棘腹蛙生物学特性及资源保护研究进展

棘腹蛙(Quasipaaboulengeri)是无尾目(Anura)叉舌蛙科(Dicroglossidae)棘胸蛙属的两栖动物。因其以农业和森林害虫为食且对生存环境要求高的特点,故有保护和监测环境的生态功能。但由于生态环境恶化和过度捕捉等原因,造成野生棘腹蛙数量急剧下降,被《中国脊椎动物红色名录》列为易危种。本文从棘腹蛙的习性、生存环境特征、系统进化、人工养殖和资源保护等方面进行了综述,为进一步研究棘腹蛙提供基础资料和理论依据。     

Commensalism between cichlid fishes through differential tolerance of guarding parents toward intruders

In the shallow waters of Lake Tanganyika, a benthic cichlid Xenotilapia boulengeri rests in a cluster around the nesting sites of substrate-brooding cichlids Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus and L. elongatus . Experimental removal of parent Lepidiolamprologus guarding free-swimming young drastically reduced the number of X. boulengeri around these nesting sites within a few days, suggesting that their presence has a positive effect on attracting X. boulengeri . Xenotilapia boulengeri were less frequently disturbed by the scale-eating cichlids Perissodus microlepis and Plecodus straeleni when they remained near nesting sites of these species than when stayed away. This was attributed to the territorial behaviour of guarding parents who drove away scale-eaters at greater distances, while allowing X. boulengeri , harmless to their young, to approach the nesting site. It is concluded that a clumped distribution of X. boulengeri results from differential tolerance of breeding parents toward intruders that produces a safety zone from scale-eaters.     

湖南壶瓶山国家级自然保护区棘腹蛙种群初探

2004年5～10月,在湖南壶瓶山国家级自然保护区,采用标志-重捕法对棘腹蛙种群进行了初步的研究.结果发现,棘腹蛙种群在一年之内的种群变化呈“∧”形,即从出蛰到繁殖高峰期呈上升趋势;高峰期后由于气温、人类的捕捉、洪水等的影响呈下降趋势,同时分析了种群数与海拔、生境等因素的关系.     

Structure and projected decline of a Karoo dwarf tortoise population

Inconspicuous, secretive, or sparsely distributed species receive relatively little research attention, potentially leading to uncertainty about their status and lack of efforts to conserve them. Karoo dwarf tortoises (Chersobius boulengeri) are endemic to South Africa, spend most of the time in retreats at remote arid locations, and are seldom seen. We conducted a 3-year (2018–2020) mark-recapture study to investigate the size and structure of the only Karoo dwarf tortoise population currently known to exist. The population in the 16-ha core of our study site consisted primarily of adult males and females, at a density of 3.3 individuals/ha. Many individuals had severely worn shells and appeared old. Small individuals (straight carapace length <65 mm) represented just 8% of the population and were mostly recent hatchlings. Overall, tortoises had high estimated survival rates (0.77–0.95; lower 95% confidence limit for the smallest tortoises was 0.16), despite a 15-month drought. The lack of small individuals may reflect low levels of recruitment and population decline. Predation by corvids was an obvious threat to all size classes. We estimated that the local population across the 250-ha study area was 800–900 males and females, and recommend precautionary conservation measures focused on reducing human-subsidized avian predation.     

Rivers as barriers for high elevation amphibians: a phylogeographic analysis of the alpine stream frog of the Hengduan Mountains

At high altitude, rivers may function as barriers for amphibians. We examined 21 populations of Scutiger boulengeri from the Hengduan Mountains with 1038 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. The haplotypes of S. boulengeri formed three clades on the gene tree, and each clade was restricted to one mountain ridge separated by two major river systems, the Yalong River and the Dadu River. The vicariant pattern of the gene tree suggests that these rivers functioned as effective barriers during population differentiation. On the other hand, mountain ridges may have facilitated amphibian movement. Populations within the uninterrupted mountain ranges of clades II and III, revealed little genetic structure. The northern clade I, harboured a substantial amount of genetic variation, which might be the consequence of the rugged terrain and heterogeneous habitat of this area. Furthermore, one outgroup species, Scutiger glandulatus , formed the fourth clade and nested within S. boulengeri , suggesting that S. boulengeri is likely a paraphyletic species or a species complex.     

棘腹蛙消化道脂肪酶的分布及pH和温度对脂肪酶活力的影响

采用聚乙烯醇橄榄油乳化液水解法,测定了棘腹蛙消化道不同部位的脂肪酶活力,研究了pH和温度对脂肪酶活力的影响。结果显示,棘腹蛙消化道不同部位脂肪酶活力依次为回肠>直肠>十二指肠>胃>食道。pH和温度显著影响脂肪酶的活力,二者对脂肪酶活力影响的关系曲线均呈现为单峰型,食道、胃和肠道脂肪酶活力的最适pH值分别为5.0、5.0和7.5,最适温度均为35℃。     

棘腹蛙肌肉嫩度及营养成分的初步分析

本文对棘腹蛙与牛蛙的肌肉嫩度作了比较,并测定了棘腹蛙肌肉的营养成分,且与甲鱼和田鸡的相应成分作了对照分析。结果表明,棘腹蛙肉质细嫩、营养价值高、风味较好,具有开发养殖前景。     

Hybridization could be a common phenomenon within the highly diverse lizard genus Liolaemus

Hybridization is likely to occur more often between closely related taxa that have had insufficient time to diverge to the point of reproductive incompatibility; hybridization between deeply divergent lineages is rare. In squamate reptiles, hybridization has been proposed as a possible explanation for the extensive paraphyly observed in mitochondrial gene trees in several species complexes of the South American lizard genus Liolaemus. One of the best‐documented cases is within the L. boulengeri and L. rothi complexes, which diverged ~5.5 million years ago. Here, we describe a comprehensive study for approaching the hybridization hypothesis between these lizard species complexes. We explored the level of gene tree discordance using the novel ‘extra lineage contribution’ statistics (XLC, presented in this study) that quantifies the level of gene tree discordance contribution per individual within a species. We included molecular data (12 nuclear and two mitochondrial genes) from 127 individuals, and results of a coalescent model‐based analysis show that the most likely explanation for the gene tree‐species tree discordance is interspecific hybridization. Our best‐supported hypothesis suggests current and past hybridization between L. rothi (rothi complex) and L. tehuelche (boulengeri complex), and independently between L. rothi and L. boulengeri and L. telsen (boulengeri complex). The hybrid descendants are characterized by intermediate phenotypes between the parental species, but are more similar to L. rothi in body size. We discuss the possible role of hybridization in Liolaemus evolution.     

广东省发现尖喙蛇

2016年9月2日,在广东省云浮市新兴县采集到蛇类标本3号(2♂,1♀),经鉴定为尖喙蛇(Rhynchophis boulengeri),为广东省爬行动物新纪录。标本保存在广东省生物资源应用研究所。     

棘腹蛙血液内利川锥虫生活史的研究

利川锥虫（ＴｒｙｐａｎｏｓｏｍａｌｉｃｈｕａｎｅｎｓｉｓＬｉ）寄生在棘腹蛙血液内。虫体波动膜明显。鞭毛较粗,一般不伸出体外形成游离的鞭毛。感染试验表明其中间宿主是绿蛙蛭（ＢａｔｒａｃｏｂｄｅｌｌａｐａｌｕｄｏｓａＣａｒｅｎａ）。虫体在绿蛙蛭嗉囊的上皮细胞内进行裂配生殖或假包囊,产生许多无鞭体、前鞭体和锥虫体等不同发育时期。前鞭体的超微结构特点是：虫体表膜较厚,表膜下微管管壁较厚,线粒体较多,卵圆或长椭圆形,隆嵴不明显。未见高尔基体,内质网很少,不易观察到。胞质中有３—５颗或更多、多角形至圆形,较大的色素体。