Systematics, biogeography and evolution of the herpetofauna of Madagascar
December 6th, 2024 4 PM CET/10 AM EST
Angelica Crottini, Associate Professor in Zoology at the University of Florence (Italy)
See this webinar at https://youtu.be/2kCUxLyFQAc
Madagascar hosts an almost unparalleled concentration of diverse and endemic flora and fauna. In this talk I will present a biogeographical explanation for this observed pattern of diversity and endemism. In addition, despite having four centuries of biological explorations, undescribed diversity is still widespread and is occurring at both poorly explored and in better-studied areas. As such, the product of our field-based research resulted in the identification and description of several new species and field exploration is still playing a crucial role in new species discoveries. In parallel to species discoveries, field-based research is also contributing to compile early complete datasets for the large radiations of amphibians of reptiles that characterise this island, and the availability of timetrees for these radiation in currently contributing to uncover their pattern of species diversification. The native amphibian fauna of Madagascar is constituted by five independent radiations with 100% species-level endemism. Among these, the mantellid frogs is the most diversified family of anuran that here underwent a wide species radiation that resulted in the evolution of a plethora of morphological, ecological and reproductive traits.
Biosketch:
A. Crottini graduated in Biology (2004) at the University of Milano (Italy), where she also completed a PhD in Animal Biology (2008). She later obtained a postdoctoral grant to work on the evolution of Malagasy herpetofauna at the University of Braunschweig (Germany). In 2011 she moved to CIBIO (Portugal), where she secured numerous research grants that enabled her to foster her independent research career in the study of the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar. Since 2018 she leads the Biogeography and Evolution unit at CIBIO, and from 2019 to 2024 she is an Assistant Professor at the University do Porto. From September 2024 she is Associate Professor in Zoology at the University of Florence. She is the regional Co-chair of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group for Madagascar. Her research is organised along the following four scientific lines: 1) Taxonomy and Systematics; 2) Biogeography and evolution of Madagascar biodiversity; 3) the role of chemical communication in anuran evolution; 4) Amphibian conservation. In a nutshell, A Crottini is interested describing the biodiversity of Madagascar, understand how this has evolved, and use this knowledge to suggest conservation measures.
EvoKE webinars are held on the first Friday of every month at 4 PM CET/10 AM EST