The USP Amphibian Lab Podcast

This article describes a recently extinct new species of Atlantic Forest nurse frog, Dryadobates erythropus. This species description is based on a single, highly desiccated adult male collected in 1963 in Curitiba, Paraná, significantly expanding the known southern distribution of the Dryadobates clade. The authors confirm the specimen's identity through detailed morphological analysis, despite being unable to sequence endogenous DNA poor preservation. They conclude that the species is presumed

This paper investigates the taxonomy of Atlantic Forest nurse frogs using museomics, which involves analyzing ancient DNA (hDNA) from museum specimens, alongside morphological data and bioacoustics. Due to extinctions at type localities, previous studies were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to resolve their systematics, prompting the use of hDNA from museum collections to clarify relationships. The findings lead to the establishment of a new genus, Dryadobates, and the identification of 12

This paper, published in Zootaxa, describes the discovery and formal description of a new species of frog, Neblinaphryne imeri, found in the Serra do Imeri massif in the Amazonas state of Brazil. Researchers utilized a multidisciplinary approach, including molecular, morphological, acoustic, osteological, and myological data, to identify and characterize the species. They compare the new species to the only other known species in the genus, N. mayeri, highlighting the distinctive traits of N

This article employs museomics, analyzing historical DNA from museum specimens, to re-evaluate the classification of a group of tree frogs, specifically the Dendropsophus araguaya complex, aiming to resolve issues of taxonomic uncertainty. By successfully extracting and sequencing DNA from preserved individuals of D. rhea and D. tritaeniatus, the researchers determined their evolutionary relationships and taxonomic status. Their findings, supported by genetic and morphological data, indicate that D

This research paper investigates the taxonomic status of the Boana cymbalum frog, considered extinct since the 1960s, by utilizing historical DNA (hDNA) extracted from a preserved museum specimen. Through advanced sequencing techniques, the study successfully places B. cymbalum within the B. pulchella group phylogenetically, confirming its distinctiveness from closely related species like B. prasina and B. pulchella. Beyond genetics, the paper also provides detailed morphological descriptions,