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Amani Forest Frog

Parhoplophryne usambarica

About

Parhoplophryne is a monotypic frog genus, meaning that Parhoplophryne usambarica is the sole species in this genus.

The Amani Forest Frog is endemic to the East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. This species has only ever been collected once with one specimen. This specimen was collected in the 1920s found inside a wild banana, and it has not been recorded since, despite extensive herpetological work in the Amani area. With this, very little is known about the habitat and ecology of this species and it is feared this species has gone extinct. The general area where this species was found has been historically impacted by tea plantations established in the 1930s and continued tea plantations throughout several decades. If still existing, this species could occur in the Amani Nature Reserve, although it has not been recorded there. Extensive and urgent survey work is required to determine the status of this species and whether or not it even survives in the wild.

This species is part of the Microhylid frog family and molecular data has shown that the initial divergence of the Microhylidae family to have taken place about 66 millions of years ago, or immediately after the Cretaceous extinction event.

This species is also known as the Usambara Black-banded Frog

  • Order: Anura
  • Family: Microhylidae
  • Population: Possibly extinct
  • Trend: unknown
  • Size: 23mm

EDGE Score

EDGE Score: 5.92 (?)
ED Score: 22.21 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List (?)
Not Evaluated Data Deficient Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild Extinct

Distribution

This species is known only from the hills to the west of Amani, in the East Usambara Mountains, in north eastern Tanzania, 900 metres above sea level.

Habitat and Ecology

The only known individual was found in a wild banana in a forested hill.

Find out more

This wordcloud illustrates the threats facing this species. The size of each word indicates the extent of a species range that is affected by that threat (larger size means a greater area is affected). The colour of the word indicates how much that threat impacts the species (darker shades of red mean the threat is more severe).

Crops Crops

Threat wordcloud key:

Small area affected
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a
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Large area affected
Least severe
Most severe
Severity unknown
Source: The IUCN List of Threatened Species. Version 2017.1.
Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org