# General Topics > General Discussion & News > Press / News Items > Amphibian News Feeds >  Two new frogs discovered in Panama amidst amphibian plague

## Frog News

*Mongabay News (California, USA) June 6th, 2010 04:59 PM: Two new frogs discovered in Panama amidst amphibian plague* 

Researchers working to  save Panama's frogs from a fatal disease have stumbled on two species  unknown to science. In Omar Torrijos National Park they found a bigger  version of a common species, which is now known to be a unique species,  and near the Colombian border they discovered a new frog that has been  named after Spanish for DNA (see photos below). 

Both frogs were discovered while researchers searched for frog  populations in chytridiomycosis-infected areas. The highly contagious  disease chytridiomycosis has devastated frog species worldwide and is  believe to be at least in part responsible for some 100 extinctions of  amphibians.   

"We are working as hard as we can to find and identify frogs before the  disease reaches them, and to learn about a disease that has the power to  ravage an entire group of organisms," said Roberto Ibanez in a press  release. Ibanez is a research scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical  Research Institute and local director of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and  Conservation Project.  

Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is a program involving  eight institutions working together to capture and collect healthy frogs  in infected areas. The frogs will be bred in captivity as insurance  policies against increasing extinctions.  

Yet, the two new species prove that even in the midst of a full-scale  amphibian plague, Panama still contains many surprises for  herpetologists.  

The new species from Omar Torrijos National Park named _Pristimantis  educatoris_ resembles a common frog, but larger. Round finger and toe  pads proved it to be a different and unknown species.  

The other new frog was discovered in Panama's Darien Province. Dubbed _Pristimantis  adnus_, the species name is a Latinized version of the Spanish terms  for DNA, which is AND. 

"We chose this name to underscore the usefulness of genetic techniques  as we identify these new frog species and determine the relationships  between tropical frogs that may look very similar," explains Andrew  Crawford, professor at University of the Andes and research associate  with STRI.  

Currently 197 frogs are known from Panama and Costa Rica, approximately 4  percent of the world's frogs. According to the IUCN Red List, one third  of the world's amphibians are threatened with extinction.  

 *Full Article*

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