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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Alsodes vittatus, a rare frog native to Chile, has been documented at three localities near the place where its type specimens were collected in the late 19th century. The species had gone unobserved for 130 years, according to a study published in ZooKeys on 6 March 2025. The finding updates what is known about its distribution, but does not mean the frog was proved extinct and then recovered.
Where was the frog found?
Claudio Correa and Edvin Riveros-Riffo report three localities in the Andean foothills of Chile’s La Araucanía Region, close to the species’ type locality—the original place associated with the specimens used to describe it. The researchers’ account draws on renewed field searches informed by historical locality research. The three sites are records of A. vittatus; populations found in another searched area were assigned to a different species, A. igneus, and are not part of the rediscovery count.
The authors describe the frog as unobserved for 130 years after its type specimens were collected. That interval means there were no reported observations in the period; it does not mean scientists tracked the population continuously or established that the species had become extinct.
How did scientists identify Alsodes vittatus?
External features
The researchers used external morphology to identify the frogs. One feature warrants particular care: a vertebral line, previously treated as a potentially useful visible trait, varied within the populations. It is therefore not a fixed feature that every A. vittatus must show.
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Mitochondrial evidence and unresolved relationships
The study also examined relationships using mitochondrial genes. Its analysis placed the discovered A. vittatus populations paraphyletically with respect to the single A. neuquensis individual included in the comparison. The authors discuss whether the two names might refer to the same species, but the analysis does not settle that question. Relationships with nearby species, including A. norae and A. barrioi, also remain uncertain.
These are related but distinct lines of evidence: morphology supported identification of the frogs, while the mitochondrial analysis explored evolutionary relationships. The study does not establish a final taxonomic resolution for all of the nearby Alsodes species.
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What does the rediscovery mean for conservation status?
The paper reports that Chile’s official classification system listed A. vittatus as Critically Endangered, based on its then-known small, restricted distribution and deterioration of habitat associated with agriculture and forestry. In light of the additional localities, Correa and Riveros-Riffo recommend evaluating the species as Endangered under criterion B2ab(iii), which concerns a restricted area of occupancy alongside inferred continuing decline in habitat quality.
That is the authors’ recommendation, not confirmation that Chile has changed the official category. The study supplies no population estimate or abundance trend, so finding more localities should not be read as evidence that the population has recovered.
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What threats does the study describe?
The authors report fragmented forest in lower valleys and ongoing timber and livestock activity. They also identify introduced trout in high-flow rivers, forest fires, and didymo in some Andean water systems as concerns. Local testimony cited in the paper describes hotter summers and less winter snow accumulation; this is testimony, not a climate trend measured by the study.
The new records improve knowledge of where the frog occurs, but the paper does not say that these pressures have been resolved. Its conservation recommendation reflects concern about continuing habitat-quality decline even with a broader known distribution.
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Study and further reading
The findings appear in Claudio Correa and Edvin Riveros-Riffo’s peer-reviewed article, “Lost for more than a century: the rediscovery of Alsodes vittatus (Philippi, 1902) (Anura, Alsodidae), one of the rarest and most elusive amphibians from Chile,” published in ZooKeys 1230 (2025), pages 195–212, on 6 March 2025. Read the full study on PubMed Central. The abstract is also available through PubMed.
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