James E. Platz Professor Morphology, Evolution, Systematics Ph.D. - Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 1974 M.S. - Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, 1970 B.S. - Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, 1967 Department of Biology Creighton University 2500 California Plaza Omaha, NE 68178-0103   Office: Hixson-Lied 439 Lab: Rigge Science 407 (402) 280-2151 jplatz@creighton.edu

Courses Offered

• BIO 333 - Vertebrate Comparative Anatomy (4)
• BIO 483 - Vertebrate Natural History (3)
• BIO 484 - Vertebrate Natural History Lab (1)
• BIO 581 - Evolution (4)
• BIO 440 - Field Biology of the Desert Southwest (4)
• Summer Field Course - ASU/Ecuador

Evolution: Links and Resources

Research Interests

Much of my early work was designed to better understand the processes of vertebrate speciation and involved genetic interactions between closely related species pairs in hybrid zones using members of the Rana pipiens complex. My efforts and those of Murray Littlejohn at the University of Melbourne, Jack Mecham at Texas Tech, Lauren Brown at Illinois State University and David Pettus at Colorado State overturned the prevailing conclusion that Rana pipiens, as the range was depicted in the 1950's, was a single, widespread polytypic species and established it instead as a complex of species. Currently seven have been described. My research during the early 1980s revealed a second species complex (this time in the chorus frogs, Pseudacris triseriata) in which we were able to document reproductive character displacement. For the past nine years, I have been investigating biological questions involving the leopard frog, Rana subaquavocalis, native to southeastern Arizona. Work now extends to life history questions and conservation issues. Bioacoustical and molecular studies currently underway are focused on understanding the origin and evolution of underwater mate recognition systems in New and Old World ranid frogs; most recently Rana dalmatina in Denmark, Rana iberica in Portugal and Rana latastei in Slovenjia.

Recent Publications:

Razzetti, Edoardo, Roberto Sacchi and James E. Platz. 2006. First description of the acoustic repertoire of Rana italica (Anura, Ranidae). Herpetological Journal 16:229-231. PDF (7.1 MB)

Platz, J. E. and T. A. Grudzien. 2003. Limited genetic heterozygosity and status of two populations of the Ramsey Canyon Leopard Frog: Rana subaquavocalis. J. of Herpetology 37:758-761. PDF (75 kB)

Goldberg, S. R., C. R. Bursey and J. E. Platz.  2000.  Helminths of the Plains Leopard Frog, Rana blairi (Ranidae).  Southwestern Naturalist 45(3): 362-366. PDF (7.5 MB)

Conlon, J.M., White, A.M. and Platz, J.E.  2000.  Islet hormones from the African bullfrog Pyxicephalus adspersus (Anura:Ranidae): structural characterization and phylogenetic implications. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.119:85-94. PDF (126 kB)

Goraya, J., Wang, Y., Li, Z.,  O'Flaherty, M., Knoop, F.C., Platz, J.E. and Conlon, J.M.  2000.  Peptides with antimicrobial activity from four different families isolated from the skins of the North American frogs, Rana luteiventris,Rana berlandieri and Rana pipiens. Eur. J. Biochem. 267:894-900. PDF (14 MB)

J. Michael Conlon, James E. Platz, Nicolas Chartrel, Hubert Vaudry and Per F.  Nielsen 1998.  Amino acid sequence diversity of pancreatic polypeptide among the amphibia.  General and Comparative Endocrinology  112:146-152. PDF (16 MB)

Platz, J.E. and Conlon, J.M.  1997.  Reptile relationships turn turtle..... and turn back again.   Nature 389: 245-246. PDF (2.3 MB)

Conlon, J.M., Platz, J.E., Nielsen, P.F., Vaudry, H. and Vallarino, M. 1997. Primary structure of insulin from the African lungfish, Protopterus annectens. General and Comparative Endocrinology 107: 421-427. PDF (13 MB)

Platz, J. E. , A. Lathrop, L. Hofbauer and M. Vradenburg.  1997.  Age distribution and longevity in the Ramsey Canyon Leopard Frog, Rana subaquavocalis.  J. Herp.  34:  552-557. PDF (13 MB)

- Complete Publication List -

Last modified: February 01, 2008