The Chile Darwin's frog (''Rhinoderma rufum''), also called the northern Darwin's frog, is one of only two members of the family

Rhinodermatidae Rhinodermatidae, also known as Darwin's frogs, mouth-breeding frogs or mouth-brooding frogs, is a small family of frogs found in temperate forests of southern Chile and adjacent Argentina. They are a unique and evolutionary significant group of ...

. It is endemic to central Chile, although it might well be extinct.

Description

The Chile Darwin's frog has a snout to vent length of about . It has a fleshy proboscis, slender limbs and feet webbed between the first and second, and the second and third toes. The dorsal colour is variable but is usually some shade of brown or green, or a mixture of the two. The ventral surface is mottled in black and white.

Biology

The Chile Darwin's frog is diurnal and feeds on small insects and other invertebrates. The female lays a small clutch of eggs on moist ground. About a week later the embryos are beginning to move within the eggs and the male picks them up and stores them in his vocal sac. He keeps them there until they have developed a functioning gut and then transports them to a suitable water body and releases them. The tadpoles grow further in the water and undergo

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

there. This development is in contrast to that of the Darwin's frog (''Rhinoderma darwinii'') tadpoles which complete their development in their parent's vocal sac.

Distribution and habitat

The Chile Darwin's frog has a very restricted range in central Chile, being found in Talca Province and southwards to Bío Bío Province, between from 33° 30'S to 37° 50'S. Very little is known about this species, but its natural habitats are probably temperate forests, rivers and swamps. It has been found in wet beech forests at altitudes of between above sea level. The species was

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with

Rhinoderma darwinii Darwin’s frog (''Rhinoderma darwinii''), also called the Southern Darwin's frog, is a species of Chilean/Argentinian frog of the family Rhinodermatidae. It was discovered by Charles Darwin during his voyage on voyage on HMS ''Beagle''. on a ...

in the region surrounding Concepcion, near the southern extremities of Rhinoderma rufum's distribution.

Conservation status

The Chile Darwin's frog is currently listed as "Critically Endangered" by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, but as there have been no confirmed sightings since around 1981, it may already be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. The main threats it faces are destruction of the pine forests in which it lives and building work but its steep decline is unexplained. It may be the victim of disease such as chytridiomycosis but this had not been reported in Chile when the decline started. If still

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

, it is likely to be threatened by habitat loss, pollution, and infection from '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis''. On January 21, 2008, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE), according to its head, Helen Meredith, identified nature's most weird, wonderful and endangered species: "The EDGE

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

are amongst the most remarkable and unusual species on the planet and yet an alarming 85% of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention." The top 10 endangered species (in the

List of endangered animal species On 19 August 2018, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 4584 endangered species, subspecies, stocks and subpopulations. Annelida Clitellata Megadrilaceae =Megascolecidae= =Moniligastridae= Opisthopora =Octochaetidae= Art ...

include: the Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus''), a relative of the hellbender (''Cryptobranchus alleganiensus''); the tiny

Gardiner's Seychelles frog Gardiner's Seychelles frog (''Sechellophryne gardineri'') is a small frog of the family Sooglossidae and endemic to the Seychelles. It is named after John Stanley Gardiner, English zoologist and oceanographer. Description Gardiner's frog is one ...

(''Sooglossus gardineri''); the limbless Sagalla caecilian (''Boulengerula niedeni''); the Table Mountain ghost frog (''Heleophryne rosei''); the Mexican lungless salamanders; the

Malagasy rainbow frog ''Scaphiophryne gottlebei'', commonly known as the Malagasy rainbow frog, ornate hopper, rainbow burrowing frog, red rain frog or Gottlebe's narrow-mouthed frog, is one of the most highly decorated frogs from Madagascar. The primary threats to th ...

(''Scaphiophryne gottlebei''); the Chile Darwin's frog (''Rhinoderma rufum''); and the

Betic midwife toad The Betic midwife toad or Sapo Partero Bético (''Alytes dickhilleni'') is a species of frog in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae). It is endemic to mountainous in south eastern Spain. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, freshw ...

(''Alytes dickhilleni'').World's weirdest amphibians
Guardian (January 21, 2008). Retrieved on 2013-01-02.

References

External links