Rare Species Reappears in Chile After Over 120 Years of Absence

Frogs belonging to the species Vittatus alsods were rediscovered in Chile, more than 120 years after their last observation.

Indeed, the frog Vittatus alsodes, An endemic frog of Chile was rediscovered by Chilean researchers from the systematic and conservation laboratory of herpetozoa (SYCOH) of the University of Conceptción. The last time this species was observed was in 1902, more than 120 years later.

Decades of effort

Discovered in 1893 French entomologist Philibert Germain, then scientifically described nine years later by Rodulfo Amando Philippi, a German naturalist living in Chile, the information concerning this frog is rare, because of his (very) long period of absence. According to Phys.orgthis amphibian has a white or yellow strip on the back, which differentiates it from other species.

This discovery is the award of several years of work, which had started in the mid -1990s. In 2015 and 2016, researchers The University of Conceptción Claudio Correa and Juan Pablo Donoso, main authors of the study published in the journal Zookeys, thought they had gotten their hands on these extremely rare frogs, but unfortunately for them, the famous white or yellow band was not present. However, the research team did not abandon and ended up discovering, in 2023 and 2024, two populations Vittatus alsods In the Lolco and Portales rivers basins, in the Araucania region, located 670 km in Du Santiago.

A discovery that will help better protect these amphibians

“This rediscovery demonstrates the limited biological, evolutionary and biogeographic knowledge of the amphibians who populate the southern cone of South America, emphasizing the urgency of their study and their conservation”said the researchers.

According to Phys.orgmost species of the genus Alsods are either in danger of extinction, or not known enough to assess their status. This discovery will therefore allow researchers to know more about this species, in order to be able to preserve it over the long term and prevent them from disappearing again.

Source: Phys.org