Researchers with the Museum of Zoology at Catholic University of Ecuador discovered two new species of rain frogs while conducting field work in Llanganates National Park on the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes.

 

The scientists named the new species Pristimantis llanganati, after the national park where it was found, and Pristimantis yanezi, after Mario Yánez, director of the Ecuadorian Museum of Natural Sciences, who “provided useful insights for the description of the new species” and has studied Ecuadorian amphibians, especially those of the genus Pristimantis, throughout his career.

 

The Pristimantis genus is already one of the most diverse frog genera in the world, with nearly 500 species, 184 of which are found in Ecuador. Scientists think that the wide distributional range of Pristimantis is the result of the fact that the frogs lay their eggs on land, an evolutionary innovation that allowed them to colonize ecological niches unavailable to frogs that depend on water for reproduction.

 

The scientists who made the discovery of the two new species wrote in a paper published in the journal ZooKeys last week that it is premature to say anything definitive about the health of the frogs’ populations and conservation status.

 

“Both new species occur in a region with few amphibian collections and nothing is known about their abundance and ecology,” the scientists said. They go on to recommend that the frogs be added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Data Deficient Red List category.

 

The researchers suggested that many more unnamed amphibian species can be found in the 2,197-square-kilometer (about 850-square-mile) Llanganates National Park, given the great diversity of habitats in the Ecuadorian Andes and the dearth of biological inventories that have been done there. (MONGABAY)