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Amphibians are undergoing global declines, with 41% of amphibian species threatened with extinction (Hoffmann et al. 2010; Stuart et al. 2004). Emerging infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis and Ranavirus have been implicated among... more
Amphibians are undergoing global declines, with 41% of amphibian species threatened with extinction (Hoffmann et al. 2010; Stuart et al. 2004). Emerging infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis and Ranavirus have been implicated among the possible reasons for some of these declines (eg, Collins and Storfer 2003; Daszak et al. 1999; Schloegel et al. 2010). Chytridiomycosis is a disease caused by the parasitic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). It is known to cause mortality across a wide range of amphibian taxa ...
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A new species of the genus Euphlyctis is described from the Barisal district of Bangladesh and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. The new species is highly divergent in comparison to other... more
A new species of the genus Euphlyctis is described from the Barisal district of Bangladesh and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. The new species is highly divergent in comparison to other congeneric species on basis of sequence divergence in mitochondrial DNA gene sequences (ranging from 5.5% to 17.8% divergence). Euphlyctis kalasgramensis sp. nov. can be readily diagnosed by having the following combination of characters: snout-vent length (SVL) 30.44 - 37.88 mm, absence of mid-dorsal line, nostril-snout length 3% of SVL, nostril much closer to snout tip than eye, nostril-snout length 48% of distance from front of eyes to nostril, relative length of fingers (shortest to longest: 1 = 2 < 4 < 3), tibia length 59% of SVL, foot length 55% of SVL.
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A new species of Microhyla frog from the Nilphamari district of Bangladesh is described and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. Molecular phylogeny derived from mitochondrial DNA sequences... more
A new species of Microhyla frog from the Nilphamari district of Bangladesh is described and compared with its morphologically similar and geographically proximate congeners. Molecular phylogeny derived from mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that although the new species - designated here as Microhyla nilphamariensis sp. nov. - forms a clade with M. ornate, it is highly divergent from M. ornata and all of its congeners, with 5.7 - 13.2% sequence divergence at the 16S rRNA gene. The new species can be identified phenotypically on the basis of a set of diagnostic (both qualitative and quantitative) characters as follows: head length is 77% of head width, distance from front of eyes to the nostril is roughly six times greater than nostril-snout length, internarial distance is roughly five times greater than nostril-snout length, interorbital distance is two times greater than internarial distance, and distance from back of mandible to back of the eye is 15% of head length. Furthermor...