A team of scientists from Delhi University and the Wildlife Institute of India, in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and the US, have discovered a new species of ‘paddy frog’ from Northeast India, primarily Assam. The frog belongs to the microhylid genus Micryletta, a “group of narrow-mouthed frogs that is …
A team of scientists from Delhi University and the Wildlife Institute of India, in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and the US, have discovered a new species of ‘paddy frog’ from Northeast India, primarily Assam. The frog belongs to the microhylid genus Micryletta, a “group of narrow-mouthed frogs that is …
Amphibians across the world are experiencing “catastrophic population declines” from a widening range of interacting pathogens, scientists say. Fungal disease chytridiomycosis is thought to have caused the extinction of 90 amphibian species around the world and the marked decline of at least 491 others over the last 20 years. According …
An international study led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found a fungal disease has caused dramatic population declines in more than 500 amphibian species, including 90 extinctions, over the past 50 years. The disease, which eats away at the skin of amphibians, has completely wiped out some species, …
How many ways can you say “tiny?” How about miniature, miniscule, and minimum, for starters? These adjectives not only describe three new species of frog from Madagascar, but also serve as their official scientific names. Mini mum, Mini ature, and Mini scule “are astronomically small,” says Mark Scherz, an evolutionary …
Researchers have found a new species of African pygmy toad in Serra da Neve Inselberg, an isolated mountain and Angola’s second-highest peak. The new species, formally named Poyntonophrynus pachnodes, or the Serra da Neve pygmy toad, lacks both external and internal parts of the ear that help frogs hear. While …
A deadly disease is threatening to wipe out frogs and toads, a new report has shown. The report, published on nature.com, shows Chytridiomycosis, a fatal fungal disease, as responsible for the continuous decline in the population of the amphibians worldwide. It is estimated that more than 100 species of frogs …
Caracas – Venezuelan and Colombian scientists have identified a new species of frog in the Perija mountain range shared by both countries that is home to unusual species like this small amphibian. With multi-coloured skin and a distinctive song, the Hyloscirtus japreria was discovered during expeditions over the past decade …
NEW DELHI: The high pollution in Delhi is proving a threat to the capital’s smallest known vertebrate. The new generation of Microhyla ornata — a small yellowish brown frog — is showing physical deformities at birth such as the absence of eyes. These were established by research conducted by the …
Oil palm plantations in Malaysian Borneo host a lower number of frog species than forests in same area. However, the plantations exhibit an edge effect that extends as far as 4 kilometers, resulting in a decline in the diversity of frog species in adjacent forests. The researchers suggest that for …
As conditions warm, fish and wildlife living at the southern edge of their species' ranges are most at risk, according to Penn State researchers who led a major collaborative study of how wood frogs are being affected by climate change. However, determining which species and which populations are in danger …
A new glass frog species with transparent skin through which its beating heart is visible has been discovered by scientists who warn that the amphibian may already be at threat of extinction. The frog (Hyalinobatrachium yaku), discovered in the Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador has unique physical and behavioural traits. The …
Giving more credence to the rising impact of climate change in the biodiversity hotspot of Wayanad, researchers have found that endangered frog species are moving up the mountains to cope with rising temperatures and drier conditions that have set in in their relatively low-altitude mountain habitats. Experts said endangered bush …
Genetic analysis of a spiny-throated reed frog hidden in museum collections has revealed it to be a new species. But recent surveys of its heavily deforested habitat have failed to find more. Newly discovered Tanzanian frog already facing extinction The new frog was collected in 2001 from Ruvu South Forest …
A rare frog that had not been seen in decades has been found in Zimbabwe, researchers have said. The Arthroleptis troglodytes, also known as the “cave squeaker” because of its preferred habitat, was discovered in 1962, but there were no reported sightings since then. An international red list of threatened …
A recent study found a large-scale increase in the endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog in Yosemite National Park in California. The sevenfold increase is due to fewer predatory trout and greater resistance to the chytrid fungus. The frogs have a long way to full recovery, but may be more resilient …
On the foothills of the Andes in central Peru, a brilliantly colored frog lives out a fractured fairy tale. Once upon a time—specifically, one evening in November 2014—biologist Germán Chávez heard a call echo through the highest-altitude forests of Tingo María National Park. Chávez didn’t recognize the call, so he …
Amphibians that tolerate higher temperatures are likely to fare better in a world affected by climate change, disease and habitat loss, according to two recent studies from the University of California, Davis. Frogs are disappearing globally, and the studies examine why some survive while others perish. The studies reveal that …
The last two remaining wild mountain chicken frogs living on Montserrat have been reunited, and are hoped to begin breeding on the Caribbean island for the first time since 2009. Last month, a project took the last female and relocated her into the territory of the remaining male as part …
Amphibian populations are vanishing worldwide. Declines and extinctions of many populations have been attributed to chytridiomycosis, a disease induced by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). In Africa, however, changes in amphibian assemblages were typically attributed to habitat change. We conducted a retrospective study utilizing field surveys from 2004–2012 of …
The fungus prevents the frogs from maintaining important salt levels, leading to a cardiac arrest. Eggs bred at Taronga Zoo and Zoos Victoria were released into disease-free enclosures within the Kosciuszko National Park this month. It will take six months for them to metamorphose into frogs and then another four …
