Meet the newest addition to the high-Andean genus Phrynopus: Phrynopus remotum. The new species was discovered by collaborators and coauthors Germán Chávez and Luis García Ayachi, and is known from a single locality in the central Andes of Peru (Departamento de Huánuco) at 3,730 meters of elevation. The description appeared today in the journal PeerJ. The new species is morphologically distinguishable by the presence of small tubercles on upper eyelids and heels, an areolate venter, and the absence of dorsolateral folds or ridges. Similar to most species in this genus, P. remotum lacks the tympanic membrane and annulus, i.e. there is no external tympanum. It also shares an overall compact body shape and short limbs, traits that are associated with life in high-Andean grasslands and cloud forests just below the treeline in several genera of strabomantid frogs, such as Bryophryne, Phrynopus and several species of Pristimantis.
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