Hula painted frog
| Hula painted frog | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Discoglossidae |
| Genus: | Discoglossus |
| Species: | D. nigriventer |
| Binomial name | |
| Discoglossus nigriventer Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943 |
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The Hula painted frog (also Israel painted frog or or Palestinian painted frog[1][2][3]) (Hebrew: עגולשון שחור-גחון) (agulashon sh’hor-gahon) (Discoglossus nigriventer) is an amphibian, thought to be extinct until one female specimen was found on 16 November 2011. It is endemic to the Lake Hula marshes in Israel.
The draining of Lake Hula and its marshes in the 1950s was thought to have led to the extinction of this frog, along with the cyprinid fish Acanthobrama hulensis and cichlid fish Tristramella intermedia. Environmental improvements in the Hula reserve have been cited as a possible reason for the frog's re-emergence.[4]
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[edit] Description
The Israel painted frog has a dark belly with small white spots. It is colored ochre above with a rusty colour grading into dark olive-grey to greyish-black on the sides. Differences from the common painted frog (Discoglossus pictus) include its greater interocular distance, longer forelimbs, and a less projecting snout. The type specimen was an adult female with a body length of 40 mm.
Little is known about its history, because few specimens have been found by scientists. Two adults and two tadpoles were collected in 1940 and a single specimen was found in 1955. This would prove to be the last record of this species until 2011.[5]
The four 1940 specimens were to be used as types, but the smaller, half-grown frog was eaten by the larger one in captivity.[6] The latter eventually became the holotype (HUJZ Amphib. Discogl. 1) for the species' description and this or the individual collected in 1955 apparently is the only material remains of the species known today; the two tadpole paratypes (HUJZ Amphib. Discogl. 2 and 2a) appear to have been lost.[citation needed]
[edit] Rediscovery
The IUCN has classified this species as extinct since 1996[7] but Israel continued to list it as an endangered species in the slim hope that a relict population may be found in the Golan Heights.
In 2000, a scientist from the Lebanese nature protection organisation A Rocha claimed he had seen a frog species which could be Discoglossus nigriventer in the Aammiq marshes south of the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. Two French-Lebanese-British expeditions in the years 2004 and 2005 yielded no confirmation as to the further existence of this species.[8] In August 2010, a search organised by the Amphibian Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature set out to look for various species of frogs thought to be extinct in the wild, including the Israel painted frog.[9]
In 2011, a routine patrol at the Hula nature reserve found an unknown frog and scientists confirmed that it is one of this rare species.[10] An ecologist with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority credited the rehydration of the area for the frog sighting.[11] On November 29, a second specimen was located in the same area.[12]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://books.google.dk/books?id=iVEWPg8vnxgC&pg=PA549&lpg=PA549&dq=palestine+painted+frog&source=bl&ots=GinpsNJizS&sig=SLAJ4cXdT_mwCH_-oZ_vK8vIdvY&hl=da&sa=X&ei=bTAkT9C4GISj-gbRtfmtCA&ved=0CHsQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=palestine%20painted%20frog&f=false
- ^ http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hotspots/europe_central_asia/mediterranean-basin/Pages/biodiversity.aspx
- ^ http://books.google.dk/books?id=FCIzOjfRDHkC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=palestine+painted+frog&source=bl&ots=0K_Jh8DTJH&sig=RUiP31tzfqdzXXtTkioDHZBYl2k&hl=da&sa=X&ei=TDAkT9-NEMKr-gbnhJTXCA&ved=0CIYBEOgBMA0#v=onepage&q=palestine%20painted%20frog&f=false
- ^ Long thought extinct, Hula painted frog found once again in Israeli nature reserve, Haaretz
- ^ Frog jumps back from extinction
- ^ Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943
- ^ Papenfuss, Theodore; Disi, Ahmad; Anderson, Steven; Kuzmin, Sergius; Gasith, Avital; Sadek, Riyad A.; Werner, Yehudah (2004). "Discoglossus nigriventer". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/6715/0. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ Tron, 2005
- ^ Black, Richard (2010-08-09). "Global hunt begins for 'extinct' species of frogs". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10859989. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ^ Zafrir, Rinat (November 17, 2011). "Long thought extinct, Hula painted frog found once again in Israeli nature reserve". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/long-thought-extinct-hula-painted-frog-found-once-again-in-israeli-nature-reserve-1.396000.
- ^ ‘Extinct’ frog rediscovered in Israel
- ^ Zafrir, Rinat (November 29, 2011). "Second of frog species long thought extinct found in Israel nature reserve". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/second-of-frog-species-long-thought-extinct-found-in-israel-nature-reserve-1.398516.
[edit] Bibliography
- Mendelssohn, Heinrich and Steinitz, Heinz (1943). A new frog from Palestine. Copeia. 1943 (4): 231-233. doi:10.2307/1438135 (First page image)
- Paz, U. (1975): [The Rehabilitation of the Hula Nature Reserve]. Nature Conservation in Israel: Research & Surveys 1: 116-206 [Article in Hebrew].
- Steinitz, Heinz (1955): Occurrence of Discoglossus nigriventer in Israel. Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel B 5: 192-193.
- Tron, François (2005): The Eastern spadefoot Toad (Pelobates syriacus): A new amphibian species for Lebanon. The international expedition of herpetological research in South Lebanon, April 2005. PDF fulltext
[edit] External links
- ARKive: Images of specimen HUJZ Amphib. Discogl. 1 in life. Retrieved 2006-DEC-14.
- Global Amphibian Assessment: Discoglossus nigriventer - Hula Painted Frog. Contains map of locations where specimens were found. Retrieved 2006-DEC-14.
- Second of frog species long thought extinct found in Israel nature reserve [1]
- http://www.medwetcoast.com/IMG/200508_pr_Aammiq__frog.pdf
- "Watershed moment for extinct Israeli frog" – Israel21c
