scholarly journals Discovery of the Leeward Blindsnake, Antillotyphlops geotomus (Thomas, 1966), on St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Tim van Wagensveld ◽  
Sander van Staa ◽  
Roland Butôt

The Leeward Blindsnake (Antillotyphlops geotomus) is a near threatened species according to the IUCN Red list (Powell et al., 2016), and was known only to occur on Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, and Nevis, where it is considered a native species (Thomas 1966). Here we report the discovery of A. geotomus on St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands. We obtained a DNA sequence of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene from a specimen collected on St. Eustatius in 2018 using the primers 16Sar (5’-CGCCTGTTTATCAAAAACAT-3’) and 16Sbr (5’-CCGGTCTGAACTCAGATCACGT-3’) (Palumbi 1996). The sequence was deposited in Genbank (MT256921). Blast analysis of the sequence resulted in 100% and 99.8% identity to sequences in Genbank of A. geotomus from Nevis (KF993199) and Antigua (AF366789) respectively. A 98.5% identity match was found with its nearest relative Antillotyphlops monastus (AF366708, KF993209). This species identification (A. geotomus) is consistent with the absence of pigment on the underside of the tail, a diagnostic trait of A. geotomus compared with A. monastus (Thomas 1966). The collected specimen had a total length of 125 mm, although they are known to reach lengths of up to 213 mm (Hedges et al. 2014). Furthermore, St. Eustatius is geographically in close proximity to St. Kitts & Nevis, which lie on the same shallow submarine bank only to be separated by the sea after the last ice age. Therefore, A. geotomus is likely native to St. Eustatius and not introduced. The other snake known from the island is the Red-bellied Racer (Alsophis rufiventris, native).


Check List ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio A. Lemos-Espinal ◽  
Geoffrey R. Smith

We compiled a checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. The herpetofauna of Hidalgo consists of a total of 175 species: 54 amphibians (14 salamanders and 40 anurans); and 121 reptiles (one crocodile, five turtles, 36 lizards, 79 snakes). These taxa represent 32 families (12 amphibian families, 20 reptile families) and 87 genera (24 amphibian genera, 63 reptile genera). Two of these species are non-native species (Hemidactylus frenatus Duméril and Bibron, 1836 and Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803)). This herpetofauna represents a mixture of species from both the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Transvolcanic Belt. In addition, 26% of all categorized amphibian and reptile species in Hidalgo are considered Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Thus, Hidalgo represents a relatively unique and threatened diversity of amphibians and reptiles.



2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Martin W. Callmander ◽  
Peter B. Phillipson

The genus Vitex L. (Lamiaceae, Viticoideae) comprises 45 native species in Madagascar, all but one of which are endemic to the country. Several new species are still to be described, and we propose here three new species from the littoral forests: V. mcphersonii Callm. & Phillipson, V. rabenantoandroi Callm. & Phillipson, and V. zigzag Callm. & Phillipson. These three distinctive new species grow in the threatened littoral forests of the east coast of Madagascar. The risk of extinction to these species was assessed following the IUCN Red List Criteria, revealing that V. mcphersonii should be assessed as “Vulnerable,” V. rabenantoandroi as “Near Threatened,” and V. zigzag as “Critically Endangered.” Each new species is provided with a discussion of its morphological affinities and a line drawing.



Check List ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Koparde ◽  
Manchi Shirish S.

Species records are important for assessing the distribution and status of species over a spatiotemporal scale. Andaman archipelago, off Southeast Asia, is a high avian endemism area, covering an area of >5000 km2. We conducted this survey in 2011 to make an inventory of avifauna of Chalis Ek area. A total of 73 species, belonging to 61 genera and 34 families were recorded, of which 60 were resident, 11 were winter migrants, one vagrant, and a single species introduced from mainland India. Three species were found to be new records, expanding distribution. Thirteen were endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands and eleven were listed as near threatened in the IUCN Red List. This study shows that sites such as Chalis Ek, even though subject to moderate anthropogenic disturbance, still hosts a large and distinctive avifauna and should be protected.



2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Bachman ◽  
Barnaby Walker ◽  
Sara Barrios ◽  
Alison Copeland ◽  
Justin Moat

The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM (hereafter the Red List) is an important global resource for conservation that supports conservation planning, safeguarding critical habitat and monitoring biodiversity change (Rodrigues et al. 2006). However, a major shortcoming of the Red List is that most of the world's described species have not yet been assessed and published on the Red List (Bachman et al. 2019Eisenhauer et al. 2019). Conservation efforts can be better supported if the Red List is expanded to achieve greater coverage of mega-diverse groups of organisms such as plants, fungi and invertebrates. There is, therefore, an urgent need to speed up the Red List assessment and documentation workflow. One reason for this lack of species coverage is that a manual and relatively time-consuming procedure is usually employed to assess and document species. A recent update of Red List documentation standards (IUCN 2013) reduced the data requirements for publishing non-threatened or 'Least Concern' species on the Red List. The majority of the required fields for Least Concern plant species can be found in existing open-access data sources or can be easily calculated. There is an opportunity to consolidate these data and analyses into a simple application to fast-track the publication of Least Concern assessments for plants. There could be as many as 250,000 species of plants (60%) likely to be categorised as Least Concern (Bachman et al. 2019), for which automatically generated assessments could considerably reduce the outlay of time and valuable resources for Red Listing, allowing attention and resources to be dedicated to the assessment of those species most likely to be threatened. We present a web application, Rapid Least Concern, that addresses the challenge of accelerating the generation and documentation of Least Concern Red List assessments. Rapid Least Concern utilises open-source datasets, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Plants of the World Online (POWO) through a simple web interface. Initially, the application is intended for use on plants, but it could be extended to other groups, depending on the availability of equivalent datasets for these groups. Rapid Least Concern users can assess a single species or upload a list of species that are assessed in a batch operation. The batch operation can either utilise georeferenced occurrence data from GBIF or occurrence data provided by the user. The output includes a series of CSV files and a point map file that meet the minimum data requirements for a Least Concern Red List assessment (IUCN 2013). The CSV files are compliant with the IUCN Red List SIS Connect system that transfers the data files to the IUCN database and, pending quality control checks and review, publication on the Red List. We outline the knowledge gap this application aims to fill and describe how the application works. We demonstrate a use-case for Rapid Least Concern as part of an ongoing initiative to complete a global Red List assessment of all native species for the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Bermuda.



PhytoKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Yi Tong ◽  
Yunfei Deng

A new species of Justicia (Acanthaceae), J.thailandica, is described and illustrated from Thailand. The new species belongs to Justiciasect.Harnieria and is similar to J.quadrifaria and J.championii, but differs on account of the obviously densely white indumentum in the inflorescence bracts and calyx, ovate leaf blades with margin usually entire, spathulate inflorescence bracts and length ratio of calyx to mature capsule. It is assessed to be “Near threatened” (NE) according to IUCN Red List Category and Criteria. Pollen and seed morphology characters are also reported. Species of Justiciasect.Harnieria in Thailand are discussed and a key to the three recognized species is presented.



2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Andri Maulidi ◽  
Muhammad Rizki ◽  
Yohanes Edy Gunawan ◽  
Rabiatul Adawiyah ◽  
Yosua Yosua ◽  
...  

Informasi tentang herpetofauna di Punggualas, Taman Nasional Sebangau telah dilakukan pada tahun 2015. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menginventarisasi jenis-jenis herpetofauna setelah empat tahun dari data terakhir di Punggualas, Taman Nasional Sebangau. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Visual Encountered Survey (VES) selama empat hari di sepanjang transek Kahiu dan Metarius. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat 11 spesies yang terinventarisasi yang terdiri dari delapan spesies reptile (7 famili) dan tiga spesies amfibi (3 famili). Temuan ini lebih sedikit dibandingkan literatur pada tahun 2015 yaitu sebanyak 33 spesies yang terdiri dari 17 spesies reptile (13 famili) dan 16 spesies amfibi (4 famili). Hal ini dikarenakan perbedaan luas daerah pengamatan, lama pengamatan, metode, jumlah orang pengamat, dan tingkat keahlian pengamat. Lima spesies ditemukan pada penelitian ini yang belum ditemukan pada tahun 2015 yaitu Homalopsis buccata, Ahaetulla prasina, Cyrtodactylus sp., Siebenrockiella crassicollis, dan Notochelys platynota. Terkait dengan status, 28 spesies herpetofauna berstatus Least Concern, tiga spesies berstatus Vulnerable, dan satu spesies berstatus Near Threatened. Enam spesies lainnya belum memiliki status konservasi di IUCN Red List. Perlu dilakukan penelitian berikutnya tentang jumlah populasi dan pengamatan pada daerah yang lebih luas.     



Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4462 (3) ◽  
pp. 349
Author(s):  
ALAN CHANNING ◽  
FRANK WILLEMS

We describe a new species of Ptychadena from Mutinondo Wilderness in northern Zambia. It has rupicolous tadpoles that develop in a film of water. The species is distinguished on morphology, advertisement call and DNA sequences from other grass frogs and was found to be most closely related to P. broadleyi. It has no contrasting longitudinal bands on the posterior thigh, the foot is longer than half SVL, it has no light triangle on the snout, three phalanges of the fourth toe free of web and the snout has no skin folds. The species should be considered Near Threatened in terms of the IUCN Red List criteria given its limited extent of occurrence and population size. 



Oryx ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien T. Kent ◽  
Russell A. Hill

AbstractThe conservation of wide-ranging, territorial carnivores presents many challenges, not least the inadequacy of many protected areas in providing sufficient space to allow such species to maintain viable populations. As a result populations occurring outside protected areas may be of considerable importance for the conservation of some species, although the significance of these areas is poorly understood. Brown hyaenas Parahyaena brunnea are categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List and recent research suggests the species may be particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and the conversion of land to agriculture. Here we report on the population density and abundance of brown hyaenas in an area of commercial farmland in western Botswana. Mean brown hyaena density estimated from camera-trap surveys was 2.3 per 100 km2 and from spoor surveys 2.88 per 100 km2, which are comparable to estimates reported for protected areas. Estimated densities were higher on farms used for livestock production than on those used for game farming, suggesting that the species can tolerate land-use change where reliable alternative food resources exist. Our results indicate that populations of brown hyaenas in non-protected areas comprise a significant proportion of the global population and that such areas may be of critical importance for their conservation.



Oryx ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Miller ◽  
Holly A. Porter Morgan

AbstractThreat analyses of the Boraginales were conducted and used to assess the effectiveness of Madagascar’s current and proposed protected area systems in conserving the threatened species of a group of plants widespread in Madagascar. Specimen locality data for 52 species of four families of Boraginales were analysed to provisionally assign species to IUCN Red List categories. Six species were excluded from these global analyses as they are non-native and introduced. IUCN’s criterion B, analysis of geographical range, was found to be the most reliable means of estimating threat, and predicted future decline was found to overestimate threat. Twenty-six of the 46 native species of Boraginales were found to be threatened. Sixty-five percent of these have portions of their ranges in the 2002 protected areas system. When the protected areas system was expanded in 2006 the percentage of species with some protected populations increased to 78%. More than 93% would be protected if a series of proposed priority areas for plant conservation were protected. The implications of these analyses for the conservation of plant species in Madagascar are discussed.



Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 289 (3) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTI A. NIISSALO ◽  
GILLIAN S. KHEW ◽  
EDWARD L. WEBB ◽  
JANA LEONG-ŠKORNIČKOVÁ

An illustrated revision of Marantaceae in Singapore with an identification key and proposed national IUCN Red List assessments is presented here. In total three genera and four species are considered native to Singapore (Donax canniformis, Phrynium hirtum, Stachyphrynium parvum, and Stachyphrynium latifolium) representing 33 % of diversity currently known to occur in Peninsular Malaysia. Although the genus Phrynium Willdenow (1797: 1) was previously reported for Singapore based on the presence of P. villosulum, we show that this species is, contrary to previous accounts, not native but introduced. Newly reported Phrynium hirtum therefore represents a new native generic record for the country. We are changing the status of Schumannianthus benthamianus, previously considered native, to cultivated, as there are no historic or recent collections of this species. Non-native species commonly employed in Singapore streetscapes and parks are also briefly discussed and illustrated in this paper. Actoplanes ridleyi, Donax grandis, Donax parviflora, Maranta tonchat, Phrynium latifolium and Phrynium sumatranum are lectotypified and Maranta arundinacea Blanco (non L.) is neotypified.



Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document