''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' 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

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

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 ...

to the western flank of the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

in northern

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 ...

. 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 ...

''ruthveni'' honors

Alexander Grant Ruthven Alexander Grant Ruthven (April 1, 1882 – January 19, 1971) was a herpetologist, zoologist and the President of the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1951. Biography Alexander Grant Ruthven was born in 1882 in Hull, Iowa. He graduated from ...

, an American herpetologist who was the first one to study .

Description

Adult males measure and adult females, based on a single specimen, 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 wider than it is long and wider than the body in females but not in males or juveniles. The snout is subacuminate in dorsal view but rounded in profile. The tympanum is larger in males than in females; the supratympanic fold is prominent. The dorsolateral folds are thin. Skin on the dorsum is finely granular with scattered larger warts. The fingers have no webbing. The finger and toe tips bear expanded disks. Subarticular adhesive pads are present. Alcohol-preserved specimens are dorsally brown with pale brown blotches on the back and cream spots on the flanks. The limbs are pale brown with darker brown bands. ''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' is externally nearly indistinguishable from ''

Cryptobatrachus boulengeri ''Cryptobatrachus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Hemiphractidae. They are found in Colombia and Venezuela. They are also known as backpack frogs, as the females have the habit of carrying their egg clutch on their backs until the young hat ...

'', but has more enlarged tubercles on its dorsum. An osteological difference is that ''C. ruthveni'' lacks the lateral expansion of the anterior part of the braincase seen in ''C. boulengeri''. Female frogs carry the eggs on their back. The eggs have direct development (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage).

Habitat and conservation

''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' occurs in

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

habitats in creeks 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 abundant within its small known range. It 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 agrochemical pollution mainly caused by coffee plantations. It is not known to occur in protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4672233 ruthveni Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of the Andes Endemic fauna of Colombia Amphibians described in 2008 Taxa named by John Douglas Lynch Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta