NEW SPECIES of frog is also the smallest-known vertebrate

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Buck

An unusual species of frog, Paedophryne amauensis, was discovered in Papua New Guinea during biodiversity surveys. In the video below, Chris Austin gives an interesting account of how the diminutive frog was discovered. More via National Geographic:

At an average of 7.7 millimeters long, the newfound Paedophryne amauensis is a hair smaller than the previous record holder, the Southeast Asian fish species Paedocypris progenetica, whose females measure about 7.9 millimeters.

During recent field surveys in southern Papua New Guinea, scientists found P. amauensis and another new species of tiny frog, Paedophryne swiftorum, which measures about 8.6 millimeters.

“I think it’s amazing that they’re continuing to find smaller and smaller frogs,” said Robin Moore, an amphibian expert with Conservation International, who was not involved in the study.

CAN YOU SEE ME? | ANIMAL CAMOUFLAGE: Colorful toad rediscovered

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Buck

Image via Indraneil Das

Despite being colorful, the Sambas stream toad blends into its mossy, arboreal habitat. This species was recently rediscovered after more than 85 years of absence. More via the New York Times:

The Borneo rainbow toad, with its long spindly legs, looks a bit like an Abstract Expressionist canvas splattered in bright green, purple and red. But when this amphibian was last seen, in 1924, the painter Jackson Pollock was just 12, and the only image of the mysterious creature was a black-and-white sketch.

That changed this summer when the toad was rediscovered high in the ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak, between Sarawak State in Malaysia and Kalimantan Barat Province in Indonesia. Because of market demand for bright-colored amphibians, which are sold as pets, Indraneil Das, a herpetologist at the University of Malaysia at Sarawak who led the research team that found the toad, declined to be more specific about the location, saying only that it was spotted about six feet up a tree in that region on the night of June 12 by one of his graduate students, Pui Yong Min.

Continue reading this article at the New York Times.

See more animal camouflage here on The Conservation Report.

PICS OF THE DAY: Eastern narrowmouth toad

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Buck

I discovered this little guy while planting my tomatoes today. It’s an eastern narrowmouth toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis). It had buried itself into the dirt. Luckily, my shovel narrowly missed the little frog. These plump, little frogs love to eat ants, and “the skin secretions of narrowmouth toads can be irritating to human eyes and mucous membranes.”

PIC TO SHARE: Some frogs bypass the tadpole stage

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Buck

Moist environments in the tropics allow some frogs to forgo the tadpole stage and hatch directly into froglets. Another example of this adaptation can be found in the Bryophryne spp. of Peru. From National Geographic:

[A] male Oreophryne frog in Papua, New Guinea, guards his clutch and two newly hatched froglets that rest atop the egg mass. Like many of the Microhylidae family, these frogs bypass the tadpole stage, developing fully within the egg. Male frogs embrace their clutch each night to keep the eggs moist and protect them from predators such as insects.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES: Mountain yellow-legged frog population discovered in California

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Buck

Certainly, the discovery of a new population of this critically endangered frog species represents some much needed good news from the amphibian world. According to the U.S. Geological Survey:

For the first time in nearly 50 years, a population of a nearly extinct frog has been rediscovered in the San Bernardino National Forest’s San Jacinto Wilderness. Biologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessing suitability of sites to re-establish frogs and scientists from the San Diego Natural History Museum retracing a 1908 natural history expedition both rediscovered the rare mountain yellow-legged frog in the San Jacinto Wilderness near Idyllwild, Calif.

. . .

Prior to this recent discovery, USGS researchers had estimated there were about 122 adult mountain yellow-legged frogs in the wild.

. . .

“Historically, scientists have had great difficulty breeding frogs in captivity,” said Jeff Lemm, an animal research coordinator for the San Diego Zoo. “We are excited by this success and cautiously optimistic we will have more eggs soon.”

In December 2008, researchers at the Institute for Conservation Research discovered a clutch of about 200 eggs in one of its tanks. Researchers were surprised because the frogs were younger than is typical for breeding. Because of the frogs’ young age, only a handful of the eggs were fertile. The one frog to mature is thriving. The next breeding season is expected to be December 2009 to March 2010.

The goal of the breeding program is to return the mountain yellow-legged frog to its native habitat.

The Zoo’s breeding program, in conjunction with its partners, began after the rare frogs were rescued from a drying creek. Anne Poopatanapong, a wildlife biologist for the San Jacinto Ranger District in the San Bernardino National Forest was monitoring declining creek water levels in Dark Canyon on Aug. 23, 2006, when she noticed many pools drying up, including one where frogs had been living. Concerned about losing the tadpoles, she called the Fish and Wildlife Service and the salvage effort started the next day. A USGS team led by Dr. Robert Fisher rescued 82 tadpoles, which were taken to the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.

The frog recovery effort has been funded by Caltrans in part to mitigate for emergency work to stabilize a slope near the frog’s habitat on state Route 330 in the San Bernadino Mountains.

“The emergency slope reconstruction project had the dual benefit of opening a road that was about to fail as well as helping to ensure that the last known population of the mountain yellow-legged frog in the San Bernardino Mountains had a program in place to aid the frog’s recovery,” said Craig Wentworth, a senior environmental planner/biologist with Caltrans.

Jim Bartel, the field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Carlsbad, said his agency is pleased to participate in the effort to rescue the mountain yellow-legged frog and conserve its remaining riparian habitat.

“We look forward to reintroducing the species to its native habitat,” Bartel said.

Habitat protection and restoration, combined with efforts to reintroduce these frogs to areas where they have been decimated, offers the best hope of returning mountain yellow-legged frogs in Southern California to a healthy, self-sustaining population.