Thy Neang

Is Chytridiomycosis an Emerging Infectious Disease in Asia

The disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has caused dramatic amphibian population declines and extinctions in Australia, Central and North America, and Europe. Bd is associated with >200 species extinctions of amphibians, but not all species that become infected are susceptible to the disease. Specifically, Bd has rapidly emerged in some areas of the world, such as in Australia, USA, and throughout Central and South America, causing population and species collapse. The mechanism behind the rapid global emergence of the disease is poorly understood, in part due to an incomplete picture of the global distribution of Bd. At present, there is a considerable amount of geographic bias in survey effort for Bd, with Asia being the most neglected continent. To date, Bd surveys have been published for few Asian countries, and infected amphibians have been reported only from Indonesia, South Korea, China and Japan. Thus far, there have been no substantiated reports of enigmatic or suspected disease-caused population declines of the kind that has been attributed to Bd in other areas. In order to gain a more detailed picture of the distribution of Bd in Asia, we undertook a widespread, opportunistic survey of over 3,000 amphibians for Bd throughout Asia and adjoining Papua New Guinea. Survey sites spanned 15 countries, approximately 36° latitude, 111° longitude, and over 2000 m in elevation. Bd prevalence was very low throughout our survey area (2.35% overall) and infected animals were not clumped as would be expected in epizootic events. This suggests that Bd is either newly emerging in Asia, endemic at low prevalence, or that some other ecological factor is preventing Bd from fully invading Asian amphibians. The current observed pattern in Asia differs from that in many other parts of the world.

A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Vietnam and Cambodia.

We describe a new, medium-sized Leptolalax species from the Kon Tum Plateau of Vietnam and adjacent Cambodia. Leptolalax isos sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of an absence of distinct dark brown/black dorsolateral markings; toes with rudimentary webbing, wide lateral dermal fringes in males and weak or absent lateral dermal fringes in females; most males with wide lateral dermal fringes on Finger II, a body size of 23.7-27.9 mm in 38 adult males and 28.6-31.5 mm in 9 adult females, near immaculate white chest and belly; absence of white speckling on the dorsum; and a call consisting of 2-3 notes with a dominant frequency of 5.9-6.2 kHz (at 22.4-22.8º C). Uncorrected sequence divergences between L. isos sp. nov. and all homologous 16S rRNA sequences available are >10%. At present, the new species is known from montane evergreen forest between ~650-1100 m elevation in northeastern Cambodia and central Vietnam. Habitat within the range of the new species is threatened by deforestation and upstream hydroelectric dams.

New Ichthyophis species from Indochina (Gymnophiona, Ichthyophiidae): 1. The unstriped forms with descriptions of three new species and the redescriptions of I. acuminatus Taylor, 1960, I. youngorum Taylor, 1960 and I. laosensis Taylor, 1969

Caecilians of the genus Ichthyophis Fitzinger, 1826 are among the most poorly known amphibian taxa within Southeast Asia. Populations of Ichthyophis from the Indochina region (comprising Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) have been assigned to five taxa: Ichthyophis acuminatus, Ichthyophis bannanicus, Ichthyophis kohtaoensis, Ichthyophis laosensis, and Ichthyophis nguyenorum. Barcoding of recently collected specimens indicates that Indochinese congeners form a clade that includes several morphologically and genetically distinct but yet undescribed species. Although body coloration is supported by the molecular analyses as a diagnostic character at species level, unstriped forms are paraphyletic with respect to striped Ichthyophis. Based on our morphological and molecular analyses, three distinct unstriped ichthyophiid species, Ichthyophis cardamomensis sp. nov. from western Cambodia, Ichthyophis catlocensis sp. nov. from southern Vietnam, and Ichthyophis chaloensis sp. nov. from central Vietnam are described as new herein, almost doubling the number of Ichthyophis species known from the Indochinese region. All three new species differ from their unstriped congeners in a combination of morphological and molecular traits. In addition, redescriptions of three unstriped Ichthyophis species (Ichthyophis acuminatus, I. laosensis, I. youngorum) from Indochina and adjacent Thailand are provided.

A new species of wolf snake (Colubridae: Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826) from Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia

A new species of the genus Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 is described from the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia. Lycodon zoosvictoriae distinctly differs from all other species of Lycodon in Southeast Asia by a combination of its morphometric characters and unique coloration. The new species has 17 dorsal scales at midbody; 2+2 temporals; 8 supralabials; 10 infralabials; loreal separated from internasal and orbit; 213 ventrals; 85 subcaudals; pale tan brown ground color; irregular dark brown blotches on anterior part, 31 transverse blotches on posterior part of body and 26 blotches on tail. Given its submontane type locality, the new species could prove to be endemic to the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia and probably Southeast Thailand.

Figure 9 In A New Limnonectes (Anura: Dicroglossidae) From Southern Laos

FIGURE 9. Dorsal views in preservative of males (A) of L. kohchangae (left, NCSM 79541) and L. coffeatus sp. nov. (right, holotype NCSM 77788) and females (B) of L. kohchangae (left, NCSM 79542) and L. coffeatus sp. nov. (right, paratype NCSM 77787).