The sacro-urostylic region of anurans, which consists of a single sacral vertebra and a rodlike urostyle, is one of the most unusual specializations of the group and seems to have appeared concomitant with their origin and the move toward saltation. The ontogeny of the sacro-urostylic region follows two different pathways. In some taxa, the anterior end of the hypochord (ventral, unsegmented structure of the urostyle) never exceeds to the level of the anterior end of Postsacral Vertebra 1, whereas in others it extends anteriorly to the level of the sacrum. Thus, as the hypochord migrates dorsally during metamorphosis, it either fuses to the overlying Postsacral 1 or to the sacrum. In the first developmental mode, the adult morphology consists of an articulating sacrum and urostyle, as in the jumping frogs Acris crepitans and Discoglossus sardus. In the second developmental mode, the adult morphology results in a fused sacrum and urostyle, which is characteristic of the hopping-burrowing Spea multiplicata and the aquatic Xenopus laevis. The articulation between the sacrum and urostyle constitutes the best joint for saltatorial locomotion, whereas the loss of mobility between these two elements seems to increase stability for digging and swimming. Further rigidity in the sacro-urostylic complex is achieved by fusion of additional vertebrae to the sacrum and urostyle to form a synsacrum, as in the aquatic Hymenochirus curtipes, and may represent an adaptive trait for maintaining the body straight during swimming.

Anew species, belonging to the clade of Hypsiboas polytaenius, is described from the region of Veredas de Botumirim (17°07′S, 43°02′W, 659 m altitude), Municipality of Botumirim, State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. The new species is characterized by its medium size (CRA 25.9–31.8 mm in males; 33.6 mm in female), head width about 27% of SVL, snout rounded in dorsal and lateral views, supra-cloacal crest and calcar absent, fingers with developed discs, similar to toe discs, webbing poorly developed between fingers, moderately developed between toes, and dorsal color pattern composed of four longitudinal pale brown stripes, separated by three narrow dark brown stripes, each pale brown stripe having dark brown longitudinal lines.

Anew species of Paratelmatobius is described from Parque das Neblinas at Serra do Mar in Bertioga Municipality, State of São Paulo, Brazil. The new species, included in the P. cardosoi species group, is diagnosed by its larger size among the species of the group; tympanum visible externally; vocal slits present in males; presence of tubercles on the upper eyelid; well developed tubercle at base of mandible; dorsolateral fold developed; large black spinous nuptial pad on thumb in males; first finger longer than second; belly, ventral surface of arm and forearm, and external margin of throat blotched with orange-reddish spots.

The advertisement call of Chiasmocleis bassleri is described from Aripuanã, northwestern State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The call consists of many short multipulsed notes (3 to 6 pulses), emitted sporadically, with a mean duration of 0.059 s, the dominant frequency presenting a mean value of 3268.66 Hz, and interval between notes 0.042 s to 0.128 s. The acoustic parameters in the advertisement call of C. bassleri are intermediate among the calls described for other species in the genus.

The home range is the space used by individuals to carry out their life cycles. The Sand dune lizard (Liolaemus multimaculatus) is a vulnerable species, endemic to the pampas coasts of Buenos Aires and Río Negro Provinces in Argentina. The aim of this work was to assess home range size and overlap of the Sand dune lizard. The study was carried out at Mar Chiquita Provincial Reserve. Home range and overlap were calculated using the minimum convex polygon method. The mean ±SD home range size for all individuals was 45.90 ± 74.37 m² and no differences were observed between males and females (p = 0.49). However, an analysis without outlier individuals showed more accurate values for females (21.31 ± 17.59 m²) and males (33.52 ± 24.62 m²), and differences between sex were observed (p = 0.04). The relationship between body size and home range size was not significant (p = 0.41). Home range overlap was high (22 to 58%; Fig. 2) and did not show differences between males and females (p > 0.05 in all cases). Our results showed some similarities with the Brazilian sand lizard (Liolaemus lutzae) in which home range value is only up to 1.5 units higher than in L. multimaculatus. Further studies about this species' social system are necessary to understand the observed patterns.

Bokermmanohyla saxicola is endemic to the Espinhaço Mountain Range (southeastern Brazil), and broadly distributed in montane meadows of the Serra do Cipó. Four microsatellite regions were located through genomic library screening for this frog, two of which were chosen for population structure analyses given their high variability levels (10–11 alleles assayed in 75 tadpoles from five different streams). Overall F_st was 0.056, and the studied demes fitted isolation by distance model expectations, but the increase of F_st values was unrelated to increases in geographic distance, as it would be expected in drift-gene flow equilibrium conditions. Microsatellite markers revealed lack of pairwise genetic differentiation in spatially close demes and also in some distant ones, a pattern that may be caused by the combination of limited migration ability and past event effects contingent upon suitable habitat conditions for frog movement.

Allometry for sexual size dimorphism (SSD) occurs when the degree of SSD varies with overall body size and is common in animals, including lizards. Previous reviews of allometry for SSD showed ‘Iguanid’ lizards to be comprised of mostly malelarger species which showed weak and statistically non-significant allometry for SSD. Beta-anoles (or Norops) are better suited for analysis, however, because they show extensive, up-to-date phylogenetic support, and presumably share certain ecological and life history traits. Here, I use phylogenetically independent contrasts of log male and log female size to assess allometry for SSD in 23 species of mainland anoles. The species of Norops measured here showed mixed-bias SSD (i.e., both male-larger and female-larger species) and the degree of SSD varied considerably. The slope of MA regression (and its 95% confidence interval) indicated that Norops showed isometry and did not exhibit allometry consistent with Rensch's Rule. Moreover, a pairwise t-test of independent contrasts showed that divergence in body size between male-biased and female-biased species did not significantly differ, further indicating that there was no significant allometric relationship. Lastly, SSD did not regress significantly with overall body size. However, the phylogenetic tree analyzed showed mild but significant phylogenetic signal, and underscores previous suggestions to test for phylogenetic signal and take phylogenetic relationships into account when signal is significant. Some possible explanations for evolution of SSD in mainland anoles are briefly discussed.

The study of space use may help us investigate the reproductive strategies being used by males and females of a particular species. In a two-year study, home range sizes were recorded in the lizard Liolaemus quilmes, comparing males and females (n = 52 for each sex), by season and by year. Males had significantly larger annual home ranges than females. They also showed greater variability in home range sizes from one year to another, particularly during the reproductive season. When home range size in males was correlated to the number of females within those areas, during the reproductive season, significantly more females were found in larger-sized home ranges, whereas no significant correlation was found during the post-reproductive season, when home ranges of males were smaller. When home range size of males was correlated to their snout-vent lengths and weights, no significant correlation was found. Males that occupied smaller areas and overlapped with fewer females, may suggest a mate-guarding type strategy, tending toward monogamy. Males that occupied larger areas, overlapping with more females, may be tending toward a polygynous strategy. Female home ranges, on the other hand, remained stable throughout the study except for a tendency to be larger during the post-reproductive than during the reproductive season. This suggests that food availability during their post-oviposition recovery period could be more important than number of males.

A new specimen referable to Boiruna cf. B. maculata from a Lower-Mid Pleistocene locality in Ramallo, Buenos Aires, Argentina is described, representing the first fossil record of this genus. This specimen is referred to this living genus on the basis of the following features: robust supratemporal bone very wide at mid-length; subcentral process of the basioccipital with three well-developed subequal projections forming a wide, flat, posteriorly indented surface; lymphatic fossae of trunk vertebrae wide and deep, with well developed subcentral ridges; and third cloacal vertebra with anteroposteriorly extended neural spine, amongst others. This record is outside the current geographical range of the species of this genus, indicating warmer environmental conditions at the end of the Ensenadan age in Buenos Aires province. As in other continents, the South American fossil Pleistocene record indicates that Pleistocene extinctions affected mainly (and perhaps only) large reptiles.

The molecular DNA variation among Salamandra infraimmaculata larvae populations, representing eight breeding sites in Israel, was studied. Samples from larvae were analyzed by sequence analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b fragment and D-loop regions (GenBank accession nos. EU852723–EU852738). A neighbor-joining analysis had an optimal arrangement with a branch length sum of 0.00652338. The genetic distances, which were computed by the maximum composite likelihood method and which are presented as the number of base substitutions per site, demonstrated that there are two sub-populations. One consists of larvae from unpredictable breeding sites, of which most are winter ponds, and the other one includes populations from perennial water sources, mostly streams and springs.

We determined microhabitat and diet niche for tadpoles from two ponds in an agricultural landscape. Additionally, we verified the intraspecific variation in resource use, and if diet and microhabitat use were correlated. Tadpoles found in the two ponds differed in microhabitat use, because in the larger pond they explored deeper places far from the margin. There were three groups with high microhabitat niche overlap. In both ponds, plant cover was the best descriptor to explain interspecific variation in microhabitat use. Tadpoles of all species ingested mainly Bacillariophyceae and Trachellomonas however the diet differed intraspecifically in the species from the two ponds. Ten items in the temporary pond and 15 items in the permanent one were ingested by all species; however, the relative abundance of each item differed. Diet similarity was not correlated to similarity in microhabitat use. In this study, diet was as important as microhabitat use to explain resource partitioning.

Based on the stomach content analysis of 113 individuals, the diet of the invasive amphibian Lithobates catesbeianus (American Bullfrog) was examined in four sites located within the municipality of Viçosa (20°45′S and 42°51′W), state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from August 2005 to March 2007. The effects of frog size and sexual maturity on stomach contents were determined. Prey items were grouped according to their primary habitat, being classified as aquatic, terrestrial and amphibious. In general, the most frequent prey categories were post-metamorphic Anura, Diplopoda, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera Formicidae and Araneae. The diet of adults of both sexes was similar, but differed from the diet of young frogs. Terrestrial prey were most abundant both in number and occurrence. For adult Bullfrogs, amphibious prey were most significant in volume. There was a significant correlation between prey and predator sizes, as well as a greater consumption of native anurans by larger Bullfrogs. The results confirmed that Bullfrogs have a generalist feeding habit that can have important negative effects on native amphibian communities in environments occupied by this invasive species.

The Dendropsophus marmoratus group is composed of eight species known for their explosive breeding habits and morphologically characterized by a bark-like dorsum, warty skin around the lower lips and an extremely large vocal sac. Within this group, D. nahdereri is the only species with distribution restricted to the southern region of Brazil. Apart from the original description and its tadpole, nothing else is known about this species. Using a mechanistic definition of note, we describe the advertisement call of D. nahdereri, which is similar to the advertisement calls of other species of the group and frequently has “final pulseclusters” as defined in the text.