New Species

New Species of Frog from Peru

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Researchers have described a new species of frog from a recent field work trip to the Pui Pui Protected Forest of Peru. The researchers (Edgar Lehr, Rudolf von May, Jiri Moravec, and Juan Carlos Cusi) who described the species named it the Inti Andes Frog (Phrynopus inti) after the Incan Sun God Inti because of the orange coloration.  It was placed in the genus Phrynopus – the Andes Frog because of molecular evidence. Phrynopus is a genus in the family Craugastoridae, which has only direct developing frogs so there is no tadpole stage in the new species probably.

The researchers decided that the frog should be listed as Near Threatened because of threats from fungus infections such as Chytrid Fungus, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction for agriculture.

Source: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/20776/list/8/

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