Calling behavior and the properties of a male's call directly affect mate choice and mating success in frogs. In this study, I investigated the difference in call properties within and among males of Agalychnis moreletii at a breeding population in Belize. As a first step toward understanding female preference for specific male advertisement calls, I examined the variation of call traits from 575 calls of 30 individuals. I described and quantified call properties both within and among males and examined the relationship between mating success and body size. All of the call traits that I examined exhibited significantly higher among-male variation than within-male variation. Static call properties such as dominant frequency and call amplitude had the lowest variation within and among males. Dominant frequency was negatively correlated with body size, supporting a body-size constraint for this call trait. Call properties such as call rates, mean pulses per call, and call durations displayed greater variability among males. Such variability in these dynamic call traits suggests energy constraints because calling longer and calling more frequently are energetically costly. As a result, dynamic properties may be indicators of male quality and play a greater role in mate choice. Indeed, males found in amplexus produced a greater number of calls and those calls were of longer durations and tended to have a shorter intercall interval. Here, I characterize call trait variation and document call properties as indicators of mating success in the process of sexual selection in anuran communication.

Toads in northern climates may spend seven months or more in hibernation; therefore, behavioral decisions related to hibernation are important for survival. We examined factors influencing the timing and nature of movements to hibernation sites by western toads (Anaxyrus boreas, formerly Bufo boreas) at three study areas in north-central Alberta, Canada, with the use of radiotracking. We found that small toads arrived at the general vicinity of their hibernation sites earlier than larger toads. Entry date into hibernation sites was similar for toads of all sizes. Arrival and entry dates were both significantly related to temperature and/or day length. Larger toads moved to hibernation sites later in the year and moved along straighter paths to reach these sites. We propose that larger toads are older individuals that are familiar with their landscape and locations of suitable hibernacula and that they maximize their fitness by remaining at good foraging grounds as late in the year as possible.

Under low-resource conditions, the outcome of competition between a generalist omnivore and an herbivore may depend on whether one species can more efficiently use a limiting resource. I evaluated the levels of omnivory and competitive interactions between two abundant sympatric emydid turtles, Trachemys scripta and Pseudemys floridana, that coexist across a productivity gradient in lakes in northern Florida. A foraging experiment indicated that both species were omnivorous in the juvenile stage, but P. floridana was more herbivorous and T. scripta consumed more insects and carrion. This low level of resource overlap was consistent with previous studies of gut contents and stable isotope analyses. In a 13-mo enclosure experiment in a natural pond under low-resource conditions, the generalist T. scripta grew more slowly with conspecifics than with P. floridana, and the more specialized P. floridana grew at the same rate with both T. scripta and conspecifics. Trachemys scripta with P. floridana exhibited the highest growth rate (3.5 mm/yr), slightly faster than P. floridana with conspecifics (2.3 mm/yr). Trachemys scripta was apparently unable to process macroalgae as well as P. floridana and the low abundance of invertebrate prey in the pond may have limited growth rates with conspecifics. Where only low-quality, basal resources are available, gut specializations in P. floridana allow for more efficient digestion and assimilation of plant nutrients and maintenance of equal growth rates with either conspecifics or T. scripta. Where intraspecific competition in one species is stronger than interspecific effects, this may influence the distribution of trophic generalists across a productivity gradient. A possible mechanism for competition among conspecifics may be aggressive interactions in habitats with limited resources.

In many species of amphibians that display territoriality, it is unclear at what life stage and to what extent dispersal occurs. We examined whether differences existed between life stages in dispersal and homing in red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in continuous habitat. In a mark–recapture study, we found that juvenile and adult movements between years were not significantly different. The median distances moved by both adults (0.85–0.88 m) and juveniles (1.14–1.22 m) of P. cinereus between years were similar to the diameter of adult home ranges in this area (1.15 m). In a homing experiment, we found that, although the probability of recapture of translocated individuals under their original cover object increased with body size, both adults and juveniles successfully orientated toward their original cover objects when displaced over short distances (1.5 m and 6.25 m), but their orientation was random when displaced long distances (12.5 m and 25 m). Despite the current assumption that juveniles of P. cinereus lack territorial behaviors, our results suggest that regardless of life stage, site tenacity accounts for lack of movements.

Territoriality has been well-documented in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders. However, most studies of territoriality have focused either on defense of single cover objects or on defense of areas of forest floor. In nature, cover objects tend to occur in groups, and little is known about how cover-object distributions affect territory defense and salamander spatial associations. We manipulated cover-object spacing within a home range and used mark–recapture data to examine the effects of these manipulations on intra- and intersexual spatial associations in the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus. Similar total numbers of salamanders were found in the different treatments, and salamanders moved between cover objects with similar frequency regardless of cover-object spacing. However, male spatial associations were affected by cover-object spacing, with males never found simultaneously under adjacent cover objects. Furthermore, the spatial associations of males and females differed among the cover-object spacing treatments. Males and females shared the same cover object 76% of the time when cover objects were adjacent, but only 37% of the time when cover objects were separated by 1 m. Our results suggest that P. cinereus often use multiple cover objects within a home range, and that males may defend these while they are using them. Additionally, males and females appear to adjust their use of cover objects with respect to the home ranges of opposite sex salamanders.

We revise the taxonomic status of Desmognathus wrighti, which occurs in the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwest Virginia, USA, based on a combination of genetic, ecological, and morphometric analyses. Previously, we reported fixed differences in allozymic loci and mitochondrial DNA sequences between lineages geographically divided by the French Broad River basin at the level of species divergence. Here, we show that these two lineages also differ in ventral pigmentation and several measures of body size, including snout–vent length, body condition, and head width. In addition, spatially explicit ecological-niche analyses of climate at more than 400 collection localities spanning the range of D. wrighti indicate that the lineages separated by the French Broad River are in unique environmental niche space. Ecological niche models resolved that population localities north of the river were generally colder and drier than localities to the south, which suggests that divergent selection pressures may exist, in addition to isolation by distance, to drive the diversification of these two lineages. The name Desmognathus wrighti (King, 1936), for which the type locality is Mt. LeConte within the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, was retained for all populations south and west of the French Broad River, while the name D. organi, with type locality at Whitetop Mountain, Virginia, was given to those populations north and east of the river.

We describe a new species of the Hypsiboas pulchellus Group from the eastern Andes of central Peru (Region Pasco). Calls of both H. melanopleura and the new species are described. The new species is more similar to H. melanopleura and H. palaestes but differs in morphological characters and in coloration pattern. The new species and H. melanopleura are included in a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the H. pulchellus Group that shows them to be sister species and forming a second, independent, Andean clade within the group. New collecting sites for H. melanopleura are provided with the first record in the Region of Junin and the distribution of H. melanopleura, H. palaestes, and the new species is illustrated in a map.

We describe two new species of Bryophryne from the Region of Cusco, Provincia de La Convención in southern Peru, increasing the number of currently known Bryophryne to eight. One of the new species is the second known species of Bryophryne that has a tympanic annulus and tympanic membrane. Males of this species have vocal slits, a vocal sac, and call from inside moss. It is readily distinguished from all its congeners by having a blackish-brown venter with yellow, orange, or pale pink blotches. This species is found at elevations of 3800–3850 m in the puna along the road from Vilcabamba to Pampascona. The second new species has the venter orange and pale gray mottled in males, whereas the venter is black and pale gray mottled in the single female. It was found inside bunches of the Peruvian feather grass (Stipa ichu) in the puna of Abra Málaga next to the road at an elevation of 4000 m. A map showing the type localities of all currently known species of Bryophryne is presented.

A new species of squeaker frog (genus Arthroleptis) is described from Pico Basile on Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea), which lies just off the coast of Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea. A previous molecular phylogenetic study indicates that this new species is nested within a species complex—Arthroleptis poecilonotus—that comprises morphologically indistinguishable populations that represent several cryptic species. The new species from Bioko is, however, easily distinguishable from both closely related and geographically proximate Arthroleptis by a combination of its moderately large body size (approximately 25% larger than frogs in the remaining poecilonotus species complex) and unique ventral color pattern. It is further distinguished from all other Arthroleptis by the presence of spines on the crus in large males and from other populations in the poecilonotus species complex by the occasional presence of a supernumerary tubercle at the base of pedal digit II. Statistical analyses of measurement data, including a principal components analysis, demonstrate that the new species from Bioko is both larger and has relatively longer hindlimbs and toes than other populations of the poecilonotus species complex. These analyses also suggest that the poorly known A. brevipes is morphologically diagnosable, but the status of other taxa such as A. bivittatus and A. zimmeri remains unclear. This new Arthroleptis is the only frog that is unequivocally endemic to Bioko Island.

A new species of squeaker frog (genus Arthroleptis) is described from the northern mountains of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a species-rich region within the West African biodiversity hotspot. This new species is associated with human-altered landscapes, including farms and grasslands, and is known from the highland areas near Bamenda, including Mt. Oku, Cameroon, as well as the Obudu and Mambilla Plateaus of eastern Nigeria. The known distribution suggests that it may eventually also be found throughout the Acha-Tugi Ridge that traverses the Cameroon–Nigeria border. More than 40 years ago, a specimen from one of these populations was recognized as probably representing a new species, but no further work was published on this material. We posit that the taxonomy of this new species has proven problematic because of morphological similarity to Arthroleptis poecilonotus. Although in some ways resembling A. poecilonotus, a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial gene sequence data demonstrates that the new species is not closely related to A. poecilonotus and, instead, forms a clade with A. krokosua, A. perreti, and A. variabilis. The new species is diagnosable by the combination of medium–small body size (24–29 mm snout–vent length in adult females), the color patterns of the venter and head, and a relatively stout hindlimb with a prominent inner metatarsal tubercle. The description of this new species further highlights these mountains as an important region of endemism within the Cameroon Volcanic Line.

I describe a new species of Riama from the Pacific versant of the Andes in extreme southwestern Colombia. Among the species of Riama, the new species most resembles R. vieta, with which it shares rugose dorsal and ventral scales. Unlike R. vieta, the new species has three postoculars and males lack heavy black spots dorsally and black bands ventrally. Males of the new species have seven to eight femoral pores per leg (total number 14–15) and two scales between the femoral pores (anterior cloacal plate scales paired).

Intra- and interpopulational variation in the morphology of Ptychoglossus brevifrontalis Boulenger, 1912 were studied. Differences in scale counts and morphometric traits among populations and between sexes are evaluated and described. Sexual dimorphism is evident in number of precloacal and femoral pores, and to a lesser degree in body elongation. Hemipenial morphology is briefly discussed. Ptychoglossus nicefori (Loveridge, 1929) is again considered a junior synonym of P. brevifrontalis. Brief comments on the species taxonomy are provided.