Sehuencas water frog

Sehuencas water frog
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Amphibia
Order:Anura
Family:Telmatobiidae
Genus:Telmatobius
Species: T. yuracare
Binomial name
Telmatobius yuracare
De la Riva, 1994

The Sehuencas water frog (Telmatobius yuracare) is a species of frog in the Telmatobiidae family. It is endemic to Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, rivers, and freshwater marshes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

There is one individual currently in captivity called "Romeo;" there are fears that Romeo is the last of his kind, an endling. Romeo is 10 years old, and individuals of this species often do not live past age 15. He lives in the Cochabamba Natural History Museum, which is in Bolivia. Bolivian conservationists have been looking for other Sehuencas water frog individuals, particularly females, in hopes of creating a captive breeding program. To raise awareness and money about the plight of the Sehuencas water frog, conservationists from Global Wildlife Conservation[2] and the Bolivian Amphibian Initiative created a profile for Romeo on Match.com, an online dating website.[3]

While it is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, this is based on an assessment that has not been updated since 2004.[1] No individuals have been encountered in the wild since 2008.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Claudia Cortez; Steffen Reichle; Ignacio De la Riva; Jörn Köhler (2004). "Telmatobius yuracare". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T57369A11627745.
  2. ↑ "Finding a Mate for the World's Loneliest Frog". Global Wildlife Conservation. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  3. ↑ "Bolivia's lonely frog: Scientists race to find mate for Romeo". BBC. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Burrowes, P. A.; De la Riva, I. (2017). "Unraveling the historical prevalence of the invasive chytrid fungus in the Bolivian Andes: implications in recent amphibian declines". Biological Invasions. 19 (6): 1781–1794.


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