''Gastrotheca guentheri'' (common names: Guenther's marsupial frog, dentate marsupial frog) is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Hemiphractidae The Hemiphractidae are a family of frogs from South and Central America. Previously, this group had been classified as a subfamily (Hemiphractinae) under family Hylidae. More recent research classifies these genera into their own family, or som ...

. It is found in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

( Cordillera Occidental and

Colombian Massif The Colombian Massif (from the Spanish Macizo Colombiano), also known colloquially as ''Nudo de Almaguer'', refers to a group of mountains within the Andes of south central Colombia. The massif is mainly within the area of the Cauca, Huila, and ...

) and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

( Cordillera Occidental). ''Gastrotheca guentheri'' is the only known frog with true teeth in both of its jaws, as indicated by the name of the genus it originally typified, ''Amphignathodon'', described by

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active bota ...

in 1882.

Description

''Gastrotheca guentheri'' is the only known frog with true teeth in its lower jaw. Its teeth have re-evolved after being absent for over 200 million years, challenging

Dollo's law Dollo's law of irreversibility (also known as Dollo's law and Dollo's principle), proposed in 1893 by Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo states that, "an organism never returns exactly to a former state, even if it finds itself placed in conditio ...

. Re-evolution of teeth in the lower jaw may have been made easier because the frogs have teeth in their upper jaw so there was already a biochemical pathway for developing teeth after 200 million years, unlike, say, birds. Biochemically, this may be an example of a suppressor of a regulatory gene disappearing. Males measure and females in snout–vent length.

Habitat and conservation

Natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s of ''Gastrotheca guentheri'' are tropical moist

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. These frogs are nocturnal and live on vegetation, including arboreal

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s. This species is declining in abundance. One cause of the declines is

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, but the species has also declined within suitable habitat in Ecuador, possibly because of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and '' Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinc ...

References

External links

Discover life: Hylidae - TreefrogsBreathing Space: ''Gastrotheca guentheri''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q734460 guentheri Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Ecuador Amphibians described in 1882 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger