| cytonuclear discordance across a leopard frog contact zone. | we conducted a genetic analysis of the extent of hybridization within and outside a contact zone between two north american leopard frogs, rana blairi and rana pipiens by comparing distribution patterns of mitochondrial and nuclear haplotypes. the contact zone, located between south dakota, nebraska, and iowa, usa, was previously examined using morphological data in the 1970s, leading to the conclusion that hybridization was rare between r. pipiens and r. blairi. our genetic analysis of 51 popul ... | 2007 | 17689987 |
| balancing selection at a frog antimicrobial peptide locus: fluctuating immune effector alleles? | balancing selection is common on many defense genes, but it has rarely been reported for immune effector proteins such as antimicrobial peptides (amps). we describe genetic diversity at a brevinin-1 amp locus in three species of leopard frogs (rana pipiens, rana blairi, and rana palustris). several highly divergent allelic lineages are segregating at this locus. that this unusual pattern results from balancing selection is demonstrated by multiple lines of evidence, including a ratio of nonsynon ... | 2008 | 18799711 |
| gonadal abnormalities in frogs (lithobates spp.) collected from managed wetlands in an agricultural region of nebraska, usa. | nebraska's rainwater basin (rwb) provides important wetland habitat for north american migratory birds. concern exists that pesticide and nutrient runoff from surrounding row-crops enters wetlands degrading water quality and adversely affecting birds and wildlife. frogs may be especially vulnerable. plains leopard (lithobates blairi) metamorphs from rwb wetlands with varying concentrations of pesticides were evaluated for a suite of biomarkers of exposure to endocrine active chemicals. froglets ... | 2013 | 22982548 |
| testing wetland features to increase amphibian reproductive success and species richness for mitigation and restoration. | aquatic habitat features can directly influence the abundance, species richness, and quality of juvenile amphibians recruited into adult populations. we examined the influences of within-wetland slope, vegetation, and stocked mosquito fish (gambusia affinis) on amphibian metamorph production and species richness during the first two years post-construction at 18 experimental wetlands in northeast missouri (u.s.a.) grasslands. we used an information theoretic approach (aicc) to rank regression mo ... | 2012 | 22908722 |
| hybridization in leopard frogs (rana pipiens complex): larval fitness components in single-genotype populations and mixtures. | recognizing the predominant mode of selection in hybrid systems is important in predicting the evolutionary fate of recombinant genotypes. natural selection is endogenous if hybrid genotypes are at a disadvantage relative to parental species independent of environment. alternatively, relative fitness can vary in response to environmental variation (exogenous selection), and hybrid genotypes can possess fitness values equal to or greater than that of parental species. i investigated the nature of ... | 1999 | 28565457 |
| observations on the life history and descriptions of coccidia (apicomplexa) from the western chorus frog, pseudacris triseriata triseriata, from eastern nebraska. | two hundred and twenty-four anurans of 6 species (47 adults and 16 tadpoles of rana blairi, 35 r. catesbeiana, 31 hyla chrysoscelis, 30 adults and 46 tadpoles of pseudacris triseriata triseriata, 11 bufo woodhousii, and 8 acris crepitans) from pawnee lake, lancaster county, nebraska, were surveyed for coccidian parasites during march 2001 to may 2002. of these, 23 of 30 (77%) adults and 4 of 46 (9%) tadpoles of p. t. triseriata shed oocysts of isospora cogginsi n. sp. oocysts of i. cogginsi were ... | 2003 | 12880252 |
| a new species of myxidium (myxosporea: myxidiidae), from the western chorus frog, pseudacris triseriata triseriata, and blanchard's cricket frog, acris crepitans blanchardi (hylidae), from eastern nebraska: morphology, phylogeny, and critical comments on amphibian myxidium taxonomy. | during march 2001-april 2004, 164 adult anurans of 6 species (47 rana blairi, 35 rana catesbeiana, 31 hyla chrysoscelis, 31 pseudacris triseriata triseriata, 11 bufo woodhousii, and 9 acris crepitans blanchardi) from pawnee lake, lancaster county, nebraska, were surveyed for myxozoan parasites. of these, 20 of 31 (65%) p. triseriata triseriata and 1 of 9 (11%) a. crepitans blanchardi were infected with a new species of myxidium. myxidium melleni n. sp. (myxosporea) is described from the gallblad ... | 2006 | 16884007 |
| developmental effects of ambient uv-b light and landfill leachate in rana blairi and hyla chrysoscelis. | this study assessed the effects of ambient uv light on the development of two native species of anurans, rana blairi and hyla chrysoscelis, during their normal breeding season in oklahoma. additionally, the effects of ambient uv light and water contaminated with landfill leachate in rana blairi were examined. embryos were collected from the field and distributed equally among replicates of four filter treatments of ambient uv light in experimental tubs filled with either fetax solution or landfi ... | 2002 | 12481861 |
| distribution and reproductive strategies of gyrinicola batrachiensis (oxyuroidea: pharyngodonidae) in larvae of eight species of amphibians from nebraska. | abstract a total of 462 tadpoles and salamander larvae of 8 species was examined for the presence of gyrinicola batrachiensis from 5 locations in nebraska. infection by g. batrachiensis occurred in tadpoles of rana blairi, r. catesbeiana, r. pipiens, and bufo woodhousii. tadpoles of hyla chrysoscelis, spea bombifrons, and pseudacris maculata and larvae of ambystoma mavortium were not infected with g. batrachiensis. population structure, defined as prevalence, mean abundance, and mean intensity o ... | 2011 | 21506837 |
| extracts of the invasive shrub lonicera maackii increase mortality and alter behavior of amphibian larvae. | water-soluble phytochemicals produced by invasive plants may represent novel elements of invaded ecosystems that can precipitate a variety of direct and indirect effects on native organisms. phenolic compounds in particular are a common plant defense, and these compounds may have disproportionate impacts on amphibians compared to other taxa. we coupled an exploration of invasive plant extract effects on larvae of four amphibian species (the salamander ambystoma maculatum, the toad anaxyrus ameri ... | 2010 | 20938785 |
| peptides with potent cytolytic activity from the skin secretions of the north american leopard frogs, lithobates blairi and lithobates yavapaiensis. | six structurally similar and strongly cationic peptides belonging to the brevinin-1 family were isolated from skin secretions of the plains leopard frog lithobates blairi and the lowland leopard frog lithobates yavapaiensis on the basis of their antimicrobial activities. brevinin-1blc (flpiiagiaakflpkifctiskkc) from l. blairi represented the most potent peptide (mic=25microm escherichia coli, mic=1.5microm staphylococcus aureus, mic=3microm candida albicans, lc(50)=9microm human erythrocytes and ... | 2009 | 19254736 |
| dimorphic nucleolar organizer regions in the frog rana blairi. | the nucleolar organizer-specific staining procedure, ammoniacal silver (ag-as), has been used to study the distribution and size of the nucleolar organizer regions (nors) in chromosomes of the frog rana blairi (mecham, littlejohn, oldham, brown and brown). the somatic metaphase karyotype of this frog is similar to that of other frogs of the rana pipiens species complex, numerically (2n=26) and morphologically. secondary constrictions are detectable in untreated giemsa-stained metaphase preparati ... | 1977 | 67882 |
| larval hannemania sp. infestations of spea spp. in the southern high plains, texas, usa. | we describe a case history of larval hannemania sp. (acari: trombiculidae) infestations in two spadefoot toads (spea spp. anura: pelobatidae) captured from playa wetlands in the southern high plains, texas. hannemania sp. larvae were superficially attached to the skin, not encysted, and dermal changes were not observed. gross field examinations revealed a presumed occurrence of hannemania sp. in spea spp. at four of 24 wetlands in 2003 and 2004. although other species of amphibians were present ... | 2007 | 17984273 |
| co-occurrence of haematoloechus complexus and rhabdias joaquinensis in the plains leopard frog from nebraska. | species of haematoloechus and rhabdias both are ubiquitous lung parasites of frogs, yet surprisingly little research has been conducted on the interactions between these worms. in a small nebraska stream, 256 rhabdias joaquinensis and 225 haematoloechus complexus were found in the lungs of lithobates (=rana) blairi. thirty-six of the 44 (82%) frogs were co-infected with h. complexus and r. joaquinensis whereas 5 (11%) frogs were infected with only 1 species and 3 (7%) frogs were uninfected. test ... | 2013 | 23116463 |