This frog is a true rock star.
Scientists have described for the first time a new species of frog native to the Ecuadorian Andes that goes by the name of Pristimantis ledzeppelin.
“The name honors Led Zeppelin and his extraordinary music,” wrote the frog’s discoverers, David Brito-Zapata and Carolina Reyes-Puig, announcing their find in Neotropical Biodiversity magazine.
The frog, which has red eyes and yellow, brown, black and orange skin, can reach 2.4 centimeters at maturity for males and 3.6 centimeters for females.
According to experts, the newly discovered frog is very similar to Pristimantis muscosus , which lives in the Cordillera Central in northern Peru. However, it can be differentiated by its muzzle, fur color, and other features, including orange and irregular spots on the groin and the lower surface of the hind limbs.
“All the specimens were found in the shrubby vegetation surrounding the streams within the mature forest, where they landed on shrub leaves, between 170 and 300 cm above the body of water,” the researchers clarify. “Due to the high endemism of the Cordillera del Cóndor, it is likely that the new species described here is found only in this restricted area , so it is important to consider new long-term initiatives for conservation actions for small vertebrates.”
Referencia: A new species of terrestrial-breeding frog Pristimantis (Anura: Strabomantidae) from the Cordillera del Cóndor, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador. Pages 213-222 | Received 08 Jun 2020, Accepted 04 Jun 2021, Published online: 13 Jun 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23766808.2021.1940048
