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Eleutherodactylus Tetajulia
''Eleutherodactylus tetajulia'' is a species of frog in the family Eleutherodactylidae. It is endemic to southeastern Cuba and is known from the Sierra de Cristal, Monte Iberia, Tetas de Julia, and Meseta del Toldo in the Holguín and Guantánamo Provinces. The specific name ''tetajulia'' refers to Las Tetas de Julia (=the breasts of Julia), a pair of prominent peaks on Monte Iberia, near the type locality of this species. Description Three adult males in the type series measure and two adult females in snout–vent length. The head is as wide as the body, The snout is subacuminate. The tympanum is round and dorsally concealed by the supra-tympanic fold. The fingers and the toes have weak lateral ridges. Skin is dorsally weakly rugose and ventrally smooth. The dorsal ground color is coppery brown. There is a dark brown middorsal hour glass-shaped marking, narrow, black interocular bar, dark brown horseshoe-shaped sacral marking, and black supra-tympanic and groin bars. The ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Blair Hedges
file:Stephen Hedges.jpg, Blair Hedges Stephen Blair Hedges (known as S. Blair Hedges) is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Science and director of the Center for Biodiversity at Temple University where he researches the Tree of life (biology), tree of life and leads conservation efforts in Haiti and elsewhere. He co-founded Haiti National Trust. Career Hedges has a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree from George Mason University, and a Master's degree, Masters and PhD in Zoology from the University of Maryland, supervised by Richard Highton. Before he joined Temple University in 2014, he was a professor at Penn State. He is also a founding member of the NASA Astrobiology Center. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed works including 10 books and monographs. He was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009 for "revealing connections between biological evolution and Earth history in diverse groups of organisms", and was awarded the 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Selection In Amphibians
Sexual selection in amphibians involves sexual selection processes in amphibians, including frogs, salamanders and newts. Prolonged breeders, the majority of frog species, have breeding seasons at regular intervals where male-male competition occurs with males arriving at the waters edge first in large number and producing a wide range of vocalizations, with variations in depth of calls the speed of calls and other complex behaviours to attract mates. The fitness (biology), fittest males will have the deepest croaks and the best territories, with females making their mate choices at least partly based on the males depth of croaking. This has led to sexual dimorphism, with females being larger than males in 90% of species, males in 10% and males fighting for groups of females. There is a direct competition between males to win the attention of the females in salamanders and newts, with elaborate courtship displays to keep the females attention long enough to get her interested in c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibians Described In 1996
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane, such as modern reptiles, birds and mammals). All extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass Lissamphibia, with three living orders: Anura (frogs and toads), Urodela (salamanders), and Gymnophiona (caecilians). Evolved to be mostly semiaquatic, amphibians have adapted to inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living in freshwater, wetland or terrestrial ecosystems (such as riparian woodland, fossorial and even arboreal habitats). Their life cycle typically starts out as aquatic larvae with gills known as tadpoles, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. Young amphibians generally undergo metamorphosis from an aquatic larval form with gills to an air-breathing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of Cuba
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleutherodactylus
''Eleutherodactylus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Eleutherodactylidae.Hedges, S. B., W. E. Duellman, and M. P. Heinicke . 2008. New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and conservation. Zootaxa 1737: 1-182. Many of the 200 species of the genus are commonly known as "rain frogs" or "robber frogs", due to their sharp, high-pitched, insect-like calls. They are found from the southern United States south to Central America, and reach their greatest diversity in the Caribbean. Species endemic to Puerto Rico are often referred to as coquís, of which the best-known species is the common coquí (''E. coqui''), which is both a national symbol of Puerto Rico and a notorious invasive species in Hawaii. Two ''Eleutherodactylus'' species, '' E. limbatus'' and '' E. iberia'', are among the smallest known frogs, measuring only 8.5 mm in length (only slightly larger than ''Paedophryne amauensis'', which measures arou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alejandro De Humboldt National Park
Alejandro de Humboldt National Park () is a national park in the Cuban provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo. It is named after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt who visited the island in 1800 and 1801. The park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 for its size, altitude range, complex lithology, landform diversity, and wealth of endemic flora and fauna. Geography The rivers that flow off the peaks of the park are some of the largest in the insular Caribbean. The park is said to be the most humid place in Cuba and this causes a high biological diversity. The park has an area of , of which land area and marine area. Elevation ranges from sea level to on ''El Toldo'' Peak. The region around Alejandro de Humboldt National Park is geologically complex, containing karst landscapes that originated from oceanic crust in the Cretaceous period. Unique to this region, the landscape is ultrabasic, dominated by serpentine soils and peridotites. Wildli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree Fern
Tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk (botany), trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ferns), Dicksoniaceae, Metaxyaceae, and Cibotiaceae. It is estimated that Cyatheales originated in the early Jurassic, and is the third group of ferns known to have given rise to tree-like forms. The others are the extinct ''Tempskya'' of uncertain position, and Osmundales where the extinct Guaireaceae and some members of Osmundaceae also grew into trees. In addition there were the Psaroniaceae including ''Tietea'' in the Marattiaceae, Marattiales, which is the sister group to all the leptosporangiate ferns. Other ferns which are also tree ferns, are ''Leptopteris'' and ''Todea'' in the family Osmundaceae, which can achieve short trunks under a metre tall. Osmunda regalis is sometimes considered a tree fern. Fern species with s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Above Sea Level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level varies in different countries due to different reference points and historic measurement periods. Climate change and other forces can cause sea levels and elevations to vary over time. Uses Elevation or altitude above sea level is a standard measurement for: * Geographic locations such as towns, mountains and other landmarks. * The top of buildings and other structures. * Mining infrastructure, particularly underground. * Flying objects such as airplanes or helicopters below a Transition Altitude defined by local regulations. Units and abbreviations Elevation or altitude is generally expressed as "metres above mean sea level" in the metric system, or " feet above mean sea level" in United States customary and imperial units. Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesic Habitat
In ecology, a mesic habitat is a type of habitat with a well-balanced or moderate supply of moisture throughout the growing season (e.g., a mesic forest, temperate hardwood forest, or dry-mesic prairie). The term derives from the Greek ''mesos'', meaning middle, indicating its relative moisture content between hydric (moist) and xeric (dry) habitats. The word "mesic" can apply to the plants or soils within the mesic habitat (i.e. mesic plants, mesic soils). Mesic habitats provide a moderate moisture content that remains relatively constant during crucial growing periods. A variety of outside factors contribute to the presence of water in the system, including streams and their offshoots, wet meadows, springs, seeps, irrigated fields, and high-elevation habitats. These factors effectively provide drought insurance during the growing season against climatic factors such as increasing temperatures, lack of rain, and the effects of urbanization. Other habitat types, such as m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tympanum (anatomy)
The tympanum is an external hearing structure in animals such as mammals, birds, some reptiles, some amphibians and some insects. Using sound, vertebrates and many insects are capable of sensing their prey, identifying and locating their predators, warning other individuals, and locating potential mates and rivals by hearing the intentional or unintentional sounds they make. In general, any animal that reacts to sounds or communicates by means of sound, needs to have an auditory mechanism. This typically consists of a membrane capable of vibration known as the tympanum, an air-filled chamber and sensory organs to detect the auditory stimuli. Insects Amphibia Anura In frogs and toads, the tympanum is a large external oval shape membrane made up of nonglandular skin. It is located just behind the eye. It does not process sound waves; it simply transmits them to the inner parts of the amphibian's ear, which is protected from the entry of water and other foreign objects. A fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250Myr, million years ago), but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their divergent evolution, divergence from other amphibians may exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
