Chalifour, J.

First Records of the Stout Four-eyed Frog, Pleurodema brachyops (Cope 1869) on St. Martin

 The Stout Four-eyed Frog (Pleurodema brachyops) is native to the northern South American and Central American nations of Guyana, northern Brazil (Roraima State), Venezuela (including Isla Margarita), eastern and northern Colombia into the Pacific lowlands of Panama from Azuero to central Panama, and Aruba (La Marca et al. 2010). The species is considered introduced on Curaçao, Bonaire, and Klein Bonaire (Hummelinck 1940; van Buurt 2005). Herin we present the first observations of P. brachyops on both Dutch and French sides of Sint Maarten/St. Martin, where it is te fifth anuran species to be introduced and established after the Lesser Antillean Frog, Martinique Frog, Cuban Flat-headed Frog and Cuban Treefrog. Stout Four-eyed Frogs were almost certainly introduced to teh islands as a consequence of ornamental plant imports.

Date
2020
Data type
Scientific article
Theme
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
St. Maarten

Continued expansion of the trans-Atlantic invasive marine angiosperm Halophila stipulacea in the Eastern Caribbean

Abstract:

Halophila stipulacea (Hydrocharitaceae) is reported for the first time from Aruba, Curaçao, Grenadines (Grenada), St. Eustatius, St. John (US Virgin Islands), St. Martin (France), and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, bringing the total number of known occurrences from eastern Caribbean islands to 19. Native to the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean, H. stipulacea spread to the Mediterranean Sea in the late 1800s and became established in the eastern Caribbean in 2002. The species has dispersed north and south of its first sighting in Grenada and now spans a latitudinal distance of 6° (>700 km), most likely facilitated by a combination of commercial and recreational boat traffic. The continuing range expansion of H. stipulacea indicates the species has successfully acclimated to surviving in the Caribbean environment, warranting further investigation into its ecological interactions with the indigenous seagrasses.

Date
2013
Data type
Scientific article
Theme
Research and monitoring
Document
Journal
Geographic location
Aruba
Curacao
St. Eustatius
St. Maarten