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	Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN (Red List) Status	Extinct (EX) See IUCN account.
CITES	No CITES Listing
Other International Status	None
National Status	None
Regional Status	None

Description
A medium-sized frog (ca. 40 mm in length), Discoglossus nigriventer has a dark belly (as its name implies) with small white spots. The dorsal pattern is ochre and rust colored patches grading into dark olive-grey to greyish-black. D. nigriventer differs from D. pictus in having a greater interocular distance, longer forelimbs, and a less projecting snout. For a more extensive description see Mendelssohn and Steinitz (1943).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Israel

View distribution map using BerkeleyMapper.

This species was known from the Hula wetlands in northern Israel although it may have been present in similar adjacent habitats in Syria. The wetlands of Lake Hula were drained for mainly agricultural purposes in the 1950's. Although an area of 320 ha was set aside as a nature reserve, this did not prevent the extinction of certain endemic species, among which it has been presumed to include D. nigriventer as several subsequent extensive surveys in the 80's and 90's found no D. nigriventer (Werner 1988, Papenfuss et al 2011).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
There is no information on the life history of this species.

Trends and Threats
This species has been thought to be extinct due to the draining of its wetland habitat.

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Drainage of habitat

Comments
Of this species only two specimens exist: one type specimen, collected by Mendelssohn in 1940 (Mendelssohn and Steinitz 1943), and one collected by Steinitz in 1955 (Werner 1988). The two tadpole paratypes have been lost.

Since the single adult specimen collected in 1955, Discoglossus nigriventer has not been seen until November 15, 2011, four decades later by a Park Ranger, who was unsure of the identity of the adult frog (Boaz Shacham, pers.com.). Its identification has been since confirmed and will certainly renew interest in its conservation.

References
 

Mendelssohn, H. and Steinitz, H. (1943). ''A new frog from Palestine.'' Copeia, 4, 231-233.  

Papenfuss T., Disi A., Anderson S., Kuzmin S., Gasith A., Sadek R.A., Werner Y. 2004. Discoglossus nigriventer. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on 25 November 2011.  

Werner, Y. L. (1988). ''Herpetofaunal survey of Israel (1950-85), with comments on Sinai and Jordan and on zoogeographic heterogeneity.'' The Zoogeography of Israel. Y. Yom-Tov and E. Chernov, eds., Junk, Dordrecht, 355-388.

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