A small, golden-yellow frog that carries its eggs in a pouch on its back has been described as a new species from the humid montane forests of the lower Mantaro Basin in central Peru. The discovery was published September 25 in the journal Zootaxa with collaborators Víctor J. Vargas and Kevin Rivera of Asociación Pro Fauna Silvestre Ayacucho.
The team found the frog in May 2024 during an expedition to the Amaru-Huachocolpa-Chihuana Cloud Forest Regional Conservation Area in Huancavelica Department. This protected area covers roughly 5,000 hectares and is administered by the Regional Government of Huancavelica. Calling males were perched on ferns and low shrubs, 1.5 to 3 meters above the ground, at about 2,590 meters elevation. The researchers named the species Gastrotheca amaru after Bosque Amaru, the forest where it lives. According to the authors, "The herpetofauna of these forests has barely been studied. Finding a new species within a few days of fieldwork tells us how much remains to be documented in the inter-Andean valleys of central Peru."
The team found the frog in May 2024 during an expedition to the Amaru-Huachocolpa-Chihuana Cloud Forest Regional Conservation Area in Huancavelica Department. This protected area covers roughly 5,000 hectares and is administered by the Regional Government of Huancavelica. Calling males were perched on ferns and low shrubs, 1.5 to 3 meters above the ground, at about 2,590 meters elevation. The researchers named the species Gastrotheca amaru after Bosque Amaru, the forest where it lives. According to the authors, "The herpetofauna of these forests has barely been studied. Finding a new species within a few days of fieldwork tells us how much remains to be documented in the inter-Andean valleys of central Peru."
Marsupial frogs in the genus Gastrotheca get their name from the way females brood their eggs in a closed pouch on their backs. The new species can be told apart from its relatives by several features together: a head as wide as it is long, a squared-off snout, smooth skin on the back, and golden-yellow coloring on the back, sides, and belly. Adult males measure about 36 millimeters from snout to vent. The team believes that, like other tree-dwelling marsupial frogs in cloud forests, G. amaru gives birth to fully formed froglets instead of tadpoles, such as the froglet seen in this picture of G. excubitor from Manu National Park near Cusco, but no females of G. amaru have been found yet to confirm this.
The researchers recorded the male's advertisement call. It is a trill just under one second long, followed by up to five short "tok" notes, with a dominant frequency around 2,070 Hz. Automated recorders left at the site showed that the frogs call most in the early evening and again in mid-morning. The call's pitch falls between those of larger and smaller relatives, which matches the general pattern in which bigger frogs call at lower frequencies.
Gastrotheca amaru is currently the only marsupial frog found only in Huancavelica, and just the second Gastrotheca species recorded in the department. The forest inside the Amaru-Huachocolpa-Chihuana Cloud Forest Regional Conservation Area is in generally good condition, but parts of it face overgrazing by cattle, forest fires, and agricultural expansion. The authors say continued biological surveys are needed to guide management of the reserve and of the fragmented cloud forests around it, which may hold more undocumented species.
The work was supported by Synchronicity Earth through the project "Ultu: Conservation program for endangered amphibians in the central Andes of Peru." The team also thanks the Regional Government of Huancavelica, the reserve's park rangers, and the Comunidad Campesina de Amaru. Research permits were issued by Peru's National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR).
The work was supported by Synchronicity Earth through the project "Ultu: Conservation program for endangered amphibians in the central Andes of Peru." The team also thanks the Regional Government of Huancavelica, the reserve's park rangers, and the Comunidad Campesina de Amaru. Research permits were issued by Peru's National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR).
Citation: Vargas, V.J., Rivera, K. & Catenazzi, A. (2026). A new species of marsupial frog (Anura: Gastrotheca) from the humid forests of the Mantaro basin in the central Andes, and first record of Hyloscirtus armatus and Rhinella leptoscelis in Huancavelica, Peru. Zootaxa 5884(1): 97–118. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5884.1.4
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