Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders

About this book

Offering a state-of-the-art overview of plethodontid salamanders, this text provides an understanding of many aspects of the evolution, systematics, development, morphology, life history, ecology, and field methodology of these animals. Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders is divided into three sections. The first one features papers presented in honour of Richard Highton, a specialist in molecular systematics and speciation in plethodontids. This section, therefore, deals with amphibian systematics. The second section presents topics in evolutionary and comparative biology of plethodontids, and thus reflects the diversity of research on plethodontid salamanders. Finally, the third section presents topics in behavioural ecology of small Plethodon (mainly P. cinereus), illustrating the usefulness of the smaller species of Plethodon as model organisms for investigation of a wide range of questions in behavioural ecology.

Contents

Partial contents:

Symposium in Honor of Professor Richard Highton

1. Points of View on Defining and Naming Species of Plethodontid Salamanders: A Symposium in Honor of Professor Richard Highton; R.G. Jaeger
2. Species; D. Frost
3. Geographic Protein Variation and Speciation in Salamanders of the Plethodon jordani and Plethodon glutinosus complexes in the Southern Appalachian Mountains with the Description of Four New Species; R. Highton, R.B. Peabody
4. Detecting Species Borders Using Diverse Data Sets: Examples from Plethodontid Salamanders in California; D.B. Wake, E.L. Jockusch
5. The Systematics of Desmognathus imitator; S.G. Tilley
6. Species Boundaries and Species Diversity in the Central Texas Hemidactyliine Plethodontid Salamanders, Genus Eurycea; P.T. Chippindale
7. Systematics at the Turn of a Century; S.J. Arnold. Evolutionary and Comparative Biology of Plethodontids
8. Ethological Isolation and Variation in Allozymes and Dorsolateral Pattern between Parapatric Forms in the Desmognathus ochrophaeus Complex; L.S. Mead, S.G. Tilley
9. Phylogenetic Relationships within the Lowland Tropical Salamanders of the Bolitoglossa mexicana Complex (Amphibia: Plethodontidae); M. Garcia-Paris, et al.
10. Detecting Cryptic Species Using Allozyme Data; R. Highton
11. Sexual Size Dimorphism in the Plethodontidae; R.C. Bruce
12. Skull Development in Two Plethodontid Salamanders (Genus Desmognathus) with Different Life Histories; S.B. Marks
 

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