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Ability, equity, and culture: Sustaining inclusive urban education reform, edited by Kozleski and Thorius (2014), is a remarkable compilation of work, written by a diverse ensemble of educators, researchers, practitioners, and advocates. A thought-provoking book that looks critically at urban education reform, the authors challenge readers to have a broader understanding of what the term inclusivity entails. The editors present the work of 17 authors who were all part of the National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI). These authors shed light on various aspects of systemic urban reform in policy, pedagogy, and practice. Issues discussed ranged from the micro to the macro change initiatives to classroom environments and district culture, as well as successful models of student-centered programs around the country. Using data from 12 years of research conducted under the sponsorship of NIUSI, the contributors paint a hopeful, if daunting, a portrait of what equitable, inclusive, and culturally responsive education should and could look like. Ultimately, the contributors of this book believe that sustainable, scalable, successful systemic educational reform is attainable, provided that all stakeholders are committed to cultural responsivity and inclusivity for all students. In order to achieve this goal, the authors posit that reform needs to combat discrimination based on socially constructed notions of difference, such as gender, race, ethnicity, ability, class, and sexual orientation.

The small size and apparent external morphological similarity of the minute salamanders of the genus Thorius have long hindered evolutionary studies of the group. We estimate gene and species trees within the genus using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from nearly all named and many candidate species and find three main clades. We use this phylogenetic hypothesis to examine patterns of morphological evolution and species coexistence across central and southern Mexico and to test alternative hypotheses of lineage divergence with and without ecomor- phological divergence. Sympatric species differ in body size more than expected after accounting for phylogenetic relationship, and morphological traits show no significant phylogenetic signal. Sympatric species tend to differ in a combination of body size, presence or absence of maxillary teeth, and relative limb or tail length, even when they are close relatives. Sister species of Thorius tend to occupy climatically similar environments, which suggests that divergence across climatic gradients does not drive species formation in the genus. Rather than being an example of cryptic species formation, Thorius more closely resembles an adaptive radiation, with ecomorphological divergence that is bounded by organism-level constraints. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109, 622-643. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: biogeography - diversification - morphology - phylogeny - species formation - systematics.

We describe three new species of minute salamanders, genus Thorius, from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. Until now only a single species, T. minutissimus, has been reported from this region, although molecular data have long shown extensive genetic differentiation among geographically disjunct populations. Adult Thorius pinicola sp. nov., T. longicaudus sp. nov., and T. tlaxiacus sp. nov. are larger than T. minutissimus and possess elliptical rather than oval nostrils; T. pinicola and T. longicaudus also have longer tails. All three new species occur west of the range of T. minutissimus, which has the easternmost distribution of any member of the genus. The new species are distinguished from each other and from other named Thorius in Oaxaca by a combination of adult body size, external morphology and osteology, and by protein characters (allozymes) and differences in DNA sequences. In addition, we redescribe T. minutissimus and a related species, T. narisovalis, to further clarify the taxonomic status of Oaxacan populations and to facilitate future studies of the remaining genetically differentiated Thorius that cannot be satisfactorily assigned to any named species. Populations of all five species considered here appear to have declined dramatically over the last one or two decades and live specimens are difficult to find in nature. Thorius may be the most endangered genus of amphibians in the world. All species may go extinct before the end of this century.

In his letter (1), Gamfeldt asks questions concerning broader aspects of our study (2). In response, salamander biomass has been substantially reduced. In the upper cloud forest habitat at El Rincon, San Marcos, Guatemala, 3 formerly abundant salamander species and a 4th relatively rare species were not found. Although 3 other species were found as often or slightly more so than in the past, the overall salamander density at El Rincon is much lower compared to previous decades. These 7 species constitute the entire salamander community at this site, and no species were found on our recent surveys that were not present in the 1970s. The total salamander biomass at the site is only a fraction of what it once was; vastly fewer amphibians and reptiles (specifically salamander-eating snakes) were encountered than in the past. Similarly, forest habitat with formerly dense populations of Pseudoeurycea and Thorius on Cerro San Felipe, Oaxaca, Mexico, now contain no Pseudoeurycea (based on our surveys) and very few Thorius compared with previous decades, although suitable habitat remains. All salamander species have declined at this site, with no compensation from any other salamander species.

7TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON VERTEBRATE MORPHOLOGY MEETINGBOCA RATON, FLORIDA-- From 27 July to 1 August, animals with a backbone drew the attention of morphologists, evolutionary biologists, and other researchers. A new analysis of the family tree of the Thorius genus of salamanders reported at the meeting suggests that a few species have reacquired traits that their earliest ancestors had lost.

Five new species of diminutive salamanders of the endemic Mexican genus Thorius (Plethodontidae) are described from the Sierra de Juirez in northern Oaxaca. The species are diagnosed by adult body size, external proportions, dentition, osteology and coloration. The three species that have been studied using protein electrophoresis are genetically unique; all differ from T. macdougalli, the only species of the genus previously known from these mountains. Each of the six species studied has distinct geographic and elevational ranges, and there is a complex pattern of geographic overlap and replacement. As many as three species co-occur locally at elevations up to 2955 m on Cerro Pelon, and each species is sympatric with at least one other. One species descends to approximately 800 m, which is the lowest known elevational record for the genus. The new taxa include the full size range of the genus, with two large and three small species.

Salamanders of the genus Thorius (Plethodontidae) are among the smallest tetrapods. Hypotheses of limb skeletal evolution in these vertebrates were evaluated on the basis of estimates of natural variation, comparisons of skeletal homology, and analysis of molecular phylogeny. Nine carpal arrangements occur in Thorius, more than in all twelve related genera of typically larger salamanders; six of these arrangements are unique. They represent a trend toward a decrease in the number of separate cartilages that is independent of locomotor and ecological specialization. Miniaturization may be an important source of morphological novelty, distinct from local adaptation, in vertebrates.

Patterns of genetic relationship and taxonomic identity are examined in Thorius, an enigmatic genus of minute neotropical salamanders that represent the smallest tailed tetrapods. Data comprise an electrophoretic analysis of 16 protein loci in 69 population samples from 55 localities throughout the range of the genus in southern Mexico. Eight of the nine described species are genetically distinct: Nei's D commonly exceeds 0.9. There is no biochemical evidence of more than a single species at Zoquitlan, Pue., type locality of T. schmidti and T. maxillabrochus. Genetic differentiation between disjunct subspecies of T. pennatulus is less than the mean pairwise value between described species, but exceeds that observed between some sympatric species pairs. Seven additional as yet undescribed species are identified, based either on their sympatric occurrence with, or great genetic differentiation from, described species. Most species initially identified by electrophoresis are morphologically distinct. Electrophoretic data fail to resolve the taxonomic affinity of a few remaining populations, although they do provide clearcut and distinguishable hypotheses of relationship that can be tested using other sources, such as morphology. The 15 species constitute three faunal units: Veracruz and eastern Puebla; Sierra de Juarez, Oaxaca; southern and western Oaxaca, and Guerrero. Local endemism is observed within each region, in which sympatry involving two or three species is common. Species frequently demonstrate narrow elevational zonation and distinct habitat and microhabitat preference (e.g., arboreal vs terrestrial). The distribution of four species on Cerro Pelon, Oax., is examined in detail.

HIGH mountains on the southern edge of the Mesa Central in Puebla, Oaxaca, and western Veracruz have isolated mesically adapted species in many groups of the Mexican herpetofauna. This is especially true in the Amphibia where such diverse genera as Pseudoeurycea, Microbatrachylus, and Hyla have one or several "insular" species in the region. Thoriine salamanders are no exception for ten forms occur in humid habitats between the Mesa Central and

Radiographs of series of Thorius pulmonaris, Parvimolge townsendi, Lineatriton lineolus and various other plethodontids were made with a beryllium-window x-ray machine, using the techniques described by Miller (1957). The radiographs were examined for x-ray opaque areas in the hyoid and mesopodials. Opaque hyoid elements were easily detected. Most of the available specimens of Lineatriton and Parvimolge were not preserved in positions convenient for x-ray study of the limbs, and the number of x-ray opaque mesopodials in them could not be determined accurately. The series of Thorius, however, was preserved with the trunk straight and the limbs at right angles to the body, and in these the number of opaque mesopodials could be counted. In order to verify the radiographic determinations of ossified or calcified mesopodials, three of the x-rayed specimens of Thorius pulmonaris were cleared and stained with alizarin red S. One, a large adult female (26.9 mm.), had the maximum number of x-ray opaque mesopodials observed in Thorius; a second female (24.5 mm.) had an intermediate number; a third female (23.4 mm.) was the largest that had no opaque mesopodials. In each of these the number of elements that stained with alizarin agrees with the number that were x-ray opaque. It is felt, therefore, that the use of x-rays to determine the presence or absence of ossifications or calcifications is justified, and that the results obtained are consistent with those that would be ob