Journal article
The rediscovered Hula painted frog is a living fossil
Nature Communications, Vol.4
Jun/2013
Abstract
Amphibian declines are seen as an indicator of the onset of a sixth mass extinction of life on earth. Because of a combination of factors such as habitat destruction, emerging pathogens and pollutants, over 156 amphibian species have not been seen for several decades, and 34 of these were listed as extinct by 2004. Here we report the rediscovery of the Hula painted frog, the first amphibian to have been declared extinct. We provide evidence that not only has this species survived undetected in its type locality for almost 60 years but also that it is a surviving member of an otherwise extinct genus of alytid frogs, Latonia, known only as fossils from Oligocene to Pleistocene in Europe. The survival of this living fossil is a striking example of resilience to severe habitat degradation during the past century by an amphibian.
Details
- Title
- The rediscovered Hula painted frog is a living fossil
- Creators
- Rebecca Biton (null)Eli Geffen (null)Miguel Vences (null)Orly Cohen (null) - The Weizmann Institute of ScienceSalvador Bailon (null)Rivka Rabinovich (null)Yoram Malka (null)Talya Oron (null)Renaud Boistel (null)Vlad Brumfeld (null) - 972WIS_INST___100Sarig Gafny (null)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature Communications, Vol.4; Jun/2013
- Number of pages
- 6
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2959
- Grant note
- Israel Science Foundation (Center of Excellence) [300/06, 858/09]; Israel Taxonomy Initiative (ITI); EU SYNTHESYS project; Centre de Recherche Francais a Jerusalem (CRFJ); Hofman Grant (The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)We thank S. Carranza, D. Donaire, F. Glaw and T. Ziegler for providing tissue samples; F. Valla, N. Goren-Inbar, G. Sharon and A. Bridault for access to the Hula Valley Pleistocene fossils; and the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ-R), the National Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University (TAU), the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Madrid (MNCN), the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), the Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia, Universita degli Studi di Torino (MGP-UST) and the Museo di Storia Naturale dell' Universita di Firenze for access to the extant specimens. We also thank B. Shacham, J.C. Rage, A. Herrel, B. Sanchiz, M. Delfino, M. Pavia, J. E. Gonzalez, A. Teynie , M. Geze, I. Aizenberg and A. Nistri for their advice and assistance. We also wish to thank the staff of the Hula Nature Reserve, especially Y. Artzi, for the hospitality and logistic assistance. The Israel Science Foundation (Center of Excellence, grants no. 300/06, 858/09), the Israel Taxonomy Initiative (ITI), EU SYNTHESYS project (http://www.synthesys.info), the Centre de Recherche Francais a Jerusalem (CRFJ) and the Hofman Grant (The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) provided financial support._ALMAME_DELIMITER_
- Record Identifier
- 993266965403596
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