Endangered
Phytotriades auratus
Phytotriades auratus
Phytotriades is a genus of tree frogs in the family Hylidae.
Appearance
Males grow to 29 mm (1.1 in) and females to 35 mm (1.4 in) in snout–vent length. The dorsum is chocolate brown in colour and has two iridescent, golden yellow stripes.
The tadpoles hatch at a length of 14 mm (0.55 in) and grow to 40 mm (1.6 in).
Range and habitat
Phytotriades auratus is known from the summits of El Cerro del Aripo and El Tucuche, the two highest peaks in Trinidad, as well as from Cerro Humo on the Paria Peninsula, Venezuela, on the adjacent mainland. There is circumstantial evidence suggesting that the species might also occur (or have occurred) on the Isla Margarita.
The Northern Range Game Sanctuary (also known as the El Tucuche Reserve) provides some protection to one of the populations.
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
Trinidadian populations are threatened by the collection of bromeliads and collecting of specimens. On Cerro Humo, a part of the habitat falls within the Península de Paria National Park, although enforcement remains limited. Clearance for slash-and-burn plots threatens the potential habitat of the species on the slopes of the mountain.
With the threat of global climate change, and specifically warming, temperatures are expected to rise even in mountainous regions.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Phytotriades auratus 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 Phytotriades auratus, Wikidata item Q28005349. 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.
