We used microsatellite loci to examine rangewide population structure and interpopulation gene flow in the federally threatened Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard (Uma inornata). Our results indicate low population differentiation consistent with high gene flow, recent colonization and range expansion, and/or frequent local extirpation/recolonization events. Given high historical gene flow among populations and current isolation of remaining populations, conservation planning for this species should include monitoring of potential deleterious effects that may result from reduction in gene flow, such as inbreeding and loss of genetic variation, to ensure maintenance of ecological and evolutionary population processes adequate for long-term survival of the species.

Many animals exhibit pronounced shifts in ecology (e.g., habitat use, diet) as they grow. The central goal of this study was to determine whether habitat use and movement patterns of juvenile black ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta) differed from patterns previously documented for adult ratsnakes and to determine the conservation implications of any changes identified. We found a shift in habitat use by black ratsnakes with body size; juveniles used macrohabitats and microhabitats in proportion to their availability, unlike adult black ratsnakes that have been shown to prefer forest edges at both scales. Frequency of movement declined with body size, whereas distance traveled per move increased with body size. Habitat selection and movement patterns may be a result of ontogenetic shifts in thermoregulatory behaviour associated with changes in body size, or alternatively, may reflect size-related variation in predation risk. Home range size and fidelity, and fidelity to hibernacula all increased with body size. Despite ontogenetic changes in habitat use and movement by ratsnakes, recommendations regarding critical habitat for adults of this species should be adequate to protect juveniles.

We quantified frog phenology and microhabitat use of the native California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and introduced bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) in an 11-ha seasonal marsh, Sonoma County, California. Logistic regression showed that both species selected habitats nonrandomly from among the available habitats in the marsh. As adults, the two species overlapped in their habitat use, selecting dead spikerush in winter and spring, and aquatic buttercup in summer. Although the model emphasized overlap in frog habitats, there was more separation in habitat use between species during winter than other seasons when few bullfrogs were active (i.e., most bullfrogs hibernating). The egg-laying habitats and seasons differed dramatically between the two species. Red-legged frogs bred in winter almost exclusively in shallow dead spikerush and bullfrogs in spring and summer in deeper areas with dense cover, predominantly smartweed. Breeding periods of red-legged frogs and bullfrogs were separated by 10 wk, which coincided with peak adult abundances. We suggest that the separate reproductive seasons may reduce competition and predation by bullfrogs on red-legged frogs, allowing for coexistence. Furthermore, the marsh's late-season drying limits metamorphosis of bullfrog tadpoles, which usually require permanent water. The marsh's seasonal hydrologic pattern offers a model for habitat in which the native red-legged frog may persist despite negative interactions with the introduced bullfrog.

We sampled the distribution of northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) nests at randomly selected 15 m stream reaches throughout a third-order watershed in eastern Maryland. Our goal was to investigate the distribution of nests in relationship to physical habitat variables at three spatial scales: (1) watershed, (2) reach (15 m of stream), and nest-site (bank and adjacent channel within 1 m up and downstream of the nest). At the watershed scale there was a high probability (>0.75) of nest-site occurrence at reaches with watershed sizes <70 ha and gradients >2%. Among reaches with a high probability of nest-site occurrence, reaches with narrow channels located at the head of streams supported the largest number of nests. At the nest-site scale, females located nests adjacent to wider and deeper portions of streams. Overall, our results suggest that the headwater terminus of streams is important habitat for D. fuscus, and their dependence on these habitats may be responsible for their sensitivity to channel degradation resulting from watershed development.

Populations of eastern red-backed salamanders, Plethodon cinereus, exhibit color polymorphism, and two color morphs are common: the red-striped morph and the lead-phase morph. A recent hypothesis attributes the maintenance of the polymorphism to selection on behavior and physiology. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments and a field study to determine whether striped and lead-phase salamanders exhibit different antipredator responses and whether predators differentially attacked the color forms. In predation trials, red-striped salamanders spent significantly more time in an “all trunk raised” posture and tended to remain immobile, whereas lead-phase salamanders were significantly more mobile. In field collected museum specimens of individual P. cinereus, we found more lead-phase salamanders with autotomized tails compared to red-striped salamanders, possibly indicating different attack rates on the two forms. The results from this study demonstrate that striped and lead-phase salamanders of P. cinereus respond differently to snake predators and may be attacked differently in the field. These differences may contribute to the maintenance of color polymorphism in this species.

Most studies of amphibian communities are restricted to aquatic environments, which precludes sound descriptions of changes in composition throughout entire habitats. Moreover, few works focus on the environmental processes that shape the composition of these communities, particularly in tropical ecosystems. In this study, we investigated which environmental variables were able to predict the main changes in anuran community composition in a shrub-to-forest Restinga on the northeastern coastline of Bahia State, Brazil. In 30 plots (60 × 25 m) along a continuous Restinga area, we determined, over two consecutive rainy seasons, the abundances of anuran species and 20 primary environmental variables. We represented the main environmental gradients of the Restinga using the first axes derived from a principal component analysis (PCA) of the matrix of environmental variables. We represented the main changes in community composition using a synthetic axis built by applying the nonmetric multidimensional scaling technique (NMS) on the matrix of species abundances. We then evaluated, using a multiple linear regression test, which environmental gradients, if any, were able to explain changes in community composition. We recorded 737 anurans, belonging to 8 families, 17 genera, and 30 species. Five orthogonal environmental gradients were extracted, representing ca. 80% of the variance of the matrix of environmental variables; the first PC represented the covariation among the amount of leaves in the stratum from 6 to 10 m high, percentage of leaf litter, percentage of terrestrial bromeliads with direct sunlight, number of terrestrial bromeliads, and soil moisture. The NMS axis explained 50% of the variance of the abundance matrix and ordered the plots through the sequence (1) beach zone, (2) arboreal vegetation with temporary ponds and/or permanent lakes, (3) arboreal vegetation with rivers or streams, and (4) arboreal vegetation without bodies of water. Only PC1, which represented a shrub-to-forest gradient, was significantly related to the NMS axis. The change on plant communities, allied to soil moisture and type of water body, was the most important environmental factor acting on the structure of the anuran community herein studied.

Most animals forage under the risk of predation. An animal may balance the benefits gained from obtaining adequate nutritious forage with the risk of falling prey to a predator by employing alternative, adaptive foraging tactics. We examined the foraging tactics employed by a central place forager, Gopherus polyphemus, as it foraged away from a refuge. We directly observed foraging paths of juvenile G. polyphemus and analyzed them using correlated random walk models. We also compared the sinuosity of foraging paths to the sinuosity of an optimal central place forager. Observed net squared displacement was greater than expected for outbound foraging paths and inbound return paths, but these paths could not be distinguished statistically from a correlated random walk. Sinuosity was less than expected for an optimal central place forager. Juvenile tortoises direct movement away from their burrows while foraging. Juveniles may give up the security of remaining near their burrows to forage until satiation.

Three new continental and one new insular species of the gekkonid genus Cnemaspis Strauch 1887 are described from southern Vietnam based on their unique combinations of morphological and color pattern characteristics. The presence of these species in small, isolated mountains in the Mekong Delta flood plain and on one of the many small islands in Rach Gia Bay indicates that additional new species are likely to occur in these and similar underexplored regions in southern Vietnam. The discovery of new species of Cnemaspis in southern Vietnam narrows a 630 km distribution gap across the Indochinese Peninsula to a hiatus of 315 km. This report demonstrates that continued systematic field research is necessary in southern Vietnam before its herpetofaunal biodiversity will be fully realized and effective conservation measures can be put into place to protect it.

We describe a new species of Cycloramphus of the eleutherodactylus group from the Ilha dos Alcatrazes, southeastern Brazil, with descriptions of advertisement and territorial calls and notes on natural history. Additionally, we describe the advertisement and territorial calls of C. eleutherodactylus. The new species is diagnosed by the following set of characters: snout truncate in lateral and dorsal views; head wider than long; eyes protruding; tibia shorter than thigh; and distinct advertisement call. The new species is known from a single population on the Ilha dos Alcatrazes, a 149 ha island about 35 km off São Paulo State coast where these frogs are scattered in a small valley. The very restricted range of the new species of Cycloramphus and the declining quality of its habitat qualify this frog as critically endangered.

A new species of Indian striped Ichthyophis is described on the basis of six specimens from near the Western Ghats town of Madikeri, southern Karnataka (where it is sympatric with its congener I. beddomei), plus a seventh specimen of less certain provenance. The new species is distinguished from all other striped Ichthyophis by its combination of color, numbers of annuli and teeth, position of tentacular aperture, and the distribution and numbers of scale rows. A dichotomous key is provided to separate the four striped species of Ichthyophis of the Western Ghats.

Three new species of Pristimantis are described from montane forests and páramos at elevations of 1900–3200 m in the Cordillera de Huancabamba in the northern Peruvian departamentos de Cajamarca and Piura. The new species are assigned to the Pristimantis unistrigatus Group and are compared with species from southern Ecuador and northern Peru. One of the new species has a black W-shaped occipital fold, and the groin, anterior and posterior surfaces of the thigh, the concealed surface of tarsus, and axilla are blackish brown with yellowish-orange or reddish-orange flecks. The second species has an olive green dorsum with black and brown flecks, and a yellow groin and the anterior and posterior surfaces of thighs are yellow. Another species is unique in having blue flecks in the groin and on the anterior and posterior surfaces of the thigh and ventral surfaces of the shank.

We describe a new species of Liolaemus from the alticolor group that was previously confused with L. alticolor. Populations of this new taxon are distributed in the area of Cuzco and Sicuani, in southeastern Perú (Peruvian province of Cuzco). This new species is disjunct with respect to other members of the alticolor group. We analyzed 82 characters of external morphology, including external squamation, neck folds, precloacal pores, and dorsal and ventral patterns. These characters were compared between the new taxon and 17 morphologically similar species belonging to the more-inclusive chiliensis group. The new species is characterized by a unique combination of throat color pattern, smooth dorsal head scales, and well developed neck folds. This evidence, together with its geographic isolation, supports this taxon as a new species of Liolaemus.

A new species of small, montane, forest floor Sphenomorphus is described from Fraser's Hill, peninsular Malaysia on the basis of a unique suite of character states that differentiates it from all other 32 Sunda Shelf species of Sphenomorphus. The new species may be allied to the other montane West Malaysian species S. ishaki from Pulau Tioman and S. butleri from Bukit Larut. The discovery of S. bukitensis underscores the unrealized biodiversity in the mountainous regions of peninsular Malaysia.

Phalotris nigrilatus Ferrarezzi, 1993 is a poorly known species described from a single specimen from Paraguay. Two new specimens make possible a more detailed description of the species, including a description of the hemipenis, and support the validity of the species. Hemipenial morphology provides another character that further supports the inclusion of the species in the nasutus group. We describe variation within the species, probable sexual dimorphism, and the known distribution. It will be necessary to do further work in Paraguay to establish the conservation status of this apparently rare and endemic species.