As the natural forest cover in Ethiopia is already less than 3% of what it once has been, the banana frog species Afrixalus clarkei, dwelling exclusively in the remnants of the country’s southwestern forests in only two populations, is exposed to a great risk of extinction.
Through our BINCO express survey in 2015 in the Beleta-Gera forest we extended the species’ range, thus making the first steps to saving the charming frogs.
The geographical range of the Ethiopian banana frog has been expanded by roughly 40 km towards the North and 70 km to the East. Its altitudinal distribution already reaches a maximum of 2030 metres above sea level, compared to the previously known maximum of 1800 m.

The study is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys and can be downloaded here.