Winter gifts for river ecosystems: A massive supply of earthworms in early winter.

Terrestrial resource pulses can significantly affect the community dynamics of freshwater ecosystems. Previously, its effect on the river community is considered to be stronger in summer, whereas weaker in winter when terrestrial invertebrates are less abundant. The movement of the terrestrial earthworms is triggered in winter, so they may be supplied to winter rivers as terrestrial resource pulse, but little is known about it.

Paedomorphosis in the Ezo salamander (Hynobius retardatus) rediscovered after almost 90 years.

Although paedomorphosis is widespread across salamander families, only two species have ever been documented to exhibit paedomorphosis in Hynobiidae. One of these two exceptional species is Hynobius retardatus in which paedomorphosis was first reported in 1924, in specimens from Lake Kuttara in Hokkaido. This population became extinct after the last observation in 1932; since then, no paedomorphs of this species have been reported anywhere.

Complete mitochondrial genome of (Amphibia, Caudata, Hynobiidae) and its phylogenetic position.

is a salamander species of the genus endemically distributed in eastern Kyushu in southwestern Japan. In this study, we determined the complete mitochondrial genome sequence and clarified the phylogenetic position of this species. The mitochondrial genome was 16,47 bp in length and encoded 13 protein, 2 ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNA genes.

A little frog leaps a long way: compounded colonizations of the Indian Subcontinent discovered in the tiny Oriental frog genus (Amphibia: Microhylidae).

Frogs of the genus include some of the world's smallest amphibians and represent the largest radiation of Asian microhylids, currently encompassing 50 species, distributed across the Oriental biogeographic region. The genus remains one of the taxonomically most challenging groups of Asian frogs and was found to be paraphyletic with respect to large-sized fossorial . In this study we present a time-calibrated phylogeny for frogs in the genus , and discuss taxonomy, historical biogeography, and morphological evolution of these frogs.