Based on molecular, morphological and field data, the status and zoogeography of the taxa of the Psammophis sibilans group north of 12°S are reviewed. Molecular data including sequences from 20 of the 22 described species known to occur north of 12°S suggest that P. sibilans distribution is restricted to northeastern Africa, from Egypt to Ethiopia. Populations from West Africa are described as a new species, Psammophis afroccidentalis sp. nov., and those from Chad, Cameroon and Central African Republic are assigned to P. rukwae which is also distributed from Tanzania to Ethiopia. Leer más.

El amplio manual sobre enfermedades infecciosas en anfibios, su lectura y práctica puede aportar en la reducción de la quitiridiomicosis, enfermedad por hongos que está afectando de forma prácticamente mundial a muchos de los anfibios y que desgraciadamente está ligada, en su difusión, a factores humanos. Leer más.

Durante este mes de agosto, miembros de la Asociación Herpetológica Granadina hemos estado revisando algunos puntos de agua en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Baza. Esta sierra cuenta con cinco especies de anfibios, entre las que destaca el sapo partero bético (Alytes dickhilleni). Aunque ocupa cauces naturales (su hábitat originario), el sapo partero bético cría en esta sierra sobre todo en estructuras artificiales, como albercas y abrevaderos. Leer más.

When: Thursday 19 September 2019. Where: School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR. Leer más.

Climate change has already increased the spread and severity of a fatal disease caused by Ranavirus that infects common frogs (Rana temporaria) in the UK, according to research led by ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, UCL and Queen Mary University of London published today in Global Change Biology (10 May 2019). Historic trends in mass-mortality events attributed to the disease were found to match the pattern of increased temperatures recorded over recent decades, with disease outbreaks predicted to become more severe, more widespread and occurring over a greater proportion of the year within the next few decades, if carbon emissions continue at their current rate. Leer más.