This newly discovered poisonous frog can represent an evolutionary step on the path towards the development of excellent warning coloring associated with other frogs of poison arrows.
A small reddish reddish frog approximately 2/3rds of a long inch is the latest re-scientific species that … [+]
Scientists recently described and named a frog species that is new to science. This new frog lives in dry and wet tropical forests from the sea to 1800m in all the Pacific Lowlands and the west side of the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and North Peru (REF). Although the new frog range (Figure 1) includes areas with severe deforestation, it was surprisingly abundant.
Figure 1: Map of the search area. Southern half of the Pacific Pacific of Colombia, part of … [+]
“We have noticed individuals who actively moved between grass and leaves, or actively calling at the ends of water bodies,” said high author of the study, herpetologist Rebecca Tarvin, an auxiliary professor of integration biology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she integrates studies of natural history with genomics and philogenic, especially in frogs of poison arrows.
The frogs were easy to find and assemble because they live on the ground and are active during the day, are abundant along the streets and edges of new forests, where they mainly live near the marshes and slow streams and even found within the semi-country areas.
“(The place where the primary specimen was found) includes small forest fragments between human housing,” Professor Tarvin reported. “Usually, these areas are contaminated with waste or agricultural waste.”
The frogs are small, approximately 0.7 inches long, and therefore, are easy to bypass. Previously, this frog was confused with another local frog species in the same genus, EpipedobatesBut this new species has a yellow-orange spot on the side of its body while this ribbon is white and white in other frog relatives.
In addition to its unique coloring, the mating calls of this frog are the ones that really separate it.
“We discover that the advertising call of (new species) is unique compared to others Epipedobates Distributed in Colombia, ”write the authors of the study. Frog, who is particularly vocal in the morning and late in the afternoon, makes a single call while others in the area are known for producing a series of calls consisting of up to three notes.
Professor Tarvin initially encountered this frog species eight years ago when, as a graduate student studying toxins in poison frogs, she and a collaborator who is the main author of this study, behavior ecologist Mileidy Betanco-Cundar , gathered a frog in Columbia that they suspected it was a new species. Dr. Betancouth-Cundar is currently a post-documentary collaborator at Stanford University, where she is particularly interested in the evolutionary dynamics of territorial behavior and pairing systems in neotropic poison frogs.
Now, eight years later, Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and associates returned to Colombia to find and collect more from these small frogs to confirm their original suspicions of the status of its species. To do this, the researchers collected a holotype specimen used to describe the species for scientific literature, and is then placed in the collections of references of a museum of natural history.
“If you want to refer to a species, you have to go through this assignment process, describing basically. How do you say to them besides other species, and what kind of attributes make them unique? “Professor Tarvin said.” This is what we did. Actually actually a lot of work to do it. It took us about four years to make the description. “
As part of the process of describing a new species, Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and collaborators should also give it a scientific and ordinary name. After hearing a recording of local Marimba gangs, a musical style, known as Curulao, drew everyone’s attention.
“We ended up going with Curulao because we liked how he brought it to the human perspective,” Professor Tarvin said in a statement.
Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and collaborators writes in their report that “Curulao” is a kind of musical genre found on the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. Currulao is located in Afro-Columbian culture that originated when African slaves were brought to Colombia to work in gold mines and was later part of a 1993 land rights movement.
We named this species in honor of it, and as an homage to this musical genre that represents the culture of the Southern Colombian Pacific because: ‘La Música, Como La Vida, No than Puden Dejar Perder’, which translates into ‘music as Life cannot be allowed to be lost, ‘”Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar, wrote and collaborators in their report.
“The frog is part of the landscape of sound; When they call, it is part of the background noise in the region, “Professor Tarvin said.” Similarly, Curulao is more than just a musical genre. Also also cultural practices about music, gathering, dancing and aspects of the formation of experience relationships. “
And so Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and associates named their new frog, Epipedobates Curulaoor frog nurse Curulao.
Currently, Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancourth-Cundar and collaborators are continuing their investigations into gender philogo Epipedobates (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Philogenic position and genetic distances of E. Curulao sp. November and other species of … [+]
Their latest assessment of genetic and phenotypic diversity of Epipedobates The species detect a small group of eight or nine frogs with very similar appearances, but with their distinct evolutionary lines – in other words, cryptic species (ref). Given this finding, it is not at all surprising that a number of previous studies failed to solve some species relationships in Epipedobates. Moreover, Professor Tarvin’s phylogenetic studies, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and collaborators find that gender, Epipedobatesis the most recently evolved group of poison frogs in South America and all Epipedobates The frogs gained their chemical protection recently than any other group in the Poison frog family.
What came first: bright warning colors or toxic poisons?
Using comparative genetic studies with other groups of poison frogs, Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and collaborators hope to understand how Poison Frogs’s chemical protection evolves. In contrast to most poisonous animals, which advertise their toxicity to possible predators in bright colors, Epipedobates The frogs are of more delicate colors. This observation asks the question: What came first: bright warning colors or toxic poisons? This question has been explored in detail before, and the authors of this study concluded that there is a period of evolutionary evolution where a cryptic animal hides its bright coloring in body parts such as limbs or subscribes (more here).
Makes what makes poisoning of poison frogs?
“What is unique about poison frogs, specifically, is that they seize toxins from their food, so it is a completely different protection that requires completely different physiology, compared to poisonous animals, such as Snakes and bees, ”said Professor Tarvin.
“Poisonous frogs eat arthropods that have small amounts of chemicals that can be either toxic or disturbing. And then they collect them at levels that become important for their predators. “
Some things about this discovery of frogs stand out to me, and are among the reasons I shared this study with you. First, it is a wonderful example of evolution in action, where we can actually see with our own eyes a group of frogs that are apparently passing into poisonous frogs with excellent warning coloring, as provided by an earlier study that I shared with you (more here).
Second, this discovery shows how little we really know about the planet and its inhabitants – even species living in our neighborhoods and advertising their presence with their special songs.
Third, the toxins of this frog can be useful for human medicine in the future, for example, providing a soothing soothing that lacks some of the most dangerous morphine side effects.
However, despite the seemingly abundance of this frog, this situation can change rapidly, so Professor Tarvin, Dr. Betancouth-Cundar and collaborators suggest that the species be listed as “threatened” due to many environmental stressors facing them, ranging from construction and waste to forest fragmentation and habitat loss, as well as infection from deadly chytrid fungi (more here).
Source:
Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar, Juan Camilo Ríos-Orjuela, Andrew J. Crawford, David C. Cannatella and Rebecca D. Tarvin (2025). Honoring Afro-Columbian musical culture with the name of Epipedobates curlao PS November (Anura, Dendrobatidae), a frog from Pacific rain forests, Zookeys 1226: 139-170 | Doi: 10.3897/Zookeys.1226.123803
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