Anthropogenic trade and development have broken down dispersal barriers, facilitating the
spread of diseases that threaten Earth's biodiversity. We present a global, quantitative …

The last species list of the European herpetofauna was published by Speybroeck, Beukema
and Crochet (2010). In the meantime, ongoing research led to numerous taxonomic …

Terrestrial salamanders of the genus Salamandra represent one of the most prominent
groups of amphibians. They are mainly distributed across Europe but also reach Northern …

In this contribution, the aspects of reptile and amphibian speciation that emerged from
research performed over the past decade are reviewed. First, this study assesses how …

The “escape-and-radiate” hypothesis predicts that antipredator defenses facilitate adaptive
radiations by enabling escape from constraints of predation, diversified habitat use, and …

The salamander genus Salamandra is widespread across Europe, North Africa, and the
Near East and is renowned for its conspicuous and polymorphic colouration and diversity of …

The rise of high-throughput sequencing techniques provides the unprecedented opportunity
to analyse controversial phylogenetic relationships in great depth, but also introduces a risk …

Climate change has a significant impact on the distribution of species over time. In response,
species may shift, contract, extend or fragment their distributions to track preferred …

Abstract Mud snakes (Serpentes: Homalopsidae) are a family of 55 described, mainly
aquatic, species primarily distributed throughout mainland Southeast Asia and the Indo …

Recently emerged fungal diseases, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and
Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) are an increasing threat to amphibians …