First fossil frog and snake assemblage from southern Taiwan: a window into Pleistocene herpetofauna and palaeoenvironments in subtropical East Asia

Supplementary material 1 from: Lin C-H, Lin S-M, Chien C-W, Lin T-E, Nazir H, Singh NP (2025) First fossil frog and snake assemblage from southern Taiwan: a window into Pleistocene herpetofauna and palaeoenvironments in subtropical East Asia. Fossil Record 28(2): 293-308. https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.28.164568

Supplementary material 2 from: Lin C-H, Lin S-M, Chien C-W, Lin T-E, Nazir H, Singh NP (2025) First fossil frog and snake assemblage from southern Taiwan: a window into Pleistocene herpetofauna and palaeoenvironments in subtropical East Asia. Fossil Record 28(2): 293-308. https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.28.164568

Snakes can be found near human habitation because of different reasons of which abundance of prey (rodents) is the major fact. This draws conflict between snakes and humans. Even though snakes are protected with Indian Wildlife Act of 1972, they are generally regarded dangerous creatures to man and whenever spotted deserve no mercy. Hence, recues of the snake is an important factor for conserving the species. Trends in the population of snakes are difficult to monitor due to its sporadic distribution and secretive nature of snakes. Lack of knowledge about the population concerns any conservational plans. Thisdata attempt to document the diversity, population and seasonality of the snakes rescued in Kannur by Rapid response team from October 2011 to October 2014 in Kannur district. A total of 1427 snakes comprising 16 species were rescued in Kannur district of which 65% were venomous snakes. Indian Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja; 44.1%) were found to be common venomous snake encountered in the district. Russell’s Viper (Daboia russelii; 14.8%), Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus; 3.4%), King Cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah;2.5%) and few cases of Malabar Pit-Viper (Trimeresurus malabaricus;0.1%), Common Cat Snake ( Boiga trigonata;0.2%) and Forsten’s Cat snake (Boiga forsteni;0.1%) are the other venomous species.. Indian Rock Python (Python molurus; 30.1%) was the commonly rescued non-venomous snake in Kannur. Other non-venomous snakes were Rat snake (Ptyas mucosa; 1.8%), Common Trinket snake (Coelognathus helena; 1.3%), Wolf snake (Lycodon aulicus; 0.4%), Common Kukri (Oligodon arnensis; 0.1%), Common sand boa (Eryx conicus; 0.3%) and Red sand boa (Eryx johnii; 0.5%). Seasonal variations in the number of rescued snakes were discussed. Knowledge of activity pattern of the snake in the district can be used for successful management and conservational plans. Waste management, rodent control, reducing hideout places etc were suggested to decrease the number of snakes entering into house compound. Promoting awareness about the local snake among the public is as important as rescue activities. The increase in rescue call by 40% in 2013 can be taken as one of the successes of the awareness programs conducted across the district.

Clinical and urographic presentation of transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter in a blackfoot disease endemic area in southern Taiwan.

The epidemiology of patients with pterygium in southern Taiwanese adults: The Chiayi survey

SummaryBlind snakes (Scolecophidia) are minute cryptic snakes that diverged at the base of the evolutionary radiation of modern snakes. They have a scant fossil record, which dates back to the Upper Paleocene-Lower Eocene (∼56 Ma); this late appearance conflicts with molecular evidence, which suggests a much older origin for the group (during the Mesozoic: 160–125 Ma). Here we report a typhlopoid blind snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil, Boipeba tayasuensis gen. et sp. nov, which extends the scolecophidian fossil record into the Mesozoic and reduces the fossil gap predicted by molecular data. The new species is estimated to have been over 1 m long, much larger than typical modern scolecophidians (<30 cm). This finding sheds light on the early evolution of blind snakes, supports the hypothesis of a Gondwanan origin for the Typhlopoidea, and indicates that early scolecophidians had large body size, and only later underwent miniaturization.

Maintaining a certain amount of agricultural land and promoting its agricultural land utilization efficiency is essential in a country. Many innovative strategies for adapting to climate change have been implemented in developed countries. To achieve the goal of climate change adaptation for agricultural land, a vulnerability assessment of farmland is indispensable. Based on the research framework of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this study applied the structure of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation to build criteria and conduct an evaluation of a designated area in Southern Taiwan. We identified the key factors of the vulnerability of farmland, through mapping with spatial analysis, and by using geographic information system tools. The main purpose of the application of a vulnerability assessment is not to explicitly describe the status of agricultural land to climate change, but to help local government and farmers to identify the critical area, and to discuss the appropriated adaptive policies. According to the results of the vulnerability assessment of agricultural land, the entire study region can be divided into three patterns: Pattern 1, located in the western coastal zone, filled with various attributes of high vulnerability; Pattern 2, distributed on the central plain region in the east, with complete blocks of agricultural land and low vulnerability; and Pattern 3, located in the central plain region to the west, a region in which areas with various vulnerability levels. The following three types of adaptation strategies for climate change for farmland were established: (1) the enhancement of agricultural production, (2) the maintenance of agricultural production, and (3) the conservation of the agricultural environment. The current results can serve as valuable guidelines for governments to implement feasible local adaptation strategies in the future.

PM aerosol water content and chemical composition in a metropolitan and a coastal area in southern Taiwan

The brown anole ( Anolis sagrei ) occurs naturally in various localities in Central America, and an exotic invasive population was first reported in Sheishan District, Chiayi County, Taiwan, in 2000. Previous studies showed that following the invasion of A. sagrei , the diversity and abundance of local terrestrial arthropods, such as orb spiders and arboreal insects, were severely affected. In this study, we assessed the impact of A. sagrei on arthropod diversity in Taiwan by comparing spider and insect diversities among betelnut palm plantations, in which this lizard species was either present or absent, and a secondary forest. In addition, enclosures were established in which the density of A. sagrei was manipulated to investigate the effect of this predator on spiders. The results of a lizard stomach content analysis showed that spiders comprised 7% and insects 90% of the prey consumed. Among the insects consumed by A. sagrei , more than 50% were ants. The abundances of the major arthropod prey of A. sagrei , such as jumping spiders and hymenopterans, in the lizard-present sites were much lower than in the lizard-removed sites. The enclosure experiments also showed that predation by the lizards significantly reduced the abundance of jumping spiders. All these results indicated that the introduced lizard greatly affected the diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropods in agricultural areas in southern Taiwan.

Typhoon Morakot made landfall on Taiwan with a record rainfall of 3031.5 mm during 6–13 August 2009. While previous studies have emphasized the influence of southwesterly winds associated with intraseasonal oscillations and monsoon surges on moisture supply, the interaction between Morakot and low-frequency monsoon flows and the resulting influence on the slow movement and asymmetric precipitation structure of the typhoon were examined observationally.Embedded in multi-time-scale monsoonal flows, Morakot generally moved westward prior to its landfall on Taiwan and underwent a coalescence process first with a cyclonic gyre on the quasi-biweekly oscillation time scale and then with a cyclonic gyre on the Madden–Julian oscillation time scale. The coalescence enhanced the synoptic-scale southwesterly winds of Morakot and thus decreased its westward movement and turned the track northward, leading to an unusually long residence time in the vicinity of Taiwan. The resulting slow movement and collocation with the low-frequency gyres also maintained the major rainfall in southern Taiwan because the low-frequency flows played an important role in enhancing the winds on the southern side, especially during 6–9 August 2009. In addition to the lifting effect of the Taiwan terrain and the moisture supply associated with monsoon flows, the study suggests that the monsoonal influence maintained the major rainfall area in southern Taiwan through reducing the translation speed, shifting Morakot northward, and enhancing the low-frequency flows on the southern side of the typhoon. Since the enhanced low-frequency flows did not shift northward with the movement of Morakot, its primary rainfall expanded outward with time as the typhoon center moved northwestward after its landfall on Taiwan.

Direct current (DC) resistivity soundings with Schlumberger arrays are utilized to map the vertical and horizontal distributions of resistivity in the area between the Pachang-chi and Tsengwen-chi, southern Taiwan. This makes it possible to map the paleo depo-and hydro-environment of the study area. In addition, the transverse resistance computed from the field sounding data measured near the wells can be related to the transmissivity measured directly within the wells. An empirical relation between the tranverse resistance and transmissivity could thus be derived. The hydraulic parameters at the DC sounding locations without any well information could still be estimated from such empirical relationships. Thus, the locations of fresh groundwater zones and the most promising sites for future drilling could be determined. Results of this study indicate that the DC resistivity method can be used to map the depositional process of the study area, and it can also be applied to predict the hydraulic parameters in locations without available well information in a recent alluvium covered area in southern Taiwan. This is of great benefit to the future management of groundwater in the study area.

Several small scale surface slips were reported on cut slopes when a new trans-island highway was constructed through the mudstone area in southern Taiwan. Ironically, tied-back slopes with ground anchors were extensively used in some of those slopes experiencing slip failure. Certain factors of mudstone formations seem to have been overlooked by the designers. To identify the problems, the influence of rock strength reduction with time and the variation of groundwater level on the stability of a cut slope were evaluated numerically. It has been found that the slope failure mechanism of the weak rock is similar to that of the soil rather than the plane failure mechanism of the hard rock. To provide good slope surface reinforcement and reduce the number of tension cracks; rock bolts and grillage structures have proven their ability to prevent surface slip failure in cut slopes of the mudstone formations.

The seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) among 997 healthy individuals aged 6 to 84 years, collected between July 1993 and June 1994 at Kaohsiung-Pingtung area in Southern Taiwan was studied. Of the study populations of vegetable farmers, elementary school children, volunteer blood donors and college students, the prevalence of IgG anti-HEV ranged from 6.4% to 8.8%. In suburban elemantary school children of Mang-Chou Village at Pingtung-Hsien, the seroprevalence rate (9.6%) was significantly higher than the positive rate (1.5%) found in rural aboriginal elementary school of San-Min Village at Kaohsiung-Hsien. IgG anti-HEV antibodies were widely distributed among all age groups, with a significantly higher percentage (13.1%) in the age group of 46-55 years old.

High prevalence of genotype 6 hepatitis C virus infection in Southern Taiwan using Abbott genotype assays

Dry deposition is one of the major routes by which air pollutants enter the ecosystem, and thus this study investigated the dry deposition characteristics of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and biphenyls (PCBs) in the ambient air of industrial, urban, and rural areas in southern Taiwan from November 2010 to May 2011. Average dry deposition fluxes of total PCDD/Fs and PCBs in the ambient air of four sites were 157-544 pg/m2-day (8.30-27.5 pg ITEQ/ m^2-day) and 289-1010 pg/m^2-day (0.540-1.94 pg WHO-TEQ/m^2-day), respectively. The results showed that particle phase depositions dominated the dry deposition processes for the removal of PCDD/Fs and PCBs from the atmosphere, and the atmospheric deposition flux in the cold season tended to be higher than that during the warm season. The dry deposition velocity of individual PCDD/Fs (0.031-0.546 cm/s) increased as the number of chlorinated substitutes increased, which were similar to those measured or predicted in other Asian countries. Similar patterns of dry deposition velocities were observed for individual PCBs (0.069-3.38 cm/s), due to the fact that low chlorinated PCBs are predominant in gas phase and have lower deposition velocities.