Infection by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was detected in a male Bufo longinasus dunni, a small toad endemic to central Cuba. The individual was severely infected and in decaying condition. Sections of the skin were examined through standard histological procedures. Several stages of the fungus were confirmed and are illustrated in this contribution. Implications for amphibian conservation in Cuba are discussed.
Epithelioid hemangioma (EH) is a rare benign vascular lesion, characterized by endothelial cells with epithelioid/histiocytoid appearance. Heart involvement is extremely rare. We present an unusual case of cardiac EH in a young woman with supraventricular arrhythmia, nephrotic syndrome (membranous glomerulopathy), and peripheral eosinophilia after a pregnancy and normal partum resembling Kimura disease. Echocardiogram showed a large tumor mass in the right cardiac ventricle. The cardiac tumor was removed and the histopathology revealed an endothelial proliferation associated with abundant eosinophils. The neoplastic endothelial cells were eosinophilic and polygonal with epithelioid/histiocytoid morphology. Lymphoid nodules were occasionally seen. The neoplastic cells were positive for CD34, CD31, ERG, and factor VIII and negative for CK. A diagnosis of EH was rendered. The patient was alive and well after surgical resection. EH and Kimura disease represent separate entities, but clinical and/or histological overlapping can be observed. Epithelioid/histiocytoid endothelial cells constitute the hallmark feature that favors a final diagnosis of EH.
Hispaniolan hylid frogs are represented by four endemic species: Hypsiboas heilprini, Osteopilus dominicensis, O. pulchrilineatus and O. vastus. There are two tadpole ecomorphs represented in the hylid frogs of Hispaniola: lentic (O. dominicensis and O. pulchrilineatus) and lotic (H. heilprini and O. vastus). Tadpoles of the four species may be found sympatrically, but in different microhabitats. Hispaniolan hylid tadpoles reach a moderate size (up to 57 mm in total length is recorded in H. heilprini), and differ from those of Peltophryne, Rhinella, Leptodactylus and Lithobates (the other genera with free-living larvae present on the island), by having the oral discs not emarginated and, from the first three taxa, by a dextral vent opening. Oral deformities observed in most tadpoles of H. heilprini from Ébano Verde, Cordillera Central, were caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. An identification key is also provided.
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