Rediscovered Australian Frog

An Australian frog thought extinct for 30 years has been rediscovered. (News source.)

Breeding Behavior

Interesting information on all-female species of whiptail lizard.

And, a certain Peruvian frog is the first known monogamous amphibian.

Coquis and Hawaiian Farmers

The presence of coquis is troubling farmers who fear they may be quarantined. (News source.)

Just in Time for Valentine's Day

Love Songs of African Clawed Frogs (NPR)

Frog News

Some video and notes on how Tungara frogs whip up their frothy nests, here.

A PNG frog undergoes a significant ontogenetic color change. (News source.)

An endangered frog's eggs are being frozen for conservation purposes. (News source.)

Frog vs Shrew

Interesting column here.

Frog Eats Snake

A large frog (treefrog?) in Queensland was photographed dining on a snake.

Frog Poisoning by Shamans

Two Chilean shamans are being sought by police after they used extracted poison from a dart frog in a traditional healing ceremony that went wrong. (News source.)

Frog Embryos and Snakes

Embryos of a red-eyed tree frog can detect the motion of snakes, and hatch early accordingly. (News source.)

Frogs Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

The CDC is saying that a recent salmonella outbreak is connected to aquatic frogs, though I don't see anything specifically tying them all together. (News source.)

Peruvian Frogs

Some interesting new frogs from high in the Andes, here.

Frog Farming Controversy

Intensive frog farming may not be feasible, but is it worth it? The debate continues. Details here.

Smuggler Busted

If he had had the proper documentation, he could have brought them across the US/Canada border legally, but he didn't want to wait the "several months," and got busted carrying four pit vipers and six tree frogs into Canada. The fine was $1000. (News source.)

Some Frog News

The first protein-based toxin in an amphibian has been discovered, in a treefrog. Most amphibian toxins are obtained from other sources like prey. (News source.)

An interesting photo gallery of treefrogs from Vietnam, here.

Mountain chicken frog tadpoles have some very strange cannibalistic behavior. (News source.)

A new Costa Rica treefrog shows distinctive coloration differences between adults and juveniles, and between genders. (News source.)

Spadefoots

The Great Basin spadefoot is profiled here.

Disease Leads to Behavioral Changes

Ranavirus in UK frogs may be leading to mating choice changes in the amphibians there. (Eurekalert.)

Invasive News

Cuban tree frog expansion in Florida may be nearing its limits as they reach colder climates. (News source.)

The governor of Florida has approved python-hunting in the Everglades. (News source.)

Prisoners Raise Endangered Frogs

A few prisoners in Washington State are helping to raise endangered Oregon spotted frogs, and are doing a pretty good job at it. (News source.)

Frog Farm Failure

A Chinese farmer trying to raise American frogs (I assume bullfrogs) lost 270,000 of them, and blames noise from a nearby construction site. (News source.)

Rip Van Frog

Researchers are investigating how some burrowing frogs can sleep in mud for months or years. (News source.)

Amphibian News

Frog deformations may be the result of dragonfly nymphs, according to some researchers. (News source.)

A pic here of a recently discovered transparent frog in Ecuador.

A fish-surfing frog photographed in the UK, here.

Axolotls are being studied for limb regeneration research. (News source.)

Utah: Frog Conservation

Utah wildlife officials are creating new marsh areas for the rare Columbia spotted frog. (News source.)

Elephant Dung as Microhabitat

Three species of frogs in Sri Lanka have been reported taking advantage of elephant dung as a temporary home. (News source.)

Poachers

India officials are cracking down on frog poaching. (News source.)

An Indian national was arrested for smuggling turtles and fish. (News source.)

Dart Frogs: Another Toxin

"New research documents a surprising chemical weapon used by some Amazonian poison frogs. The study identified for the first time a family of poisons never before known to exist in these brightly colored creatures or elsewhere in Nature, the N-methyldecahydroquinolines. The authors then speculated on its origin in the frogs’ diet, most likely ants. The report is scheduled for the June 26 issue of ACS’ Journal of Natural Products." (News source.)

New Species

New species described in Zootaxa:

A casque-headed tree frog from Brazil
Two shrub frogs from Sri Lanka
Rediscovery of a toad in Bolivia/Peru
A gecko from the Nicobar Archipelago
A bent-toed gecko from Indonesia
An Atheris viper from Mozambique

Killer Frog

A noisy garden frog (and neighbors who keep the pond for it) is blamed by an elderly Australian woman for the death of her husband. (News source.)

Budget Cuts Mean Coqui Wins

The invasive coqui frogs in Hawaii have won for now -- economic tightening means there's no budget for fighting them. (News source.)

Frog Vet

An Australian vet took on a frog that had been hit by a lawnmower, successfully. (News source.)

Herp Researchers

Biologists are mounting cameras on Galapagos tortoises to view their behavior. (News source.)

Biologists are studying the "jumping frogs of Calaveras County" to see why the leap so far. (News source.)

New Frogs from Madagascar

Details here on almost 200 new frogs identified from Madagascar.

Weird Frog

An Indian man found a frog that changes color from white to yellow. (News source.)

Christmas Product Idea

Christmas tree frogs.

Amphibian News

An environmental group thought they were helping salamanders that migrated across a Massachusetts road, by removing a long tube laid next to a new road. Turns out it was stopping silt from running into an important vernal pond. Actually, sounds like the group doesn't know that much about salamanders if they think a small tube is going to prevent them from moving across a road... The town wants the environmental group to pay for repairs. (News source.)

And, a profile here on a Maryland herpetoculturist who specializes in dart frogs.

Immunity for Frogs?

"Recent preliminary evidence, described in the April issue of BioScience, suggests also that individual amphibians can sometimes develop resistance to chytridiomycosis, which is caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd)." (Eurekalert.)

Frogs

New Zealand researchers have found some Maud Island Frog living into their 30's. (News source.)

You can create frog ponds to help declining amphibian populations.

Frog and Toad News

Half of the zoo population of Archey's frogs at Auckland Zoo have died, apparently due to husbandry difficulties. (News source.)

Research shows that European tree frog females prefer a male with a reddish vocal sac. (News source.)

An oversized cane toad found in Australia was discovered to have eaten several whole crabs and molluscs. (News source.)

Herps and Culture

Bolivian hunters target a species of tree lizard for tradional medicine. (News source.)

Frogs are an important traditional food source in Madagascar. (News source.)

Frogs and E. Coli

Frogs are being blamed for an E. coli outbreak in the drinking water supply for one Australian town. (News source.)

Tiny Andean Frog

Noble's pygmy frog, discovered in the Andes, can sit on a dime with ease. (News source.)

Amphibian Decline

NatGeo has an article on amphibian loss.

Japan: Ranavirus

Ranavirus has been discovered in Japan after a massive frog die-off. (News source.)

Frog Researcher

A New Zealand researcher is studying the tiny Hochstetter’s frog. (News source.)

Dart Frogs

A profile here on a dart frog breeder/conservationist.

Herp Farming

A Belarus scientist suggests the country should start breeding edible frogs to help out economically. (News source.)

Gypsies in Karachi, India, breed leopard geckos -- but claim the species is venomous (they've been "trained" for generations to handle them safely) and that they sell them to venom extraction companies. Obviously, that is bunk -- not sure if they're selling them to pet exporters, though. Technically, that would be illegal under India's wildlife laws, from what I've seen... (News source.)

Frog Hunting

A British Columbia man is trying (apparently successfully) to eradicate the invasive bullfrog from that region, despite claims by others that it is too expensive to work. (News source.)

India: New Frogs

12 new frogs will be described soon from India. (News source.)

Columbia: New Herps

Ten new amphibians have been discovered in Columbia. Nat Geo has pics of several.

Australian Field Guide

Australian reptiles and frogs are the subject of a new Cronin's Key Guide. (News source.)

Married to Frogs

Two minor girls in India were given ceremonial marriages to frogs in a village ritual for warding off spirits and diseases. (News source.)

Frog Hunting to Protect Crop

South Carolina crayfish farmers have to hunt frogs to keep the predators from ruining the crop. (News source.)

Invasion News

Goannas in Kakadu have been decimated by the cane toad. (News source.)

Some people (very few people) in Hawaii want to protect the invasive coqui. (News source.)

Grow-a-Frog Problems

Montana is asking the 65 state customers of a mail-order Xenopus company to euthanize or return the frogs, as they are illegal there. (News source.)

New (Strange) Frog

A newly described Cambodian bush frog has green blood and turquoise bones. Biliverdin (metabolic waste usually processed in the liver) passes into the bloodstream, which may help with camouflage (the skin being translucent) and also might make the frog unpalatable to predators. (News source.)

Yellow-Legged Frog Study

The impact of climate on Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs is the subject of a recent research paper.

Herp Smuggler Sentenced

A 29-year old South African man was sentenced to a year in jail in Madagascar for trying to smuggle out hundreds of small reptiles and amphibians in his coat and luggage. (News source.)

Fiji Frogs Rediscovered

An endangered species of ground frog from Fiji has been rediscovered, after it was thought there were no surviving populations on Viti Levu. (News source.)

Frogs vs Tourism

A couple of conservation groups have forced the DFG not to stock trout in a number of California waterways due to not having filed environmental impact reports on the red-legged frog. Fishing tourism has a high likelihood of being impacted. (News source.)

Pro-Coqui

A commentary here pro-Coqui in the Hawaiian frog wars.

Frog Fest

The Rayne Frog Festival (Louisiana) is currently underway. (News source.)

Embryo Behavior

Red-eyed treefrog embryos rotate inside their eggs to get more oxygen. (New source.)

Coquis on Kailua

The small invasive frog has now been found on Kailua in Hawaii. (News source.)

New Herps

A few new species from the last month at Zootaxa:

Two new Cyrtodactylus geckos from Vietnam.
A new frog (Oreobates) from the Andes of Argentina.
A new lizard (Arthrosaura) from from Brazil/Guyana.
A new frog (Nyctibatrachus) from India.

Glassfrogs Described

Seven new glassfrogs have been described from Ecuador. (News source.)

Amphibian Diversity Fights Parasites

Parasite load in American toads dropped when they raised in the same tank as gray tree frogs. Gray tree frogs could fight off infestations better than toads. Not sure why the researcher is saying the two amphibians are competitors -- they obviously are in different niches, unless they're referring to the tadpole stage. (News source.)

Yumm...

A UK pizza place is experimenting with frog leg toppings. (News source.)

Herp Conservation News

Weather conditions this year were beneficial for the successful breeding of the endangered Mississippi gopher frog. (News source.)

Thailand wildlife officers seized 200 monitor lizards being smuggled out to the illegal food markets. (News source.)

North Carolina bought 40 acres to preserve as bog turtle habitat. (News source.)

Frogs vs Trout

USFWS is trying to eradicate nonnative trout from seven lakes near Lake Tahoe in order to save the mountain yellow-legged frog. They think it'll take about 10 years. (News source.)

New Herps from Zootaxa, September 2008

The papers aren't accessible (subscription required), but you can view the pdf abstracts.

1) A new frog, Adelophryne patamona, is described from Guyana.
2) A new skink, Oligosoma pikitanga, is described from New Zealand.
3) A new lizard, Bachia oxyrhina, is described from Brazil.
4) A new gecko, Cnemaspis biocellata, is described from Thailand/Malaysia.
5) A new lizard, Scriptosaura catimbau, is described from Brazil.
6) A new lizard, Leptodactylus cupreus, is described from Brazil.

Also, chromosomal analysis of some frogs (Pristimantis spp.) from Brazil suggests an undescribed species. And, there's a paper on foam-generating tadpoles.

Tadpoles vs Insecticide

A common insecticide, malathion, can decimate populations of slow-maturing tadpoles by wiping out links in their food chain. (News source.)

Frog Rediscovered

A Honduran frog, the Mile's robber frog, was thought extinct for more than twenty years, but rediscovered last year in Cusuco National Park. (News source.)

Frog News

California is expanding designated habitat for the rare red-legged frog, creating issues with landowners and ranchers who point out that it could create conservation problems. (News source.)

Rough grass in golf courses might actually help northern cricket frogs: an Ohio study is setting out to investigate that claim. (News source.)

Frog Farming in Vietnam

A profile here on a frog farmer in Vietnam.

Growafrog Fined by Nevada

Nevada fined the company GrowaFrog for shipping African clawed frogs into the state. (News source.) [Frankly, it should be the purchaser's responsibility to determine the legality of this sort of transaction.]

Armoured Mistfrog Rediscovered

The small armoured mistfrog, though extinct since 1991 after the chytrid fungus swept through northern Queensland, has been rediscovered. (News source.)

Bullfrog Invaders

Vancouver Island continues to have bullfrog problems... (News source.)

Rare Frog Video

Video here of the red-eyed stream frog in Costa Rica. (News source.)

Frog Hunt in Costa Rica

BBC has a "frog blog" as researchers look for frogs in the rainforest of Costa Rica.

Frog News

There's hope for frogs in Costa Rica, with rediscovered species and apparent resistance in some species to the chytrid fungus. (News source.)

A 6-year old Oregon boy had to stop selling his spotted frogs... (News source.)

Australian News

Some snakes seem to have an immunity to the cane toad's poison... (News source.)

An Australian man is mapping the chytrid fungus in that country. (News source.)

Froggin' in Missouri

An outdoors column on frogging on the Big Piney River here.

Frog Legs Recipe

Frog Leg Sauce Piquante

Conservation News

Soft-shelled turtles are making a comeback in the Thames River, Ontario, Canada. (News source.)

An introduced population of pool frogs in Norfolk, UK, have been given special protection. (News source.)

Frog Reintroduction Difficulties

Attempts to reintroduce the northern leopard frog into decreasing populations in Alberta have met with problems. Explanations for the general decline are vague, but attempts to bring more frogs in, continue. (News source.)

Nevada Clawed Frog Bust

119 illegal clawed frogs were seized in Nevada. (News source.)

Frog Calls of Nebraska

Audio CD-Rom available here.

Frog Jumping

Photos here from a Connecticut frog jumping contest.

Frog & Toad News

An orange-morph garden frog was found in the UK. (News source.)

Researchers are using a "robo-frog" to test mating call variations. (News source.)

Fewer than 1% of all cane toad hatchlings survive to adulthood in Australia, but that small number is still a threat, increasing the population. (News source.)

Baking Soda for Frogs?

A Hawaii man says that baking soda will kill the invasive coqui, but that the manager of the official frog control program won't listen to him. (News source.)

Frog News

Dead frogs were the clue to busting a cigarette smuggler in Malaysia... (News source.)

And, an article on female frog's picking out their mates call here.

Coqui Eradication Working

A coqui infested site Kaua‘i has been successful in eliminating most of the invasive frogs. (News source.)

Frogs on the Menu

A Malaysian newspaper reviews the uses of frogs for dining and other cultural resources.

New Frog

The Southern Sandhill Frog is a new species in Australia, distinguished from the Northern species. (News source.)

Amphibian News

Researchers are investigating how toads use their muscles to quickly snatch insects with their tongue. (News source.)

More tests show that probiotic bacteria may help frogs fight skin diseases. (News source.)

Alberta Leopard Frogs

Reintroduction of leopard frog eggs to certain parts of Alberta, is undertaken in hopes of shoring up the declining populations. (News source.)

Clawed Frog

"'Amphibian horror' isn't a movie genre, but on this evidence perhaps it should be. Harvard biologists have described a bizarre, hairy frog with cat-like extendable claws.
"Trichobatrachus robustus actively breaks its own bones to produce claws that puncture their way out of the frog's toe pads, probably when it is threatened."

Details at New Scientist.

Frogs Shake Chinese

Another frog/toad "march" is upsetting thousands of Chinese who think it may be a warning that another earthquake is coming. (News source.)

Reproductive Plasticity

Here is a study on a neotropical treefrog that can lay its eggs in water or on land...

Albino Frogs (Almost)

Albino tadpoles have been reported from a pond in Wales. (News source.)

Pig-Frog Leg Alert

Don't eat pig-frog legs from the Everglades region, the state says, due to elevated mercury levels. (News source.)