Fish and Amphibians

Abstract Freshwater mussels cannot spread through oceanic barriers and represent a suitable model to test the continental drift patterns. Here, we reconstruct the diversification of Oriental freshwater mussels (Unionidae) and revise their taxonomy. We show that the Indian Subcontinent harbors a rather taxonomically poor fauna, containing 25 freshwater mussel species from one subfamily (Parreysiinae). This subfamily most likely originated in East Gondwana in the Jurassic and its representatives arrived to Asia on two Gondwanan fragments (Indian Plate and Burma Terrane). We propose that the Burma Terrane was connected with the Indian Plate through the Greater India up to the terminal Cretaceous. Later on, during the entire Paleogene epoch, these blocks have served as isolated evolutionary hotspots for freshwater mussels. The Burma Terrane collided with mainland Asia in the Late Eocene, leading to the origin of the Mekong's Indochinellini radiation. Our findings indicate that the Burm...

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice today of its intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for once again denying protection to Tucson shovel-nosed snakes under the Endangered Species Act. In response to a September 2020 petition from the Center, the Service denied protection to the species for the second time in September 2021. "The lovely Tucson shovel-nosed snake needs protection from massive urban sprawl from Phoenix and Tucson," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. "Protecting this snake will mean protecting more of the natural desert we all love." The Center first petitioned for protection of the snake in 2004. In response, the Service found the snake warranted endangered species protection in 2010 but said such protections were precluded by its work to protect other species. In 2014 the agency reversed course and found the snake didn't warrant protection. In doing so, however, it misi...

With more than 40 boats entered, Capt. Jordan Hutchison and his crew on the Done Pickin came in on the last day of the three-day tournament with the big money fish in the Destin Flathead Classic Cobia Tournament at Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House.  The 54.4-pound cobia hauled in by Jeff Wainwright pulled in $84,580 in winnings for the Done Pickin. It was Capt. Hutchison's first tournament on the Done Pickin, which docks at Baytown Marina at Sandestin.  "We just got lucky and crashed into one," Hutchison said.  Hutchison said they fished every day of the tournament and went one-for-one.  "It was a slow tournament; we just made it count," Hutchison said. "We sat up there in the middle of a downpour, lightning popping. We pretty much had all the weather scenarios you could...

The small salamander known as the axolotl, whose cartoonish face resembles a smiling emoji, is among the most widespread amphibians on Earth. You can buy them as pets online, collect them in the game Minecraft, and watch them perform on Instagram and TikTok. Often pink in color with feathery external gills, axolotls are also popular in laboratories: Scientists love studying them because they can regrow limbs, spinal cords, and even portions of their brains. Roughly 1 million are under human care worldwide, according to some experts. Yet in their home country of Mexico, where they're celebrated as cultural icons, axolotls are critically endangered and on the verge of extinction. The only place you can find them in the wild is in a watery borough of Mexico City, the second-largest city in the Western Hemisphere. There are fewer than three dozen per square kilometer here, down from 6,000 in the 1990s. This paradox — that axolotls seem to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time ...