Critically Endangered
Atelopus longirostris
Atelopus longirostris
Atelopus longirostris is a toad in the family Bufonidae (order Anura), recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Ecuador.
Appearance
Adult males measure 30–35 mm (1.2–1.4 in) and females 41–47 mm (1.6–1.9 in) in snout–vent length. The snout is pronounced and has a comparatively sharp point. The dorsum is brown with yellow or cream rounded spots.
Even so, Tapia and colleagues report two smaller adult females, measuring 37 and 39 mm (1.5 and 1.5 in) SVL.
Taxonomy and systematics Atelopus longirostris was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1868 based on a specimen collected by James Orton and that now appears to be lost.
Range and habitat
Tapia and colleagues give a slightly different historic range that includes Imbabura, Cotopaxi, Pichincha, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Provinces and a narrower altitudinal range, 900–1,925 m (2,953–6,316 ft). Atelopus longirostris inhabits lowland (but see above) and montane tropical rainforests. Populations discovered in 2016 were in isolated, small patches of native forest within a heavily modified landscape.
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
Once listed as extinct by the IUCN, it was rediscovered in 2016 after more than two decade with no sightings.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Atelopus longirostris is Critically 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 Atelopus longirostris, Wikidata item Q2706540. 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.
