At 06:02 PM 7/7/2003 -0400, Walter wrote:
>According to Paul Mohler this and the Eastern Narrowmouth Toad looked
>superficially identical. But as I noted and so did he, calls
>independently and don't change calls. Every time he found it there were
>also Eastern Narrowmouth Toads present. He's pretty sure it fits in the
>genus Gastrophryne. What's up in the air is if it's a separate species,
>or what. DNA testing will help in this regard.
>
>So, Justin and I leave in the morning for a run down to catch some of
>them and some of the Eastern Narrowmouth Toads at the pool for genetic
>testing. We built a couple open bottom buckets today to set around a
>caller and push into the soil so they can't get away.
Good luck! There is precedent in birds (and probably frogs/toads, too?) for
separation of a species because the calls, and therefore the breeding
selection, are different. This arises from sympatric evolution - where one
species becomes two without the benefit of physical separation. The calls
are necessarily different to help keep the two species separate. The
opposite is allopatry/allopatric - in which a species differentiates to two
after a physical separation, like a mountain range, ocean, etc. In
allopatry the two species (at least in birds) often retain their
plesiomorphic (ancestral) calls, since the physical barrier serves to
separate them sexually.
I love sympatry, because it means that the new species has found a new
niche - a new way to exploit the resources in the area. The new species
necessarily is a "renegade" that no longer follows the rules of the species
from which it arose - evolution in action!
Great stuff, Walt!
(Sorry for the biology lesson, it's just I find this sort of thing very,
very exciting!)
Doug
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Doug Von Gausig
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