Digest: Frog spots show broken receptors might work harder*

Posso‐Terranova and Andrés (2017) used harlequin poison frogs to investigate the genetic basis of pigmentation evolution and variation. Using a candidate gene approach, they clearly delimited the origins and distribution of MC1R haplotypes and associated them with key pigmentation phenotypes on multiple levels. They demonstrated that MC1R‐related cellular phenotypes and associated protein truncations evolved at least twice to produce dark dorsal skin colors in different clades.