A blast from the past: Western Leopard Toads and microsatellites

Stephen Doucette-Riise submitted his MSc thesis (Zoology, UCT) on Western Leopard Toads back in 2012 while I was working at SANBI. Stephen worked hard on trialing a number of microsatellite candidates to profile WLTs in the Overstrand area (Stanford to Aghulas). 

Despite completing his MSc, the microsatellite study wasn't finished as Stephen didn't have enough time to profile enough microsatellites for the project. Jessica da Silva recently stepped into the breach and produced this microsat note on the toad. 

da Silva, J.M., Feldheim, K.A., Measey, G.J., Doucett-Riise, S., Daniels, R.J., Chauke, L.F. & Tolley, K.A. (2017) Genetic diversity and differentiation of the Western Leopard Toad (Sclerophrys pantherina) based on mitochondrial and microsatellite markers. African Journal of Herpetology 66: 25-38 

How threatened are South Africa's reptiles?

The IUCN Red List needs people to make assessments, and then those assessments need reviews. Reviewing over 400 assessments took place this week at SANBI's Kirstenbosch Research Centre.

Some well know faces from the world of South African herpetology were present. How many do you recognise?

Goodbye Ana!

It's always sad to say goodbye, and today we celebrated the departure of Ana Nunes, post-doc and crayfish researcher extrordinaire, who spent 2 years working in the lab. 

Ana (pictured here with crayfish collaborator Tsungai) got engaged while in South Africa to Joe. They get married in Portugal later this month. 

We really enjoyed having you with us, and look forward to continue working with you.