''Atelopus lynchi'', also known as Lynch's stubfoot toad or Lynch's harlequin frog, is a species of

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

in the family

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

. It occurs in northern

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

(

Carchi Carchi () is a Provinces of Ecuador, province in Ecuador. The capital is Tulcán. The Carchi River rises on the slopes of Chiles (volcano), Chiles volcano and forms the boundary between Colombia and Ecuador near Tulcan. Rumichaca Bridge is the m ...

) and in southern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

( Nariño, Cauca, and possibly Valle del Cauca Department, the last one is in doubt). It occurs on the Pacific slope of the Cordillera Occidental, as the westernmost ranges of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

are known in both

and in

. Prior to its

description Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...

, it was confused with ''

Atelopus longirostris ''Atelopus longirostris'' is a species of Atelopus, harlequin frog, a member of the family of true toads (Bufonidae). It has been recorded only in northern Ecuador. Records from Colombia probably represent different species. Once listed as extin ...

''.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''lynchi'' honors

John D. Lynch John D. Lynch (1882/1883 – December 10, 1963) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Early life Lynch was born in Cambridge. At the age of 14 he began working as a pharmacy helper to help support his family ...

, an American herpetologist and the collector of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

Description

Adult males measure and adult females about in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the mos ...

. The head is longer than it is wide and is narrower than the body. The snout is long and protruding. No tympanum is present. The fingers have basal webbing, but no fringes. The toes are webbed. The digits have distinct pads. The coloration is rather undistinguished (in contrast to its often colorful congeners): dorsal coloration is brown with indistinct dull yellow markings and the venter is dull blue-gray. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is black with pale green area surrounding the pupil.

Habitat and conservation

''Atelopus lynchi'' lives on the border between lowland and montane rainforest to montane rainforest to cloud forest at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It is terrestrial, but presumably reproduces in rivers. The

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

was collected at night by streams, perched on leaves. ''Atelopus lynchi'' was last observed in Ecuador in 1984.

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

does not recognize records from Colombia and has assessed the species as being possibly extinct. Threats to it include deforestation for agricultural development, logging, and human settlement, as well as pollution resulting from the fumigation of illegal crops. Its disappearance after 1984 is also consistent with

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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2236336 lynchi Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Ecuador Amphibians described in 1981 Taxa named by David C. Cannatella Taxonomy articles created by Polbot