The Campo Grande tree frog
Conservation Status: Extinct
Tracks featuring this species:
‘Boana Boana Extinction Blues’, David Rothenberg
‘Will I look like that’, Fingathing
‘How Did We Get Here’, Stefan Abingdon
The Campo Grande tree frog (Boana cymbalum) was a species of frog in the family Hylidae endemic (native and restricted) to Brazil. Its natural habitats were subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and rivers. This species was last observed in 1963 in the Brazilian State of São Paulo. It is one of two species of frogs formally declared to be extinct in Brazil.
Photo Credit: Bokermann, W. C. A. 1963. Una nueva especie de Hyla del sudeste Brasileño. Neotropica. La Plata 9: 27–30.
Climate connections
While it is sadly too late to save the Campo Grande tree frog, almost 200 of the more than 1,000 other frog species in Brazil are also threatened with extinction. Many of them don’t exist anywhere else on the planet.
Climate change presents a serious and emerging challenge to the survival of many amphibians, which are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. While habitat loss remains a key threat, climate change is now the most common cause of declines in around 30 - 40% of species. This is mostly due to rising temperatures and increasing periods of drought, which limits the ability of amphibians to keep themselves and their offspring moist. Research also suggests that when temperatures vary unpredictably, amphibians might succumb faster to chytridiomycosis - a fungus that has been responsible for killing large numbers of amphibians around the world.
Read more about the threats posed to amphibians by climate change.
