Experts describe it as a ‘beautiful endemic rainforest species’, one of several that have not been seen for decades
The mountain mist frog, a species once found across two-thirds of Australia’s wet tropics, has been declared extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.
The last recorded sighting of the frog, most commonly found near Thornton Peak, north-west of Cairns, was in April 1990. It is believed to have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, a disease that attacks the skin and has destroyed amphibian populations across the globe, though a reduction in its natural habitat due to rising temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions may have also played a role.
The species is listed as critically endangered by the Australian government, but was upgraded to extinct on the IUCN list. It was one of 26 Australian species to have its listing changed. Most of the others were types of orchid.
Dr Jodi Rowley, a frog biologist at the Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales, said the mountain mist frog was a “beautiful endemic rainforest species”, and one of several Australian frog species that had not been seen for decades but had not been declared extinct until now.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...tinct-as-red-list-reveals-biodiversity-crisis
The mountain mist frog, a species once found across two-thirds of Australia’s wet tropics, has been declared extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.
The last recorded sighting of the frog, most commonly found near Thornton Peak, north-west of Cairns, was in April 1990. It is believed to have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, a disease that attacks the skin and has destroyed amphibian populations across the globe, though a reduction in its natural habitat due to rising temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions may have also played a role.
The species is listed as critically endangered by the Australian government, but was upgraded to extinct on the IUCN list. It was one of 26 Australian species to have its listing changed. Most of the others were types of orchid.
Dr Jodi Rowley, a frog biologist at the Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales, said the mountain mist frog was a “beautiful endemic rainforest species”, and one of several Australian frog species that had not been seen for decades but had not been declared extinct until now.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...tinct-as-red-list-reveals-biodiversity-crisis
