Disease wiping out amphibians in Panama before they can be identified

[Judi Lynn]

Disease wiping out amphibians in Panama before they can be identified

London, July 20 : A park in Panama has lost 40 percent of its amphibian species in the past decade, and some wiped out even before being discovered.

Biologists discovered 11 new species, only to find that five of them are already extinct in the area.

A fungal disease causes amphibians to develop skin several times thicker than normal, which affects their ability to breathe and the transfer of electrolytes.

Thirty of these species are now extinct in the area, including "five that were wiped out before we even knew they were there,” Nature quoted Andrew Crawford, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia, as saying.

More:
http://www.newkerala.com/news2/fullnews-3503.html

[Lasher]

1. This is going on all over the world.

Toads, for example, were once plentiful here. But we rarely see them now.