Tree Frog Hylomantis lemur

This tree frog Hylomantis lemur (recently named Agalychnis lemur), was photographed in Cerro Azul, Panama, in 2007, before the chytrid fungus arrived. The fungus appeared at the site in 2009 and this tree frog species has likely been extirpated from the area.

First noted when the golden toad and about half of the frog species disappeared in Monteverde reserve in Costa Rica in 1987, the killer fungus has been spreading eastward through the Central American highlands and also through a large portion of the Andes Mountains (likely from a separate introduction) ever since. You can read more about the deadly fungus in the National Science Foundation press release "Frog Killer Caught in the Act."

(Date of Image: October 2007)

Credit: Justin C. Touchon, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute