Contribution of host species and pathogen clade to snake fungal disease hotspots in Europe.

Infectious diseases are influenced by interactions between host and pathogen, and the number of infected hosts is rarely homogenous across the landscape. Areas with elevated pathogen prevalence can maintain a high force of infection and may indicate areas with disease impacts on host populations. However, isolating the ecological processes that result in increases in infection prevalence and intensity remains a challenge. Here we elucidate the contribution of pathogen clade and host species in disease hotspots caused by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the pathogen responsible for snake fungal disease, in 21 species of snakes infected with multiple pathogen strains across 10 countries in Europe. We found isolated areas of disease hotspots in a landscape where infections were otherwise low. O. ophidiicola clade had important effects on transmission, and areas with multiple pathogen clades had higher host infection prevalence. Snake species further influenced infection, with most positive detections coming from species within the Natrix genus. Our results suggest that both host and pathogen identity are essential components contributing to increased pathogen prevalence.

Land-use preferences of the European green toad (Bufotes viridis) in the city of Vienna (Austria): the importance of open land in urban environments.

Urban areas are increasing worldwide, which poses threats to animal wildlife. However, in certain cases cities can provide refuges for endangered animals. The European green toad (Bufotes viridis) is one of such examples, which is known from cities throughout their distribution. In contrast, considerable areas of their former (primary) habitats have been degraded. The primary habitats of this species include steppes and wild river floodplains, both characterized by dynamic changes and the presence of open areas. We used available green toad observation data (2007-2020) to model the effects of land-use types on occurrence probability in the city of Vienna. Forest and densely populated areas were highly significantly negatively associated with green toad presence, while transformation/construction site areas showed a strong positive effect. Such occurrence pattern might be characteristic for early succession species, which depend on stochastic environmental disturbances (e.g., droughts and floods) in their primary habitats. We argue that urban landscape planning should appreciate the potential ecological value of open land in cities which is either in a transition phase or a permanent 'wasteland'. Ecological managing of such landscape could vastly increase urban biodiversity.

A dataset of road-killed vertebrates collected via citizen science from 2014-2020.

Data on road-killed animals is essential for assessing the impact of roads on biodiversity. In most European countries data on road-killed huntable wildlife exists, but data on other vertebrate species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, small mammals) is scarce. Therefore, we conducted a citizen science project on road-killed vertebrates as a useful supplement to data on huntable wildlife collected by public authorities. The dataset contains 15198 reports with 17163 individual road-killed vertebrates collected by 912 participants. The reports were made in 44 countries, but the majority of data was reported in Austria. We implemented a data validation routine which led to three quality levels. Reports in quality level 1 are published via GBIF, reports in quality level 2 via Zenodo and reports in quality level 3 were deleted. The dataset is relevant for the scientific community studying impacts of roads on fauna as well as for those who are responsible for road planning and implementing mitigation measures.

Predicting spring migration of two European amphibian species with plant phenology using citizen science data.

Habitat fragmentation is one of the drivers for amphibian population declines globally. Especially in industrialized countries roads disrupt the seasonal migration of amphibians between hibernation and reproduction sites, often ending in roadkills. Thus, a timely installing of temporary mitigation measures is important for amphibian conservation. We wanted to find out if plant phenology can be a proxy in advance to determine the start of amphibian migration, since both phenomena are triggered by temperature. We analysed data of 3751 amphibian and 7818 plant phenology observations from citizen science projects in Austria between 2000 and 2018. Using robust regression modelling we compared the migration of common toads (Bufo bufo) and common frogs (Rana temporaria) with the phenology of five tree, one shrub, and one herb species. Results showed close associations between the migration of common frogs and phenological phases of European larch, goat willow and apricot. Models based on goat willow predict migration of common frog to occur 21 days after flowering, when flowering was observed on 60th day of year; apricot based models predict migration to occur 1 day after flowering, observed on the 75th day of year. Common toads showed weaker associations with plant phenology than common frogs. Our findings suggest that plant phenology can be used to determine the onset of temporary mitigation measures for certain amphibian species to prevent roadkills.

Southern introgression increases adaptive immune gene variability in northern range margin populations of Fire-bellied toad.

Northern range margin populations of the European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) have rapidly declined during recent decades. Extensive agricultural land use has fragmented the landscape, leading to habitat disruption and loss, as well as eutrophication of ponds. In Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and Southern Sweden (Skåne), this population decline resulted in decreased gene flow from surrounding populations, low genetic diversity, and a putative reduction in adaptive potential, leaving populations vulnerable to future environmental and climatic changes. Previous studies using mitochondrial control region and nuclear transcriptome-wide SNP data detected introgressive hybridization in multiple northern B. bombina populations after unreported release of toads from Austria. Here, we determine the impact of this introgression by comparing the body conditions (proxy for fitness) of introgressed and nonintrogressed populations and the genetic consequences in two candidate genes for putative local adaptation (the MHC II gene as part of the adaptive immune system and the stress response gene HSP70 kDa). We detected regional differences in body condition and observed significantly elevated levels of within individual MHC allele counts in introgressed Swedish populations, associated with a tendency toward higher body weight, relative to regional nonintrogressed populations. These differences were not observed among introgressed and nonintrogressed German populations. Genetic diversity in both MHC and HSP was generally lower in northern than Austrian populations. Our study sheds light on the potential benefits of translocations of more distantly related conspecifics as a means to increase adaptive genetic variability and fitness of genetically depauperate range margin populations without distortion of local adaptation.

A reference DNA barcode library for Austrian amphibians and reptiles.

In the last few years, DNA barcoding became an established method for species identification in biodiversity inventories and monitoring studies. Such studies depend on the access to a comprehensive reference data base, covering all relevant taxa. Here we present a comprehensive DNA barcode inventory of all amphibian and reptile species native to Austria, except for the putatively extinct Vipera ursinii rakosiensis and Lissotriton helveticus, which has been only recently reported for the very western edge of Austria. A total of 194 DNA barcodes were generated in the framework of the Austrian Barcode of Life (ABOL) initiative. Species identification via DNA barcodes was successful for most species, except for the hybridogenetic species complex of water frogs (Pelophylax spp.) and the crested newts (Triturus spp.), in areas of sympatry. However, DNA barcoding also proved powerful in detecting deep conspecific lineages, e.g. within Natrix natrix or the wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), resulting in more than one Barcode Index Number (BIN) per species. Moreover, DNA barcodes revealed the presence of Natrix helvetica, which has been elevated to species level only recently, and genetic signatures of the Italian water frog Pelophylax bergeri in Western Austria for the first time. Comparison to previously published DNA barcoding data of European amphibians and reptiles corroborated the results of the Austrian data but also revealed certain peculiarities, underlining the particular strengths and in the case of the genus Pelophylax also the limitations of DNA barcoding. Consequently, DNA barcoding is not only powerful for species identification of all life stages of most Austrian amphibian and reptile species, but also for the detection of new species, the monitoring of gene flow or the presence of alien populations and/or species. Thus, DNA barcoding and the data generated in this study may serve both scientific and national or even transnational conservation purposes.

A global catalog of primary reptile type specimens.

We present information on primary type specimens for 13,282 species and subspecies of reptiles compiled in the Reptile Database, that is, holotypes, neotypes, lectotypes, and syntypes. These represent 99.4% of all 13,361 currently recognized taxa (11,050 species and 2311 subspecies). Type specimens of 653 taxa (4.9%) are either lost or not located, were never designated, or we did not find any information about them. 51 species are based on iconotypes. To map all types to physical collections we have consolidated all synonymous and ambiguous collection acronyms into an unambiguous list of 364 collections holding these primary types. The 10 largest collections possess more than 50% of all (primary) reptile types, the 36 largest collections possess more than 10,000 types and the largest 73 collections possess over 90% of all types. Of the 364 collections, 107 hold type specimens of only 1 species or subspecies. Dozens of types are still in private collections. In order to increase their utility, we recommend that the description of type specimens be supplemented with data from high-resolution images and CT-scans, and clear links to tissue samples and DNA sequence data (when available). We request members of the herpetological community provide us with any missing type information to complete the list.

Ancient mitogenomics clarifies radiation of extinct Mascarene giant tortoises (Cylindraspis spp.).

The five extinct giant tortoises of the genus Cylindraspis belong to the most iconic species of the enigmatic fauna of the Mascarene Islands that went largely extinct after the discovery of the islands. To resolve the phylogeny and biogeography of Cylindraspis, we analysed a data set of 45 mitogenomes that includes all lineages of extant tortoises and eight near-complete sequences of all Mascarene species extracted from historic and subfossil material. Cylindraspis is an ancient lineage that diverged as early as the late Eocene. Diversification of Cylindraspis commenced in the mid-Oligocene, long before the formation of the Mascarene Islands. This rejects any notion suggesting that the group either arrived from nearby or distant continents over the course of the last millions of years or had even been translocated to the islands by humans. Instead, Cylindraspis likely originated on now submerged islands of the Réunion Hotspot and utilized these to island hop to reach the Mascarenes. The final diversification took place both before and after the arrival on the Mascarenes. With Cylindraspis a deeply divergent clade of tortoises became extinct that evolved long before the dodo or the Rodrigues solitaire, two other charismatic species of the lost Mascarene fauna.

A century of waiting: description of a new Epictia Gray, 1845 (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) based on specimens housed for more than 100 years in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NMW).

We describe a new species of Epictia based on eight specimens from Nicaragua collected and housed in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna for more than a century. The species differs from the congeners by the combination of external morphological characters: midtail scale rows 10; supralabials two, anterior one large and in broad contact with supraocular; infralabials four; subcaudals 14-19; middorsal scale rows 250-267; supraocular scales present; frontal scale distinct; striped dorsal color pattern with more or less triangular dark blotches on each scale; small white blotch in anterior part of dorsal surface of rostral present in five out of six specimens (two further specimens are lacking their heads); terminal spine and adjacent scales white. Eidonomic species separation from other Epictia spp. is also supported by a few qualitative and quantitative differences in vertebrae count and morphology. The new species is putatively assigned to the Epictia phenops species group based on external morphological characters and distribution.

Bluetongue: Vector surveillance in Austria in 2007.

Since the first outbreaks of bluetongue disease (BTD) were reported from The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium in autumn of 2006, the disease is a main topic in Central Europe. The infectious disease, which originated in South Africa and from which Austria has been spared up to now, affects particularly sheep, cattle, also goats and wild ruminants - but never humans. Transmitters of the bluetongue virus (BTV, family Reoviridae, genus Orbivirus), which occurs in several 24 serotypes, are biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of the genus Culicoides. In Europe, Culicoides imicola, C. obsoletus, C. scoticus, C. dewulfi, C. pulicaris and, very recently, C. chiopterus have been implicated in BTV transmission. In 2007, a project on vector surveillance in Austria was started between the Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, Familie und Jugend; BMGFJ), the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (Osterreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit; AGES), and the International Research Institute of Entomology at the Natural History Museum Vienna. Fifty blacklight traps have been set up spread over the whole Austrian territory and activated once per week from June to December 2007. Out of the more than 1.5 million collected Culicoides specimens, 87.3% were assigned to the Obsoletus complex, 6.7% to the Pulicaris complex, and 0.1% to the Nubeculosus complex. From these three complexes potential vectors for BTV in Central Europe are known. A percentage of 0.2% was assigned to species not belonging to any of these complexes, and 5.7% were not able to be determined to complex or species level. The highest numbers of individuals were recorded in July and August (not all traps, however, were activated in June). As from October the total amount of insects as well as the numbers of Culicoides decreased considerably.