Frog hepatic health and metal pollution: An assemblage-level approach in a hotspot in southeastern Brazil.

Chemical pollutants include the harmful effects of various substances on soils, water bodies, and biodiversity. Amphibians are one of the most endangered groups of vertebrates and are impacted by chemical pollutants in various ways due to their complex life cycles. Since trace pollutant concentrations vary across environments, different frog ecomorphs (classified by their microhabitat use) may have different exposures.

Shape Evolution in Two Acts: Morphological Diversity of Larval and Adult Neoaustraranan Frogs.

Phenotypic traits can evolve independently at different stages of ontogeny, optimizing adaptation to distinct ecological contexts and increasing morphological diversity in species with complex life cycles. Given the relative independence resulting from the profound changes induced by metamorphosis, niche occupation and resource utilization in tadpoles may prompt evolutionary responses that do not necessarily affect the adults. Consequently, diversity patterns observed in the larval shape may not necessarily correspond to those found in the adult shape for the same species, a premise that can be tested through the Adaptive Decoupling Hypothesis (ADH).

Marine introgressions and Andean uplift have driven diversification in neotropical Monkey tree frogs (Anura, Phyllomedusinae).

The species richness in the Neotropics has been linked to environmental heterogeneity and a complex geological history. We evaluated which biogeographic processes were associated with the diversification of Monkey tree frogs, an endemic clade from the Neotropics. We tested two competing hypotheses: the diversification of Phyllomedusinae occurred either in a "south-north" or a "north-south" direction in the Neotropics.

The endotrophic nidicolous tadpole of Cycloramphus eleutherodactylus(Miranda-Ribeiro) (Anura: Cycloramphidae).

Cycloramphus Tschudi is the most speciose genus in the family Cycloramphidae, including 30 species endemic to the Atlantic forest Domain in Brazil (Frost 2022). Species in the genus may be classified as saxicolous and terrestrial based on morphology and reproductive mode. Saxicolous are flat-bodied species, with granular skin, and interdigital web (Heyer 1983a), associated with fast-flowing streams in all life history phases.

New species of flea-toad, genus Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Atlantic Forest of Esprito Santo, Brazil.

We describe a new species of dull-colored flea-toad, genus Brachycephalus, from the Atlantic Forest of Capara mountains in southeastern Brazil. The new species is characterized by its diminutive size, leptodactyliform body, brownish color with an inverted V-shaped dark mark on dorsum, skin smooth, hyperossification and dorsal shield absent, linea masculinea absent, Fingers I and IV vestigial, Toe I externally absent, Toe II reduced but functional, Toes III and IV with pointed tips, Toe V vestigial, and ventral color uniformly brown. It is a leaf litter dweller, known only from type locality in the humid forests on the eastern slopes of Parque Nacional do Capara mountains, a protected area in the states of Esprito Santo and Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil.

THE TADPOLE OF ZACHAENUS CARVALHOI IZECKSOHN, 1983 (ANURA: CYCLORAMPHIDAE).

The genus Zachaenus Cope is the least specious within Cycloramphidae, including two species: Z. carvalhoi Izecksohn, and Z. parvulus (Girard).

The tadpole of Hypsiboas guentheri (Boulenger) (Anura: Hylidae).

Hypsiboas guentheri is a species of treefrog that inhabits the surrounding vegetation of temporary and permanent ponds at the coastal region of Southern Brazil, in the States of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (Langone 1997; Frost 2016). It belongs to the H. pulchellus species group (Faivovich et al.

Clay facial masks: physicochemical stability at different storage temperatures.

Clay facial masks--formulations that contain a high percentage of solids dispersed in a liquid vehicle--have become of special interest due to specific properties presented by clays, such as particle size, cooling index, high adsorption capacity, and plasticity. Although most of the physicochemical properties of clay dispersions have been studied, specific aspects concerning the physicochemical stability of clay mask products remain unclear. This work aimed at investigating the accelerated physicochemical stability of clay mask formulations stored at different temperatures.