| review of the systematics, distribution, biogeography and natural history of moroccan amphibians. | the amphibian fauna of the kingdom of morocco was traditionally regarded as poor and closely related to its european counterpart. however, an increase in research during the last decades revealed a considerable degree of endemism amongst moroccan amphibians, as well as phenotypic and genotypic inter- and intraspecific divergence. despite this increase in knowledge, a comprehensible overview is lacking while several systematic issues have remained unresolved. we herein present a contemporary over ... | 2013 | 25333083 |
| first report of euryhelmis parasites (trematoda, heterophyidae) in africa: conservation implications for endemic amphibians. | in this study, we report, through molecular identification, the first african records of a digenean trematode parasite of the genus euryhelmis. we recovered metacercariae encysted in an anuran, the endemic moroccan painted frog (discoglossus scovazzi), and a vulnerable caudate, the north african fire salamander (salamandra algira), from four localities in north africa (morocco). our records go back to the past century and have been confirmed in successive fieldwork seasons thereafter. metacercar ... | 2018 | 29860574 |
| sexual dimorphism and age of mediterranean salamanders. | we analysed sexual size dimorphism (ssd) for two mediterranean species of the "true" salamander clade possessing distinct life histories (salamandra algira and mertensiella caucasica) and equilibrated the morphometric approach to individual age by using skeletochronology. for species that have a short breeding season and live at high altitudes, such as mediterranean amphibians, the fecundity advantage hypothesis predicts female-biased ssd to maximise reproductive success. our results showed no s ... | 2015 | 25497699 |
| a new subspecies of african fire salamander salamandra algira (urodela, salamandridae) from the middle atlas mountains, morocco. | a new subspecies within the salamandra algira species complex from north-western africa is described. previous molecular analysis showed that the populations of s. algira splendens from north-western morocco consisted of two well supported clades: clade 1 distributed in the rif mountains, from chefchaouen (type locality) to al hoceima, and clade 2, located southern from clade 1 being isolated in the northern and central middle atlas mountains. clade 2 is herein described as a distinct subspecies ... | 2019 | 31844405 |
| allopatric diversification and evolutionary melting pot in a north african palearctic relict: the biogeographic history of salamandra algira. | north africa is a climatically and topographically complex region with unique biotic assemblages resulting from the combination of multiple biogeographic realms. here, we assess the role of climate in promoting intra-specific diversification in a palearctic relict, the north african fire salamander, salamandra algira, using a combination of phylogenetic and population genetic analyses, paleoclimatic modelling and niche overlap tests. we used mitochondrial dna (cyt-b), 9838 ddradseq loci, and 14 ... | 2019 | 30321698 |