We describe a new species of Lacertid lizard of the genus Eremias from the border of the northeastern side of Markazi Province to the western side of Tehran Province in Iran. Eremias fahimii sp. nov. is part of the Eremias subgenus (or morphotype) by virtue of lacking lateral fringes on the fourth toe, having movable eyelids, a lower nasal shield that rests on two supralabials, and ventral plates arranged in oblique longitudinal rows. Leer más.
ANSE y el Ayuntamiento de Rojales construyen una pequeña charca dentro de las instalaciones de los Huertos Urbanos de este Municipio como medida de fomento y mejora de la biodiversidad de este espacio verde. Leer más.
As many of you will be aware, we are experiencing unprecedented declines in biodiversity globally in an event that biologists have named the sixth mass extinction. The two biggest obstacles facing the natural world are habitat loss and anthropogenic environment change, particularly for amphibians and even some species of reptiles. However, emerging infectious diseases are also partially responsible for large scale declines and the extinction of species, such as in the case with the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) which was described formally in 1998 but has been identified to drive declines before this. In 2013, another pathogenic fungus in the genus was identified after causing an unprecedented decline in fire salamanders in the Netherlands: B. salamandrivorans (Bsal). Bsal threatens salamander species around the world, although for now it appears to be confined to Europe and Asia. Leer más.
—Amphibians in rural landscapes often utilize various types of artificial constructions originally designed for irrigation, livestock supply, or other purposes (e.g., water tanks or cattle troughs) as breeding sites. These sites potentially function as local refugia; however, their importance for amphibian communities has yet to be widely assessed. Here we evaluate the role of artificial constructions in the persistence of amphibian populations in rural areas of central Spain, focusing on two species of conservation concern: the Common Midwife Toad, Alytes obstetricans (Laurenti 1768), and the Parsley Frog, Pelodytes punctatus (Daudin 1802). Leer más.
