Fauna of Scotland
Only six amphibians and four land reptiles are native to Scotland. The amphibians include three species of newt: the great crested, of which fewer than 1,000 individuals survive; the smooth, and the palmate. The other amphibians are the common toad, the natterjack toad, found in only four locations in the south-west, and the common frog. A single alien amphibian is known in Scotland, the Alpine newt, a recent escapee confined to the Edinburgh area.
Cactoblastis cactorum
In South America, "Cactoblastis cactorum" has many natural predators, including ants and New World monkeys. Ants, the moths' main predators, consume its larvae. New World monkeys dig the larvae and pupae out from the flattened leaf-like stems, or "cladodes", of the cacti. The relationship between "Cactoblastis cactorum" and "Opuntia" cactus species is parasitic: the moth feeds on the host cactus. Recent work in South America has identified four genetically-structured ecotypes of "C. cactorum" that infest different hosts and possess different larval morphology. The mechanism driving this isolation and pattern of host-association in the field remains unexplored.