Critically Endangered
Pristimantis erythros
Pristimantis erythros
Pristimantis erythros is a rain frog in the family Craugastoridae (order Anura), recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Ecuador.
Appearance
Its striking characteristics are its scarlet red coloration, that differentiates it from all the species of the genus Pristimantis, and the presence of parotid glands on the trapezius and suprascapular muscles. Its specific epithet derives from the Greek word ἐρυθρός (erythros), meaning red, an allusion to its unique coloration.
It has an average length of 38 to 42 millimeters in females and 37 millimeters in males.
Range and habitat
Pristimantis erythros is a amphibian in the family Craugastoridae, and can be found in Cajas National Park in Chiquintad parish, Ecuador. It has not yet been catalogued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but because it is losing habitat and occupies an area smaller than one square kilometer, researchers classify it as a critically endangered species.
The park where it is endemic seems to be well preserved, but due to human pressure, the change of vegetation cover, anthropological use of the land and the lack of protection in the surrounding regions, the species is suffering the loss of its habitat, that currently corresponds to an area smaller than one square kilometer.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Direct-developing rainfrogs live in wet forest. They do not need a pond, which is why a logged hillside can erase a species.
Calling males and egg sites define most frog field work. A species known from one ridge is as narrow as it sounds.
In crisis
All individuals found so far have been seen in terrestrial bromeliads (Puya hamata) and grasses (Neurolepis villosa), near small streams. Because of this, its discoverers classify it as a critically endangered species (CR).
Direct-developing frogs vanish with the forest floor. There is no pond population waiting off-site.
Pristimantis erythros 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 Pristimantis erythros, Wikidata item Q52333642. 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.
