Latonia nigriventer Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943
Hula painted frog, Israel painted frog, Palestinian painted frog
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Discoglossus nigriventer Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943
Conservation Status
Last record: 1940 (WCMC, 1992:210); 1955
Rediscovered in: late 2011
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered
Distribution & Habitat
Hula Valley, Israel
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Mendelssohn, H. and Steinitz, H. (1943). A new frog from Palestine. Copeia 1943: 231-233.
Other references:
Andreone, Franco et al. (2022). Threatened and extinct amphibians and reptiles in Italian natural history collections are useful conservation tools. Acta Herpetologica 17(1): 45-58. doi:10.36253/a_h-12349
Baillie, Jonathan E. M. and Butcher, Ellen R. (2012). Priceless or Worthless? The world’s most threatened species. London, UK: Zoological Society of London.
Beer, John. (2015). By and By. Poetry 207(2): 125-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44015857
Biton, R., Boistel, R., Rabinovich, R., Gafny, S., Brumfeld, V. and Bailon, S. (2016). Osteological Observations on the Alytid Anura Latonia nigriventer with Comments on Functional Morphology, Biogeography, and Evolutionary History. J. Morphol. doi:10.1002/jmor.20562 [Abstract]
Biton, Rebecca; Geffen, Eli; Vences, Miguel; Cohen, Orly; Bailon, Salvador; Rabinovich, Rivka; Malka, Yoram; Oron, Talya; Boistel, Renaud; Brumfeld, Vlad; Gafny, Sarig. (2013). The rediscovered Hula painted frog is a living fossil. Nature Communications 4. Article 1959. [Abstract]
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. (2012). Discoglossus nigriventer. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 15 February 2013.
Perl, R. G. Bina et al. (2017). [url=http://www.mvences.de/p/p1/Vences_A351.pdf]Natural history and conservation of the rediscovered Hula painted frog, Latonia nigriventer[/url]. Contributions to Zoology, 86(1): 11-37.
Perl, R. G. Bina et al. (2018a). Population genetic analysis of the recently rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) reveals high genetic diversity and low inbreeding. Scientific Reports 8: 5588.
Perl, R. G. Bina et al. (2018b). Notes on post-metamorphic colour pattern changes in the Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer): How realistic is re-identification of juveniles? Herpetology Notes 11: 475-480. [automatic download]
Regalado, Pedro Galán. (2015). Los Anfibios y Reptiles Extinguidos: Herpetofauna Desaparecida Desde el Año 1500. Monografías de la Universidade da Coruña 155: 1-509.
Renan, Sharon et al. (2017). Living quarters of a living fossil - Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.14420
Rinat, Z. (2011). Long thought extinct, Hula painted frog found once again in Israeli nature reserve. Available at: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/long-thought-extinct-hula-painted-frog-found-once-again-in-israeli-nature-reserve-1.396000 [Accessed 15 February 2013).
Steinitz, H. (1955). Occurrence of Discoglossus nigriventer in Israel. Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel 5B(2)((B)5): 192-193.
Tron, F. (2005). Second Discoglossus nigriventer rediscovery expedition in the central Bekaa Valley, Lebanon: 17-28 April 2005 Expedition Report. A Rocha.
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. London: Chapman & Hall. xx + 594 pp.
Yesharim, Maayan et al. (2026). Near‑perfect photo‑ID of the Hula painted frog with zero‑shot deep local‑feature matching. arXiv preprint. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.08798