Issue 122 (February 2021) ISSN: 1026-0269 eISSN: 1817-3934 Volume 28, number 1 www.iucn-amphibians.orgFrogLog Promoting Conservation, Research and www.amphibians.org Education for the World’s Amphibians Documenting Threatened Species in Brazil: A Conservation Photography Project Newly Discovered Frog is a Transparent Twin with a Strange Song Ancient Sedentary Frogs Move Over 350kms in a Day ... and so much more! Bolitoglossa paraesnsis. Photo: Pedro Peloso. FrogLog 28 (1), Number 122 (February 2021) | 1 FrogLog CONTENTS 3 Editorial NEWS FROM THE AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITY 4 With Fewer than 20 Loa Water Frogs Left in the World, 20 Climate Change Responsible for Severe Infectious Hatching of Tadpoles Revives Hope for Critically Disease in UK Frogs Endangered Species 21 Joint Amphibian Assessment Workshop in Honduras 6 IUCN Red List update! 24 Documenting Threatened Species in Brazil: A 7 Ancient Sedentary Frogs Move Over 350kms in a Day! Conservation Photography Project 9 Almost 10 Years After the Development of the 27 Baw Baw Frog Conservation Program Update Conservation Strategy for the Titicaca Frog: What has 30 Rediscovery Of The Nearly Extinct Bolivian Stubfoot Toad Been Achieved? (Atelopus tricolor) In Bolivia 10 Recovering the Habitat of the Green Dotted Treefrog 32 A Comprehensive, Esthetic and Up-to-Date Field Guide (Dendropsophus molitor) in the Bogota Savannah for Amphibians of the Western Palearctic 12 Distribution Patterns of Threatened Amphibians in the 33 Improving Amphibian Conservation: A New Special Issue Zoo and Aquarium Community: A Call to Action in the Journal Biological Conservation 14 Special Issue on Emerging Diseases and Infections in 34 A Journey With Frogs Herpetofauna 37 The Third Consecutive Year of Save The Frogs Day in the 15 The Journey of the Mapping Malabar Tree Toad Program Brazilian Amazon and the Experience of Working With Logo Environmental Education 16 This Newly Discovered Frog is a Transparent Twin With 39 Work With Local Communities and Conservation of the a Strange Song Titicaca Water Frog by the Creation of its Sanctuary 18 Thirty Years After the Last Golden Toad Sighting, What Have we Learned? Recent Publications 41 | Author Instructions 44 Please consider the environment before printing this publication. Reduce, reuse, recycle. 2 | FrogLog 28 (1), Number 122 (February 2021) Editorial FrogLog ASG Secretariat Dear Friends, Phillip J. Bishop t is with great sadness that we are sharing this message with you. Our friend, colleague ASG Co-Chair and mentor, Professor Phil Bishop, passed away after a short and unexpected illness sur- I rounded by family on Saturday, January 23rd, 2021. Ariadne Angulo Phil was a true great and such a bright light in all our lives. Our collective hearts break for Phil’s ASG Co-Chair family, all his friends and an entire conservation community. He touched so many lives and meant so much to all of us. Sally Wren Phil was at the very heart of building a global amphibian conservation movement, and he ensured ASG Program Officer that this heart was a kind and inclusive one. As Chief Scientist of the Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) since 2011 and Co-Chair of the Am- Jos Kielgast phibian Specialist Group (ASG) since 2012, he was in his element when representing ASA and ASG ASG Program Officer around the world, welcoming new people, organizations and ideas to both. Phil was a living incar- Ruth Marcec-Greaves was up to his eyeballs in work, and all done with his characteristic brilliance and distinctive sense ASG Program Officer ofnation humour. of selflessness No challenge and was generosity, too great always and no willing concern to helptoo small. and support He brought anyone, his tenacityeven if he and himself deep love of amphibians to everything he did, reminding us all of the true meaning behind our work. It Debbie Bishop seems impossible to imagine a time without him, and yet the imprint of his expertise, dedication ASG Administrator became apparent over the last few weeks, with an outpouring of messages of grief and love from Amaël Borzée and personality is on everything we do. The number of people that Phil befriended and influenced ASG Webmaster acting in his memory, honouring his passion and approach at every step. We will miss him beyond literally every corner of the world. The magnitude of his influence ensures that we will always be words, and will strive to continue his mission. Our gratitude as a community is boundless. So many Jennifer Luedtke Amphibian RLA Coordinator it on, just as he did. of Philus will lived carry his lifehis withmemory intense and purpose. the flame As of amphibian his torch throughout conservationists our lives, and and as people endeavour we have to pass our FrogLog Editorial Committee work cut out to continue the legacy of the extraordinary human being that Phil was. As Phil always used to say, “Let’s do it!” Candace M. Hansen-Hendrikx Editor-in-Chief the fullest and leaving the world a much better place. TheThank FrogLog you, Phil, Editorial for showing Board us,has by decided example, that how the to next be betteredition people. of FrogLog You exemplifiedwill be a special living edition life to Lindsay Renick Mayer and a tribute to Phil. That edition will also include a memorial book of sorts where members of the Editor community will be invited to share their memories of Phil, or what Phil meant to them. We will keep the community posted through both the ASA and ASG websites and social media platforms on how Luis Fernando Marin da Fonte to submit your contributions. Editorial Assistant There is a hole in our hearts. It is in the shape of Phil. FrogLog Editorial Board FrogLog Editorial Board Phillip J. Bishop Ariadne Angulo Sally Wren Candace M. Hansen-Hendrikx FrogLog Editorial Office [email protected] NB: Given that the current issue of FrogLog was slated to be released at the end of 2020, we have chosen to retain the sidebar contents as they truly reflected FrogLog’s constitution then. We will, how- ever, be updating roles in the next edition of FrogLog. FrogLog 28 (1), Number 122 (February 2021) | 3 NEWS FROM THE AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITY Loa Water Frog tadpoles. Photo Metropolitan Park of Santiago–Parquemet. With Fewer than 20 Loa Water Frogs Left in the World, Hatching of Tadpoles Revives Hope for Critically Endangered Species By Lindsay Renick Mayer early 200 Loa Water Frog (Telmatobius dankoi) tadpoles The team collected the last 14 individuals and brought them to the hatched Oct. 20, at the National Zoo of Chile, a little more National Zoo of Chile—which belongs to the Metropolitan Park of N than a year after a team of conservationists and government Santiago, a public service of Chile’s Ministry of Housing and Urban- swiftly evacuated the last-known 14 frogs from peril- ism—to improve their health, learn to care for them, and establish a ously dry habitat and brought them to the zoo. officials“The zoo’s in Chile specialists not only nursed the animals back to health after they were discovered malnourished and near-death in the wild last year, but they have now succeeded in breeding a new generation of a species that has very nearly vanished,” said Lina Valencia, Global rears these tadpoles and breeds additional pairs, it is important that theWildlife government Conservation’s continues Andes the greatconservation work it startedofficer. “Whilein rescuing the zoothe animals by restoring and protecting the frogs’ habitat so that they can return to their home in the wild.” In June of 2019, a team of conservationists and indigenous leaders discovered that the habitat of the Loa Water Frog outside of the city of Calama, located in the middle of the Atacama desert, had dried up as A healthy Loa Water Frog in 2015 (left), compared to the malnourished Loa Water Frog the result of extraction of water for mining, agriculture and real estate (right) rescued this month from their dried-up habitat in Chile and taken to the National development, in a region where water is a scarce resource. All of the Zoo of Chile to be nursed back to health. Left photo: Claudio Soto Azat. Right photo: the frogs had been pushed into a tiny pool of muddy water. Ministry of Housing and Urbanism of Chile) 4 | FrogLog 28 (1), Number 122 (February 2021) NEWS FROM THE AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITY Loa Water Frog specialists at National Zoo of Chile. Photo: Metropolitan Park of Santiago-Parquemet. conservation breeding program. Now the zoo will navigate the chal- Argentina. Many of these species, like the Loa Water Frog, are micro- lenging task of rearing a species that nobody has tried to care for be- endemic, which means they live in just one small place. Water frogs fore. are semi-aquatic or entirely aquatic, making them very sensitive to “When we brought these animals to the zoo, I didn’t even know if any changes in their environment. Habitat destruction, pollution, dis- they were going to survive the transfer from Calama on the plane to ease and invasive trout are among the biggest threats they face. About Santiago,” says rescue team member Andrés Charrier, a herpetologist 10 species of water frog live in Chile, and many of them are likely fac- ing the same threats as the Loa water frog. great news that these animals were able to reproduce, though we “This would not have been possible if it had not been for the tireless haveaffiliated a tremendous with the Chilean new challenge Herpetological now to learnSociety. how “Now to feed we andhave care the work of the National Zoo staff, who even had to replicate the exact for the tadpoles.