The newly extinct thread

Rare frog goes extinct, despite Atlanta’s rescue efforts

A rare tree frog – the last documented member of a species relatively new to science – has died at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

The body of the Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog, estimated to be about 12 years old, was discovered in its enclosure Monday morning during a routine daily health inspection.

Staff at the garden nicknamed the long-lived amphibian “Toughie.”

Amphibian specialist Leslie Phillips told the Mother Nature Network in 2013 that she was charmed by the frog. “He is just really cool,” Phillips said. “No other frog I have seen is quite like him. He is muscular and has giant webbed feet and big eyes … He is a very handsome frog.”

Read more: Last rare frog dies at Atlanta Botanical Garden

 

Also from earlier this year:

The San Cristobal vermilion flycatcher was elevated to species level (Pyrocephalus dubius) and suggested as being extinct.

Source:

Carmi, Ore, Witt, Christopher C., Jaramillo, Alvaro and Dumbacher, John P. (2016). Phylogeography of the Vermilion Flycatcher species complex: multiple speciation events, shifts in migratory behavior, and an apparent extinction of a Galápagos-endemic bird species. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 102: 152-173. [Abstract]

The Hoan Kiem turtle, very unlikely but possibly the last of its kind, was found dead on 19 February 2016: Hanoi's Beloved Hoan Kiem Turtle Has Died - Saigoneer

And lastly (technically only an epistemically new extinction), a mid-year paper reported the existence of a now extinct sea lion (Phocarctos sp.) which formerly inhabited New Zealand's Chatham Islands until around 1650 AD.

Source:

Rawlence, Nicolas J. et al. (2016). Human-mediated extirpation of the unique Chatham Islands sea lion and implications for the conservation management of remaining New Zealand sea lion populations. Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.13726

 

List of small mammals which may -or may not - have gone extinct :
Top 20 ‘Lost’ Small Mammals | SMSG - Small Mammal Specialist Group

 

One of the species in that list, the Pacific degu (Octodon pacificus) was rediscovered in December 2015:

EXTINCT BRUSH TAILED RAT aka DEGU REDISCOVERED IN... - Marine Science in a Drop

 

Thats great, thanks for sharing Surroundx !

 

Two Unique Beetles in Arizona, Kentucky Go Extinct After Lengthy Delays in Protection

TUCSON, Ariz.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that the Stephan’s riffle beetle of Arizona and the Tatum Cave beetle of Kentucky have gone extinct — more than two decades after they were first identified as needing federal protections that were never awarded to them. The agency declared the two species extinct after searches and surveys for both miniscule beetles in their respective specialized micro-habitats turned up no insects. Both beetles were known to be threatened by unchecked development. But due to the Service’s delay in deciding whether to protect them as “endangered,” they never received the habitat protections and science-based recovery plans that have helped rescue other species on the brink of extinction.

Read more: Two Unique Beetles in Arizona, Kentucky Go Extinct After Lengthy Delays in Protection

 

Sighting of Yangtze River Dolphin Believed Functionally Extinct

Amateur investigators have reported spotting what they believe to be a baiji dolphin in a stretch of the Yangtze river in eastern China. The animal was declared “functionally extinct” in 2006 after researchers from six countries failed to find a single dolphin, and concluded there were too few left to save the species.

At around 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the team of 11 saw what looked like a dolphin in the Yangtze river close to the city of Wuhu, in Anhui province, while on a one-week expedition to look for the animal. The dolphin jumped out of the water in easy view of one of the team’s boats, which was around 100 meters away. People on the team’s second boat, which was around 300 meters away, also saw the animal.

According to Song Qi, the leader of the expedition, the animal breached the surface of the water more than once, allowing the team to get a good look at it. “I saw most of the body, and the second time around I saw its mouth and head,” Song said in a telephone interview with Sixth Tone. Song was on the second boat which was further away, but team members on the first boat got a better look at the creature. “The front boat saw it three times,” Song said. Song estimated that altogether six people on the investigation team saw the animal.

Read more: Sighting of Yangtze River Dolphin Believed Functionally Extinct | Sixth Tone

 

Woinarski, John C. Z., Garnett, Stephen T., Legge, Sarah M. and Lindenmayer, David B. (2016). The contribution of policy, law, management, research, and advocacy failings to the recent extinctions of three Australian vertebrate species. Conservation Biology. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12852 [Abstract]

 

Sad but intresting video-clip :

 

Porch, Nick and Smith, Tessa R. (2017). New Pycnomerus Erichson (Coleoptera: Zopheridae: Pycnomerini) from Rimatara, French Polynesia. Zootaxa 4237(1): 154-166. [Abstract]

 

The locust was extirpated by accident. Was it mourned more than hookworm?

By the way locust DNA is easily sampled from frozen specimens. Is it a better candidate for cloning than mammoths? Few mammoths are known to be cloned but there are myriad frozen locusts to found a new breeding population from.

 

If the Phocarctos sp. is definitively new why was a species not described. This happens with tubenoses: new species are implied based on subfossils that are nondiagnostic and demonstrate only former distribution ie. gadfly petrels in offshore Britain.

 

Taylor, Eric B. and Piercey, Rebecca S. (2017). Going, going, gone: evidence for loss of an endemic species pair of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with implications for protection under species-at-risk legislation. Conservation Genetics. DOI:
Going, going, gone: evidence for loss of an endemic species pair of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with implications for protection under species-at-risk legislation [Abstract]

 

What tubenoses are these?

 

The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database cubit: Browsing The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database: Extinct Birds

 

I was referring to a Scottish gadfly petrel that is listed sometimes as an undescribed but extinct species of Britain. It isn't. The actual species nests in much warmer Macaronesia nowadays but the population is extinct since human settlement.