Harlequin frogs

In News 

• Researchers confirmed that many harlequin frogs once believed to be extinct are persisting.
• The harlequin frog genus was hit exceptionally hard by the fungus and over the past four decades, experts believed that upwards of 80 per cent of its species were driven to extinction.

About Harlequin frogs

• They are typically small to medium-bodied and many of them have bright and contrasting warning colours advertising potent skin toxins.
•  They are typically diurnal and many of them occur in the vicinity of streams all year long, while others are found inside the forest 
• They  occur in a diverse array of habitats, from tropical wet forests along the Pacific coast and the Amazon basin to the montane regions and paramos of the Andes

• They are particularly sensitive to habitat modification, environmental changes, and infectious diseases, potentially making them important sentinel species in the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems where they occur.
•  Their presence is an indicator of water quality and healthy ecosystems, and their demise might be an early warning to humans of critical environmental conditions

Source:DTE