Endangered
Ameerega shihuemoy
Ameerega shihuemoy
Ameerega shihuemoy, the Amarakaeri poison frog, is a dart frog endemic to a small region in southeastern Peru in the Manú District where it lives in the transition zone between montane rainforest and the lowland rainforest.
Appearance
The Amarakaeri poison frog is a medium-sized dart frog with a black unmarked dorsum, and an orange dorsolateral stripe running from the tip of the snout to the groin where it turns into a bright orange blotch that extends slightly to the anterior surface of the thigh. The legs are brown with faint dark mottling. All ventral surfaces are a bright blue against a bold black reticulated pattern.
The males are smaller on average being measured between 19.2–21.8 mm (0.76–0.86 in) in length compared to the females measured 21.5–25.7 mm (0.85–1.01 in).
Range and habitat
Ameerega shihuemoy is a terrestrial frog that primarily inhabits fast-flowing rocky streams, and low disturbance forested areas in the Andean foothills of the Manú District. The frogs have only been found within primary rainforest, and minimally disturbed regenerating rainforest, often near rocky fast-moving streams, at elevations of 340–850 meters (1,120–2,790 ft). In areas of low disturbance they can also be found near wetlands, and during the rainy season near small temporary pools of standing water.
Currently the frog is only known from nine locations globally. Three sites in the Manú Biosphere Reserve, and six in Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Calling males and egg sites define most frog field work. A species known from one ridge is as narrow as it sounds.
Eggs and damp skin make amphibians quick to vanish from a drained wetland or a forest stripped of litter.
In crisis
This species is threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture, gold mining, oil extraction, road construction, and logging. Initially it was considered for a status of vulnerable or near-threatened, but due to its low number of known localities, the IUCN considers it endangered. Principal threats include habitat loss associated with subsistence farming, road construction, illegal logging, and both legal and illegal mining.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Ameerega shihuemoy is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Ameerega shihuemoy, Wikidata item Q28368692. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
