cellular Ca2+ levels, Ca2+ waves, cyclin B L, and BrdU incorpora­

tion into DNA was measured. Results indicated that a proteina­ceous factor from sperm cytoplasm had the abi lity to activate eggs via a transient increase in intracellular Ca"+ levels. Increased lev­els of intracellular Ca2

+ was also caused by the injection of IP3, but ryanodine receptors did not cause a similar effect. It is not yet clear if the sperm cytoplasmic factor is the primary cause of egg activation in newts.

YAMAMOTO, S., H. Y. KUBOTA, Y. YOSHIiViOTO, AND Y. IWAO. 200 I. Injection of a sperm extract triggers egg activation in the newt CYIlOPS pyrrhogaster. Developmental Biology 230:89-99.

Correspondence to: Satoshi Yamamoto, Department of Biological Sci­ence, Faculty of Science, Yamaguchi University, 753-8512 Yamaguchi, Japan.

ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS BY DAVID M. DENNIS

from Duellman's "Hylid Frogs of Middle America"

(2001 edition by SSAR)

SSAR is offering for sale the unique original wa­tercolor paintings from which the color plates in Duellman's "Hylid Frogs of Middle America" (2001 edition) were reproduced. These range in price from US $100 to $500 and are individually signed by the artist.

A price list is available on request to the SSAR Pub­lications Secretary, Dr. Robert D. Aldridge, address: Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, 3507 Laclede, Room 127, Saint Louis, Missouri 63103, USA; e-mail: ssar@slu.edu; fax: 314-977-3658; phone: 314-977-3900.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Herpewlogicaf Revil:'l~'. 2001. 32(3'1. 151-152. if) 2001 by Sociciy for the Study of Amphibian::- and Reptiles

Field Identification of Chytridiomycosis in Rana muscosa (Camp 1915)

VANCE~VREDENBURG

alld ADAM P. SUMMERS

M[(seum of VertebraIe Zoology, University of California Berkeley, California 94720, USA

e-nwil (VTV): voncev@socrares.berkeleyedll

A chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidi!>, causes the deterioration of the keratinized mouthparts of tadpoles (Nichols et al. 200 I), and has been implicated in amphibian declines in Australia, the Neotropics, and in Europe (Berger et al. 1998; Bosch et al. 200 I). The fungus is widespread, and has been identified on six continents: Africa, South America, Central America, North America, Europe, and Australia (Speare and Berger 2000). In Cali­fornia, chyuids have been identified in nine amphibian taxa (Rana muscosa, RaJW aurora drayton ii, Rana aurora aurora, Rana boylii, Rana catesbeiana, Bufo canorus, Hyla reg ilia, Spea hammondii, and Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum; Fellers et aI., in press); however, it is not known whether they are the cause of population declines. Because the fungus grows on keratinized tadpole mouth­parts, we bel ieve field assessment of tadpole popu lations, and the

a b

Herpetological Review 32(3),2001 15 I

HerpeloloKico! Rl'IJ;t'W. 2001, 32(3). 152-15l© 2001 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and RepIlles

SAURIA

This note lists corrections for the most recent list of sciand standard English names of NOlth American amphibiareptiles north of Mexico (Crother et al. 2000). To avoidproblems, please mark these cOlTections on your list.

DARREL FROSTDepartment of Vertebrate Zoology. American Museum of Natural Hisl!Central Park West at 79''' Street, New York, New York 10024-5192.

ANURA

p. 8 Bufo valliceps: Populations in the USA and northMexico should now be called Bufo nebulifer according to Mand Mendelson (2000, Mol. Phylogenet. Evo!. 17: 173).

p. 10, 2nd line. Ptemohyla listed twice.

p. IS R. sphenocephala: Change "leaving the unusual si,where the subspecies name utricularia has priority over the yspecies name sphenocephala" to "leaving the unusual si'where the younger species name sphenocephala has notural priority over the older subspecies name utricularia."

p. IS Rana virgatipes: Change "Cryptic species are not exto "Data presented by Pytel, Herpetologica 42(3):273, sugg"careful evaluation for cryptic species are warranted."

KEVIN DE QUIEROZDepartment of Vertebrate Zoology. National Museum ofNatural Hi

Smithsonian Institution. Washington. DC 20560. USA

BRIAN I. CROTHERDepartment of Biology, Southeastern Louisiana University

Hammond, Louisiana 70402. USAe-mail: bcrorher@selu.edu \

JEFF BOUNDYFur and Refuge Division, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisl:

Po. Box 98.000. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70898-9000, USA

Scientific and Standard English Names (]Amphibians and Reptiles of North America r

of Mexico: Errata

p. 7: Bufo boreas boreas Baird and Girard should be datednot 1853.

pp. 7-8: Bufo velatus is placed in both the synonymy 0

fowleri and as a subspecies of Bulo woodhousii. This is in!although the correct placement of the name is inherentlyversial. Sullivan, Malmos, and Given, 1996, Copeia, 199280, noted that nominal velatus sits within the hybrid zone,fowleri and Bulo woodhousii, and at this time should not benized.

BERGER, L., R. SPEARE, P. DASZAK, D. E. GREEN, A. A. CUNNINGHAM, C. L.GOGG1N, R. SLOCOMBE, M. A. RAGAN, A. D. HYATT, K. R. McDONALD, H.B. HINES, K. R. LIPS, G. MARANTELLI, AND H. PARKES. 1998.Chytridiomycosis causes amphibian mortality associated with popula­tion declines in the rain forests of Australia and Central America. Proc.Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 95:9031-9036.

BOSCH, 1., I. MARTINEZ-SOLANO, AND M. GARCIA-PARJS. 200 I. Evidence ofa chytrid fungus infection involved in the decline of the common mid­wife toad (Alytes obstetricans) in protected areas of central Spain. BioI.Cons. 97:331-337.

FELLERS, G. M., D. E. GREEN, AND J. E. LONGCORE. In press. Oralchytridiomycosis in mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa).

Copeia 2001(4).NICHOLS, D. K., E. W. LAMIRANDE,A. P. PESSIER, ANDJ. E. LONGCORE. 2001.

Experimental transmission of cutaneous chytridiomycosis indendrobatid frogs. J. Wildl. Diseases V37: 1-11.

SPEARE, R., AND BERGER, L. 2000. Global distribution of chytridiomycosisin amphibians. 11 November 2000" http://WWW.jcll.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTMlfrogs/chyglob.htm. 11 November 2000.

VREDENBURG, V. T., G. FELLERS, AND C. DAVIDSON. In press. The mountainyellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa). In M. J. Lannoo (ed.), Status andConservation of U.S. Amphibians. Univ. California Press, Berkeley.

collection of voucher specimens, will be an important tool in de­termining the extent and severity of chytrid infection. This shouldbe particularly easy in frogs with large tadpoles such as the moun­tain yellow-legged frog, R. muscosa (Vredenburg et aI., in press).The symptoms of chytridiomycosis include loss of black pigmentfrom jaw sheaths and tooth rows witrun 1-3 weeks of infection(Fellers et aI., in press).

The photograph above shows R. muscosa with two potentialstages of chytridiomycosis infection b), and c) and one apparentlyuninfected animal a). The alTOW indicates the lower jaw sheath inall three photos. Notice that a) has complete tooth rows and darkjaw sheaths while b) is lacking dark tooth rows and has only a thindark line on the jaw sheaths. In c) the beak and tooth rows arecompletely colorless. Tadpole a) was collected in 1976 near SonoraPass, Alpine County, California, USA (MVZ 137435). Tadpolesb), and c) were collected near Ebbetts Pass, 2 June 2001, AlpineCounty, California, USA (MVZ, not accessioned). Tadpoles b) andc) are being histologically analyzed. Recently, however, 1.Longcore (pers. comm.) cultivated a Batrachochytrium fungusfrom R. muscosa in the Sierra Nevada and we expect these willalso contain the fungus.

We ask that any herpetologists encountering tadpoles in the Si­erra Nevada pay careful attention to tadpole mouthparts and re­port any occurrences to the authors (e-mail:vancev@socrates.berkeley.edu). If proper permits are attained, asingle voucher should be placed in 95% ethanol and sent to theprimary author. We will maintain a website with information onthe chytrid situation in the Sierra Nevada:

LITERATURE CITED

<http://dJp.cs.berkeley.edu/aw/chytridl>

p. 34 C. arizonae: Insert "Lowe" (before "op. cit.") at thethe last sentence of the note. The citation should read "Wri,Lowe (op. cit.)."

p. 35 C. h. beldingi: Insert a space after "Grismer" at thening of the last sentence of the note.

[52 Herpetological Review 32(3),2001

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