Found Another One! New Frog Species Discovered at Los Amigos

November 22, 2009

Scientists have described a new species of frog from ACA’s Los Amigos Biological Station (known locally as CICRA). This species, Pristimantis divnae, belongs to the family Strabomantidae and lives in the leaf-litter and understory in terra firme forest at the base of Peru’s southern Andes. The species is characterized by a contrasting pattern of yellow and black with brown patches. The discovery of this new species of Pristimantis is significant because over the last 10 years only eight species from the genus have been found in the Amazon.

Edgar Lehr from the Senckenberg Natural History Collection in Dresden, Germany and ACA scholarship recipient Rudolf von May from Florida International University’s Department of Biological Sciences describe this new species in the latest issue of the Journal of Herpetology (Vol. 43, No. 3).

This discovery comes on the heels of finding the Noble’s pygmy frog (Noblella pygmaea), which was recently described at ACA’s Wayqecha Cloud Forest Research Center. We are all excited to see what other new species will be discovered next! (Photos by Rudolf von May.)