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Gastric-brooding frog
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<p><i>Rheobatrachus</i>, whose members are known as the gastric-brooding frogs or platypus frogs, is a <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genus</a> of extinct ground-dwelling frogs native to <a href="/facts/Queensland/lXBlIeY3">Queensland</a> in eastern Australia. The genus consisted of only two species, the <a href="/facts/Rheobatrachus_silus/XalUreDn">southern</a> and <a href="/facts/Rheobatrachus_vitellinus/XalUreDn">northern</a> gastric-brooding frogs, both of which became extinct in the mid-1980s. The southern gastric brooding frog was last seen in 1983 and was declared extinct in 2006. The northern gastric brooding frog was last seen in 1987 and was declared extinct in 2015. The genus is unique because it contains the only two known frog species that <a href="/facts/Egg_incubation/E6sRJBSn">incubated</a> the prejuvenile stages of their offspring in the <a href="/facts/Stomach/Q4PPDGT6">stomach</a> of the mother. </p><p>The combined ranges of the gastric-brooding frogs comprised less than 2,000 square kilometres (770 sq mi). Both species were associated with creek systems in <a href="/facts/Rainforest/IEY5TMEc">rainforests</a> at elevations of between 350 and 1,400 metres (1,150 and 4,590 ft). The causes of the gastric-brooding frogs' extinction are not clearly understood, but habitat loss and degradation, pollution, and some diseases may have contributed. </p><p>The assignment of the genus to a taxonomic <a href="/facts/Family_(biology)/qTrn6E8E">family</a> is hotly debated. Some biologists class them within <a href="/facts/Myobatrachidae/QhMGj4rt">Myobatrachidae</a> under the subfamily Rheobatrachinae, but others place them in their own family, Rheobatrachidae. Molecular genetics finds it sister to <i><a href="/facts/Mixophyes/CAwAz4Rq">Mixophyes</a></i>. </p><p>Scientists at the University of Newcastle and University of New South Wales announced in March 2013 that the frog would be the subject of a <a href="/facts/Cloning/Vb6SM4c7">cloning</a> attempt, referred to as the "Lazarus Project", to <a href="/facts/De-extinction/vgHRND7m">resurrect the species</a>. Embryos were successfully cloned, and the project eventually hopes to produce a living frog. </p>