''Rhinella atacamensis'', sometimes called the Vallenar toad or Atacama toad, 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 is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and occurs between Paposo (

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region (, ) is one of Chile's Administrative divisions of Chile, sixteen first-order administrative divisions. Being the second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta, El ...

) and Las Chilcas ( Valparaíso Region). It inhabits the desert Pacific coastal region with Mediterranean influences (including the Chilean matorralC. Michael Hogan & World Wildlife Fund. 2013
Chilean matorral. ed. M.McGinley. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment
Washington DC) and is found in and near oases and streams. Breeding takes place in permanent pools (including water tanks for livestock), streams, and rivers. While abundant at a few sites, it has declined overall and gone locally

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

at some sites. Threats to this species include extensive droughts and water pollution as well as extraction of surface water, mining, agriculture, livestock farming, and timber plantations.

References

atacamensis Endemic fauna of Chile Amphibians of Chile Atacama Desert Fauna of the Chilean Matorral Vulnerable animals Vulnerable biota of South America Amphibians described in 1962 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by José Miguel Alfredo María Cei {{Bufonidae-stub