New species of frog discovered by research team in the Andes
Copyright 2000
New Straits Times (Malaysia)
December 26, 2000
By Nick Nuttall
NEW frog species have been discovered by an Anglo-Ecuadorian expedition in the High Andes to the delight of scientists.
Nora Schultz, 24, of Oxford University is the project leader for AndinoHerps 2000.
He described how the team stumbled across the frogs:
"We were walking through the forest on a dark and rainy night and struggling to keep our balance on a muddy path.
"The frogs were very small and incredibly hard to see in the dense vegetation. Suddenly the beam of my headlamp caught the reflection from a pair of eyes. Hiding at the base of a long broad leaf was a small frog with yellow flanks and distinct black markings."
He also explained that initially, the team was unable to identify the frogs.
"Back at base camp, we had serious trouble identifying many of the animals we found and at first we thought this was due to a lack of experience or a problem with the literature we were using."
The team eventually decided to consult Luis Coloma, a leading frog expert in Ecuador. Coloma immediately realised that the species was new. The small frogs may help to explain why amphibians worldwide are in sharp decline. Hatching directly from eggs as fully-formed frogs, they are less dependent on steady rainfall than frogs with a tadpole stage. Their decline is therefore more likely to be due to pollutants than to another possible culprit, climate change.