Craugastor evanesco –  Vanishing Rainfrog

IUCN redlist status: Critically Endangered

This species is found on the Atlantic slope of Panama, from El Cope in Cocle Province east to Rio Indio Arriba.  Lives on stream-sides of clear flowing streams and has direct developing eggs.

Status in the wild: This species belongs to the Craugastor rugulosus series, and most of the 34 members of this clade have disappeared due to chytridiomycosis-related declines. This species itself is called ‘evanesco’, because Ryan et. al. 2010, who described the species noted that it had disappeared entirely from its known distribution by the time its species description was published and is therefore a very high priority species for conservation efforts. It is still occasionally encountered in mid elevation Caribbean sites in the Donoso area.

Status in captivity: We have secured a captive population of this species and bred them on occasion, but they have not yet reliably been bred in captivity. We have used assisted reproduction methods, but have been unable to reproduce this species to maintain a captive population and this species will be discontinued.