Species Spotlight: Lemur Leaf Frog

Name: Lemur Leaf Frog
Scientific Name: Hylomantis lemur
Conservation status: Critically Endangered (Extirpated from many sites particularly in Costa Rica)
Location: Central America (Panama, Columbia and Costa Rica)
Habitat: Undisturbed Humid Forest
Diet: Unknown though small invertebrates are most likely diet.

Additional information: The Lemur Leaf Frog changes color depending on activity level and time of day. This frog is one of few species that can bask in sunlight for long periods of time without drying out. Pterorhodin pigment in the skin allows it to reflect heat and may add to disease resistance. The resistance of this tiny frog to Chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease that is decimating many amphibian populations, is of great interest to scientists who are involved in amphibian conservation efforts around the world.

Resources:
IUCN Red List
EOL
Animal Arkive

Species Spotlight: Angel Shark

Name: Angelshark, Monkfish, Atlantic Angelshark
Scientific Name: Squatina squatina
Conservation status: Critically Endangered, extirpated from large areas of former range
Location: North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea (Formerly North Sea)
Habitat: Coastal waters and outer continental shelf waters with sandy or muddy bottoms
Diet: Carnivore: fish, skates, molluscs, and crustaceans

Additional information: Angelsharks are bottom feeding, nocturnal sharks which spend daylight hours buried in muddy or sandy bottoms with just their eyes exposed. Though not a fish consumed by humans, the biggest threat to the Angelshark is fishing. Their decline is caused because these sharks become by-catch, unused fish caught and often killed, of trawling.

Resources:
IUCN Red List Entry
EOL Entry
Animal Arkive Entry

Species Spotlight: Short-eared Dog

Name: Short-Eared Dog (Short-eared Zorro)
Scientific Name: Atelocynus microtis
Conservation status: Threatened/Endangered
Location: Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
Habitat: Undisturbed Rainforest
Diet: Generalist; fruits, fish, mammals, insects, frogs, crabs, and reptiles

Additional information: The Short-Eared Dog has thick dense fur to stay dry while swimming and in the intense rains within the forest. The dog also has partial interdigit membranes (partial webbing) probably owing to its time spent swimming and fishing. Due to being extremely reclusive the exact numbers in the wild are unknown but it is suspected that there are less than 15,000 left in the wild.

Resources:
IUCN Red List Entry
Animal Arkive Entry
Encyclopedia of Life Entry

Species Spotlight: Sea Pigs

Name: Sea Pig
Scientific Name: Scotoplanes sp.
Conservation status: Unknown but threatened by deep sea trawling
Location: Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans
Habitat: Deep sea >1000m
Diet: detritus and scavenged corpses

Additional information: Sea pigs have a very sensitive sense of smell that they use to locate food. The appendages, including those coming from the animal's back, are legs. Sea pigs are echinoderms, related to starfish and sea urchins, and are a type of sea cucumber. These animals have been cited as a possible source for figuring out the life style of the fossil Hallucigenia from the Burgess Shale deposits.

Resources:
Encyclopedia of Life Entry
Facts from WIRED Magazine
From Echinoblog