European common frog found to use novel mating strategy
...e four genes from each of the 524 known species of salamanders and the 168 known species of their close relative, the caecilian. The goal is to fully understand the evolutionary tree of amphibians, all the way down to its roots. Vieites' colleagues in the studies were Sandra Nieto-Roman and Antonio Palanca of th...Genetic analysis rewrites salamander's evolutionary history
...lifornia, Berkeley, study of the largest family of salamanders produced a genetic family tree totally inconsisten..., now appear not to be close relatives at all. And salamanders that go through an aquatic larval stage are scattered about on different branches instead of grouped...Viral suspect for amphibian decline traced to human spread through bait
...ocations through the vector of live bait infected salamanders being distributed and introduced to uncontaminated...lso closely matches viruses isolated from imported salamanders found in bait shops, indicating a possible source for the pathogen's introduction. The finding furth...Concerns remain about UVB damage to amphibians
... found in more than 60 species of frogs, toads and salamanders in 46 states and across four continents. At one site near Corvallis, Ore., 75-80 percent of the frogs are deformed, mostly linked to a parasite and other ecological changes. And egg mortality in embryos of the western toad and some other species in p...Stem cells found in adults may repair nerves
...eneration in the human retina," Reh said. While salamanders can regenerate retinal cells through their life, many other species lose this ability as they age. "At some point in each species life cycle, the stem cells in the retina make a transition from a regenerative cell to a cell that will make a scar in r...History of frog deformities suggests emerging disease
...rved. To date, severely malformed frogs, toads and salamanders have been found among 60 different species in nearly all U.S. states, as well as parts of Canada, Japan and several European countries. The high number of amphibian deformities, explains Johnson, is of great ecological concern. Severe limb deformiti...Alien earthworms changing ecology of Northeast forests
...tures that live in the duff and forest litter like salamanders and ground-nesting birds may be affected as well. Within a decade or two, the worms can essentially change the soil profile into something like the black mineral-rich soils that are found in many European forests." Funded by the U.S. Department of ...New species of earliest-known salamanders found in China
... also provides proof that much of the evolution of salamanders occurred in Asia. For more than three years, scien...ars ago. Its remarkable to have the earliest-known salamanders with so much diversity, so many specimens and such high-quality preservation, said Neil Shubin, Ph.D...Scientists hone in on cause of amphibian deformities
... found in more than 60 species of frogs, toads and salamanders in 46 states and across four continents. Of these three leading causes, the parasite appears to be the major cause of many of the deformities, the scientists say. "We've finally synthesized from a wide body of research the range of causes that are l...Fragmentation may be linked to local amphibian extinctions
...o months after metamorphosis. While small-mouthed salamanders showed no preference for forest or old field, the ...ther into the forest than into old fields. Spotted salamanders moved almost eight times farther and toads moved more than three times farther (spotted salamanders ...Salamanders change spots: Was it environmental stress?
...der populations' spot symmetry. Comparing today's salamanders with those gathered in the same breeding area 60 y...naged by Cornell. Zamudio and Wright also examined salamanders in the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates, where the specimens are kept in ethanol-filled jars, gathered ...Amphibians and crippling parasites
...nt years, the frequency of malformed frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians found with missing limbs, extra limbs, and skin webbings has increased. The shrinking populations of many North American amphibian populations underscore the need to understand the causes and implications of this phenomenon. No...Lizards and salamanders may use lungs to hear, study says
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Certain species of salamanders and lizards can actually hear ...ngton examined four species of salamanders and three species of lizards to determine if the lungs might ...Outside-in conservation: What's around an area
...n U.S. Lowe and Bolger found that streams had more salamanders when they wereconfluent with another stream (that ...ted. Notably, confluent logged streamshad 40% more salamanders than isolated ones. This suggests thatpopulation connectivity may help protect salamanders in distur...DNA analysis of salamanders turns up new species under almost every log, UC Berkeley zoologists find
...ake, a recognized expert on amphibians, especially salamanders and frogs, is turning up new species seemingly und...cologic areas." Wake said that the number of known salamanders is increasing by two percent - nearly 100 new species - every year. Ornithologists have found simila...Major fossil find reveals Asian origins of salamanders
...ble conclusion that almost all the major groups of salamanders evolved very early," said Shubin, "And not much ha...een a huge gap in the fossil record. The origin of salamanders was poorly documented, the fossil evidence was just inadequate," said Gao. "We only had fossils of t...USGS diagnoses causes of many US amphibian die-offs
...isease associated with large die-offs of frogs and salamanders in the Midwest and the East has caused another rec...ulprit in most of the deaths of U.S. western tiger salamanders at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Cottonwood Lake Study Area near Jamestown, North Dakota. W...Best bet for saving cave species
...eople in the 17th century to think that the white salamanders that washed out of caves in eastern Europe were dragon larvae. The several thousand caves in the continental U.S. are concentrated in the 20% that is covered by limestone. Culver and his colleagues found that cave species are concentrated even...ASU scientists probe salamander mysteries
...usly. She had heard about massive numbers of tiger salamanders dying in Arizona's San Rafeal Valley from fellow A...ng a dieoff in 1995. They found ponds full of dead salamanders apparently killed by a bacterial infection called "red leg" disease. Assuming that the bacteria wer...Complex mystery of amphibian decline calls for a new kind of science
... be to find something that is wiping out frogs and salamanders on a global scale? In familiar film and televisio... culprit behind a broad disappearance of frogs and salamanders actually raises more questions than it answers: "Are these novel pathogens? Has the physiology of t...