In a recent post, we discussed the description of two new Costa Rican anoles, but didn’t draw attention to the fact that all members of the A. pachypus species complex exhibit dewlap dichromatism, with the dewlaps of males and females differing within a species. Shown here are differences in A. tropidolepis (top) and A. pachypus (bottom). Leer más.

Badiane A, Garcia-Porta J, Cervenka J, Kratochvíl L, Sindaco R, Robinson MD, Morales H, Mazuch T, Price T, Amat F, Shobrak MY, Wilms T, Simó-Riudalbas M, Ahmadzadeh F, Papenfuss TJ, Cluchier A, Viglione J, Carranza S. Zootaxa. 2014 Jul 9;3835:33-58. Ir al enlace.

Pablo BURRACO, Rosa ARRIBAS, Saurabh S KULKARNI, Daniel R BUCHHOLZ, Ivan GOMEZ-MESTRE. Current Zoology. 2015. Glucocorticoids play a key role in mediating stress responses in vertebrates. Corticosterone (CORT) is the main glucocorticoid produced in amphibians, birds, and reptiles, and regulates several metabolic functions. The most common methods for quantifying CORT are competitive binding immunoassays: radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). RIA has been broadly used since the 1980’s but it requires radioactivity. Leer más.

Researchers have radio-tracked frogs for the first time in Madagascar. The effort, undertaken by a group of European scientists, is detailed in the current issue of Herpetologica. Leer más.

Diseases are important drivers of declines in in amphibians and fishes. Relatively well known diseases in amphibians are chytridiomycosis and ranavirosis, however fungal-like organisms from the orders Dermocystida and Ichthyophonida may have a large potential impact as well. Leer más.