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November 27, 2018 9:09 pm
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Updated November 27, 2018 at 21:09
Venezuelan researchers have discovered a species of endemic toad whose survival is threatened by deforestation of its habitat, a fact that confirms Venezuela among the countries with the greatest diversity of frogs.
The small animal lives in the forests of the Sierra de Aroa, in the state of Yaracuy, in the north of the country, and was named Mannophryne Molinai, in his posthumous quality, to Caesar Molina (1960-2015), a Venezuelan herpetologist who has dedicated his life to working with amphibians and reptiles.
It is a frog with a collar (by a black band in the throat); the largest individuals reach only 2.5 centimeters, detailed in AFP Miguel Matta, co-author of the survey.
The females are slightly larger than the males and the colors on the back are a mixture of brown, gray and dark green.
The belly of the males is white and the throat is greyish; the females have a more conspicuous ventral coloring, with a yellow throat and black collar more marked, and a white belly partially dyed yellow, describes Matta.
Another characteristic is the sound that men emit, consisting of a long series of individual notes, he added.
Although it is assumed that its distribution is more extensive in the mountains, its presence has until now been known only on a point called La Rondona.
The first copies of Mannophryne Molinai They were found in 2012 in a creek in the area. In principle, it was thought that it was another population of Mannophryne Herminae, widespread in the mountains of the Venezuelan coast, but doubts persisted.
Since species of this genus are difficult to differentiate, further research is needed to ensure that it is an undescribed species, Matta explained.
The fieldwork lasted several years and for the description of the species, photographs, an analysis of the recordings of their vocalizations and a careful comparison with the other 19 known species of the genus were needed. mannophryne
The research was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal Zootaxa.
Matta, of the Central University of Venezuela, and the herpetologists, Enrique La Marca, of the University of Los Andes, and Fernando Rojas-Runjaic, of the Natural History Museum of La Salle, who has led the study.
Threatened species
The discovery of a new species is always good news for science, but in the case of mannophryne This contrasts with its vulnerability to deforestation, said Matta.
Although the Sierra de Aroa is protected at its northern end, the rest of the territory, where the amphibian was found, supports a strong agricultural and agricultural intervention, warned the scientist.
The researcher pointed out that deforestation increases temperature and decreases humidity, and being a water-dependent species, it could extinguish if water masses disappear or become extinct. contaminated.
The scheme Mannophryne Molinai It is not yet described, but other species of its kind feed on insects, earthworms and sometimes small crustaceans.
With this discovery, add 20 species of the genus mannophryne identified, 18 of these endemic mountain systems of northern Venezuela.
Half is listed as threatened with extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"This discovery reveals that the amphibian fauna in Venezuela is still in a discovery phase and reinforces the country's position among the eight that have the largest number of frogs in the world," La Marca said.
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