Kauffeld was considered an expert on amphibians and had worked as the Director of the Staten Island Zoo and at the American Museum of Natural History. He passed away in 1974 at age 64.
Kauffeld's discovery was never verified, and it sat largely forgotten until 2008, when a Rutgers University PhD candidate, Jeremy Feinberg furthered the research by leading a diverse team of scientists, who not only compared it's DNA and calls and croaks to other leopard frogs, but also mapped the range of its habitat.
In a nod to Kauffield, the frog was named Rana kauffeldi in his honor. More info here:
">New Frog Discovered Inhabiting I-95 Corridor from Connecticut to North Carolina
