Physiology, environmental change, and anuran conservation. This paper reviews diverse ways in which the emerging discipline of conservation physiology may contribute to the conservation of anuran amphibians. We first present a summary of the goals of conservation physiology. Then, we review five specific sources of environmental change that are known to affect anurans: introduced pathogens (hig...

We determined the diet of the two most abundant anuran species which occur in the litter of a semideciduous forest (Lençóis, Bahia, Brazil), Physalaemus cf. cicada and Bufo granulosus in the dry and rainy seasons. Pitfall traps were used to collect anuran and invertebrate fauna, which showed the availability of prey in the environment. Physalaemus cf. cicada was present in both seasons and Bufo...

Up to the present, a considerable number of studies have been published on the role of the thyroid hormone in anuran development. The nature of this relationship, however, can not yet be stated to have been elucidated to satisfactory extent. Gordon, Goldsmith and Charipper (1943) reported that anuran metamorphosis was inhibited by thiourea treatment, and experiments on the same line have been p...

We report myiasis by Lucilia silvarum with an overall prevalence of 0.9% in amphibian populations in boreal Alberta. In the period 1998--1999, we documented L. silvarum infestations in wild populations of wood frog (Rana sylvatica), boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata), boreal toad (Bufo boreas boreas), and Canadian toad (B. hemiophrys). We believe this is the first record of this parasite ...

Anuran amphibians undergo a rapid and dramatic process of metamorphosis featuring widespread structural reorganization of the central nervous system. Although morphological changes during embryonic stages of anuran development have been well documented, much less information is available describing structural changes in the brain during larval (tadpole) stages. Using still images from cresyl-vi...

little is known about the reptiles and amphibians of Kinmen island, taiwan. until recently, Kinmen had been off-limits to outsiders. it wasn’t until the mid 1990’s that civilian travel was allowed to and from the island. We surveyed 8 sites from 19 May through 18 July 2005, using 15 m drift fences with collapsible funnel traps on the ends. We documented encounters with animals outside the traps...

The paper presents a biologically-inspired multi-level neural-schema architecture for prey catching and predator avoidance in single and multiple autonomous robotic systems. The architecture is inspired on anuran (frogs and toads) neuroethological studies and wolf pack group behaviors. The single robot architecture exploits visuomotor coordination models developed to explain anuran behavior in ...

To navigate in space most vertebrates need precise positional cues provided by a variety of sensors, including structures in the inner ear, which are exquisitely sensitive to gravity and linear acceleration. Although these structures have been described in many vertebrates, no information is available for anuran larvae. The purpose of our study was to describe, for the first time, the size, com...

Megalodiscus temperatus (Stafford, 1905) is a common paramphistome trematode of North American amphibians with a two host life cycle and has been reported to infect frogs and rarely tadpoles. In this study we document the alternative life cycle strategy of M. temperatus in tadpoles and metamorphosed anurans. We show through field work and experimental infections that M. temperatus can establish...

Locomotory speed correlates with muscle mass (determining force and stride rate), limb length (stride rate and distance), and laterally compressed body trunk (force and stride distance). To delineate generalization of the locomotory-morphometric relationships specifically in anuran amphibians, we investigated take-off speed and the three morphological variables from seven species, Rana nigromac...