New Toad Species Found in Peruvian Andes
Posted on January 18, 2014
A new species of toad has been discovered hiding under leaf litter in the Peruvian Yungas. Yungas is a local word used to refer to an ecoregion of montane rainforests. The word translates to "warm valley" in English. The toad, Rhinella yung belongs to the family Bufonidea. Its cryptic coloring resembles decaying leaves on the forest floor. A female Rhinella yung is pictured above.
Dr. Jiri Moravec, National Museum Prague, Czech Republic, said in the announcement, "It appears that large number of still unnamed cryptic species remains hidden under some nominal species of the Rhinella margaritifera species group."
The scientists say the new toad species differs from other members of the Rhinella margaritifera species group by the absence of tympanic membrane and tympanic annulus. The research paper was published here in ZooKeys.