Three new species of saddled loricariid catfishes, and a review of Hemiancistrus, Peckoltia, and allied genera (Siluriformes)

(Figs 2–4). CORBIDI 14685, an adult male (Figs 2–4) from 13.5806 S, 75.2449 W (WGS84), Chicchobamba, upstream of Represa Negrayccassa, upper drainage of the Huaytará river, 3900 m, Provincia Huaytará, Región Huancavelica, Peru, collected by A. Catenazzi, V. Vargas García, and M. Jaico Huayanay

We describe a new species of Telmatobius from the Pacific slopes of the Andes in central Peru. Specimens were collected at 3900 m elevation near Huaytará, Huancavelica, in the upper drainage of the Pisco river. The new species has a snout–vent length of 52.5 ± 1.1 mm (49.3–55.7 mm, n = 6) in adult females, and 48.5 mm in the single adult male. The new species has bright yellow and orange coloration ventrally and is readily distinguished from all other central Peruvian Andean species of Telmatobius but T. intermedius by having vomerine teeth but lacking premaxillary and maxillary teeth, and by its slender body shape and long legs. The new species differs from T. intermedius by its larger size, flatter head, and the absence of cutaneous keratinized spicules (present even in immature females of T. intermedius), and in males by the presence of minute, densely packed nuptial spines on dorsal and medial surfaces of thumbs (large, sparsely packed nuptial spines in T. intermedius). The hyper-arid coastal valleys of Peru generally support low species richness, particularly for groups such as aquatic breeding amphibians. The discovery of a new species in this environment, and along a major highway crossing the Andes, shows that much remains to be done to document amphibian diversity in Peru.

The Tropical Andes are characterized by a large diversification of the aquatic frogs of the genus Telmatobius Wiegmann, 1834. Sixty-two species are currently recognized in this genus (AmphibiaWeb 2014; Aguilar and Valencia 2009; Frost 2014; including species previously assigned to Batrachophrynus Peters, 1873). The altitudinal distribution of Telmatobius ranges from 1000 m to 5400 m (De la Riva and Harvey 2003; Seimon et al. 2007), and its longitudinal distribution extends from the equator (T. niger Barbour & Noble, 1920, whose populations have been extirpated in Ecuador; Merino-Viteri et al. 2005) to 29°S, on the eastern slopes of the Argentinean Andes (T. contrerasi Cei, 1977). Twenty-eight species of Telmatobius are distributed in Peru (Lehr 2005; AmphibiaWeb 2014), but of these only five [T. arequipensis Vellard, 1955; T. intermedius Vellard, 1955; T. jelskii (Peters, 1873); T. peruvianus Wiegmann, 1834; T. rimac Schmidt, 1954] are known to occur in the hyper-arid coastal valleys that drain directly into the Pacific Ocean.

During October 2012 we made several surveys for the Biodiversity and Monitoring Assessment Program of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Education and Sustainability (Catenazzi et al. 2013a; Catenazzi et al. 2013b). During one of these surveys, we found a population of Telmatobius in the upper drainage of the Huaytará river (Region of Huancavelica), a tributary of the Pisco river in the Pacific slopes of the central Peruvian Andes. Individuals of this population possess traits that do not correspond to the morphological characteristics of other species found in the arid coastal valleys of central Peru (Fig. 1), namely T. rimac to the north and T. intermedius to the south (Vellard 1951; Schmidt 1954; Lehr 2005). Therefore, here we describe the new species and provide a diagnosis to differentiate it from congeneric forms.

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Findings at viking archaeological site show power trumping practicality

Baylor archeologist Davide Zori and assistant at Viking farmstead. Credit: Image courtesy of Baylor University

Vikings are known for raiding and trading, but those who settled in Iceland centuries ago spent more time producing and consuming booze and beef -- in part to gain political clout in a place very different from their Scandinavian homeland, says a Baylor University archaeologist.

The seafaring warriors wanted to sustain the "big man" society of Scandinavia -- a political economy in which chieftains hosted huge feasts of beer and beef served in great halls, says Davide Zori, Ph.D., a Denmark native and archeological field director in Iceland, who conducted National Science Foundation-funded research in archeology and medieval Viking literature.
But instead, what Zori and his team discovered is what happened when the Vikings spent too long living too high on the hog -- or, in this case, the bovine. 

"It was somewhat like the barbecue here. You wanted a big steak on the grill," said Zori, assistant professor in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. He co-edited the book Viking Archaeology in Iceland: Mosfell Archaelogical Project with Jesse Byock, Ph.D., professor of Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It made it really showy -- if you could keep it up." The Viking chieftains used such wealth and cultural displays to flex political muscle with equals or rivals -- plus to cement good relations with local laborers, Zori said.

Zori and Byock's team excavated a farmstead called Hrísbrú in Iceland's Mosfell Valley. The farm -- inhabited by some of the most famous Vikings of the Icelandic sagas -- included a chieftain's longhouse nearly 100 feet long with a "feast-worthy" great hall, a church and a cemetery of 26 graves indicating a mix of pagan and Christian traditions. Males sometimes were buried with ship remnants rather than in the simpler Christian manner of leaving earthly possessions behind.

Carbon dating and studies of volcanic layers indicate the longhouse was built in the late ninth or early 10th century and abandoned by the 11th. The archeological team uncovered 38 layers of floor ash, including refuse dumped atop the abandoned house, also discovering bones, barley seeds and valuable glass beads imported from Asia. "By applying anthropology and medieval texts, we can excavate and compare," Zori said.

Viking sagas, first written in the 13th century and based on oral accounts, included such details as where people sat at feasts, "which shows your ranking . . . These texts read almost like novels. They're incredible sources. They talk about daily life," Zori said.

"Yes, the Vikings may have put axes to one another's heads -- but these accounts also describe milking cows."

High Times and Hard Times

When the Vikings arrived in uninhabited Iceland, they found forested lowlands, ample pastures and sheltered sea inlets. Excavations show that choice cattle were selected for feasts, with ritual slaughter and display of skulls, according to research published by Zori and others in the journal Antiquity. Barley seeds unearthed from floors or refuse heaps indicate barley consumption, and pollen studies demonstrate barley cultivation. Barley could have been used for bread or porridge, but beer's social value makes it very likely barley was used mainly to produce alcohol, Zori said.

Over centuries, as temperatures in the North Atlantic dropped during the "Little Ice Age," being a lavish host got tougher. "Nine months of winter -- and three months that are only a little less than winter," Zori said.

While sheep could find food free range most of the year and were suited for cold, prized cattle had to be kept indoors in large barns during the winter. Savvy supply-and-demand reckoning was crucial to be sure the food lasted -- both for cattle and humans -- and could be preserved.

"They had to decide how many to slaughter and store," Zori said. "They didn't have salt, so they had to use big vats of curdled milk as a preservative." As the landscape changed due to erosion, climate shifts and cleared forests, it became harder to rear larger numbers of cattle.

High-status households also struggled to grow enough grain for beer-making, based on historical accounts and confirmed by a growing body of archeological data. With a shorter growing season and colder climate than in their homelands, Icelandic Vikings would have needed more laborers to improve the soil -- and as the chieftains' power waned, they would have had trouble attracting workers. As barley cultivation stopped, the local chieftains are no longer mentioned in the Viking sagas.

Changing Directions

"You can see in the archeological evidence that they adjusted their strategy and gave it up eventually," Zori said. "It got harder and harder to keep up that showiness -- and when that collapsed, you didn't have that power, that beer and big slabs of beef to show off."

When barley was abandoned, the pollen record shows native grasses for grazing increased. Archeological findings show that the proportion of cattle to sheep bones declined, as Hrísbrú residents shifted to more practical, less laborious sheep-herding.

"You wonder what came first for the chieftains at Hrísbrú: Were they no longer powerful and didn't need barley and beef? Or could they just not keep it up and so they lost power? I favor the second explanation," Zori said.

"What we're doing now is to let the archaeology speak, both for itself and for proof to verify (the texts)," he said. "Investigating politics breathes life into it, instead of just saying, 'Here are three rocks.' You can ask deeper questions."
Zori argues that Viking chieftains' drive to produce expensive beef and beer caused them to put their political aspirations above the greater good of the community.

"Maybe we don't need the Vikings to prove this," he said. "But it shows you that politics can become more important than creating a productive society."

Source: Baylor University

Role of microbes, effect on infectious disease dynamics

In the field, UCSB graduate student Andrea Jani uses a sterile swab to sample mucus on the skin of a frog. Frogs are released unharmed after sampling. Credit: Abby Mayer

The adult human body is made up of about 37 trillion cells. Microbes, mainly bacteria, outnumber body cells by 10 to 1. Increasingly, scientists recognize that this huge community of microbes, called the microbiome, affects the health, development and evolution of all multicellular organisms, including humans.

Studies show symbiotic microbes can help prevent infection by disease-causing pathogens. But sometimes the interaction goes the other way, with a pathogen or disease disrupting the normal community of symbiotic bacteria. In a new study, a team of scientists from UC Santa Barbara demonstrates that a fungal pathogen of amphibians does just that. The findings appear today in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Landmark experiments with model organisms such as mice have shown that infectious pathogens can disrupt the "normal" microbiome, but the extent to which this process shapes symbiotic microbial communities during disease outbreaks in nature is largely unknown. This new work, conducted by Andrea Jani, a UCSB graduate student in Cherie Briggs' lab in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology (EEMB), addresses a fundamental gap in disease ecology and microbiome research.

Co-authors Jani and Briggs -- also affiliated with UCSB's Biomolecular Science and Engineering program -- found that the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) appears to drive dramatic changes in symbiotic bacterial communities during natural disease episodes in four populations of the endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae). Chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease of amphibian skin caused by the Bd pathogen, is a leading cause of amphibian biodiversity loss worldwide.

"In the California Sierra Nevada, this disease has led to the rapid extirpation of frogs from hundreds of high-elevation lakes; however, in other lakes, infected frogs of the same species are surviving and persisting with the fungus," explained Briggs, who is the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair in Systems Biology. "Given that amphibian skin is the organ infected by Bd, there has been a lot of interest in how antifungal properties of some skin-associated bacteria may protect frogs against this fungal pathogen. In this study we focused on the flip side of this interaction -- that is, how infection with Bd can disrupt the skin microbial community."

"We used next-generation DNA sequencing to document significant shifts in skin-associated bacterial communities of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog during natural Bd outbreaks," Jani explained. "We paired these field surveys with a laboratory infection experiment, demonstrating a causal relationship in which Bd alters the Rana sierrae microbiome."

The researchers found a remarkable consistency in the response of the microbiome to Bd infection among field populations and between the field and laboratory. Several key taxa -- a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms -- consistently responded in the same direction to Bd infection, suggesting some predictability in the effect of Bd on the microbiome.

"What we found was that the severity of infection with Bd is strongly correlated with the composition of bacterial communities on the skin of frogs," Jani continued. "What was surprising was that across the different frog populations there was pretty striking consistency in this correlation with Bd. One of the frog populations crashed due to Bd infection; the other three populations seemed to tolerate Bd infections. So there are different disease dynamics going on, yet they have a similar relationship between the microbiome and Bd."

Still, the underlying mechanism for Bd-induced changes in the microbiome is not clear. The researchers hypothesize that the pathogen might compete directly with certain bacteria for space or resources or release compounds that negatively or positively affect certain bacterial species. Alternatively, they say, some pathogens could control immune responses of the host to favor their own growth and disrupt the normal symbiotic bacterial community.

Jani noted that some promise exists for probiotic treatments as a tool to fight the decline of frogs due to Bd, but she was careful to qualify that statement by saying that there is still a lot that scientists do not understand about either the environmental impact that might have or what the interactions are between the natural bacteria that exist on frogs and the pathogen. "We find that some taxa previously identified as having anti-Bd properties are driven to low abundances by Bd infection, which may limit their effectiveness as probiotic agents," she said.

"This study shows the importance of knowing how the many benign microbes living on and in our bodies interact with those that cause disease," said Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) director for the joint NSF/National Institutes of Health/United States Department of Agriculture Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease Program, which funded the research. "The results are important for developing responses to a disease causing amphibians to go extinct worldwide and also have implications for future studies of human health.

Source:  University of California - Santa Barbara

Female frogs modify offspring development depending on reproduction date

Breeding male of Rana arvalis from the study area. Credit: Germán Orizaola

Global warming is altering the reproduction of plants and animals, notably accelerating the date when reproduction and other life processes occur. A study by the University of Uppsala (Sweden), including the participation of Spanish researcher Germán Orizaola, has discovered that some amphibians are capable of making their offspring grow at a faster rate if they have been born later due to the climate.

Over recent decades many organisms, both plants and animals, have experienced a notable advance in the date when many of their life processes (like reproduction, migration or flowering) occur, attributed to the impact of climate change. An article published in the journal Ecology examines the effects that these changes in the reproduction date have on the life cycles of the amphibians.

"We specifically examined whether changes in the reproduction date of a common amphibian species in the north of Europe, Rana arvalis, can condition the growth and development of their offspring," the Spanish researcher Germán Orizaola, from the University of Uppsala (Sweden) and co-author of the study, said.

Results revealed that female frogs have the ability to influence both the growth rate and the development of their offspring, and they adjust it depending on the date of reproduction.

According to Orizaola, "the mechanism by which the female frogs can condition the growth of their larvae could be due to the genes associated with the maintenance of their biological clock being transferred to the embryos and becoming active even before fertilisation. This would provide the larvae with the exact information regarding the progression of the growing season."

The later the birth, the faster the growth

One of the characteristics associated with climate change is an increase in the interannual variability of climatic conditions, so organisms are also exposed to greater uncertainty when it comes to determining the right time to reproduce. This explains why the existence of mechanisms adjusting growth and development rates depending on the variation in the start of breeding is highly advantageous for many species.

In particular, as part of this study they observed that by delaying the date of reproduction (which simulated a time of environmental instability), the result was an equivalent reduction in the growth period for the larvae. "That means the later this species of frog breeds, the faster the larvae develop," explains the scientist.

An interesting aspect of the study is that the acceleration in growth is produced under constant lab conditions. "The larvae were not exposed to any outside sign that would indicate the progression of the growing season," adds Orizaola.

"This result is very novel and demonstrates that the acceleration in the development of the larvae is conditioned by the breeding females, which reveals the existence of a 'transgenerational effect' in which the breeding adults are capable of altering key aspects of the life cycle for the following generations, to better prepare them to survive the environmental conditions that they are going to experience," concludes the expert.

Source: Plataforma SINC.