Amphibians - Artensterben

Wolterstorff-Molch (Cynops woltertorffi) - Natural History Museum (London)

The Yunnan lake newt was named by George Albert Boulenger (1905) in honor of the German geologist and zoologist Willy Wolterstorff, who worked extensively on the systematics of salamanders and newts. (© "1946.9.6.32-pic1" - Cynops wolterstorffi (Boulenger, 1905) Collected in China by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0, via GBIF)

3. April 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

Yunnan lake newt—a poorly documented extinction

A newt with a fish-like appearance At the beginning of the 20th century, John Graham collected several animal species previously unknown to science in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. He sent the finds to London, where they were examined by George Albert Boulenger at the Natural History Museum. Boulenger,

The Texas blind salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) belongs to the same genus as the Blanco blind salamander. Some scientists have occasionally suspected that the Texas and Blanco blind salamanders could be one and the same species. (© Ryan Hagerty/USFWS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

31. August 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Blanco Blind Salamander

Missing species have a hard time The last time anyone saw a Blanco blind salamander in the wild was in 1951. At the time, a gravel operation working north of the Texan city of San Marcos excavated a spring in the dry riverbed of the Blanco River. Some water seeped

This is what remains of the holotype of Ainsworth's salamander. The specimen is kept at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. (© DesmognathusFuscus, via Wikimedia Commons)

6. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ainsworth’s Salamander

Last seen in 1964: Plethodon ainsworthi, sp. nov. Ainsworth’s Salamander is known only from two specimens collected by biologist Jackson Harold Ainsworth in 1964, two miles south of Bay Springs in Jasper County, Mississippi. Ainsworth assumed that the two individuals were Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus). More than 30 years later,

Male Chiriqui harlequin frogs reached a size of 2.8 to 3.4 centimeters; females were somewhat larger, with a body length of 3.6 to almost five centimeters. (© Brian Gratwicke from DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

22. January 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chiriqui harlequin frog

Poisonous stubfoot toad from Chiriquí Province The Chiriqui harlequin frog was once widespread in the Cordillera de Talamanca, a mountain range in Costa Rica, and in western Panama. The species was last seen in 1996. The IUCN Red List has listed the frog from the stubfoot toad genus (Atelopus) as

The splendid poison frog reached a body length of 2.8 to 3.1 centimeters. This made it one of the medium-sized poison frogs. Its skin was smooth and shiny. (© DiMoNiAk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

11. September 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Splendid Poison Frog

Wanted: Oophaga speciosa The not particularly shy, diurnal, strikingly red splendid poison frog was hard to miss, especially since its range in western Panama was quite small. This is probably exactly what proved fatal for the amphibian from the family of poison frogs (Dendrobatidae): The splendid poison frog was extremely popular

Rabbs Fransenzehen-Laubfrosch Ecnomiohyla rabborum

The brown or brown-green Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog was relatively large, with a snout-vent length of six to ten centimeters. It had strong legs and strikingly large fingers and toes with extensive webbing. (© Brian Gratwicke from DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

29. June 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Rabb’s Fringe-limbed Treefrog

Toughie—another endling A few treefrogs — among them a male named Toughie—arrived in 2005 from the montane cloud forest of central Panama at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where they were cared for and where attempts were made to breed them. In vain: the tadpoles died every time before metamorphosing into

This is what the Corquin robber frog, now probably extinct, looked like. Its speckled back and dark banding on the legs are characteristic. (© 2003 Wilson and McCranie in The Conversation Status of the Herpetofauna of Honduras)

10. April 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Corquin Robber Frog

Honduran frog species with a small range The Corquin robber frog lived in the constantly misty and humid montane rainforest, at an elevation of 1,400 to 1,840 meters above sea level, in Montaña de Celaque National Park in western Honduras. Its former range in the Cordillera de Celaque mountain range,

Craugastor longirostris: A frog native to Ecuador that also belongs to the genus Craugastor. (© Mauricio Rivera Correa, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)

18. March 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

McCranie’s robber frog

McCranie’s robber frog: An unfortunate name The biologist James McCranie was not at all happy with the common name McCranie’s robber frog or McCranie’s Robber Frog that was given to the frog species Craugastor chrysozetetes. He would have preferred a name that reflected the species’ locality, such as Cerro Búfalo Streamside Frog. The

Pseudophilautus pardus, considered extinct, is in fact not a distinct species, but a rare color variant of the living Pseudophilautus viridis. (© Buddhika.jm(Buddhika Mawella), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

19. March 2018 Doreen Fräßdorf

Pseudophilautus pardus (leopard shrub frog)

Frog with a leopard pattern? Sri Lanka’s amphibian fauna is known for its extraordinary diversity and high level of endemism. The genus Pseudophilautus in particular, which includes many directly developing frog species, has diversified strongly in the island’s isolated forest areas. Pseudophilautus pardus was scientifically described in 2007, based on