Author: Richard Lehtinen

A recent paper by Hedges and Conn, investigated the known skinks from the Caribbean region using morphological and molecular data. This is the first comprehensive attempt to understand the diversity of these interesting lizards using modern approaches. At the time this paper was published, 26 species in one genus were known from this region. Using a combination of morphological measures and DNA sequences, the authors identified a shocking 61 species in 16 genera! Many of these new species are island endemics, and the vast majority are endangered or (in some cases) already extinct. The Indian mongoose (introduced to many Caribbean islands during the sugar era) seems the likely culprit in the decline or extinction of many of these species.

This study shows the power of using integrative approaches to species delimitation and how, despite the very large number of known species on Earth,  we are still in the “Age of Discovery”. Now that superficially similar species can be discerned from one another with the help of DNA sequences, studies like this one will continue to greatly add to the known life forms on our planet. Let’s just hope they’re not driven extinct by human foolishness before we are even aware they exist. 

Pictured: the Anguilla Bank Skink. See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/pictures/120503-new-species-skinks-animals-lizards-caribbean-science/ for photo credit and another account of these recent discoveries.

Reference

Hedges, S.B. and C.E. Conn. 2012. A new skink fauna from Caribbean islands (Squamata, Mabuyidae, Mabuyinae). Zootaxa 3288: 1-244.

Hi all,

Below is some collected advice and information about our upcoming trip. If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet, please do so soon, while tickets are cheap (and remember to run the itinerary by me before purchasing). Remember we depart July 27 (arriving the morning of 7/28), depart Tobago for Trinidad the morning of 8/4 and depart Trinidad for the U.S. the night/morning of 8/5-6. Please consult earlier emails from me on the particular flights we’ll be on.

Before departing the US, make sure that you check out the Transportation Security Administration’s website for lists of items you cannot bring on a airplane or an airport and information on how to get through security with a minimum of hassle (http://www.tsa.gov/). We’ll meet up at the departure gate in Newark and be together from there. Also, when you arrive in Trinidad, you will have to fill out some paperwork to pass customs upon arrival. They usually hand out the forms before landing, so its a good idea to fill it out while you’re still in the air. You’ll need your passport, information on your flights, and an address where we’ll be staying. You can give the following: Castara Cottage, Castara, Tobago. Phone: 868-757-1044.

Upon arrival, we’ll probably change some US dollars for T&T dollars, get some cell phones activated, grab some coffee/breakfast and wait for our flight to Tobago.

Health and Vaccinations

In the wake of European exploration and settlement of the New World, waves of infectious disease decimated Native Americans. Exact numbers will never be known but many millions surely died in what was in all likelihood the worst demographic catastrophe in human history. The culprits were the many Old World diseases unintentionally brought to the New World by Europeans. Chief among these was smallpox but many other examples are known (malaria, cholera, influenza, etc.). Native Americans had no exposure to these diseases and for historical reasons were also more uniform genetically speaking that Old World peoples.

The amphibian equivalent of smallpox is playing itself out in our own times. The pathogen is a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd for short) and it can cause a disease called chytridiomycosis in frogs, salamanders and caecilians (the three groups of living amphibians). To the best of our understanding, this is an African amphibian disease that was unintentionally transported out of Africa when African clawed frogs (Xenopus) were widely used as a human pregnancy test in the mid-20^th century. Now amphibians from all over the world are being exposed to this novel disease and in many places are dying in droves. In fact, dozens of species (primarily in Australia and South and Central America) are thought to have been completely annihilated (driven to extinction) by this fungus. This is thought to be the first documented case of a pathogen causing an extinction, ever. For reasons that are just beginning to be understood, other species and other regions seem immune or less affected.

Many questions remain but in the meantime those who love amphibians are trying desperately to prevent additional extinctions by captive breeding vulnerable species and using other strategies. Unfortunately, there is no “putting the genie back in the bottle” as the fungus has been spead far and wide. This just yet one more example of how unintentional human actions can have dramatic, unanticipated  and long-lasting impacts on other life forms.

The new semester has started at the College of Wooster and invariably some of the new students and faculty are curious about the black squirrels that are common around our campus. So, what’s the deal? Here goes: the black squirrels are the same species as the gray ones (Sciurus carolinensis – the eastern gray squirrel) but possess a certain form of a gene that colors their fur black. Less than two years ago, a research team in the UK identified the specific form of the gene that causes the different pigmentation (at least in UK gray squirrels, which were introduced there in the 19th century from North America and now are associated with the decline of Britain’s native squirrels). Many other mammals also have melanistic forms (i.e., all black individuals: wolves, pigs, mice, jaguars, etc.). For some reason, the black squirrels are fairly localized (they only occur in certain areas) but are often common where they do occur. Recent surveys on our campus have shown that black individuals outnumber the gray ones by about a 3:1 margin, on average. The black and gray ones do mate and produce offspring with one another.

So, in a nutshell(!) – that’s the deal with the black squirrels!

(Note that there are two other squirrel species on campus, too. The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) is larger, has a rusty orange belly and is sometimes seen amongst the gray squirrels but is less common. The red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is rarely seen and is usually associated with hemlock trees, especially near the President’s house.)

I recently returned from a research trip to Trinidad and Tobago. Five undergraduates and myself spent 10 days based out of Charlotteville (Tobago) working on projects on frog ecology, evolution and conservation. We got up early, stayed up late and ate many mangoes and fried plantains. Stephanie Andrus, Travis Calkins, Aaron Novick, Alex Vanko and Ned Weakland (all COW class of ’12) worked hard to help advance our knowledge of Caribbean frogs. More to come….