The mountain mist frog, a species once found across two-thirds of Australia’s wet tropics, has been declared extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.
The last recorded sighting of the frog, most commonly found near Thornton Peak, north-west of Cairns, was in April 1990. It is believed to have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, a disease that attacks the skin and has destroyed amphibian populations across the globe, though a reduction in its natural habitat due to rising temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions may have also played a role.
The species is listed as critically endangered by the Australian government, but was upgraded to extinct on the IUCN list. It was one of 26 Australian species to have its listing changed. Most of the others were types of orchid.
Dr Jodi Rowley, a frog biologist at the Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales, said the mountain mist frog was a “beautiful endemic rainforest species”, and one of several Australian frog species that had not been seen for decades but had not been declared extinct until now.
“Many have dramatically declined and unfortunately this little guy seems to have disappeared,” Rowley said. “It is awfully sad. It has been searched for over the last 25 years so it is unlikely that it’s still out there.”
The mountain mist frog reached nearly 6cm in length and was described as grey, grey-brown or light brown, sometimes with black flecks or spots on its back. Rowley said its vocalisations were never recorded.
“For tens of thousands of years there were these little frogs that were calling their hearts out in these rainforests and now it’s silent,” she said. “We have a terrible track record on frog conservation in Australia.”
But Rowley said it was important not to lose hope. There were about 40 frog species listed as threatened in Australian legislation and steps could be taken to help them, she said.
There was also some positive news in the red list: the status of the Australasian bittern, a bird from the heron family, improved from endangered to vulnerable.
But Jess Abrahams, a nature campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, said the list showed the country’s extinction crisis was continuing. The five-yearly state of the environment report released this year said Australia had one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world, and had lost more mammal species than any other continent.
“We know what’s causing this crisis: habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change,” Abrahams said. “We know the solutions to the crisis: stronger environment laws, stronger climate action and increased investment in habitat protection and restoration.”
She said the Albanese government was “heading in the right direction” by planning to overhaul flawed national environment laws but it “must not delay or cut corners”.
The list was released during Cop15, a global summit focused on the biodiversity crisis. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, flies to Montreal next week for the latter part of the meeting.