Another ‘extinct’ frog rediscovered – This time in Australia
12/09/2008 12:54:28
The Armoured Mist frog -Picture: Robert Puschendorf
September 2008. The Armoured Mist frog, a species not seen anywhere for 17 years has been rediscovered in a remote location in the far north of Australia.
James Cook University's Professor Ross Alford said it was feared that the Armoured Mist Frog (Litoria lorica) had been lost in the devastating outbreaks of amphibian chytrid fungus that started in the Wet Tropics 20 years ago.
Chytrid fungus
"But JCU PhD student Robert Puschendorf working with myself and the JCU Amphibian Disease Ecology Group has found a healthy population of the Armoured Mist Frog well outside the areas it used to inhabit," Professor Alford said.
"The population at a remote location on the Carbine Tableland is healthy and is coexisting with a healthy population of the Waterfall Frog, Litoria nannotis, another species that declined due to the fungus.
"All frogs of both species are in good health, although most individuals are infected with the amphibian chytrid fungus."
Living with Chrytid fungus
Professor Alford's group plans to learn how these populations are able to coexist with the disease, and use this information to develop better strategies for the future conservation and management of vulnerable frogs. Amphibian chytrid fungus is believed to have caused the extinctions of all known high elevation populations of seven frog species in the Wet Tropics between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"Some of those species have since re-colonised some sites, " Professor Alford said, "and our team has been working to discover how they are now able to coexist with this devastating pathogen."
He said the research would not have been possible without funding from the Federal Department of Environment, Heritage, Water, and the Arts, Australian Geographic, and the Skyrail Foundation, and collaboration with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
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