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It's another stunning Malagasy #dartfrog/#poisonfrog for today's #FrogOfTheDay, #42 Mantella cowani Boulenger, 1882! A highly threatened, actively conserved and managed frog from the highlands of central #Madagascar
#MadagascarFrogs
📸D.Edmonds/CalPhotos

 This thread will cover only a tiny fraction of the work on Mantella cowanii because, being so charismatic and threatened, it has received quite a bit of attention.
#MadagascarFrogs
We start at the very beginning: the first specimens, two females, were collected by Reverend Deans Cowan in East Betsileo, Madagascar, and sent to London, where George Albert Boulenger described the species in 1882.
#MadagascarFrogs
Boulenger placed the species in his new genus, Mantella, along with ebenaui, betsileo, and madagascariensis. He recognised that the other Malagasy poison frogs were distinct from the Dendrobates of the Americas, although he did keep them in the Dendrobatidae.
#MadagascarFrogs
As more specimens were collected, it became clear that the species was highly variable. In 1978, Jean Guibé wrote with interest about this variability, describing a new subspecies, M. cowani nigricans—today a full species. #MadagascarFrogs
https://t.co/dwaHMbrYbj
Although Guibé was wrong about the affinities of those two species, it is true that there is astounding variability of colour in this (and other) Mantella species, and that they evidently hybridise with other species.
#MadagascarFrogs
📸B.Freiermuth/CalPhotos
Little was known about Mantella cowanii in the wild until the 1990s. By 1999, when Miguel Vences et al. published a revision of Mantella, it was known from a few different locations, but populations between it and M. baroni posed challenges to identification.
#MadagascarFrogs
These frogs occur in bizarre habitat in central Madagascar, often with wet, exposed rocks interspersed with low bushes.
📸Mantella cowanii Action Plan, 2021–2025 (on which more below)
The first (?) DNA-based phylogeny came out in 2002, confirming close affinity with M. baroni and M. nigricans, and showing that Malagasy poison frogs may have Müllerian mimicry generating repeated colour pattern evolution. https://t.co/4qqzbiiAev
#MadagascarFrogs
The hybridisation of M. cowanii with M. baroni received a lot of interest, in part because the species are generally morphologically and ecologically distinct.
https://t.co/VMFGZ7tP0Y
https://t.co/9uFZ7KBRzZ
International interest has always been strong in the beautiful #Mantella #frogs, so M. cowanii were targeted for the pet trade. Between 1988 and 2003, some 12,877 individuals were reportedly exported from Madagascar.
https://t.co/gJXip5xMTv
#MadagascarFrogs
In 2005, @CITES imposed a zero quota on M. cowanii, effectively banning export. For a species known from only a few locations in threatened habitat, and low fecundity (Tessa et al., see link), harvesting at these rates was unsustainable.
#MadagascarFrogs
https://t.co/SAON3F2VqF
Until 2014, Mantella cowanii was listed as Critically Endangered, but it was then downgraded to Endangered. Apparently the population declines seen until 2003 were halted by the cessation of trade. https://t.co/2rS29qFNQT
#MadagascarFrogs
Nevertheless, Mantella cowanii is heavily threatened. Representatives of @ASG_IUCN @Voakajy @amphibiansorg @chesterzoo and other organisations are actively involved in its conservation. A new action plan for 2021–2025 was just released.
#MadagascarFrogs
https://t.co/ozm89CMSSR
As I understand it, captive populations of Mantella cowanii are being maintained. So, if extirpated, it might be possible to reintroduce this frog, as long as habitat remains available. So there is hope for the 'harlequin' mantella!
#MadagascarFrogs

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Out today in #MolecularPhylogeneticsAndEvolution:

A robust phylogenomic framework for the calamoid palms https://t.co/JiCbSUlheH

1/10


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But as I said, their relationships have been a bit of a mystery. Here's the varying relationships previous studies found over the last 20 years.

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"You don't see radio changing gradually and suddenly become radar. #Darwin's theory doesn't work for #technology, and we have to make a new observation."

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#evolution #innovation #invention


"Novel technologies are constructed from existing technologies. These offer themselves as components for the construction of further technologies."

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#evolution #innovation #invention #technology #engineering #design


Unlike the two-parent #inheritance typical to (but not ubiquitous among) #complex organisms, #technology inherits features from n parents - a "vast ancestral #network" more like horizontal gene transfer networks in #bacteria.

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What is going on at SWANSEA UNIVERSITY in Wales?
1.
https://t.co/d5NKtNlxxa
Sounds as if its connected to Bill Gates "LUCIFERASE" Vaccine?

2.
https://t.co/k0w1mjaPg0

"HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON SCHOOL OF LAW"
- AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY!!!


3.
https://t.co/jifuWq6cGq
Remember all those FIRES, over the Summer!!!

4.
https://t.co/H3lstFyYx8
WUHAN PARTNERSHIP

"Links between Swansea & Wuhan date back to 1855 when Swansea missionary Griffith John founded the Wuhan Union Hospital.
This relationship was strengthened when representatives of the two cities signed an agreement".


5.
https://t.co/5b1JqiEQzi
Swansea University Strengthens Links with China
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Fellow academics, when are we going to start fixing our urgent structural problems that strain family bonds and present ongoing barriers to diversifying our educational and scientific leadership? You wonder, what the heck is this guy talking about?
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We’re all very familiar what I am talking about, actually: the impossibility for most academics in the life sciences to do their jobs in a reaonable amount of time, due to more and more demands on writing grants, and to a lesser degree, papers.
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As of yesterday I hadn’t intended to write about this subject, but was wondering as I finished a Saturday of straight work, what happened to all my time? Why has WFH not reduced my pile of tasks to do? Instead why is my to-do list growing bigger and bigger?
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I decided to figure out how much time our jobs actually require. I estimated per year (m=month, w=week, d=day, h=hour):
Teaching: 20h/w x 20w = 400h
Meetings of all sorts: 10h/w x 48w= 480h
Replying to email: 2h/d x 365d = 730h
Attending and giving talks: 2h/w x 50w = 100h
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Papers: If each person needs 2 papers during a 5y stint, and you run a 7.5-person lab, then you need 7.5 papers per 2.5y = 3 papers/y. Throw in a review and it’s 4 papers. If you need 15d at 8h/d per paper, that’s 480h writing papers.
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