Insituexsitu

Aneides lugubris is a formidable lungless salamander. Males are known for their huge heads with massive musculature and toothy jaws. These structures are employed in combat with other males and sometimes in defense against predators or photographers. Luckily, no photographers or salamanders were injured during yesterday's shoot!

With more than 75 described species, the genus Boophis is has more members than any other genus in Madagascar. This species, Boophis luteus is a nice sized beauty from the mid-elevation rainforests.

I have been wanting to see Alytes obstetricans since I learned about them in high school. The genus is interesting due to the males carrying the eggs for weeks to months, allowing the tadpoles inside to mature in the absence of aquatic predators that could otherwise take a portion of the clutch. A single male may carry multiple clutches, from different females. Females mate with multiple males throughout the extended breeding season. When the eggs are ready to hatch the male leaves the relatively dry, rocky areas that the adult frogs inhabit and crawls into water, allowing the well developed tadpoles to hatch and swim away.

I have been in Europe for just over 6 weeks now. I haven't been able to do very much salamander photography, but I hope to correct this in the next several weeks. One of the species I would love to see is the fire salamander. This species is in decline due to the new fungus that is causing mortality in several populations. This photo is of a captive animal. If you would like to help fund a small research project that has the potential to shed light on how this emerging disease is impacting salamanders in Europe, this is a great opportunity to do so: http://www.worthwild.com/prelaunches/17

http://www.nytimes.com//importing-both-salamanders-and-the

Scientific illustration isn't something I have really tried before. But I am giving it a shot via photoshop. Now that you can use a photo to guide your hand and multiple layers to ensure that a small mistake doesn't ruin everything you have done, the prospect of producing a scientifically usable drawing is less daunting. I am sure my drawings will never compare to those of a true artist but at least I can show the patterns and characters that make discriminating between these similar species possible. And unlike writing, listening to Alice in Chains enhances the experience!

Happening soon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxsUQtfQ5Ew#t=11 Had I known there was an interspecies caecilian cotollion I wouldn't have spent all that time digging in the Congo Basin in hopes of finding one of these rarely seen but fascinating creatures!

Happy endangered species day! About a year ago, I had the pleasure of joining the Sierra Mountain Yellow-legged Frog team from the San Francisco Zoo who collaborated with numerous agencies, organizations and some fellow San Francisco University folks to reintroduce the critically endangered Sierra Nevada mountain yellow-legged frog back into the Lake Tahoe watershed. I was very excited to be able to see the fruits of all the labor that had been going on for years in preparation for this event.

Happy Mother's Day!

It has been a long time since my last post because I am fully immersed in my master's work. Today I am looking at the differences between tadpoles in the genus Xenopus in order to describe the tadpoles of several species. The process is a tedious one involving dozens of measurements, assessment of general characters at various stages of development and image preparation for the manuscript. I just took this screen shot which shows my current view. Here, I am comparing the development of Xenopus laevis to the tadpole of another member of the genus that isn't even described yet!