Benetton also invites people from around the world to upload diptyched images that mimic kissing duos, alongside a message of tolerance and ‘unhate’ on their ‘KISS WALL‘.

Hu Jintao, president of China and Barack Obama

The Pope and Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak

US President Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Participants take part in the homemade car race in Kiev, Ukraine, June 18, 2011.

Bursting with eggs, a pregnant frog with see-through skin is one of five “lost” amphibian species recently rediscovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

First described in 1950, Hyperolius leucotaenius was recently found on the banks of the Elila River in southeastern DRC.

The status of the five species, first described between 1950 and 1952, was a mystery until they were rediscovered during the recent field expeditions, which took place between 2009 to 2011.

“Like most of the ‘lost’ amphibian species, they simply hadn’t been seen for many decades, and their status was completely unknown,” expedition leader Eli Greenbaum, a biologist at the University of Texas at El Paso, said by email.

The DRC expeditions were inspired by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2010 effort to rediscover a hundred “lost” amphibian species around the world (see pictures).

That unprecedented effort focused primarily on finding ten species of high scientific and aesthetic value. Ultimately, scientists on that project spotted only 15 “lost” species, and just one from their most wanted list.

The newly announced discovery of the DRC frogs “is good news,” according to Greenbaum, whose work was partially funded by the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration.

“My team’s discoveries confirm that those jungles have been poorly explored,” he said in a statement. “There is a lot of biodiversity there, and it’s not too late to redouble our efforts at conservation.”

High-Altitude Amphibian

The Chrysobatrachus cupreonitens frog species was found in high-altitude, flooded grasslands of the Itombwe Plateau in southeastern DRC.

About a third of the world’s amphibian species are either extinct or close to dying out, according to expedition leader Greenbaum. That’s why his team’s efforts offer a “glimmer of hope.”

“This is important for the sake of conservation on a global scale,” he said in a statement.

“Amphibians are like the canaries in the coal mine. If they go, we’re next—and they’re not doing too good.”

Fingernail-Size Frog

Scientists discovered the fingernail-size Arthroleptis pyrrhoscelis frog at about 6,600 feet (2,000 meters) high on the Itombwe Plateau.

Eggs of frogs of the Arthroleptis genus hatch directly into froglets, bypassing the tadpole stage, according to Greenbaum’s website.

It’s not for nothing that DRC forests were little explored for so long. Since about 1960 frequent warfare has kept many scientists out of the country. Likewise, dangerously poor roads, rudimentary health facilities, and land mines make research difficult, Greenbaum said by email.

During Greenbaum’s last expedition, he walked 100 miles (160 kilometers) through the mountains and contracted dengue fever.

Forest Survivor

The team discovered the frog species Hyperolius chrysogaster (pictured) in its only known habitat—the relatively healthy forests of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, in eastern DRC.

Other eastern forests in the country are being destroyed to make way for agricultural use, endangering frogs, mountain gorillas, and other animals, according to Greenbaum’s website.

Puddle Frog Makes a Splash

As far as African puddle frogs go, the rediscovered species Phrynobatrachus asper is relatively hefty.

“The legs have so much meat on them that this species was rediscovered in 2009 when villagers on the Itombwe Plateau offered to sell their frog dinner to the scientists!” Greenbaum said on his website.

This led the search team to a living Phrynobatrachus asper, found in one of the plateau’s forest streams—the species’ preferred habitat.

During later stages of Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis infection, the fungus rapidly consumes the nutrients inside a zombie ant and begins to colonize the outside of the ant’s body, as pictured.

The fungus stalk growing from the back of the head (upper right) also becomes longer and more noticeable.

Zombie Fungus Rears Its Ugly Head

A stalk of the newfound fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani, grows out of a “zombie” ant’s head in a Brazilian rain forest.

Originally thought to be a single species, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus is actually four distinct species—all of which can “mind control” ants—scientists announced Wednesday.

The fungus species can infect an ant, take over its brain, and then kill the insect once it moves to a location ideal for the fungi to grow and spread their spores.

(Related pictures: “”Zombie” Ants Controlled, Decapitated by Flies.”)

All four known fungi species live in Brazil’s Atlantic rain forest, which is rapidly changing due to climate change and deforestation, said study leader David Hughes, an entomologist at Penn State University.

Hughes and colleagues made the discovery after noticing a wide diversity of fungal growths emerging from ant victims, according to the March 2 study in the journal PLoS ONE.

“It is tempting to speculate that each species of fungus has its own ant species that it is best adapted to attack,” Hughes said.

“This potentially means thousands of zombie fungi in tropical forests across the globe await discovery,” he said. “We need to ramp up sampling—especially given the perilous state of the environment.”

Future Zombie Ants

Healthy Camponotus rufipes ants scamper across a Brazilian forest floor.

The four newly identified “zombie” fungi species use different techniques to spread after infecting an ant, the researchers found.

Some of the fungi species create thin “infection pegs” that stick out from a victim’s body and infect passing ants, Hughes said.

Other fungus species develop explosive spores on infected ants’ bodies. When other ants come near the cadavers, the shooting spores can hit the unwitting passersby, turning them too into zombie ants.

Bite of the Living Dead

Lodged in a zombie ant’s brain, the fungi species “direct” the dying ants to anchor themselves to leaves or other stable places, as pictured above—providing a stable “nursery” for the fungus.

For instance, as the Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani fungus is about to kill the ant, the insect bites down hard into whatever substance it’s standing on.

This attachment is so strong that a dead zombie ant can remain stationary even when hanging upside down, the scientists say.

A Zombie Fungus Is Born

A white fungus stalk (left) of the Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis species begins to poke through the head of a zombie ant two days after death. Also noticeable are faint, white, slightly fuzzy fungal growths on the ant’s joints.

Once the insect dies, the fungus rapidly spreads through the body. During the first couple days, though, very little evidence of the fungus is visible from the outside.

Final Stalk

The mature fungus stalk, shown growing from a zombie ant’s head during the final stage of infection, differs among fungi species.

For instance, Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis creates just a single stalk (pictured), while Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani forms a forked stalk (as seen in the first picture).

Ant-on-Ant Inaction

Even for zombie fungi, things don’t always go as planned.

For example, in this picture of two dead zombie ants, the upper ant has bitten down on the neck of the lower ant rather than a leaf—perhaps depriving the fungus of a stable growing spot.

Wasp Stung by Zombie Fungus

Ants aren’t the only zombie-fungi hosts—other insects also fall prey to fungus. Above, a wasp is infected by a Cordyceps fungus species that hasn’t yet been named or formally documented.

Fungi of the Cordyceps genus are the products of a tightly evolved arms race between hosts and parasites, study author Hughes noted.

That means the fungi are often locked into one type of host—a specialization that might spell doom for fungi species as host species die out.

“Mummified” Fly

Unlike ants, many insect species that fall victim to zombie fungi are very difficult to identify after the fungus has spread around their bodies—as with this fly—the scientists noted.

Overall, fungi help keep nature working smoothly, Hughes added.

“They may be less cuddly than pandas … but for the overall health of the planet, fungi are inestimably more important.”

Cricket No More

Crickets too can fall prey to zombie fungi (as pictured), though little is known about the fungus species that brought this insect to its horrific end.

Hughes plans to remedy that—and expects to find many more zombie fungus species in the forests of Brazil.

“This is only the tip,” he said, “of what will be a very large iceberg.”