Spanish biologist Ignatius Solano marked “an historic milestone” for botany: he identified and documented Oophaga vicentei, also known as Mysterious frog from Panama.

The animal belongs to an endemic species in the center of the country and is threatened by the destruction of its habitat. According to an expert told EFE, so far no one had achieved what the Ceuta specialist achieved. The find was documented in a documentary made by the expert in the Central American country.

Solano thus concluded his research in Panama, where he also discovered new interactions between species of flora and fauna.

Panama’s Mysterious Frog

The frog Oophaga vicentei, which lives in the tops of trees more than 25 meters high.

This small frog measures between 1.5 and 2.5 centimeters and spends its entire life associated with this bromeliad, in the heights of the trees, to protect itself from its predators.

The Oophaga vicentei lives in an almost inaccessible place where it nests, has sexual reproductive behavior and its tadpoles are born.

To reach this conclusion, Solano and field consultants and amphibian experts Joseph Cinnamon Y Charles BolanosTogether with his audiovisual team, they invested weeks of intense research until they managed to locate it near the Santa Fé Natural Park.

To do this, Solano had to use climbing techniques to ascend a 35-meter height of a Ceiba pentandra, a deciduous tree that can reach a height of 70 meters, the expert said in his note.

The importance of locating and filming Panama’s so-called mystery frog is because it is on the red list due to the indiscriminate felling of trees and forest fires, which are ravaging the central and southern Americas.

In addition to this important discovery, findings from his research can also be found in his documentary that help to understand how different species and vegetation coexist in jungle areas.

Important move in Brazil

Brazil increased the area reserved for endangered species to 62 million hectares this yeara figure much higher than the nine million hectares of 2018, as disclosed by the Ministry of the Environment in the National Strategy for the Conservation of Threatened Species.

According to the ministry, the expansion was possible thanks to the completion of 11 Territorial Action Plans for the Conservation of Threatened Species (PAT), which detailed the boundaries of each of the 24 territories included in the initiative.

According to the Government, the objective of assessing the conservation status of the species has also been exceeded. Initially, the ministry planned to evaluate 7,000 species of fauna and flora. As of June of this year, 8,761 species had been analysed, of which 5,511 fauna and 3,250 flora.

Source: EFE and Xinhua