The Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) and the Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) are very pleased to announce a special issue of FrogLog dedicated to someone who is near and dear to our hearts: Phil Bishop. As you may know, Phil passed away early this year, leaving an enormous gap in amphibian conservation and an equally large hole in our hearts. This special issue is our way to pay tribute to an extraordinary man, someone who inspired all who met him and who led by example. The experiences and stories collated in this special issue’s pages are a testament to Phil’s character and to how much he was – and still is – loved. This special issue also resumes the format of having ASA News, ASG News and News from the Amphibian Conservation Community under one publication. We invite you to browse through these sections to find out the latest news in the amphibian conservation world. Leer más.

Extreme climate events, together with anthropogenic land use changes, have led to the rise of megafires (i.e., fires at the top of the frequency size distribution) in many world regions. Megafires imply that the centre of the burned area is far from the unburnt; thus, recolonization may be critical for species with low dispersal abilities such as reptiles. We aimed to evaluate the effect of megafires on a reptile community, exploring to what extent reptile responses are spatially shaped by the distance to the unburned area. We examined the short-term spatiotemporal response of a Mediterranean reptile community after two megafires (>20.000 hectares) occurred in summer 2012 at eastern Spain. Reptiles were sampled during four years after the fire in burnt plots located at different distances from the fire perimeter (edge, middle, and centre), and in adjacent unburnt plots. Reptile responses were modelled with fire history, as well as climate and remotely sensed environmental variables. Leer más.

Treefrogs of the genus Osteocephalus have been the focus of several taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, especially in the last two decades. These recent studies have shown that the diversity of this charismatic Amazonian genus is still largely underestimated. Through the evidence of morphological and molecular data, we describe a new species of the Osteocephalus alboguttatus species group from the Purus-Madeira Interfluve, southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. Leer más.