A group of frog species in Western Australia that lay their eggs on land have been named after a retired high school music teacher.
The frog has been classified into a different group. The tadpoles don't touch the water of a creek or pond until they're grown up. They swim in a pool made out of eggs and are nourished by the yolk reserves.
Most of the known frog species on the Australian continent were catalogued byMarion Anstis, who was a high school teacher for 31 years.
Her book, Tadpoles and Frogs of Australia, is one of the best books on frog life out there.
She looked at the history of the frog in Australia. It's over 200 species.
He met Anstis at a frog and tadpole study group when he was young. He said that she has been a mentor to him for a long time.
Anstisia was the first frog to be named after someone. After Joseph Banks, it happens a lot in plants.
A frog scientist who contributes to the field will usually get a frog named after them. She didn't have anything named after her.
There are six new frog species. At an early age, she was interested in the salamanders and spent her free time studying them.
The basis of Tadpoles and Frogs of Australia and a PhD thesis was created after she spent a decade travelling around Australia in a camper van and four-wheel drive.
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Anstis said that the Campervan was his laboratory when he stopped at caravan parks. When I got the tadpoles and eggs, I would put my microscope in that.
Anstis is a researcher at the Australian Museum.
She was embarrassed when she was asked to name the group after her. She said that Grant gave the recognition and not what she expected.
Her name is Anstis and she has studied the frog.
One of the species, Anstisia alba, occupies a total area of less than 2.5 square kilometers. Anstisia vitellina is vulnerable and Anstisia rosea is at least concern.
The four species are in the same group as three other frog.
The tadpoles of thegeocrinia frog are washed into the water by the rain. The Anstisia frog has a monophasic call while they have a biphasic call.
He said that Anstis had documented the differences between Anstisia andgeocrinia tadpoles. It took more time for the differences to be established.
Monophyly is a rule that requires all the species within a group to have a common ancestor.
If you go back further in the tree, you'll find that both Anstisia and Geocrinia have a common ancestor. The whole proposal is supported by genetic data.
Tim Beshara is the manager of policy and strategy at the Wilderness Society.
It shows how isolated this part of the world was from the rest of Australia.
The abatement of native forest logging in Western Australia is a good sign that governments are starting to look at what the future holds for the area.
If the national heritage system has captured all of the special Australian natural values correctly, we would like to see the Western Australian and the Australian government put a microscope over it.
A paper describing the new genera was published in the journal Zootaxa.
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