This month we have started work on our NSF-funded project in the eastern slopes of the Andes near Manu National Park. We have been working at this location for 25 years, and witnessed the dramatic collapse of montane frog communities in the early 2000s, along with the spread of the lethal frog chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). While many stream-breeding frogs disappeared during the first epizootics in 2002-2006, most terrestrial-breeding species such as Oreobates granulosus in the inset photograph are still relatively abundant, despite many species being highly susceptible to chytridiomycosis. One possible explanation for their persistence is that these frogs have limited contact with water, and thus are less exposed to infection by the fungus' aquatic zoospores. The current project aims to explain how epizootics occur among terrestrial-breeding frogs, and how climate interacts with disease dynamics to trigger these epizootics.

During this first field trip, we established 12 transects (see photo below for a forest immersion at one of our transects), each 100 m long, in different forest habitats including riparian forest, disturbed areas (old landslides/stream beds), slope and ridge forests. We are capturing, marking and releasing all frogs (except for very small juveniles) found along these transects during three consecutive nights. We gently swab the skin of each frog to determine whether they are infected. So far the species with the highest recapture rate is Pristimantis toftae (pic right): one individual was even captured all three nights, and perched on the same fern!​​

The surveys planned over the next two years will allow us to collect natural history information on species that are rarely studied in detail. Data on movements, infection history, changes in spatial distribution and abundance will inform models on disease dynamics, with the hope of increasing our understanding of how a water-dependent fungus can spread among terrestrial organisms.

​Unfortunately, our findings also confirmed that most stream-breeding frogs continue to be missing from these forests. However, a few species have started to recover, such as the toad Rhinella leptoscelis. We found this toad in three of our transects. Another interesting find was Pristimantis antisuyu (pic left), a species described only in 2018, which belongs to a group of Pristimantis frogs with cruciform eyes.

Unfortunately, our findings also confirmed that most stream-breeding frogs continue to be missing from these forests. However, a few species have started to recover, such as the toad Rhinella leptoscelis. We found this toad in three of our transects. Another interesting find was Pristimantis antisuyu (pic left), a species described only in 2018, which belongs to a group of Pristimantis frogs with cruciform eyes.

3D view of one of the transects in the montane forests near Manu National Park, Peru. Below, field team during the first trip in Many 2021.

Two years ago we reported on the discovery of two new species of terrestrial breeding frogs, Pristimantis antisuyu and P. erythroinguinis from Manu National Park in Cusco and Madre de Dios, in the Amazonian Andes and foothills. This month we add another closely related species, also with cruciform eyes, from another protected area: El Sira Communal Reserve. The description, led by our collaborator Germán Chávez, was published in the last issue of the online journal Evolutionary Systematics. 

The name of the new species, Pristimantis sira, honors the protected area. Although P. sira shares several morphological characteristics with P. antisuyu, P. cruciocularis, and P. erythroinguinis, it can easily be distinguished by the lack of inguinal spots, which vary from yellow to red in the other species. We observed P. sira  on leaves, at 1–1.7 m height, in the forests of the eastern slopes of the mountains of El Sira Communal Reserve, from 1500 to 2200 m a.s.l.The habitat at 1500 m a.s.l. is a montane forest, with riparian vegetation consisting mainly of bushes, tree ferns and trees with a canopy ~20 m tall (see pics below).

El Sira Communal Reserve is located on the eastern slopes of the Andes in central Peru, and protects about 616 thousand hectares of primary forest. El Sira is the highest cordillera adjacent to the Ucayali River, going from 200 m to 2200 m a.s.l., and is bordered by the Pachitea river (which eventually flows into the Ucayali), further isolating the El Sira mountains as the eastern branch of the Andes in the Ucayali basin. Because of the difficult access and rough topography, El Sira is likely one of the most unexplored places of Peru, and likely to harbor additional species waiting to be discovered and named.

Earlier this morning, lab member and PhD student Anne Sabol passed her quals - congratulations Anne! 

Marsupial frogs are fairly diverse in the Andes, with over 75 species of Gastrotheca, and there are many cryptic species yet to be discovered. Our lab contribution, in collaboration to leading author Pablo Venegas, led to the discovery of a new species from the Cordillera de Colán in northern Peru. The new species, named Gastrotheca gemma lives in the páramo and the ecotone between páramo and humid montane forest of Cordillera de Colán, at elevations around 3100-3200 m.

Lab member and PhD student Rachel Prokopius passed her qualifying exams today. She had completed her written exams earlier in March. Congrats Rachel!

Along with collaborators Edgar Lehr and Shenyu Lyu, we described a new species of terrestrial-breeding frog from the region of Cajamarca in northern Peru. Pristimantis astralos is only known from its type locality at 3600 m a.s.l. in the Cordillera Occidental. Mining operations, and especially large-scale dumping of mining debris at the type locality over the last decade, have destroyed the type locality and caused the extirpation of the population at the type locality (see Google Earth pic below). 

Peru has a thriving mining industry, and is a major producer of metals including copper, gold and zinc. This industry generates important economic benefits but can also cause environmental degradation and biodiversity loss at scales from local to regional.  High-elevation tropical ecosystems are rich in endemic species, and thus even localized habitat destruction could contribute to species extinction. To prevent extinctions, we need better information concerning the distribution of endemic species, which requires surveys in the field by knowledgeable herpetologists.

Citation: Lehr, E., S. Lyu and A. Catenazzi. 2021. A new species of Pristimantis (Amphibia, Anura, Strabomantidae) from a mining area in the Cordillera Occidental of northern Peru (Región Cajamarca). Salamandra 57: 15-26.

PhD student Anne Sabol co-authored a paper on personality of wild mice (Peromyscus), published this month in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology along with her former colleagues from the University of Michigan (where she obtained her Master's degree). This work was a multiyear effort with two species (Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis and Peromyscus maniculatus gracilis).

The results show that the two species of wild mice exhibit personalities and that their personality traits are associated with one another, in that mice that were less docile were also more active, exploratory, and bold. The mice's personality traits were not linked with body mass, suggesting a lack of association between internal state and personality. 
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Congratulations Anne!!

The special issue Systematics and Conservation of Neotropical Amphibians and Reptiles is now closed, all submitted papers have been published. The final tally is 14 papers, covering frogs, salamanders, caecilians, lizards, and snakes from throughout the Neotropics, with specific studies from Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Brazil. Authors in this special issue named a new genus of frogs (Qosqophryne), four new species of frogs (one terrestrial-breeding frog and three glassfrogs) and five new lizards (three tropidurid and two gymhnophthalmid lizards). A monograph on glassfrogs of Ecuador span the three thematic areas. Among contributions on biogeography, approaches ranged from species distribution patterns to the use of barcoding at the country level, phylogenomic analyses using ultra-conserved elements, and island biology. The remaining studies examined current conservation issues, examining the impact of mining, fungal disease, and the conservation implications of endemism.
Here's the final list of articles:

A New Species of Andean Gymnophthalmid Lizard (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Peruvian Andes, and Resolution of Some Taxonomic Problems
by Luis Mamani,Juan C. Chaparro,Claudio Correa,Consuelo Alarcón,Cinthya Y. Salas and Alessandro Catenazzi
Diversity 2020, 12(9), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12090361 - 21 Sep 2020

Recent and Rapid Radiation of the Highly Endangered Harlequin Frogs (Atelopus) into Central America Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences
by Juan P. Ramírez,César A. Jaramillo,Erik D. Lindquist,Andrew J. Crawford and Roberto Ibáñez
Diversity 2020, 12(9), 360; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12090360 - 18 Sep 2020

Glassfrogs of Ecuador: Diversity, Evolution, and Conservation
by Juan M. Guayasamin,Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia,Roy W. McDiarmid,Paula Peña and Carl R. Hutter
Diversity 2020, 12(6), 222; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12060222 - 02 Jun 2020

A New Genus of Terrestrial-Breeding Frogs (Holoadeninae, Strabomantidae, Terrarana) from Southern Peru
by Alessandro Catenazzi,Luis Mamani,Edgar Lehr and Rudolf von May
Diversity 2020, 12(5), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12050184 - 08 May 2020

Impact of Habitat Loss and Mining on the Distribution of Endemic Species of Amphibians and Reptiles in Mexico
by Fernando Mayani-Parás,Francisco Botello,Saúl Castañeda and Víctor Sánchez-Cordero
Diversity 2019, 11(11), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11110210 - 05 Nov 2019

The Western Amazonian Richness Gradient for Squamate Reptiles: Are There Really Fewer Snakes and Lizards in Southwestern Amazonian Lowlands?
by Daniel L. Rabosky,Rudolf von May,Michael C. Grundler and Alison R. Davis Rabosky
Diversity 2019, 11(10), 199; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11100199 - 18 Oct 2019

Three New Lizard Species of the Liolaemus montanus Group from Perú
by César Aguilar-Puntriano,César Ramírez,Ernesto Castillo,Alejandro Mendoza,Victor J. Vargas and Jack W. Sites, Jr.
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090161 - 11 Sep 2019

Barcoding Analysis of Paraguayan Squamata
by Pier Cacciali,Emilio Buongermini and Gunther Köhler
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090152 - 30 Aug 2019

Conservation Status of Brachycephalus Toadlets (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest
by Marcos R. Bornschein,Marcio R. Pie and Larissa Teixeira
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090150 - 27 Aug 2019

Ecological and Conservation Correlates of Rarity in New World Pitvipers
by Irina Birskis-Barros,Laura R. V. Alencar,Paulo I. Prado,Monika Böhm and Marcio Martins
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090147 - 27 Aug 2019

A New Species of Terrestrial-Breeding Frog (Amphibia, Strabomantidae, Noblella) from the Upper Madre De Dios Watershed, Amazonian Andes and Lowlands of Southern Peru
by Roy Santa-Cruz,Rudolf von May,Alessandro Catenazzi,Courtney Whitcher,Evaristo López Tejeda and Daniel L. Rabosky
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090145 - 26 Aug 2019

Biogeography, Systematics, and Ecomorphology of Pacific Island Anoles
by John G. Phillips,Sarah E. Burton,Margarita M. Womack,Evan Pulver and Kirsten E. Nicholson
Diversity 2019, 11(9), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11090141 - 21 Aug 2019

Endemic Infection of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Costa Rica: Implications for Amphibian Conservation at Regional and Species Level
by Héctor Zumbado-Ulate,Kiersten N. Nelson,Adrián García-Rodríguez,Gerardo Chaves,Erick Arias,Federico Bolaños,Steven M. Whitfield and Catherine L. Searle
Diversity 2019, 11(8), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11080129 - 09 Aug 2019

Phylogenomic Reconstruction of the Neotropical Poison Frogs (Dendrobatidae) and Their Conservation
by Wilson X. Guillory,Morgan R. Muell,Kyle Summers and Jason L. Brown
Diversity 2019, 11(8), 126; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11080126 - 29 Jul 2019

Alex's defense on 23 October. Congratulations Alex!