#’Ghost Frog’ not seen for 80 years rediscovered in Chile

A mysterious ghost frog that hadn’t been seen in 80 years has resurfaced in the Chilean Atacama Desert.

Scientists found the diminutive Hall’s water frog, named for the American researcher and collector Frank Gregory Hall who discovered the species in 1935, in a tiny hot spring oasis near Ollagüe, Chile, according to Reuters.

The discovery, scientists told Reuters, prompted a mad rush to confirm that the so-called ghost species was indeed the same one Hall had discovered decades ago.

“We asked the museum where Hall’s [discovery] is registered. … They sent us photographs of the larvae, photographs, comparisons, drawings,” César Cuevas, a researcher with the Catholic University of Temuco, told CNN. Cuevas called on added protection of the frog’s habitat saying:

“These animals are strictly aquatic. In just five minutes out of the water, they die.”

The journal Zootaxa published the tale of the rediscovery this year.

With Post Wires