Farewell to One of Darwin’s Frogs
…but it’s not too late for another

Amphibian declines are one of the biggest conservation concerns of the 21st century. In a paper last week in PLOS ONE, Claudio Soto-Azat at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile, in collaboration with Ben Collen from GEE’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CBER), and colleagues at ZSL, reported some sad news about two species of Darwin’s frog in South American. They announce the exctintion of the Chile Darwin’s Frog and substantial declines in the closely related species, Darwin’s Frog.

Using published data and archived specimens, Soto-Azat and colleagues reconstructed the historical range of these two species across Chile and Argentina, and went looking for the frogs right across their original range. Not a single Chilea Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma rufum) was found. They used modeling based upon recorded sightings to predict whether the Chile Darwin’s frog truly is extinct. Unfortunately, this model confirmed the worst, that Chile Darwin’s frog is now extinct in the wild, and probably vanished over 30 years ago.

Darwin’s Frog (Rhinoderma darwinii)
Image from ARKive. Photograph used with permission from Claudio Soto-Azat (Universidad Andrés Bello)

Populations of the closely related Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma darwinii) were found, however these populations are much smaller and more fragmented than previously thought. The authors recommend classifying Darwin’s only remaining frog as Endangered. No frogs were found in or near urban environments – the surviving populations exist in primary forest. The populations that have gone extinct had been put under strain from human pressures. In Chile, loss of native forest as it is chopped down to make way for pine plantations to satisfy a growing global demand for wood and paper may be reducing the availability of habitat for these colourful little frogs.

Darwin’s Frog (Rhinoderma darwinii)
The same frog captured twice – identifiable by it’s unique underbelly patterning

Darwin’s frogs aren’t just colourful, they also have a rather remarkable way to care for their young. The male waits patiently until the eggs he fertilised are ready to hatch, when he swallows the eggs and holds them in his vocal sac as they hatch. The tadpoles remain their at least until they are able to feed by themselves, but in Darwin’s frog (R.darwinii), the young stay until they can hop out, as tiny froglets. Chile Darwin’s frog is lost forever, but it may not be too late to save Darwin’s frog, and this unusual strategy for rearing offspring.

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