Golden Mantella
The golden mantella (''Mantella aurantiaca'') is a small, terrestrial frog endemic to Madagascar. It has an extremely restricted distribution in three distinct areas centered on the town of Moramanga - Beparasy and Ambohibary Communes, Torotorofotsy Wetland northwest of Andasibe, and in the area of Ambakoana. ''Mantella aurantiaca'' is one of Madagascar's most threatened amphibian species due to its limited distribution in an area under tremendous anthropogenic pressure. It may also be threatened by over-collection for the pet trade. Description The golden mantella is a uniformly yellow, orange, or red frog measuring 20–26 mm. The inner leg displays red flash marks. The tympanum is visible, but small. Brightly colored skin warns predators that the frog is poisonous. It is thought that the brilliant colors exhibited by the golden mantella are an example of aposematism, warning predators of the poisonous nature of the frog. Ecology and behaviour The golden mantella is hig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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François Mocquard
François Mocquard (27 October 1834 – 19 March 1917) was a French herpetologist born in Leffond, Haute-Saône. In 1860 he was named ''préparateur du physique'' after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree at the Faculty of Besançon. Subsequently, he earned degrees in physical sciences (1862), mathematical sciences (1865) and medicine (1873). Despite being middle-aged, he made a career change, and began studying natural sciences in the laboratory of Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835-1900) at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. In 1884 he earned his doctorate of sciences with a thesis on the structure of the stomach in crustaceans, afterwards working as an assistant in the ichthyology and herpetology department at the museum. During his career he described numerous herpetological taxa, most notably species from Madagascar, Tonkin, Borneo, Mexico and Central America. In addition, he has several species named after him, including reptiles, '' Alluaudina mocquardi'', ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allopumiliotoxin
Allopumiliotoxins are a structural division in the pumiliotoxin-A class of alkaloids. The compounds of the pumiliotoxin-A class are primarily found in the skins of frogs, toads, and other amphibians and are used as a chemical defense mechanism to ward off predators, microorganisms, and ectoparasites. The compounds were originally discovered in neotropical dendrobatid frogs, but are also found in the mantellid frogs of Madagascar, myobatrachid frogs of Australia, and bufonid toad of South America. Frogs possessing this defense mechanism have aposematic coloring.Jain, P.; Garraffo, H. M.; Spande, T. F.; Yeh, H. J. C.; Daly, J. W. J. Nat. Prod. 1995, 58, 100-104. Biological activity The poison-dart frog family Dendrobatidae has yielded many different alkaloids categorized into several different classes, almost all of which have shown high pharmacological activity on muscle and nerve cells.Aoyagi, S.; Wang, T. C.; Kibayashi, C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 11393-11409. The pumili ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Species Endangered By Urbanization
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zoological ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Species Endangered By Fires
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zoological ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Species Endangered By Logging For Timber
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zool ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Species Endangered By Subsistence Agriculture
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zoological ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Species Endangered By Habitat Fragmentation
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can reproduction, produce Fertility, fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specifi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Endemic Frogs Of Madagascar
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mantella
''Mantella'' (also known as golden frogs or Malagasy poison frogs) are a prominent genus of aposematic frogs in the family Mantellidae, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Members of ''Mantella'' are diurnal and terrestrial, with bright aposematic coloration or cryptic markings. Natural history ''Mantella'' are an example of convergent evolution—the independent evolution of a similar trait with species of a different lineage—with the Latin American family Dendrobatidae in size, appearance, and some behavioral characteristics. During the description of the first specimens from 1866 to 1872, Alfred Grandidier described both the brown mantella (''Mantella betsileo'') and Malagasy mantella (''Mantella madagascariensis'') and placed them within the genus ''Dendrobates'' based on their close resemblance. This placement was heavily debated until 1882, when George Albert Boulenger created the genus ''Mantella'' after describing both Cowan's mantella (''Mantella cowanii'') and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zonosaurus
''Zonosaurus'' is a genus of lizards in the family Gerrhosauridae. Geographic range Species in the genus ''Zonosaurus'' are found in Madagascar and Seychelles. www.reptile-database.org. Species The following 17 species are considered to be valid. *'' Zonosaurus aeneus'' ( Grandidier, 1872) – bronze girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus anelanelany'' Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2000 *'' Zonosaurus bemaraha'' Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2000 *'' Zonosaurus boettgeri'' Steindachner, 1891 – Boettger's girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus brygooi'' Lang & Böhme, 1990 – Brygoo's girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus haraldmeieri'' Brygoo & Böhme, 1985 – green zonosaur *'' Zonosaurus karsteni'' (Grandidier, 1869) – Karsten's girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus laticaudatus'' (Grandidier, 1869) – western girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus madagascariensis'' (Gray, 1831) – Madagascar girdled lizard *'' Zonosaurus maramaintso'' Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2006 *'' Zonosaurus ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thamnosophis Lateralis
''Thamnosophis lateralis'', commonly known as the lateral water snake, is a species of snake in the family Pseudoxyrhophiidae. It is endemic to Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa .... References Pseudoxyrhophiidae Snakes of Africa Reptiles of Madagascar Endemic fauna of Madagascar Reptiles described in 1854 Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron Taxa named by Auguste Duméril {{Alethinophidia-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pumiliotoxin
Pumiliotoxins (PTXs), are one of several toxins found in the skin of poison dart frogs. The frog species, P. bibronii also produces PTXs to deter predators. Closely related, though more toxic, are allopumiliotoxins, (aPTXs). Other toxins found in the skin of poison frogs include decahydroquinolines (DHQs), izidines, coccinellines, and spiropyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pumiliotoxins are very poisonous in high concentrations. Pumiliotoxins are much weaker than batrachotoxins, ranging between 100 and 1000 times less poisonous. There are three different types of this toxin: A, B and C, of which toxins A and B are more toxic than C. Pumiliotoxins interfere with muscle contraction by affecting calcium channels, causing partial paralysis, difficulty moving, hyperactivity, or death. The median lethal dose of pumiliotoxins A and B is 50 µg / mouse, 20 µg / mouse respectively, while the amount of pumiliotoxin is 200 µg / frog.http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/1053 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |