Three new species of African frogs have been found after spending a century unnoticed

For more than a century, Three unique species of African frogs They stayed Disappeared in Museum tractorwithout anyone noticing Uniqueness. this year, An international team of scientists confirmed It’s about to Three new species of the genus Nectophrynoidesresidents Mountain forests to Tanzaniawhich has an unusual property: Females directly give birth to fully developed tadpoles, without going through the classic stage of eggs and tadpoles.

According to the newspaper Tiempo de Colombia, the study – published in the journal Vertebrate Zoology– Challenges one of the most established paradigms in biology: Amphibious transformation.

“Frogs are known to grow from tadpoles – it’s one of the classic models of metamorphosis in biology. But the approximately 8,000 species of frogs have a wide range of reproductive patterns, and many of them bear no resemblance to that famous story.” Professor Mark D. said: Scheers, curator of herpetology and amphibians at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and co-author of the paper.

Unlike most amphibians, these frogs They have internal fertilization And method Live reproductionThis is an unusual trait among frogs and toads. “Viviparity is extremely rare among frogs and toads, practiced by less than 1% of species, which makes this new species exceptionally interesting.” Highlighted by Christoph Liedtke, co-author of the National Research Council of Spain.

Thanks to these modifications, nictoferrinoids can do just that Living away from bodies of waterUnusual behavior in their group. Over time, they evolved Evolutionary strategies Which guarantees Their young survive in the dense forests of East Africa.

The origin of this discovery dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. in 1905, scientist Gustave Tournier Presented to the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences The first case of a Tanzanian frog being able to give birth to its young.

More than a hundred years later, it was done Specimens preserved in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin It was necessary to confirm the existence of new species within that lineage.

“Some of these specimens were collected over 120 years ago. Our museum work has allowed us to reveal exactly which populations they belong to, giving us much greater confidence in future research on these frogs.” warned Dr. Alice Petzold from the University of Potsdam.

According to El Tiempo, researcher Christian Thrane, from the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the study, toured natural history collections in different countries in search of preserved specimens. “Phylogenetic work a few years ago showed us that there was unknown diversity among these frogs. But by examining specimens, I was able to better understand their morphological diversity and describe this new species.”precise.

Not only discovery Expands knowledge about amphibian evolution, But it also displays The fragility of the ecosystem in which they live. the Three frogs live in the Eastern Arc Mountains in TanzaniaIt is a highly diverse biological corridor that is rapidly suffering today Loss of forest cover due to deforestation, mining and climate change.

“The forest in which these frogs are found is disappearing quickly.” John said in. Liakorwa, a researcher at the University of Dar es Salaam and co-author of the study. In the same vein, his colleague Michelle Menejohn warned against this Habitats ‘highly fragmented’ Which directly affects the animals that depend on it.

The forecast is not encouraging: other species of the same genus are already on the brink of extinction. Extinction. Nectophrynoides asperginis has disappeared in the wild and Nectophrynoides poyntoni has not been recorded since 2003.