Barking geckos (genus Ptenopus) are terrestrial, burrowing lizards endemic to southern Africa, currently with three recognised species. Two species are range-restricted (P. kochi and P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpeciation by polyploidization has been documented to have independently occurred in 12 families of anuran amphibians. was described as a South African allotetraploid species of sand frogs in the family Pyxicephalidae. Recent taxonomic revisions and new species descriptions in the genus present problems with respect to the evolution of this tetraploid species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetecting occupied sites of rare species, and estimating the probability that all occupied sites are known within a given area, are desired outcomes for many ecological or conservation projects. Examples include managing all occupied sites of a threatened species or eradicating an emerging invader. Occupied sites may remain undetected because (1) sites where the species potentially occurs had not been searched, and (2) the species could have been overlooked in the searched sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAge-specific survival and reproduction are closely linked to fitness and therefore subject to strong selection that typically limits their variability within species. Furthermore, adult survival rate in vertebrate populations is typically less variable over time than other life-history traits, such as fecundity or recruitment. Hence, adult survival is often conserved within a population over time, compared to the variation in survival found across taxa.
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