Latest Amphibian Stories

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In addition to the stresses placed on amphibians, or perhaps because of them, they are now more likely to succumb to debilitating infectious diseases. In recent decades, disease seems to have taken a more prominent role in the amphibian mortality rate, according to a new study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Along with climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species, these creatures...

A Yale graduate student has developed a novel means for charting the history of a pathogen deadly to amphibians worldwide. Katy Richards-Hrdlicka, a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, examined 164 preserved amphibians for the presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, an infectious pathogen driving many species to extinction. The pathogen is found on every continent inhabited by amphibians and in more than 200 species. Bd causes...

Brett Smith for Redorbit.com A joint team of UK and Indian scientists have announced the discovery of a new species of worm-like amphibian living near Kerala, India. Scientists from the University of Kerala and Natural History Museum in London found the species while digging in the moist soil of a shrub-lined mountain stream after a monsoon, according to the study published in Zootaxa. The animal, named Gegeneophis primus, measured about six-and-a-half inches and was found in the...

The roads are the main cause of fragmenting the habitats of many species, especially amphibians, as they cause them to be run over and a loss of genetic diversity. Furthermore, traffic harms two abundant species that represent the amphibious Asturian fauna and have been declared vulnerable in Spain: the midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) and the palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus). "But midwife toad and palmate newt populations have very different sensitivities to the effects of roads"...

Scientists have discovered a new family of legless amphibians while digging through the mud in northeast India. The Chikilidae is the 10th edition to the caecilian group of amphibians, which are a group of amphibians that resemble earthworms. This family lives hidden in the ground, and its skin has numerous lines, giving it a segmented appearance. The new species was found while the researchers were digging around at 250 locations looking for the amphibians. "DNA analysis has...

A new study co-authored by University of Florida researchers on the endangered Ozark Hellbender giant salamander is the first to detail its skin microbes, the bacteria and fungi that defend against pathogens. Published today in the online journal PLoS One, the study details changes in the salamander's declining health and habitat, and could provide a baseline for how changing ecosystems are affecting the rapid decline of amphibians worldwide. "Scientists and biologists view amphibians...

According to new research, tropical regions with the richest diversity are most at risk of losing frogs, toads, newts and salamanders. Scientists predict the future for these amphibians is even more bleak than conservationists had thought. They predict that areas with the highest diversity of amphibian species will be under the most intense threat in the future.  About half of amphibian species are in decline, while a third that are already threatened with extinction. The scientists...

Amphibian populations are declining worldwide, and their declines far exceed those of other animal groups: more than 30% of all species are listed as threatened according to the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Multiple factors threaten global amphibian diversity but the spatial distribution of these threats and their interactions are poorly known. A new study published in Nature with Dr. Christian Hof as lead author indicates that, worryingly, areas...

According to new research, a killer frog fungus that is spreading around the world is being distributed through amphibian trade by zoos and collectors. Scientists said that the most widespread and lethal form of the three distinct lineages of the chytrid fungus was probably created by a crossing of two prior forms. Chytrid is now found on every continent and has wiped out a number of species. The fungus kills amphibians by blocking the transfer of vital substances through their...

San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy scientists have taken a tremendous leap forward in banking viable amphibian cells. This was achieved through the first successful establishment of cell cultures from frozen biopsy specimens of the critically endangered Mississippi gopher frog. A method called "tissue piecing" and immediate freezing in liquid nitrogen allows field biologists to collect samples that can later be processed in a laboratory. "With amphibians we have found that we can...