Around 2008, a mysterious disease started killing off the fire salamanders in the Netherlands, and three years later, 96% were dead. That disease, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), is a relative of…
A team of Ugandan herpetologists has just returned from near their country's border with Kenya. They were searching for a glimpse of a critically endangered frog that hasn't been recorded…
Protecting frogs against the invisible killer called chytrid was never going to be easy. The fungus has already wiped out more species than any other known disease. But a recent…
A fungal disease that has been wiping out amphibians across the world may be the world's most destructive disease ever recorded, according to a new study. Biologists first described the…
When Valentine’s Day rolled around last year, Romeo found himself without a date. That’s because Romeo is a Sehuencas water frog and, as far as scientists knew at the time,…
North America is the world’s hotspot of salamander diversity. The continent is home to all salamander families but one (Hynobiidae, found only in Asia) and nearly half of all salamander…
It all started in 2008 when scientists started noticing fire salamanders in the Netherlands were disappearing. By 2011, nearly all salamanders in affected Dutch populations had been killed off, as…
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Biologists Chace Holzheuser and Bruce Means are on their hands and knees in a Florida swamp, pawing through dark water, leaves and muck as cicadas hum unceasingly…
Growing more than two feet in length, the hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is the largest salamander species in North America. Hellbenders have been on the decline for at least 30 years,…
The red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a creature of Earth, although a brief physical description can cast sufficient doubt. One deep red stripe runs the length of its body, though…
Any day now. That’s when Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), the “salamander-eating” fungus, is expected to arrive in the United States, home to more than a third of the world’s species of…
If you take a stroll in the woods, it’s worth pausing for a moment to take in the sights and sounds, peer into the undergrowth, or even turn over a…
If it happens, it’ll likely go something like this: American parents decide to buy something special for their child’s birthday – a pet salamander. Although immediately excited, the child quickly loses…
Frogs in a tropical forest in Panama are doing better than scientists believed after a devastating fungus slashed population numbers and wiped out entire species about a decade ago. In…
It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack — except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles. Oh, and there may not actually be…
A fungus that has decimated frog populations around the world could get even deadlier, according to new research. The study found that hybridization of different types of the fungus creates…
Scientists started to get worried in the 1970s when frogs in Australia and Central and South America began disappearing. The culprit seemed to be a chytrid fungus that colonized frogs’…
A deadly disease that has ripped through frog populations around the world, contributing to huge declines in many species and the outright extinction of several others, has shown little sign…
Leap Day only happens every four years but when the next one comes around, the planet may have lost a few more frog species: amphibians are the most endangered group…
adagascar is rich in amphibian species. It boasts 500 species of frog, almost all endemic, with more likely undiscovered. That diversity could be in immediate jeopardy due to the chytrid…
Amphibian lovers now have a reason to cheer. In the first victory of its kind, biologists from Spain and the U.K. have succeeded in treating the fatal chytrid fungus in…
Amphibians occupy almost every ecological niche, from the highest tropical trees to the most fetid pools of desert water. Brightly colored and cryptically camouflaged, they have evolved an astounding array…
A thought-to-be-extinct toad from the highlands of Ecuador has been rediscovered by three teams of scientists. The Azuay Stubfoot-Toad (Atelopus bomolochos) hadn't been seen since 2002 and was presumed by…
In the past 20 years, amphibian species around the world have experienced rapid decline due to climate change, disease, invasive species, habitat loss and degradation. Populations have decreased by approximately…
An interview with Robin Moore, author of the new book, In Search of Lost Frogs: The Quest to Find the World's Rarest Amphibians The Cuchumatan golden toad (Incilius aurarius) from…
Madagascar is one of the world’s hotspots for amphibian diversity, home to so many frog species that many of them don’t even have names. But soon the island may also…
Ameerega macero poison dart frog in Manu N.P. Photo by Alessandro Catenazzi. It's official: Manu National Park in Peru has the highest diversity of reptiles and amphibians in the world.…
An unusual species of mouth-brooding frog was likely driven to extinction by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), making an unusual example of 'extinction by infection', argue scientists writing in the…
A breeding population of a critically endangered harlequin toad thought to be extinct in Costa Rica has been discovered in a tract of highland forest in the Central American country,…