﻿Biofluorescence in the herpetofauna of northeast Bangladesh

Marjan Maria,Sabir Bin Muzaffar,Hassan Al-Razi,Amaël Borzée

doi:10.3897/herpetozoa.35.e76225

Biofluorescence in the herpetofauna of northeast Bangladesh

Marjan Maria, Sabir Bin Muzaffar + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.35.e76225

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Journal: Herpetozoa	Publication Date: Feb 18, 2022
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Nanjing Forestry University

Abstract

Fluorescence is a poorly documented phenomenon in vertebrates and has been suggested to play several biological roles. With increased study, the number of species in which biofluorescence has been identified is increasing steadily. We conducted a UV light survey for biofluorescence in the herpetofauna in Lawachara National Park, Bangladesh and found biofluorescence in one amphibian (Microhyla berdmorei) and three reptile species (Boiga cyanea, Cyrtodactylus tripuraensis and Hemidactylus platyurus).

Highlights

Biofluorescence occurs in living organisms when high energy light wavelengths (e.g. UV or blue light, wavelengths ranging from 10–500 nm) are absorbed and re-emitted at lower energy, resulting in fluorescent light (Shimomura et al 1962; Kumagai et al 2013; Marshall and Johsen 2017; Lamb and Davis 2020)
For the first time, biofluorescence in one species of frog and three species of reptiles in north-eastern Bangladesh. This is consistent with several studies documenting biofluorescence in terrestrial vertebrates (Taboada et al 2017a, 2017b; Lamb and Davis 2020; Top et al 2020)
It has been hypothesised that biofluorescence in animals could aid in visualising conspecifics or heteroherpetozoa.pensoft.net specifics under low light intensities (Taboada et al 2017a; Lamb and Davis 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Biofluorescence occurs in living organisms when high energy light wavelengths (e.g. UV or blue light, wavelengths ranging from 10–500 nm) are absorbed and re-emitted at lower energy, resulting in fluorescent light (Shimomura et al 1962; Kumagai et al 2013; Marshall and Johsen 2017; Lamb and Davis 2020). The global geographic distribution of biofluorescence is of limited coverage, with widely different species occupying diverse ecosystem types covered in studies on specific taxa These studies have included mammals in North America and Australia (Kohler et al 2019; Anich et al 2021), reptiles in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, southern Africa and the Solomon Islands (Gruber and Sparks 2015; Prötzel et al 2018, 2021; Mendyk 2021) and amphibians in North and South America (Lamb and Davis 2000; Taboada et al 2017a; Goutte et al 2019).

Results

Materials and methods

Discussion