Introduction: Given the role of microbiomes in promoting host health and homeostasis, understanding the factors shaping skin microbial communities in wild vertebrates has become increasingly important in conservation. This goal is even more pressing for amphibians, for which the skin has multiple critical functions, and pathogens currently decimating populations are linked to significant changes in skin microbiomes. However, because microbiomes are also...

Amphibians represent one of the most threatened vertebrate groups, and although monitoring amphibian population dynamics is critical for conservation, most traditional survey efforts depend on time-consuming, often invasive monitoring activities and visual surveys. Screening environmental DNA (eDNA), a non-invasive monitoring technique, has the potential to identify species presence at a site, even in the absence of visual confirmation. In this study, we...

Background Mosquitoes are the deadliest organisms in the world, killing an estimated 750,000 people per year due to the pathogens they can transmit. Mosquitoes also pose a major threat to other vertebrate animals. Culex territans is a mosquito species found in temperate zones worldwide that feeds almost exclusively on amphibians and can transmit parasites; however, little is known about its ability to...

Anurans (frogs and toads) are an ecologically diverse group of vertebrate organisms that display a myriad of reproductive modes and life history traits. To persist in such an expansive array of habitats, these organisms have evolved specialized skin that is used for respiration while also protecting against moisture loss, pathogens, and environmental contaminants. Anuran skin is also colonized by communities of symbiotic...

Global amphibian populations are declining rapidly, due largely to infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The Herpetolo18gy Department at the Sam Noble Museum has screened for Bd prevalence among amphibian communities across Oklahoma for over five years, providing ongoing data about the disease’s prevalence and distribution. Recently, the museum partnered with other Oklahomans through a...

Have you ever wanted to be a scientist? Or help a scientist make new discoveries? Join the Herpetology Department of the Sam Noble Museum in a brand-new citizen science project, where YOU become the scientist collecting real-world data! What is Citizen Science? Citizen Science is an up and coming method of gathering scientific data collection by members of the general public, rather than traditional...

Despite multiple recent field studies, herpetological species diversity of the Romblon Island Group in the central Phil- ippines—particularly Sibuyan Island—has remained underestimated. Recently, we investigated the diversity of the herpetofauna of Mount Guiting-Guiting Natural Park, based on an elevational transect (10–1557 m a.s.l.). Our surveys resulted in a total of 47 species of amphibians and reptiles, including 14 new island records and...

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and ranavirus (RV) are pathogens contributing to the global decline of amphibian populations. Both pathogens can be spread through direct contact between amphibians, through water carrying the infection, the accidental movement of disease particles between waterbodies by cattle, boats, or aquatic recreational equipment, or the intentional movement of infected amphibians used as fishing bait. Amphibians can also experience indirect...

The University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS) was established in 1950 in Marshall Co., Oklahoma along the newly created reservoir, Lake Texoma. Generations of biology students and independent researchers have documented the flora and fauna on the station grounds and surrounding areas. Herein we compare herpetological records for the area published in the 1950s to herpetology course survey events from 1978–1986 and...

We revisit the question of species diversity among Mindanao Fanged Frogs of the Limnonectes magnus complex consisting of L. magnus, L. diuatus, L. ferneri, and a previously hypothesized putative new species, inferred in the first molecular phylogenetic studies of the genus almost 2 decades ago. Using a multilocus molecular deoxyribonucleic acid sequence data set and comprehensive sampling of 161 individuals from throughout...

We describe a new species of fanged frog (genus Limnonectes) from Mindoro and Semirara Islands, of the Mindoro Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex, of the central Philippines. Although morphologically indistinguishable from its closest relative, Limnonectes acanthi, of the Palawan faunal region, the two species can be readily diagnosed on the basis of spectral (dominant frequency) and temporal (pulse number and structure) properties of...