Treasure trove of new & unusual frogs and snakes discovered in Ecuador

16/01/2010 00:49:18

Rain frogs and a slug-sucking snake new to science but nearly extinct

January 2010. A treasure trove of potentially new species, including a blunt-snouted, slug-sucking snake and 30 species of rain frog, have been discovered in Ecuador by a team of American and Ecuadorian scientists working for Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International.

Snail-sucking snakes
The snake belongs to a small group of serpents that specialize in eating snails and slugs; the closest relative of this intriguing snake is found nearly 350 miles away in Peru.

Frogs without tadpoles
The new frogs have an extraordinary life-cycle. Instead of laying eggs in water which hatch into tadpoles, later to metamorphose into the adult form, they lay eggs in trees. The eggs then hatch out into miniature versions of the adults, some barely larger than a pinhead.

This tiny scaly-eyed gecko, is so small that it fits on the end of a pencil. Credit Paul S. Hamilton/ RAEI.org

Tiny gecko, 3 salamanders and a bushmaster snake
Other animals found on the expedition include a gecko that is so small that it can perch with ample room to spare on the top of a pencil; three species of lungless salamanders; and a bushmaster, which is the longest viper in the world, yet is rarely recorded, having been hunted almost to extinction in many parts of its range.

Deforestation seen in the foreground of Cerro Pata de Pájaro has occured mainly for cattle grazing. Remnant forests on the mountain tops are still rich in biodiversity, but are under threat from continued deforestation and global warming. Credit Paul S. Hamilton/ RAEI.org

Tiny habitat remainingA majority of the new species were found in Cerro Pata de Pájaro, a small mountain just a few minutes from the Pacific Ocean and lying on the Equator. Pata de Pájaro is surrounded by a type of rainforest and capped in cloud forest. The cloud forest on the site is only a couple miles wide, yet houses at least 14 of the 30 new species known nowhere else on Earth. "There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear as soon as, or even before, they are formally described by science", said expedition leader Dr. Paul S. Hamilton of RAEI.

Indeed, sites like Pata de Pájaro are threatened from all sides, with widespread deforestation for cattle grazing, timber harvesting and hunting. Climate change models actually predict that many of these mountaintop cloud forests - along with the animals that depend on them - will disappear altogether. The rain frogs just discovered are particularly susceptible to climate change since they rely on moist trees to lay their eggs.

A stick insect of the genus Xylospinodes was one of at least four new species of such creatures found in the course of our studies of reptiles and amphibians. Credit Paul S. Hamilton/ RAEI.org

140 species of reptile and amphibian & 4 new species of stick insect
Previous work by the scientists in the area yielded an amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians, over 140 species in number. Incidentally, the team has found four new species of stick insect, just from taking photos of these fascinating creatures in the course of research on reptiles and amphibians.

"There are countless gaps in our knowledge about the status and distribution of tropical animals; this study just scratches the surface of what we know about this region", said Dr. Hamilton.

Courtesy of Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International

snail sucking snake An unidentified snail-sucking snake of the genus Sibon recently found in western Ecuador. A similar species is found nearly 600 miles away in Panama. Credit Paul S. Hamilton/RAEI.org

Dwarf iguana A brilliant male O'Shaughnessy's Dwarf Iguana, Enyalioides oshaughnessyi, in a rare Ecuadorian cloudforest that is in danger of dissapearing from global warming. Credit Paul S. Hamilton/RAEI.org