morphological examinations of...

The distribution, ecology and conservation status of the Syrian urodeles Salamandra infraimmaculata and Ommatotriton vittatus are poorly known. We present the results of a field study, conducted in February 2009. Salamandra infraimmaculata was found at six localities, ranging from 228 to 960 m a.s.l., and co-occurred with O. vittatus at three local...

The amphibian fauna of the Kingdom of Morocco was traditionally regarded as poor and closely related to its European counterpart. However, an increase in research during the last decades revealed a considerable degree of endemism amongst Moroccan amphibians, as well as phenotypic and genotypic inter- and intraspecific divergence. Despite this incre...

North America and the neotropics harbor nearly all species of plethodontid salamanders. In contrast, this family of caudate amphibians is represented in Europe and Asia by two genera, Speleomantes and Karsenia, which are confined to small geographic ranges. Compared to neotropical and North American plethodontids, mortality attributed to chytridiom...

Overview of the sampled Speleomantes species, sampling localities, sample size and sampling dates. Seconds have been removed from coordinates to prevent illegal collection. (DOCX)

Overview of the sampled Speleomantes species for collection of skin secretions and respective sampling localities. Seconds have been removed from coordinates to prevent illegal collection (DOCX)

TO THE EDITOR: Although 2 major diseases of amphibians, chytridiomycosis and ranavirosis, have been relatively well studied, enigmatic amphibian disease and death not attributable to any of the known amphibian diseases frequently occur (1). We describe an apparently new disease in salamanders that is associated with a novel genus within the family...

Description of Candidatus Amphibiichlamydia salamandrae. Transmission electron micrograph of a liver section of a yellow spotted newt showing an intracellular vacuole containing elementary bodies and reticulate bodies of Chlamydia-like organisms.

Here we report on the combined observations of 10 years of opportunistic field work conducted during short visits to Sardinia, from 1999 to 2012. A total amount of 433 distribution records of 27 species were collected from 187 different localities covering 52 unique UTM squares. We report species presence in 157 new UTM squares and additionally rec...

Within the framework of the present study we test whether climatic niche similarity can be identified in a monophyletic group of species inhabiting remarkably restricted ranges by pooling presence data of all species into a single concatenated data set and subsequently jackknifing single species. We expect that, when the jackknifed species differs...

The opening of the Gibraltar land bridge occurred at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis approximately 5.3 Mya, and was one of the main causes of vicariance between European and north-west African amphibians, resulting in the origin of several new species. However, little is currently known about the causes for post-Messinian amphibian differe...

The Italian endemic genus Salamandrina was recently determined to be polytypic since two species, Salamandrina perspicillata and S. terdigitata, were recognized using both mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers. However, data on their range is very scanty and no morphological traits are available to distinguish between these two taxa. A thorough...

Five new locations of N. strauchii are reported from Turkey, closing the gap between the two subspecies N. s. barani and N. s. strauchii. A molecular analysis based on 829 base pairs from two mitochondrial ribosomal genes (12S and 16S rRNA), together with geographical data from the area concerned, indicate all new populations found are very closely...

Aim The intricate puzzle‐like geography of the western Mediterranean is a product of long‐term tectonic and orogenic events, supplemented by repeated climatic oscillations since the Pliocene. It offers numerous vicariance events that may be invoked to explain speciation in amphibians. We test for plausibility of two mutually exclusive Iberian–Afric...

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Mabuya vittata is a highly polymorphic diurnal lizard, occurring in high densities (20-160/ha) in the Goksu Delta in southeastern Turkey. Two dorsal pattern types were distinguished, uniform or effectively uniform and striped. In the hills and dunes 93% (n = 311) of the adult animals was uniform and in the agricultural parts of the delta 73% (n = 1...

An estimated population of 10 to 100 adult and subadult Nile Soft-shelled Turtles Trionyx triunguis occurs in the Göksu Delta, Turkey, constituting a substantial part of the Asian population. A brackish lagoon, the Göksu river and the sea side of these areas form its most important habitat. It is expected, but not yet proved, that reproduction take...