A New Frog from Palestine

Mendelssohn, H.; Steinitz, H.

doi:10.2307/1438135

Cited by 22 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Red points denote sites where eDNA of the Hula painted frog was detected and yellow points are sites without detection. The black star denotes the location of initial discovery by Mendelssohn and Steinitz (). (a) Classification map of the habitats during the 1940s (when the Hula painted frog was first discovered); (b) current classification map of the habitats [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used a high-resolution aerial photograph to classify the current habitats of the region where the samples were found (Figure 1b). This region had undergone severe habitat modifications over the past 75 years, since the initial discovery of the Hula painted frog (Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943), and we therefore attempted also to classify the habitats of this region in the 1940s (Figure 1a). We used the same nine landscape category types to classify the entire landscape for both current and past habitats.…”

Section: Classification Modelling Of Edna Presence/ Absence Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Living quarters of a living fossil—Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA

et al. 2017

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One of the greatest challenges of effective conservation measures is the correct identification of sites where rare and elusive organisms reside. The recently rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) has not been seen for many decades and was therefore categorized extinct. Since its rediscovery in 2011, individuals from the critically endangered species have been found, with great effort, only in four restricted sites. We applied the environmental DNA (eDNA) approach to search for new populations of the Hula painted frog in suitable aquatic habitats. We further used the eDNA data to classify the landscape factors associated with the species distribution and to predict its suitable habitats. We sampled 52 aquatic sites in the Hula Valley during the spring of 2015 and 2016 and amplified the samples with a species-specific qPCR assay. DNA of the Hula painted frog was detected in 22 of the sites, all of which clustered within three main areas. A boosting classification model showed that soil type, vegetation cover and the current and former habitats are all key predictors of the frog's current distribution. Intriguingly, the habitat suitability models reveal a high affinity of the species to its long-lost habitat of the historical wetlands. Our findings encourage a series of informed searches for new populations of this threatened frog and provide guidance for future conservation management programmes. In the era of global conservation crisis of amphibians, developing the eDNA approach, a reliable detection method for many critically endangered and elusive amphibians, is of particular importance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Classification Modelling Of Edna Presence/ Absence Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Living quarters of a living fossil—Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA

et al. 2017

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“…Latonia was long deemed to have gone extinct during the Pleistocene (Delfino, 2002;Böhme and Ilg, 2003). Recently, Biton et al (2013) attributed the extant Discoglossus nigriventer Mendelssohn and Steinitz, 1943, which is endemic to the Hula Valley of northern Israel, to the "fossil" genus Latonia. However, extant and fossil representatives of Latonia differ significantly with regard to the ornamentation of the facies dorsalis.…”

Section: Palaeoecological and Palaeogeographical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Pleistocene freshwater communities and rodents from the Pasinler Basin (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey)

Vasilyan¹,

Schneider²,

Bayraktutan³

et al. 2014

Turkish J Earth Sci

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“…In August 1940, two tadpoles were recovered close to the same spot (Mendelssohn and Steinitz, ). The species was initially described as Discoglossus nigriventer by Mendelssohn and Steinitz (). Later, another specimen was found on the shores of the lake (Steinitz, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Osteological Observations on the Alytid Anura Latonia nigriventer with Comments on Functional Morphology, Biogeography, and Evolutionary History

Biton

Boistel

Rabinovich

et al. 2016

Journal of Morphology

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The Hula Painted Frog (Latonia nigriventer) is a rare frog species endemic to the Hula Valley, Israel. The species is the sole relict of a clade that was widespread mainly in Europe from the Oligocene until the beginning of the Pleistocene. The osteological characteristics of L. nigriventer are described based on X-ray microtomography scans of extant specimens and Pleistocene bones from the Hula Valley, to elucidate the evolutionary history of Alytidae and more specifically of Latonia. Based on the osteological description of L. nigriventer, we now better understand the differences, between Latonia and its sister taxon Discoglossus. They differ mainly in their cranial structure with the reinforced skull of Latonia having powerful jaws. Latonia nigriventer can achieve great force while closing its jaws, due to increased adductor muscle insertion surfaces as expressed by the presence of an additional paracoronoid process and an enlarged upper margin of the postero-lateral wall of the lower jaw. In addition, a wider pterygoid fossa and higher canthus postero-lateralis of the frontoparietal, compared to that of Discoglossus, also suggest the presence of well-developed adductor muscles. Furthermore, L. nigriventer have particularly strong skulls as expressed by: long articulations between different skull elements, interdigitation in the contact area between the nasals and between nasals and the frontoparietals, and fused frontoparietals. Both males and females L. nigriventer have very robust forelimbs, as indicated by well-developed medial crests of the humerus. Based on limited eastern Mediterranean paleontological data, we can only suspect that the dispersal of Latonia into the Levant from Asia Minor occurred at some point during the Miocene or later. The first appearance of L. nigriventer in the Hula Valley, its current habitat, dates to approximately 780 thousand years ago at the archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov. J. Morphol. 277:1131-1145, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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A New Frog from Palestine

Cited by 22 publications

References 0 publications

Living quarters of a living fossil—Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA

Living quarters of a living fossil—Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA

Early Pleistocene freshwater communities and rodents from the Pasinler Basin (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey)

Osteological Observations on the Alytid Anura Latonia nigriventer with Comments on Functional Morphology, Biogeography, and Evolutionary History

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