''Craugastor amniscola'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s in the family

Craugastoridae Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 129 species. They are found from the southern United States south ...

. It is found in western

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and in

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. 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 ...

''amniscola'' is derived from Latin ''amnis'' for rivulet and ''-cola'' for dweller and refers to the habitat of this species. Accordingly, common name rivulet rainfrog has been coined for it.

Description

Adult males can reach at least and adult females at least in snout–vent length. The snout is subacuminate in dorsal view and round in lateral view. Males have a few scattered, large, flat or rounded tubercles in their upper eyelids. The tympanum is distinct. The finger and toe discs are weakly developed. The fingers have weak lateral keels while the toes have lateral flanges and moderate webbing. The upper parts are medium to olive brown, with heavy black mottling on the back. The limbs have moderately distinct crossbars. The flanks and the groin are whitish with irregular brown or black mottling. The venter is whitish or cream.

Habitat and conservation

''Craugastor amniscola'' inhabits premontane dry forests along small tributary streams 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 ...

. Development is direct, i.e., there is no free-living larval stage. This species is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and water pollution.

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 ...

is a potential threat.

References

amniscola Amphibians of Guatemala Amphibians of Mexico Taxa named by Jonathan A. Campbell Taxa named by Jay M. Savage Amphibians described in 2000 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Craugastoridae-stub