Rediscovered climbing salamander

[schmiggle]

Bolitoglossa jacksonii was rediscovered a little over three weeks ago, which I admit makes me late to the party:
https://www.rainforesttrust.org/news/lost-salamander-rediscovered-rainforest-trust-project-site/
This species hasn't been seen in over forty years, and was basically presumed extinct from chytrid fungus. I certainly wasn't hopeful. But this is really exciting news. It's certainly not the only species that was rediscovered fairly recently, and there is still hope for a large number of species presumed extinct.

 

[Myrmeleon]

Let's hope that this won't be one of the only species to be rediscovered, because at this rate it looks like most caudates and anurans are bound for extinction. But I would think that some of these amphibians would have a natural resistance to this fungus simply because of genetic diversity and mutations. Those that are vulnerable would die out pretty quickly and those that have some resistance wold pass on those genes to the next generation. So there is a possibility that the majority of species affected could still exist.

 

[schmiggle]

Caudates in general are under less threat from disease than anura, because bsal, the caudate equivalent of bd, primarily affects only salamandridae, a group that is far less diverse than the plethodontids that make up about half of the six hundred caudate species (if I remember my numbers correctly) and to which bolitoglossa belongs. I don't think Bd can jump to caudata.
The other thing to remember with anura is that now that the threat is recognized, many rare species have captive populations, and if a good solution to the chytrid problem is found, they will be able to be reintroduced into the wild within many of our lifetimes.