When most people think of baby frogs and toads, they think of tadpoles. But a few frog and toad species (less than 1%) actually give birth to fully-formed froglets.
Nectophrynoides viviparus is a tree-dwelling toad native to the forests of Tanzania, and it is one of the few toads that gives birth to live young. This is not the only surprising thing about them, though. Previously thought to be a single species, an international team of researchers has just found out that this is not the case.
By looking at the DNA, morphology and acoustics of individuals from different N. viviparus populations, the team could see that there was a lot more variation than would be expected if they were all from a single species. In fact, the researchers figured out that N. viviparus actually comprises four different species: N. viviparus and three new species – N. luhomeroensis, N. uhehe and N. saliensis.
While not a massive shock to the scientists – they had been looking at N. viviparus because they suspected there might be some hidden diversity within the species – the results do raise some knotty conservation questions.
“Before our scientific study the species N. viviparus was of little conservation concern,” Dr Simon Loader, a co-author of the study, tells BBC Wildlife. This is because the species looked to be widespread across multiple different sites in Tanzania.
Unfortunately, things aren’t looking quite so rosy now.
“Our study has shown N. viviparus is only found in the Southern Highlands and the loss of these small forest patches would cause the extinction of this species,” Dr Loader says. The same is true of the newly identified species, all of which are now known to have small distributions and a high risk of extinction.
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The fragile conservation status of these species is concerning not only from a biodiversity perspective, but also from a ‘functional diversity’ perspective. Functional diversity is the variety of traits within an ecosystem. Because these toad species are unusual for giving birth to live young, they add unique functional diversity to their ecosystems – making their conservation even more crucial.
Thankfully, the team behind this study are on the case. Dr Loader says they will be continuing their work with the toads, “with the overall ambition to conserve and protect these remarkable species.”
Top image: Habitat of Nectophrynoides uhehe, Udzungwa Mountains
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