Abstract

Abstract: Te history of research and, in modern times, of conservation of the unique Darwin’s frogs (Rhinoderma) of southern South America is closely associated with the names of some German scientists and researchers. A German community has been existing in Chile since the 19th century. Some of its members have had an important impact on Chilean biology, frst amongst which was Rudolph Amandus Philippi, a student of Alexander von Humboldt, who came to Santiago in 1851 and can be regarded as the father of Chilean biology. He described the second known species of Darwin’s frogs, R. rufum. Otto Bürger spent some years living in Santiago in the early 20th century. He studied the anatomy of the vocal pouch of Rhinoderma, which plays an important role in the reproductive biology of this species. Ottmar Wilhelm Grob was born to German parents living in Chile in 1889 and was to become a major driving force in shaping the faculty of biology at Concepción University. Today, this biological institute is named afer him. He investigated with great intensity the reproduction biology of Rhinoderma. Karl Pfaumer in 1933 described in detail the swallowing of tadpoles by male Rhinoderma. Te German zoologist Hans Krieg undertook several journeys through South America and dedicated himself to studying the morphology and larval development of Rhinoderma. When it was noted around the beginning of the 21st century that R. rufum had been missing for 20 years, the German-Chilean zoologist Klaus Busse of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Bonn together with journalist and herpetologist Heiko Werning from Berlin initiated a conservation project for Rhinoderma, which has been running successfully until today and producing many insights into the natural history of R. darwinii and threats to this species, e.g., from the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. While eforts within the framework of this project to fnd R. rufum were unsuccessful, a research and breeding centre was established in Concepción in collaboration with the Leipzig Zoo.