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1,047 results for “Salamanders”

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dryad36/100

Data from: Lower jaw modularity in the African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis) and Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra gigliolii)

Modularity describes the degree to which the components of complex phenotypes vary semi-autonomously due to developmental, genetic, and functional correlations. This is a key feature underlying the potential for evolvability, as it can allow individual components to respond to different selective pressures semi-independently. The vertebrate lower jaw has become a model anatomical system for understanding modularity, but to date, most of this work has focused on the mandible of mammals and other amniotes. In contrast, modularity in the mandible of lissamphibians has been less well-studied. Here, we used geometric morphometrics to quantify the static (intraspecific) modularity patterns in Xenopus laevis and Salamandra salamandra gigliolii. We tested developmental and functional hypotheses of modularity and demonstrate that both species exhibit significant modularity. Functional modularity was supported in Xenopus, yet the lack of definitive support for both the developmental and functional hypotheses in Salamandra suggests influences on modularity are much more complex. Allometry has a small yet significant impact on lower jaw shape in both taxa and sex has a significant effect on shape in Xenopus. The high modularity seen in both species mimics the results of other studies on the amphibian cranium, suggesting that modularity is a ubiquitous feature of the tetrapod jaw.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Evaluation of fecal metabarcoding for studying the diets of sympatric dusky salamanders (Desmognathus)

Amphibian diet studies often rely on visual identification of prey obtained through forced regurgitation or dissection. These approaches are somewhat invasive and often lack taxonomic specificity, which can discourage diet studies involving at-risk species and limit fine-scale investigations of diet composition. Here, we employ and assess a non-invasive molecular technique to characterize the diets of three co-occurring stream-dwelling salamander species (Desmognathus ocoee, Desmognathus monticola, and Desmognathus quadramaculatus) and investigate possible dietary partitioning within and among species. We used DNA metabarcoding to classify the arthropod prey communities from fecal samples of field-collected salamanders and investigated associations with predator species and snout-vent length (SVL). Of 200 salamanders captured and held for 24 hrs, 38 (19%) produced fecal samples containing arthropod DNA. We identified 53 prey taxa, of which 27 we could classify to species, 12 to genus, 10 to family, and 4 to order. We found no evidence of dietary partitioning among species or by SVL. Individual fecal samples generally contained few taxa, and few taxa were shared among samples, suggesting that our sample size likely limited the power of our inference. Our results support the utility of fecal metabarcoding as a non-invasive and taxonomically precise alternative to traditional diet analysis techniques. However, researchers should also consider the challenges associated with fecal metabarcoding (e.g., infrequent defecation by study organisms) before using it to complement more traditional methods.

opencc-zeroAug 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Data and code from Pierson et al. "Revisiting a cryptic species complex: interspecific gene flow among woodland salamanders in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia"

ABSTRACT The complex topography of mountainous landscapes can create biogeographic barriers and promote allopatric speciation—even among morphologically cryptic species. However, these biogeographic barriers are rarely permanent, and secondary contact between previously independently evolving populations may result in hybridization and introgression. Here, we use genome-wide SNP data to reexamine a classic example of cryptic species in the Appalachian Mountains: the slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) species complex. This group of morphologically similar terrestrial salamanders includes 14 species with parapatric distributions across the eastern United States. In this study, we focused on the Chattahoochee Slimy Salamander in northern Georgia and used a series of complementary phylogenomic and population genomic analyses to evaluate spatial genetic structure within this species and demonstrate admixture with at least four other species of parapatric woodland salamanders. Our results highlight the utility of genomic data in clarifying species boundaries and underscore the difficulty of species delimitation in organisms with complex evolutionary histories.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2023View details →

dryad36/100