Six new species of rain frogs were discovered in the Llanganates and Sangay National Parks in Ecuador.
(CNN) --
Six new species of rain frogs have been discovered on the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes, according to a statement from Ecuador's Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition.
The ministry said three researchers from Ecuador's Pontifical Catholic University and the National Biodiversity Institute made the discoveries in Ecuador's Llanganates and Sangay National Parks, which protect rich and ecologically diverse Amazonian montane forests found on mountain slopes. .
Professor Santiago Ron, one of the three researchers, told CNN on Wednesday that the discovery of six new species of frogs took four years.
"The discovery took place during several expeditions to remote locations in the Amazonian cloud forests in 2008, 2015 and 2017. After that, we analyzed the data and wrote the publication," he said.
All the frogs belong to the genus Pristimantis, which includes more than 569 species that live as far north as eastern Honduras and Panama through the Andes to Bolivia, northern Argentina and Brazil, according to a study of the discovery published in the PeerJ magazine.
Unlike many frogs, they do not rely on bodies of water to breed and lay eggs on land.
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One of six new species of rain frogs was discovered on the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes.
Credit: Puce-Bioweb
Ron said that they named one of the frogs “resistance” as a tribute to environmental defenders who have been killed in Latin America for defending nature.
“For the last 10 years, Latin America has been the most dangerous region for environmental defenders,” he said.
Given the lack of information on the populations of these rain frogs, the researchers recommended assigning these new species to the data deficient category on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, a system for classifying species at high risk. from extinction, the ministry said.
Ecuador has 669 amphibian species, making it the third most diverse country in the world after Brazil and Colombia, Ron said.