LONDON — A frog named for Charles Darwin has become extinct because of a deadly amphibian skin disease, scientists say.
Darwin discovered the frog in 1834 in Chile during his voyage on the ship HMS Beagle.
They are notable for having evolved to escape predators by resembling a dead leaf and for the males carrying young tadpoles inside their vocal sacs.
Researchers say they believe that the northern Darwin’s frog, one of two species, has been killed off completely by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis. Numbers of the related southern species have plunged dramatically.
An analysis by a team from the Zoological Society of London and Chile’s Universidad Andres Bello found that habitat loss contributed to the decline.
“Only a few examples of the ‘extinction by infection’ phenomenon exist,” said Andrew Cunningham, from the zoology society.
“Although not entirely conclusive, the possibility of chytridiomycosis being associated with the extinction of the northern Darwin’s frog gains further support with this study.”
The scientists’ findings were published online last week in the journal PLOS ONE.