Endangered
Cuenca Marsupial Frog
Gastrotheca cuencana
Cuenca Marsupial Frog is a frog in the family Hemiphractidae (order Anura) — Gastrotheca cuencana, recorded as Endangered and tied to Ecuador.
Appearance
The Cuenca marsupial frog is of medium size—males with an average facial-cloacal length of 49.6 cm and females 54.2—, green or brown in color with cream spots or spots. The color of the back is green or different shades of light, medium and reddish brown, sometimes with dark paravertebral spots. Has facial marks, with pale lines above the lip. The lateral stripe on the back is also pale white or cream in color and is accompanied by raised warts, with green and brown flanks, with cream-colored spots.
Range and habitat
Cuencanana is an endemic species, that occupies the Ecuadorian provinces of Azuay, Cañar and Morona Santiago. It lives in the Paute River basin area in the Western and Eastern mountain ranges—part of the Ecuadorian Andes—, within an altitudinal range of between 2,407 to 3,172 meters above sea level. Along with seven other species of frog, it is native to the high Andean area of the city of Cuenca, among them both its urban space and the periphery. Gastrotheca Cuenca, known as the Cuenca marsupial frog, is a anuran amphibian of the Hemiphractidae family.
GBIF currently lists 382 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.
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
It is a frog endemic to Ecuador considered in danger of extinction.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Cuenca Marsupial Frog 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 Spanish Wikipedia article on Gastrotheca cuencana, translated and retold in English, plus Wikidata item Q64141184 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Confirm status and range on iucnredlist.org.
