Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a new frog species has been discovered in the south american rainforest. looks to be a poison dart frog, but also resembles (to me, a snake guy) a harlequin frog (toad?) it is PURPLE on a black background. im sure youll see and read more in the near future.
joe

it is an "atelopus" frog. found in eastern surinam.
joe

Here's a picture of the newly discovered Atelopus species from the eastern Suriname rainforest. It was discovered in 2005 by a scientific Conservation International expedition. Atelopus sp. are the so called harlequin toads in the Bufonidae family, and are among the most spectacularly colored of any amphibians. Unfortunately, captive breeding is difficult, and many species are critically endangered. At least one species,(the golden toad) is now considered extinct, I believe.

-----
Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

That frog does not look even remotely real! That is incredible.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19028712/from/ET/

There is the article.

yeah thats the one. awesome.

Yes, many Atelopus sp. are in big big trouble thanks to chytrid in their native range; but the Panamanian golden frog (or golden toad), Atelopus zetecki, is by far the most endangered, with extinction in the wild seemingly imminent, although small, seemingly unaffected (by chytrid) populations have been found deep in the Panamanian jungles--but now the worry is that they may become critically inbred or that the scientists may inadvertently introduce the pathogen into the environment. I maintain a small colony of juvenilles of this species at work--they really are spectacular! They are part of one of our new exhibits, and they were all captive bred at the National Aquarium in Baltimore; which among other places, has had tremendous success breeding this species, so perhaps they will not disappear forever--sadly, the jungles of Panama may be permanently missing these toads by years end. Out of curiousity, what is the species name of this new Atelopus? (or does it have one yet?)

I don't believe that it has a "new name" yet due to the fact that there is some argument now that it is indeed a new species after all, and not a color morph or sub-species of Atelopus spumarius (or perhaps A. flavescens) that has been known from a site across the river. So far, I haven't found a source for a scientific description or paper proclaiming it a new species, at least not on line. There seems to be only the one photo available on line. Time will tell, no doubt.

In any event, it is a beautiful frog.
-----
Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

I saw that too. It looks like a really cool frog. I am hoping that there will be more information about this frog in the near future.