I spent two weeks in Berkeley expanding the salamander database! The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology houses one of the world’s finest collections of salamanders and ontogenetic series. It also carries the remarkable legacy of Dave Wake, one of the most influential salamander researchers ever, whose work inspired generations of scientists in the field.
During my stay, I was warmly welcomed by Jack Tseng, Juan Liu, and last but definitely not least, Narimane Chatar. These two weeks were intense but incredibly productive: we CT-scanned a total of 666 specimens, including ontogenetic series with at least 5 larvae and 5 adults for more than 30 species.
The dataset now covers a substantial portion of salamander diversity, with much stronger representation of larval stages!
Now comes the next challenge: segmenting and landmarking all 666 specimens. Stay tuned!!! More results coming soon!
