Amphibia-Reptilia (2017) DOI:10.1163/15685381-00003102

Craugastor escoces (Anura: Craugastoridae) reappears after 30 years: rediscovery of an “extinct” Neotropical

Randall Jiménez1,∗, Gilbert Alvarado2,3

Abstract. We report the rediscovery of a declared extinct frog, Craugastor escoces, at the edge of a protected forest in the Juan Castro Blanco National Park, Alajuela, Costa Rica. This species, which is endemic to Costa Rica, had not been observed since 1986. The rediscovery of this species comes after 30 years without being seen and 12 years of being declared extinct. The site where we found the species is located in the west of the central mountain region of Costa Rica, which is >15 km away from its known distribution. Our finding adds another species to the list of the few rediscovered declared extinct. Knowing that C. escoces can still be found triggers the need for conservation strategies to help the species survive.

Keywords: declines, Anura, conservation, .

Around a third of amphibian species are threat- 1983 – R: 2008) (Kolby and McCranie, 2009), ened with extinction and many are believed al- Incilius holdridgei in Costa Rica (Ls: 1986 – ready extinct, mostly because of a global phe- R: 2010) (Abarca et al., 2010), ni- nomenon of amphibian population declines and griventer in (Ls: 1955 – R: 2011) (Biton disappearances that started to be noticed in the et al., 2013), and three species in Sri Lanka, 1980’s (Stuart et al., 2004). The International namely Adenomus kandianus (Ls: 1872 – R: Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) de- 2009), Pseudophilautus hypomelas (Ls: 1876 – clared extinct 35 species of frogs in 2004 and R: 2010), and Pseudophilautus stellatus (Ls: one in 2008. From the total number of ex- 1853 – R: 2010) (Wickramasinghe et al., 2012, tinct species of frogs, 28 were last observed be- 2013a, 2013b). fore the 1980’s (i.e., between 1853 and 1979), Here, we report the rediscovery of another seven in the 1980’s and one in the 1990’s species declared extinct, Craugastor escoces (IUCN, 2017). Notably, several of these ex- (Savage, 1975), at the edge of a protected for- tinct frogs have been rediscovered in recent est in the Juan Castro Blanco National Park, years. For example, the first frog to be redis- Alajuela, Costa Rica (1820 masl). On 18 Sep- covered was Raorchestes travancoricus in In- tember 2016 during a nocturnal survey for an dia (Last seen (Ls): 1891 – Rediscovery (R): ongoing research project with Lithobates vibi- 2004) (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009). Other redis- carius, we found one female individual (fig. 1) coveries of extinct frogs around the world have in a small boulder cave of a short stream. We included Craugastor milesi in Honduras (Ls: do not provide the exact locality to discourage the visitation of people to the area because of 1 - Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Ge- the risk of illicit collecting, disturbance of the nomics, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, D- habitat and potential introduction of pathogens. 89069 Ulm, Germany This species is a stream-breeding frog that be- 2 - Laboratory of Comparative Wildlife Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Sciences, Univer- longs to the Central American C. punctariolus sity of São Paulo, Av. Orlando Marques de Paiva 87, group (Hedges et al., 2008). It is endemic to São Paulo, Brasil Costa Rica, and was distributed in the centre 3 - School of Biology, University of Costa Rica, Campus Rodrigo Facio, San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Costa Rica and east of the central mountain region of the ∗Corresponding author; country at elevations of 1100-2100 masl (Sav- e-mail: [email protected] age, 1975, 2002; Bolaños and Chavez, 2004).

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017. DOI:10.1163/15685381-00003102 2 Short Notes

Figure 1. Female Craugastor escoces (SVL: 62 mm) found at the edge of a protected forest in the Juan Castro Blanco National Park, Alajuela, Costa Rica (1820 masl). The female has disks on fingers III and IV nearly twice as wide as digits, dorsum light to dark purplish and uniform, and venter tomato red confirming its identification as C. escoces and differing from the other members of the C. punctariolus group (Savage, 1975, 2002). Federico Bolaños from the University of Costa Rica confirmed the species. Photo by Gilbert Alvarado.

The locality where we found the female indi- The rediscovery of C. escoces does not mean vidual, west of the central mountain region, is the species is recovered and likely to persist >15 km away from its known distribution. We since it might remain on the brink of extinc- do not know if the species already occupied or tion. Therefore, we are monitoring the area to recently colonized the Juan Castro Blanco Na- locate the population of C. escoces in the Juan tional Park since there is no historical records of Castro Blanco National Park to evaluate its sta- the herpetofauna in this location. tus, population dynamics, health (e.g., skin mi- Craugastor escoces had not been observed crobiome) and susceptibility to sources of en- since 1986 and the IUCN declared the species as vironmental change (e.g., habitat disturbance, extinct in 2004 after 18 years of no individuals infectious diseases, climate change and pesti- being found (Bolaños and Chavez, 2004). The cides). This information will help conduct ad- equate conservation actions to better protect the rediscovery of this species comes after 30 years species in its natural habitat. After careful con- without being observed and 12 years of being versations with experts and evaluating the rele- declared extinct. Interestingly, the last sighting vance of this rediscovery we decided not to con- of C. escoces preceded the last sighting of the vert the female individual into a voucher spec- symbolic golden toad (Incilius periglenes)in imen, which is a common practice in science the nearby cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa to confirm a species’ reappearance. Instead, we Rica by only three years (IUCN, 2017). Fur- agreed to keep the animal in captivity under thermore, knowing that C. escoces can still be adequate conditions and to locate at least one found, as well as four other species of the group mature male to obtain data on growth rate, re- of C. punctariolus that were recently found productive behaviour and development, which in Costa Rica after considered possibly extinct will be critical for informing conservation ac- (e.g., C. angelicus, C. fleischmanni, C. ranoides, tions. For instance, the information we get will and C. taurus) suggests that the phylogenetic di- help develop protocols for an ex situ conserva- versity of the group can still be preserved and tion strategy, which will be necessary if in situ further genetic studies are required (Puschen- conservation cannot by itself ensure the species dorf et al., 2005; Ryan et al., 2011; Chaves et survival, and if there is a threat that requires al., 2014; Kubicki, 2016). the immediate action of collecting for Short Notes 3 ex situ rescue (Gascon et al., 2007; Bolaños et Gascon, C., Collins, J.P., Moore, R.D., Church, D.R., al., 2008). The animals in captivity will be con- McKay, J.E., Mendelson III, J.R. (2007): Amphibian Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Amphibian Spe- verted to voucher specimens when they die and cialist Group, Switzerland. deposited at the Zoology Museum of the Uni- Hedges, S.B., Duellman, W.E., Heinicke, M.P. (2008): versity of Costa Rica. Knowing that C. escoces New World direct developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): can still be found triggers the need for urgent molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and conservation. Zootaxa 1737: 1-182. conservation actions that help preserve a criti- IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) cally . (2017): The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Switzerland. Available at http://www.iucnredlist.org/ about/citing. Kolby, J.E., McCranie, J.R. (2009): Discovery of a surviving Acknowledgements. We thank S. Sommer, J.L. Catão- population of the montane streamside frog Craugastor Dias, F. Bolaños, R. Puschendorf, J. Stynoski and S. Whit- milesi (Schmidt). Herpetol. Rev. 40: 282-283. field for earlier discussions about the topic. We thank the Kubicki, B. (2016): Rediscovery of the critically en- anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments that dangered frog, Craugastor angelicus, in Costa Rica. improved the manuscript. We are grateful to APANAJUCA, Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 1070-1071. SINAC and D. Vargas for supporting field logistics. We Puschendorf, R., Chaves, G., Crawford, A.J., Brooks, D.R. would like to thank T. Jones for language corrections. (2005): Eleutherodactylus ranoides. Dry forest popula- R. Jimenez and G. Alvarado were both supported by Ruf- tion, refuge from decline? Herpetol. Rev. 36: 53. ford Foundation, Auckland Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Ryan, M.J., Bolaños, F., Chaves, G. (2011): Museums help and Cleveland Zoological Society. R. Jiménez was also sup- prioritize conservation goals. Science 2010: 1272-1273. ported by the National Council for Scientific and Techno- Savage, J.M. (2002): The and Reptiles of logical Research of Costa Rica and Ministry of Science Costa Rica: a Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, and Technology of Costa Rica. G. Alvarado was supported Between Two Seas. The University of Chicago Press, by Amphibian Ark and Laboratorio de Ensayos Biológicos Chicago, USA. (LEBI). The female Craugastor escoces mentioned in this Savage, J.M. (1975): Systematics and distribution of the article was collected and put in captivity under scientific Mexican and Central American stream frogs related to permit SINAC-ACAHN-PI-R-008-2016. Eleutherodactylus rugulosus. Copeia 1975: 254-306. Stuart, S.N., Chanson, J.S., Cox, N.A., Young, B.E., Ro- drigues, A.S.L., Fischman, D.L., Waller, R.W. (2004): Status and trends of amphibian declines and References worldwide. Science 306: 1783-1786. Wickramasinghe, L.J.M., Vidanapathirana, D.R., Air- Abarca, J., Chaves, G., Garcia-Rodriguez, A., Vargas, R. yarathne, S., Rajeev, G., Chanaka, A., Pastorini, J., (2010): Reconsidering extinction: rediscovery of Incilius Chathuranga, G., Wickramasinghe, N. (2013a): Lost and holdridgei (Anura: Bufonidae) in Costa Rica after 25 found: one of the world’s most elusive amphibians, years. 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Associate Editor: Diogo Provete.