Short Communication New distribution record of Pelophryne api dring, 1983 (Anura: Bufonidae) from Sarawak, East Malaysia

Pelophryne api (Bufonidae), formerly only discovered at Mount Api, Mulu was recently found at the limestone of Bau, Kuching. Morphological observations of the two individuals of P. api discovered matched the original diagnosis description of the holotype species by Dring (1983). The habitats of the recently discovered individuals are closely similar to that of the holotype species as well, remarkably the leaves of low plants at limestone area. The recent collections of P. api leads to suggestion that this species may occur at other limestone areas in Borneo and further field survey at the Bornean limestone areas are needed

SHORT COMMUNICATION NEW DISTRIBUTION RECORD OF PELOPHRYNE API DRING, 1983 (ANURA: BUFONIDAE) FROM SARAWAK, EAST MALAYSIA

Pelophryne api (Bufonidae), formerly only discovered at Mount Api, Mulu was recently found at the limestone of Bau, Kuching. Morphological observations of the two individuals of P. api discovered matched the original diagnosis description of the holotype species by Dring (1983). The habitats of the recently discovered individuals are closely similar to that of the holotype species as well, remarkably the leaves of low plants at limestone area. The recent collections of P. api leads to suggestion that this species may occur at other limestone areas in Borneo and further field survey at the Bornean limestone areas are needed

SIGNIFICANT QUALITY OF FRAGMENTED FORESTS IN OIL PALM PLANTATIONS : LESSON FROM THE ASSEMBLAGE STRUCTURE OF FROGS (Amphibia: Anura)

Being known as a good environmental indicator, the anuran is an ideal animal model for investigating the quality of High Conservation Value (HCV) areas (fragmented forests) in maintaining or enhancing biodiversity values in an oil palm plantation. Using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) frogs from forest fragments and oil palm were investigated and compared, to identify species assemblages and guild. Our findings showed that species diversity differed significantly between High Corrections Values and the plantation areas. The High Corrections Values showed highest percentage of species endemism, and species of conservation importance in the areas. The NMDS analysis futher suggests that the anuran assemblages at the oil palm plantation were disjunctive as the HCV areas provide isolated assemblages to the anuran species, different from that of the plantations. The number of species was found to be significantly influenced by water temperature, turbidity, salinity, and level of dissolved oxygen. Overall, the HCV areas supports high species diversity, including endemic and near threatened species compared to the plantation areas. Hence, these HCV areas are functioning and should be maintained as high priority areas for faunal conservation in an oil palm plantatio

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Histology of Selected Bornean Frogs' Skin in Sarawak, Malaysia

Previous study on Bornean frogs' skin shows that the skin did help on accelerating the wound healing than normal dressing. The wound healing rates were assisted by the presence of antimicrobial peptide inside the gland of frogs' skin. However, information about their skin component especially glands types and distribution is still unkown. Thus, the aims of this study were to identify variations of skin structure through histology of Bornean frogs. Samplings were conducted from February 2014 until September 2015 to obtain six species from various areas. The skin was cut into six parts and kept in 10% formalin before undergoing histological process for slide preparation. Haematoxylin and eosin staining agents were used to stained skin structures. Thirteen skin characters were examined in the Bornean frogs and all importants of the skin, such as glands and chromatophores were documented. All glands were found more abundantly at dorsum compared to the venter, explaining the thicker dorsum. Correlation test revealed that for all species studied except Limnonectes kuhlii, the thickness of stratum spongiosum affected by the size of granular gland (p<0.05). The bufonids had thicker skin with the least number of mucous glands, explaining why toads have drier and thicker skin than frogs. Frogs from Dicroglosidae had numerous mucous glands, while those from Ranidae had numerous poison glands

The Horned Frog

Ramlah Zainudin, Elvy Quatrin Deka, Nur Amirah Md Sungif, Marly Agoh, Sharizzaty Mohd Rais, Muhammad Fadzil Amram, Marius Joscha Maiwald, Aida Safreena Ahmad Puad, Ahmad Hata Rasit and Mohd-Azlan Jayasila