A supplement simply added to water has been shown to boost reproduction in nematodes (roundworms), molluscs, fish and frogs – and researchers believe it could work for humans too. Dr Keith Davies, senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire and his colleague Dr John Hart, CEO of Endocrine Pharmaceuticals Ltd, observed guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) […]
Tag: frog
Recently discovered ‘punkrocker’ frog changes skin texture in minutes
In 2006, a husband-and-wife team – Katherine and Tim Krynak – discovered a tiny new frog species, smaller than a U.S. quarter, in the Reserva Las Gralarias, a nature reserve in north-central Ecuador. They took its photograph and nicknamed it the “punkrocker” frog because of spine-like projections coming out of its skin. For the next […]
Four arrested for allegedly attempting to export 150 native animals to Europe
Four men are in custody in Perth accused of attempting to export more than 150 native animals from Western Australia. The men were arrested at Perth international airport earlier this month after customs was tipped off by postal workers who noticed something amiss in packages sent from destinations including Carnarvon, Tom Price and Geraldton. All […]
Selective logging hurts rainforest frogs
Selective logging in India’s Western Ghats forests continues to affect frogs decades after harvesting ended, finds a new study published in Biotropica. The research, conducted by K. S. Seshadri of Pondicherry University and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, assessed frog communities in logged and unlogged forests in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger […]
New skeleton frog from Madagascar is already critically endangered
Sometimes all it takes is fewer clicks. Scientists have discovered a new species of frog from Madagascar that stuck out in part because it “clicked” less during calls than similar species. Unfortunately the scientists believe the new species—dubbed the Ankarafa skeleton frog (Boophis ankarafensis)—is regulated to a single patch of forest, which, despite protected status, […]
Yellow spots, orange stripes: vivid new frog species discovered in Malaysia
Scientists have identified a new species of frog on the Malay Peninsula. The newly named Hylarana centropeninsularis was discovered in a peat swamp and genetic analyses revealed that it is evolutionarily distinct from its stream-dwelling cousins. After publishing the discovery in the online journal Herpetologica, Kin Onn Chan, a doctoral candidate at the University of […]
Scientists make breakthrough in fight against deadly amphibian fungus
Scientists have made a key discovery that may help to stem the loss of countless species of amphibians to a deadly fungus. Frogs and other amphibians have been among the worst hit of all species in recent years in terms of the numbers facing drastic declines or extinction: more than one-third of the more than […]
New frog species discovered on tallest mountain in Indochina
A team of Australian and Vietnamese researchers recently discovered a new species of frog in the high elevations of Vietnam’s Mount Fansipan, according to a new paper in Zootaxa. The amphibian was named Botsford’s leaf-litter frog (Leptolalax botsfordi) as a tribute to Christopher Botsford for his role in amphibian biodiversity research in Asia. “I had […]