Take a look at the frog in the picture above. It is a Armoured Mistfrog, a tiny frog species that had not been seen since 1991 and thought to have been wiped out by a fungus. But, this July, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville came across several Armoured Mistfrogs in a Queensland creek.
The student was actually conducting research on another frog species in Queensland and the rediscovery of Armoured Mistfrogs was unexpected. DNA tests of the tissue samples from the frogs confirmed that they were elusive Armoured Mistfrogs.
The 1.5 inch-long, light brown frogs, with dark brown spots, congregate in areas with fast-flowing water. Earlier, chytrid fungus was blamed for decimating frog populations worldwide. Now, professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the James Cook University and his team plans to study the creatures to try and determine how the Armoured Mistfrogs managed to coexist with the fungus.
http://www.jcu.edu.au/
The student was actually conducting research on another frog species in Queensland and the rediscovery of Armoured Mistfrogs was unexpected. DNA tests of the tissue samples from the frogs confirmed that they were elusive Armoured Mistfrogs.
The 1.5 inch-long, light brown frogs, with dark brown spots, congregate in areas with fast-flowing water. Earlier, chytrid fungus was blamed for decimating frog populations worldwide. Now, professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the James Cook University and his team plans to study the creatures to try and determine how the Armoured Mistfrogs managed to coexist with the fungus.
http://www.jcu.edu.au/
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