All tadpoles grow into frogs, but not all frogs start out as tadpoles, reveals a new study on 720 species of frogs to be published in the journal Evolution. The study, “Phylogenetic analyses reveal unexpected patterns in the evolution of reproductive modes in frogs,” led by John J. Wiens, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University, and colleagues Ivan Gomez-Mestra from the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain, and R. Alexander Pyron from George Washington University, uncovers the surprising evolution of life cycles in frogs. Leer más.

Virgin births among captive animals have been described as a desperate attempt by females with no access to males to procreate, but a new study documents several cases of birth by wild female snakes that had no help from the males. Leer más.

Surviving Chytridiomycosis: Differential Anti-Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Activity in Bacterial Isolates from Three Lowland Species of Atelopus. Ir al enlace.

Two distinct lineages of Rana temporaria are known in the Palaearctic region, but it is uncertain whether this species persisted in one or more Pleistocene refugia. We resolved the phylogeographic history and genetic variability of R. temporaria in the Italian peninsula, a ‘traditional’ Pleistocene refugium, and related our findings to patterns described for other European populations. Leer más.