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Archey's frog

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Archey's frog (Leiopelma archeyi) is an archaic species of frog endemic to the North Island of New Zealand.[1][2] It is one of only three extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. It is found only in the Coromandel Peninsula and near Te Kūiti in the North Island of New Zealand. This species, along with others in the family, have changed little over the past 200 million years, thus they represent "living fossils".

Archey's frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Leiopelmatidae
Genus: Leiopelma
Species:
L. archeyi
Binomial name
Leiopelma archeyi
Turbott, 1942
Distribution of Archey's frog

Taxonomy

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Holotype of Leiopelma archeyi from the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum

The species was first described by Evan Graham Turbott in 1942,[3] It is named after Sir Gilbert Archey, the former director of the Auckland Institute.[4] The holotype is held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.[5] The first description of Leiopelma frogs on the Tokatea Ridge of the Coromandel Peninsula, the type locality of Archey's frog, was published by Archey in 1922, which Turbott identified ipso facto as L. archeyi.[3][6]

Archey's frog is one of only three species found in the Leiopelmatidae family, a basal form of amphibian that diverged at an early stage in the development of frogs.[7][8] The species does not have many typical traits of frogs; it has no ears, does not vocalise, and has a poor ability to leap. Because of this, the frog is considered to be a living fossil.[9] DNA analysis indicates L. archeyi and L. hochstetteri likely diverged from each other between 40 and 50 million years ago.[10]

Description

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Females of the species grow up to 37 mm (1.5 in) in length, while males grow to 31 mm (1.2 in). The frogs have variable colours and patterns, often with a light to dark brown dorsal surface with scattered dark blotches, pink/orange-brown lateral surface, and a black or dark brown ventral surface. The species lacks webbing on their hind feet, they have primarily smooth skin and mostly black eyes.[11] The species can be distinguished from Hochstetter's frog due to its smoother skin, longer digits, typically smaller size and lack of webbed toes on their hind feet.[11]

Colour variation exists between the two populations of Archey's frog: with the Whareorino Forest populations, typically being more colourful than their counterparts on the Coromandel Peninsula, with pink or orange-brown patches on body.[11]

Behaviour

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Nocturnally active Leiopelma archeyi seen on the Coromandel Peninsula

Archey's frog is primarily nocturnal, hiding under rocks in the daytime.[11] The species is terrestrial, occasionally spending time in the lower branches of trees, and can live up to 35 years.[11]

Reproduction occurs between September and November, with females lay clutches of translucent eggs, varying between four and 15 eggs and 8–11 mm (0.31–0.43 in) in size between December and February.[11] Reproduction is fully terrestrial; tadpoles develop within gelatinous egg capsules, and upon hatching, tailed froglets crawl onto the male's back and are carried around, and take several weeks to complete metamorphosis.[12] Males are believed to be the primary care providers, and may prepare "nests" they guard for the eggs, secreting antimicrobial peptides onto them, to ensure successful embryonic development.[12] Froglets remain with males for between three and four years.[12]

Adult frogs do not give advertisement vocalisations, but may communicate by chemical signalling.[13] However, frogs sometimes give startle calls when threatened by a predator.

Distribution and habitat

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The species is found in two locations: the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Whareorino Forest near Te Kūiti, both areas of the Waikato Region of the North Island, New Zealand. The species typically lives in higher elevations, on ridges away from creeks in high moisture areas of native forest,[11] although in the mid-20th century the species had previously been found at lower elevations.[12]

Conservation

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Because populations are rapidly declining, and reproduction is infrequent, the species is at significant risk of imminent extinction. The species is categorised as Nationally Vulnerable under the New Zealand Threat Classification System[14] and as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.[1] It is estimated between 5,000 and 20,000 frogs exist in the wild.[9] Rats and the introduced green and golden bell frog are known to kill Archey's frogs.[15][14] Introduced predators known to predate other frog species in New Zealand, such as pigs, cats, hedgehogs and ferrets, are also likely to have an impact.[15]

An intensively monitored population in one Coromandel site declined by 88% from 1996 to 2001.[16] The reason for the decline is unknown, but may have been caused by fungal disease.[11]

As first shown by Bruce Waldman,[17] the species appears to have an intrinsically low level of susceptibility to chytridiomycosis.[18] However, frogs in the field show clinical signs, including blisters, that may be associated with other diseases.[19] Nonetheless, despite field observations suggesting that frogs were dying from other causes, New Zealand researchers continued to argue that the species was most at risk from chytridiomycosis and planned their management strategies primarily to mitigate threats from this disease.[20] After his research permits were withdrawn by the Department of Conservation,[21] Waldman subsequently left New Zealand.[22]

A captive-breeding programme was established at the University of Canterbury in 2002 to safeguard the species from disease,[23] and frogs successfully bred.[24] The programme was transferred to Auckland Zoo in 2005, where over half of the frogs, including juveniles bred at the Canterbury facility, died.[25] Some of the remaining frogs produced offspring in December 2012, of which seven still survived as of February, 2013.[26] After 8 years of failed attempts to get the frogs to breed at Auckland Zoo, zookeepers claimed "a massive and internationally important victory".[27] Based on an Auckland Zoo press release that promoted their new public display of adult Archey's frogs,[28] the Auckland Zoo breeding was widely but inaccurately reported as representing the first time the frogs had successfully reproduced in captivity. Auckland Zoo, Otago University, and James Cook University researchers attribute the mortality and reproductive failures at Auckland Zoo in part to metabolic bone disease, which they determined had not been a problem in the Canterbury facility.[29] In 2006, 70 Archey's frogs were translocated to Pureora Forest however despite breeding being observed only low numbers of frogs have been counted.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2017). "Leiopelma archeyi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T11450A66654575. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T11450A66654575.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2020). "Leiopelma archeyi Turbott, 1942". Amphibian Species of the World: An Online Reference. Version 6.1. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b Turbott, E. G. (1942). "The Distribution of the Genus Leiopelma in New Zealand with a Description of a New Species". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 71: 247–253. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182658.
  4. ^ "Leiopelma archeyi: Archey's Frog". AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 13 June 2006.
  5. ^ "Leiopelma archeyi". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  6. ^ Archey, Gilbert (1922). "The Habitat and Life History of Leiopelma hochstetteri". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 2 (2): 59–71. ISSN 0370-3878. Wikidata Q130305028.
  7. ^ Roelants, Kim; Franky Bossuyt (February 2005). "Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and Pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs". Systematic Biology. 54 (1): 111–126. doi:10.1080/10635150590905894. PMID 15805014.
  8. ^ San Mauro, Diego; Miguel Vences; Marina Alcobendas; Rafael Zardoya; Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea" (PDF). American Naturalist. 165 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. JSTOR 10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855. S2CID 17021360.
  9. ^ a b "A Leap in the Dark". New Zealand Geographic. 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  10. ^ Worthy, Th; Tennyson, Ajd; Scofield, Rp; Hand, Sj (December 2013). "Early Miocene fossil frogs (Anura: Leiopelmatidae) from New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 43 (4): 211–230. doi:10.1080/03036758.2013.825300. hdl:2328/35958. ISSN 0303-6758. S2CID 84562226.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h van Winkel, Dylan; Baling, Marleen; Hitchmough, Rod (2018). Reptiles and Amphibians of New Zealand (1st ed.). Auckland: Auckland University Press. pp. 308–309. ISBN 978-1-86940-937-1. OL 40449345M. Wikidata Q76013985.
  12. ^ a b c d Bell, Ben (1985). "Development and Parental-Care in the Endemic New Zealand Frogs". In Grigg, Gordon; Shine, Richard; Ehmann, Harry (eds.). The biology of Australasian frogs and reptiles. New South Wales: Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Limited in association with The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. pp. 269–273. ISBN 0 949324035.
  13. ^ Waldman, Bruce (2016). Schulte, Bruce A.; Goodwin, Thomas E.; Ferkin, Michael H. (eds.). "Chemical Communication in Archaic New Zealand Frogs". Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 13. Cham: Springer International Publishing: 351–360. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-22026-0_23. ISBN 978-3-319-22026-0.
  14. ^ a b Newman, Donald G.; Bell, Ben D.; Bishop, Phillip J.; Burns, Rhys J.; Haigh, Amanda; Hitchmough, Rodney A. (2013). Conservation status of New Zealand frogs, 2013 (PDF). Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Conservation. ISBN 9780478226973. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  15. ^ a b Egeter, Bastian; Robertson, Bruce C.; Bishop, Phillip J. (2015). "A Synthesis of Direct Evidence of Predation on Amphibians in New Zealand, in the Context of Global Invasion Biology". Herpetological Review. 46: 512–519.
  16. ^ Bell, Ben D.; Carver, Scott; Mitchell, Nicola J.; Pledger, Shirley (2004). "The recent decline of a New Zealand endemic: how and why did populations of Archey's frog Leiopelma archeyi crash over 1996–2001?". Biological Conservation. 120 (2): 189–199. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.02.011.
  17. ^ Pesticides blamed for killing our rarest frogs. Sunday Star Times, 1 May 2005.
  18. ^ Bishop, P. J.; Speare, R.; Poulter, R.; Butler, M.; Speare, B. J.j; Hyatt, A.; Olsen, V.; Haigh, A. (2009). "Elimination of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis by Archey's frog Leiopelma archeyi" (PDF). Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. 84 (1): 9–15. doi:10.3354/dao02028. PMID 19419002.
  19. ^ Waldman B (2011) Brief encounters with Archey's frog. FrogLog 99:39-41
  20. ^ "Archey's Frog". EDGE of Existence.
  21. ^ "Frogblog, hopping along the corridors of power". Archived from the original on 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  22. ^ New Foreign Professors Joined SNU Faculty. Seoul National University, 19 November 2009.
  23. ^ Frog mission underway Independent Radio News, 31 July 2002.
  24. ^ Waldman B (2011) Brief encounters with Archey's Frog. FrogLog 99:39-41
  25. ^ Gibson, Eloise (28 March 2009). "Half of zoo frog colony dies". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 September 2011..
  26. ^ Vaimoana Tapaleao (Feb 27, 2013). "Rare frogs thriving at zoo". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved Feb 27, 2013.
  27. ^ "Rare NZ native frog breeds at Auckland Zoo". Fairfax Newspapers. Feb 27, 2013. Retrieved Feb 27, 2013.
  28. ^ "Big leap forward in breeding of rare frog". Auckland Zoo. Feb 27, 2013. Retrieved Feb 27, 2013.
  29. ^ Shaw, Stephanie D.; Bishop, Phillip J.; Harvey, Catherine; Berger, Lee; Skerratt, Lee F.; Callon, Karen; Watson, Maureen; Potter, John; Jakob-Hoff, Richard; Goold, Mike; Kunzmann, Nicole; West, Peter; Speare, Rick (2012). "Fluorosis as a probable factor in metabolic bone disease in captive New Zealand native frogs (Leiopelma sp.)". Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. 43 (3): 549–565. doi:10.1638/2011-0276R1.1. PMID 23082519.
  30. ^ P J Bishop; L A Daglish; A J M Haigh; L J Marshall; M D Tocher; K L McKenzie (December 2013). "Native frog (Leiopelma spp.) recovery plan, 2013-2018" (PDF). Threatened species recovery plan series. 63: 45. ISSN 1170-3806. Wikidata Q110608839.
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