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Litoria Cyclorhyncha
The spotted-thighed tree frog (''Ranoidea cyclorhynchus'') is a species of tree frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae, found in Western Australia. Description The frog is similar in appearance to its cogener, ''Ranoidea moorei'', bearing dark green or brownish patches with bronze or gold highlights on its back; this species can be differentiated by the numerous yellowish spots on the underside of the rear legs. Males may be up to 65 mm, females to 85 mm. The name Copland's rock frog is sometimes mistakenly applied to this species (it is actually '' Litoria coplandi''). The feet are unwebbed and have a prominent disc at the toes. Distribution and habitat It is endemic to Southwest Australia, as one of only four in that diverse genus to be found in the region. It occurs on the southern coastal areas, favouring permanent water and granite outcrops, but can be found at its northernmost extent in agricultural dams. Recorded sightings are also at Middle Island in the Archipe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses. Life Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels (1834–1969), Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the ''National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle'' in Paris and the Natural History Museum, London, British Museum in London. Boulenger develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat Loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and Abundance (ecology), species numbers. Habitat destruction is in fact the leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinction worldwide. Humans contribute to habitat destruction through the Exploitation of natural resources, use of natural resources, agriculture, industrial production and urbanization (urban sprawl). Other activities include mining, logging and trawling. Environmental factors can contribute to habitat destruction more indirectly. Geological processes, climate change, introduced species, introduction of invasive species, ecosystem nutrient depletion, water pollution, water and noise pollution are some examples. Loss of habitat can be preceded by an initial habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibians Described In 1882
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] |
Amphibians Of Western Australia
The Amphibians of Western Australia are represented by two families of frogs. Of the 78 species found, most within the southwest, 38 are unique to the state. 15 of the 30 genera of Australian frogs occur; from arid regions and coastlines to permanent wetlands. Frog species in Western Australia have not suffered the major declines of populations and diversity of many parts of the world. No species is recorded as having become extinct, despite over 50% of recent worldwide extinctions being Australian. Three species are listed as Threatened, two as Vulnerable and '' Anstisia alba'' as Critically endangered. Threats to the species include the fungal disease Chytridiomycosis, though no infection has yet been recorded, and damage to habitat from altered land use and fire regimes. These processes have caused decline in many populations, however, some have successfully colonized newly created habitats such as dams or suburban gardens. Species such as '' Litoria moorei'' (Motorbike ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ranoidea (genus)
''Ranoidea'' is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. They are found in Australia, New Guinea, and two nearby groups of islands: the Maluku Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago. The circumscription of this taxon is still controversial. Taxonomy Species in this genus were until recently placed in the then-paraphyletic genus ''Litoria''; many of them had been placed in even larger '' Hyla'' before. However, in 2016 Duellman and colleagues split ''Litoria'' into several genera. The systematic and taxonomic conclusions based on Duellman ''et al.'' should be treated with caution, because 78.9% of individuals (397/503) used in the concatenated analyses had less than half of the gene sequences available for the 19 genes used. Missing data can be problematic in phylogenetic analyses (e.g.) and lead to erroneous conclusions about systematic relationships. Additionally, there is no mention of checking for base-composition bias amongst taxa (non-stationarity), which can also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Western Australia
University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UWA was established in 1911 by an act of the Parliament of Western Australia. UWA is the oldest university in Western Australia (WA) and the sixth-oldest in Australia. It is classed as one of the "sandstone universities", an informal designation given to the oldest university in each state. UWA is a member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, which consists of the eight most research-intensive and best-ranked Australian universities. UWA is also a member of the international Matariki Network of Universities. History The university was established in 1911 following the tabling of proposals by a royal commission in September 1910. The original campus, which received its first students in March 1913, was on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who explored parts of the peninsula in 1839–41. The coastline was first charted by the expeditions of Matthew Flinders in 1801–02 and French explorer Nicolas Baudin around the same time. Flinders also named the nearby Yorke Peninsula, Yorke's Peninsula and Spencer Gulf, Spencer's Gulph on the same voyage. The peninsula's economy is primarily agricultural, with growing aquaculture, mining, and tourism sectors. The main towns are Port Lincoln in the south, Whyalla and Port Augusta in the northeast, and Ceduna, South Australia, Ceduna in the northwest. Port Lincoln (''Galinyala'' in Barngarla language, Barngarla), Whyalla and Port Augusta (''Goordnada'') are part of the Barngarla Aboriginal country. Ceduna is wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. They do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, or (before 2001) conservation dependent. Species cannot be assigned the "Least Concern" category unless they have had their population status evaluated. That is, adequate information is needed to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution or population status. Evaluation Since 2001 the category has had the abbreviation "LC", following the IUCN 2001 Categories & Criteria (version 3.1). Before 2001 "least concern" was a subcategory of the " Lower Risk" category and assigned the code "LR/lc" or lc. Around 20% of least concern taxa (3261 of 15,636) in the IUCN database still use the code "LR/lc", which indicates they have not been re- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as Biophysical environment, environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate. The physical factors may include (for example): soil, moisture, range of temperature, and Luminous intensity, light intensity. Biotic index, Biotic factors include the availability of food and the presence or absence of Predation, predators. Every species has particular habitat requirements, habitat generalist species are able to thrive in a wide array of environmental conditions while habitat specialist species require a very limited set of factors to survive. The habitat of a species is not necessarily found in a ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree Frog
A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely related to each other. Millions of years of convergent evolution have resulted in very similar morphology even in species that are not very closely related. Furthermore, tree frogs in seasonally arid environments have adapted an extra-epidermal layer of lipid and mucus as an evolutionary convergent response to accommodate the periodic dehydration stress. Description As the name implies, these frogs are typically found in trees or other high-growing vegetation. They do not normally descend to the ground, except to mate and spawn, though some build foam nests on leaves and rarely leave the trees at all as adults, and '' Eleutherodactylus'' has evolved direct development and therefore does not need water for a tadpole stage. Tree fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archipelago Of The Recherche
The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encompassing an area of approximately . The western group is near Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and the eastern group at Israelite Bay, Western Australia, Israelite Bay. They are located in coastal waters, part of which is designated the Recherche Archipelago Nature Reserve. History Pre-European Recherche Archipelago exhibits evidence of human occupation dated to 13,000 years ago. Archeologists have found ancient artefacts on Salisbury Island (Western Australia), Salisbury Island, a massive limestone remnant sitting on a granite dome offshore, that included stone blades, lizard traps, axe heads, grinding stones and granite watering holes. The objects are believed to extend up to 13,000 years before present, from a time of lower sea le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
