Lost toad comes back from the dead

Andrew Purcell, online producer

(Image: L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe, Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana and Nethu Wickramasinghe)

According to the IUCN red list, the Kandyan dwarf toad (Adenomus kandianus) is extinct - but try telling that to this guy here.

This is one of several suspected Kandyan dwarf toads discovered on an expedition to Sri Lanka's Peak Wilderness Sanctuary in 2009. The species was last seen alive in 1876 and is known from only two samples deposited to The British Museum.

Writing in the journal Zootaxa, the researchers who rediscovered the toad explain that they came across it during a night-time sampling session on rocks close to a fast-flowing stream. It was discovered among a group of torrent toads (Adenomus dasi), which it strongly resembles - perhaps why several previous extensive searches of the region failed to identify it. However, the researchers write that the Kandyan dwarf toad can be easily recognised by its fully webbed toes and the presence of large warts on its back.

Despite being rediscovered in one of Sri Lanka's largest natural reserves, the researchers warn that the toad may be in danger of becoming extinct (this time for real). Tree-felling to make way for tea cultivation and illegal gem mining both threaten the toad's forest habitat. It could also be put under pressure by pollution caused by the millions of pilgrims who flock to the nearby Sri Pada mountain each year. This mountain is revered as a holy site by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the country.

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