Amphibians in Zootaxa: 20 years documenting the global diversity of frogs, salamanders, and caecilians

Abstract

Zootaxa is a mega-journal that since its inception, 20 years ago, has contributed to the documentation of the planet’s biodiversity. Its role concerning terrestrial vertebrates has been crucial especially for amphibians, which are the most threatened class of vertebrates. As current editors of the Amphibia section, we reviewed the state of knowledge of taxonomic publications on amphibians over the last two decades (from 2001 to 2020). Our review reveals that 2,533 frogs, 259 salamanders, and 55 caecilians have been named in these 20 years, mainly in the tropical regions of South America, Asia, and Africa. More than half (57%) of these species descriptions were published in only 10 journals. At least 827 species of the new amphibians (29% of the total) were described in Zootaxa. This mega-journal has served also as a place of publication for monographs and systematic reviews, in addition to short articles documenting the vocalizations of anurans and the morphology of embryos and larvae. Its efficient evaluation process, the freedom of manuscript length, including full-color figures, and free of cost for the authors, has made Zootaxa a favorite for amphibian researchers. In an era of accelerating rates of biodiversity loss, documenting, describing, naming, and proposing evolutionary scenarios for species is, more than ever, an urgent task.

Tadpole soup: Chinantec caldo de piedra and behavior of Duellmanohyla ignicolor larvae (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae)

“…Finally, we consider that the recent increase in studies on larval stages ( Rivera-Correa et al 2021 ) is of vital importance for the conservation of amphibians. A broader knowledge of biology, behavior, and the natural history of adult and larval stages ( Malagoli et al 2021 ) should allow the design of appropriate conservation measures for organisms with complex life cycles like amphibians.…”

Ecological Civilisation and Amphibian Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs (RBCs)

“…The highest amphibian diversities are found in regions with long geological periods, amenable climates, and varied geomorphology, including the isolating mechanisms of islands, mountains, and watersheds to promote speciation [43,44]. In 2023, the Amphib-iaWeb database catalogued 8713 amphibian species.…”

“…The ranges of the three orders of amphibians, anurans (frogs and toads), salamanders (Caudata), and caecilians (Gymnophiona) are not sympatric. Major biogeographical areas with high anuran diversity include Southeast Asia, Africa, Southeast North America, and Central and South America [43][44][45], with most new species discoveries in the tropical regions of South America, India/Asia, Indo-Pacific, and Africa [44]. Salamanders and caecilians are more restricted in distribution than anurans.…”

Two new species of Allobates of the trilineatus clade (Anura: Aromobatidae) from the Eastern Guiana Shield

“…Vacher et al 2020) and the fast pace of species description in the region (e.g. Guerra et al 2020;Rivera-Correa et al 2021).…”