Based on Germain’s publications and historical documents, the researchers reconstructed a route that they believe Germain could have taken in an effort to locate the species.
A frog species that virtually disappeared more than 130 years ago has been rediscovered by a team of researchers in Chile. The frog, Alsodes vittatus has been the subject of numerous searches over the last 100 years and was not located until now.
The researchers, Claudio Correa, Edvin Riveros-Riffo and Juan P. Donoso, with the Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile and Universidad de Valparaíso, Santiago, Chile found two populations of the frog in the Hacienda San Ignacio de Pemehue, which is in Chile’s La Araucanía Region.
Alsodes vittatus male. Photo by Edvin Riveros
The frog is varied in coloration and polymorphism. An observed juvenile from a tributary of the Lancu stream had a yellowish vertebral band bordered by black on its black, while an adult female from the Tupuyuntué River lacked the vertebral line completely. they can appear gray with a white stripe, camo green with no stripe, yellowish with a white stripe, and red with no stripe.
Individuals of Alsodes igneus and A. vittatus from the new populations, syntype of A. vittatus and environment of one of the new localities. The individual code used in the phylogenetic analysis is indicated in parentheses in Table 1 A subadult male from Canoas del Diablo stream (Pem1j) B juvenile from the unnamed stream (not collected) (AS1j) C syntype of A. vittatus, Zoological Collection of the Museo de Concepción (MZUC), labeled as the holotype of “Cistignathus” vittatus, without collection number D juvenile from the tributary of the Lancu stream (AEL1j) E adult male from Tupuyuntué River underwater (RTp1m) F Tupuyuntué River at the point where tadpoles and juveniles of A. vittatus were observed.
The frog was first discovered by French entomologist Philibert Germain in 1893. From 1995 to 2002, efforts were made to located the species, but were not successful. Correa and Donoso were able to find two populations of frogs of the Alsodes genus, but they lacked the distinctive white and yellow stripe that runs along the back from nose to vent.
Following Germain’s Potential Path
Based on Germain’s publications and historical documents, the researchers reconstructed a route that they believe Germain could have taken in an effort to locate the species. Those efforts paid off with the finding of two populations of Alsodes vittatus. They were found in the Lolco and Portales river basins which are in the La Araucanía region.
“The rediscovery of A. vittatus allowed us to obtain, more than a century after its description, the first biological and ecological data on the species. Field observations also indicate that this amphibian faces several significant threats and that it could be considered endangered,” the researchers wrote in their paper. “In a broader context, this rediscovery demonstrates the limited biological, evolutionary, and biogeographic knowledge of the amphibians that inhabit the southern cone of South America, emphasizing the urgency of their study and conservation.”
The researchers published their findings, “Lost for more than a century: the rediscovery of Alsodes vittatus (Philippi, 1902) (Anura, Alsodidae), one of the rarest and most elusive amphibians from Chile” in the journal Zookeys.
