scarlet harlequin toad

The rediscovery of this lost toad could be the key to better understanding how species rebound from the chytrid fungus that has decimated amphibians worldwide and hit harlequin toads particularly hard. The Scarlet Harlequin Toad has the most restricted geographic range of any Venezuelan Atelopus species and is known from a single stream in an isolated Venezuelan cloud forest. Anecdotal reports from locals indicate that it could be surviving in a remote patch of cloud forest that researchers have not yet surveyed. A 2020 Re:wild-supported expedition by the Rescue of Endangered Venezuelan Amphibians (REVA) did not uncover the lost toad, but we haven’t given up hope and will team up again to explore similar habitat nearby.