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Chytridiomycosis, an amphibian disease caused by the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans, is responsible for declines of amphibian populations worldwide (1). The recently discovered B. salamandrivorans (2) is [...]

We present four cases of rare developmental anomalies in the smooth snake Coronella austriaca Laurenti, 1768 from western Poland. These include brachycephaly, lordosis, a supernumerary row of 'ventral' scales, and the third reported case of dicephalism in snakes from Poland. All the cases are supported by X-ray radiography. One of the possible explanations for these anomalies is a low genetic variation in populations from western Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed variation of dorsal yellow patterns in 2077 individuals that represented 23 populations from the northern parts of the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains. We distinguished four types of yellow patterns: spotted (50.1%), spotted-and-striped (42.8%), zig-zag (5.8%), and striped (1.3%). Spotted form dominated in the east (69.2%, the Carpathians) and its frequency decreased to the west (46.4%, the Sudetes), where spotted-and-striped forms became more common. The rarest in both mountain ranges (0.9% in the Carpathians, 1.3% in the Sudetes) was striped type. The exception was the westernmost population represented by 15.8% of the striped individuals. We did not find evidence of differences between yellow colouration variants and genotypes of 557 individuals defined by 10 microsatellite loci. No differences were found between females and males. We concluded that patterning does not constitute a unique feature at population and mountain ranges levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location of overwintering sites of six male and six female European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) were studied using radiotelemetry in Western Poland, over a period of four consecutive seasons. Most of the studied individuals overwintered in the same area during the research; most distances between two consecutive overwintering sites were 0-25 m. However, changes related to the overwintering area were observed, and in such cases the distance between overwintering sites on two consecutive seasons could exceed 2 km. These results can support an efficient conservation strategy of the turtle population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of road system causes worldwide barriers to wildlife movement and leads to mass road mortality which is a serious threat to the biodiversity, especially globally endangered amphibians. Animal carcasses, however, constitute an important non-invasive material for further research including species life history traits, but there is little known whether the road-killed animals are a representative sample of entire population. The aim of our research was to compare the age structures between road-killed and live individuals which crossed the road successfully during the breeding migration. As a model species, we used the common toad Bufo bufo which is a main amphibian traffic victim in Europe. We collected toe clips of dead and live toads during their breeding migration in four sampling sites located in the lowlands of western Poland. Phalanges were used for age determination by the skeletochronology. There were no significant differences in age distribution between live and dead individuals of the same sex in all populations studied. In compared groups, medians and mean ages were the same or differed marginally and confidence intervals for the mean age almost completely overlapped. Our results suggest that toads are killed on roads regardless of individual age, thus skeletochronological analysis of dead individuals is useful to study age structure of a live population. Our approach allows to avoid mutilation of amphibians and can be used to increase the knowledge of age structure of a given species living near the road as well as to study long-term road effect on amphibian demography. However, further comparative research on different species is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a case of tail bifurcation in Anolis bimaculatus (Panther Anole).

The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a pathogen associated with global declines of amphibians. We used qPCR to detect Bd in 255 samples from 10 Polish populations of 8 species. We found Bd infection in 3 species (Bombina variegata, Pelophylax lessonae, P. esculentus). The infection intensity in P. lessonae reached a maximum of 58400 genomic equivalents of zoospores (GE), and the 2 most heavily infected individuals died. Previous observations of the populations that included infected individuals showed reduced body size, failure to reproduce, and mortalities of adults. These data highlight the importance of emerging diseases, and the need to recognize them as an important factor in conservation of the genus Pelophylax in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.