MANILA, Philippines — Filipino scientists found discoveries of their lifetime — a rare frog thought to be extinct and a new species of lipstick vine in Mindanao.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced these feats in its Facebook page yesterday.
"Deep in the forests of Busa mountain range in southern Mindanao, Kier Mitchel Pitogo and Aljohn Jay Saavedra rediscovered Guttman’s stream frog—an amphibian so rare, it was thought to be extinct for decades since it was first recorded," the post read.
The species was first discovered by American herpetologist Rafe M. Brown in 1993 while on a fieldwork on Mt. Busa on the border of South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
USAID supports Filipino scientists who are making discoveries in Philippine biodiversity. Deep in the forests of Busa...
Posted by USAID Philippines on Thursday, March 11, 2021
In their paper "Rediscovery of Guttman's Stream Frog, Pulchrana guttmani (Brown, 2015) in the mountains of Southern Mindanao, Philippines" published online on January 22, 2021 on Herpetology Notes, Pitogo and Saavedra shared their experiences of conducting a targeted herpetological fieldwork at the P. guttmani type locality and other portions of Mount Busa Key Biodiversity Area and adjacent areas between June 2018 and August 2020. It included notes on the possible reasons why the species was hard to come by in its known locality.
Meanwhile, another Filipino scientist discovered a new species of lipstick vine in Tawi-Tawi.
"In Tawi-Tawi, Shiella Mae Olimpos found a new species of lipstick vine in the forests of Panglima Sugala while doing a botanical survey as part of a field expedition to study Sulu hornbills," USAID announced.