A DNA barcoding study targeting the entire reptile fauna of the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar identified over 40 new species of snakes, skinks, chameleons and geckos.

Using a newly developed set of reptile-specific primers for COI, the research team from Brussels, Munich and Brunswick compared gene sequences of around 250 species out of the 393 currently described on the world’s fourth largest island.

“The large number of newly identified reptile species was striking, because the reptiles of Madagascar have been intensively studied during the last 20 years” comments lead researcher Zoltán T. Nagy, of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

“This surprisingly high number of reptiles new to science represents more than 10 percent of the presently known diversity of reptiles on the island, and highlights Madagascar’s importance as being one of the ‘hottest hotspots’ of biodiversity on Earth.”

“In the future, these unknown species will have to be studied morphologically before they can be described and named formally” adds Munich taxonomist Frank Glaw, a co-author of the study.

More importantly, the study generated DNA barcodes for about 110 of the 140 Madagascan reptiles included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), providing a valuable tool for controlling illegal wildlife trade using molecular identification methods.

“DNA barcoding will facilitate rapid and minimally invasive identification of animals—a clear advantage in the context of conservation,” commented coauthor Gontran Sonet, also of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

Click photo to enlarge

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A national level Training cum Workshop on “DNA Barcoding of Fish and Marine Life – Molecular Analysis and Bioinformatics Approaches” will be held September 12-14 at the Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University. The course, organized by Dr. R. Rajaram, will be useful for teachers/researchers working in Biodiversity Conservation.

- Workshop Brochure – PDF

- Registration Form – PDF

]]> http://ibol.org/fish-barcoding-workshop/feed/ 0 http://ibol.org/claudio-oliveira/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=claudio-oliveira http://ibol.org/claudio-oliveira/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 18:58:07 +0000 john.chenery http://ibol.org/?p=9944 Brazil representative

Biosciences Institute
Universidade Estadual Paulista
São Paulo, Brazil

Email: claudio@ibb.unesp.br

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- 40 new reptile species

- PLoS One paper]]> http://ibol.org/40-new-reptile-species-found-on-madagascar/feed/ 0 http://ibol.org/philippines-adopts-dna-barcoding-for-fish-species/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=philippines-adopts-dna-barcoding-for-fish-species http://ibol.org/philippines-adopts-dna-barcoding-for-fish-species/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:14:42 +0000 john.chenery http://ibol.org/?p=9654  

- Philippines adopts DNA barcoding in fish species

]]> http://ibol.org/philippines-adopts-dna-barcoding-for-fish-species/feed/ 0 http://ibol.org/fish-barcode-of-life-world-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fish-barcode-of-life-world-conference http://ibol.org/fish-barcode-of-life-world-conference/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:46:55 +0000 john.chenery http://ibol.org/?p=8816 Yeosu, Korea

In celebration of International Exposition Yeosu Korea 2012, the Fish Barcode of Life Initiative (FISH-BOL), Ichthyological Society of Korea, and Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute will hold the Fish Barcode of Life World Conference at the Expo site in Yeosu, Republic of Korea from June 12 – 14, 2012.

The organizing committee has invited researchers to share their experience of fish DNA barcoding and its use for taxonomy, species delimitation, population and phylogeographic analyses, egg and larvae detection, environmental monitoring, forensics and policy making, and industrial applications.

The conference is supported by the organizing committee of EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea, University of Science & Technology, Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, and Korea Tourism Organization.

- Download conference program and registration information – PDF

- More Information

]]> http://ibol.org/fish-barcode-of-life-world-conference/feed/ 0 http://ibol.org/whats-killing-north-americas-bats/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-killing-north-americas-bats http://ibol.org/whats-killing-north-americas-bats/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:43:07 +0000 john.chenery http://ibol.org/?p=8089  

- Beth Clare, eco-CSI investigator

]]> http://ibol.org/whats-killing-north-americas-bats/feed/ 0 http://ibol.org/herps-come-in-from-the-cold/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=herps-come-in-from-the-cold http://ibol.org/herps-come-in-from-the-cold/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:27:23 +0000 john.chenery http://ibol.org/?p=7666 New barcoding campaign for amphibians, reptiles

Herpetologists now have a DNA barcoding campaign to call their own.

Dubbed Cold Code for its focus on cold-blooded amphibians and non-avian reptiles, the new initiative is based at the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) and funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation of China.

Click image to enlarge

The project is being coordinated by a steering committee comprising iBOL’s coordinator of reptiles and amphibians Bob Murphy (KIZ), Miguel Vences (Technical University of Braunschweig , Germany), Steve Donnellan (South Australia Museum, Australia), Wen-Zhi Wang, Jing Che and Ya-ping Zhang (KIZ, China). Regional and taxonomic experts include Zoltán Nagy (Congo Biodiversity Institute) and Elizabeth Prendini (American Museum of Natural History, USA), who are coordinating mainland Africa and Uwe Fritz (Dresden Museum of Zoology, Germany) who is leading a global initiative for turtles.

The steering committee will establish protocols and recommendations on issues such as sampling strategies (number of individual samples per site or species, voucher requirements, etc.) and the policy for public release of barcode data in Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and GenBank.

Dr. Wen-Zhi Wang will coordinate laboratory work at KIZ, which will support the Cold Code campaign by providing free sequencing for the first 10 specimens of any species.

Meanwhile, new research by several members of the Cold Code campaign promises to remove a major stumbling block for barcoding amphibians – the availability of universal primers for the standard barcoding gene COI.

In an upcoming paper *, the researchers report that two new pairs of primers, when used in concert, can universally amplify and sequence all three orders of Chinese amphibians as represented by 36 genera. This taxonomic diversity, which includes caecilians, salamanders and frogs, suggests that the new primer pairs will universally amplify COI for the vast majority of amphibian species.

The authors tested this theory by using the new primers to investigate cryptic diversity in three endemic Asian genera of salamanders: Paramesotriton, Pachytriton, and Tylototriton. They also assessed the value of DNA barcodes for enhancing knowledge of the salamanders’ diversity, matrilineal history and geographic distribution and then investigated how these data can be applied in conservation planning by using the salamanders as a model system in Asia.

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Chair: Eldredge Bermingham
Smithsonian Tropical Research Unit, Panama
Vice-chair: George Amato
American Museum of Natural History, New York City

The global species count for vertebrates is modest. It is 30,000 for fishes, 10,000 for birds and 5,000 each for mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

Because vertebrates are among the largest animals, their population sizes are small and they are at particular risk of extinction. For example, all but one of the 37 species of felids is endangered; the house cat is the only member of this family with a secure future. Apart from conservation concerns, many vertebrates are of major economic importance because they support commercial and recreational activities (e.g. fisheries).

Despite the high human interest, species identifications for many groups remain problematic. Connecting larval and adult forms is often difficult, especially for amphibians and fishes. By gathering barcode records for all 55,000 species of vertebrates, iBOL will eliminate such uncertainty.

Goals
30,000 species of fishes
10,000 birds
5,000 mammals
6,000 amphibians
9,000 reptiles

Director,
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute,
Balboa, Panama

Web: Bermingham Lab
Email: Bermingham@si.edu

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