Pristimantis lojanus sp. nov. is a medium sized species of the phylogenetically strongly supported P. phoxocephalus group, and its sister species is P. torresi. The new species can be easily distinguished from its closest congeners and morphologically similar species (that also have acuminate snout with a fleshy keel) by its characteristic advertisement call and morphological features (dorsum finely tuberculate with scattered larger tubercles, flanks without longitudinal lateral folds, no markings in axilla, groin or on concealed limb surfaces, and bronze iris). Leer más.
La pandemia planteó nuevas preguntas en la ciencia de conservación. Una de ellas es ¿qué impacto tiene el turismo en las poblaciones de animales silvestres? Un equipo de científicos de la fundación Charles Darwin está intentando responder a esa pregunta por medio del análisis de miles de fotografías obtenidas durante la época de cuarentena y el regreso de los turistas a Galápagos. Leer más.
Curtin University research has found that isolated Perth tiger snake populations, such as those surrounded by urban development or seawater, are more likely to resort to inbreeding than those in less ‘cut off’ communities. Leer más.
En un comunicado este domingo, el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona ha explicado que se han liberado diversos ejemplares de tortuga leprosa (mauremys leprosa), tritón del Montseny (calotriton arnoldi) y tortuga mediterránea (testudo hermanii), catalogados como especies en peligro por la Unión Internacional por la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN). Leer más.
Modern taxonomy relies on the unified species concept and integrative approaches to delimit evolutionary coherent taxa. The western Mediterranean vipers within the Vipera latastei–monticola complex (Vipera latastei and Vipera monticola) have a rather old taxonomic history marked by the prevalence of morphological criteria in the recognition of taxonomic units. Recent phylogenetic inferences, however, contradict this taxonomic scenario, highlighting the need of integrative studies to properly evaluate the taxonomy of this complex. Here, we apply an integrative taxonomic approach, combining phylogeographic, morphological, and ecological analyses, to identify and describe evolutionary coherent taxonomic units within the Vipera latastei–monticola complex. Leer más.
