The southern pastel frog or Hispaniola robber frog (''Eleutherodactylus leoncei'') 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 ...

in the family

Eleutherodactylidae The Eleutherodactylidae are a family of direct-developing frogs native to northern South America, the Caribbean, and southernmost North America. They are sometimes known under the common name rain frogs. Formerly the subfamily Eleutherodactylina ...

. 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 ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

and known from the

Massif de la Selle A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of a ...

, both in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are upland pine forests. Males call from the ground. 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 ...

caused by logging and agriculture. It is known from the

Sierra de Bahoruco National Park The Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is an environmentally protected national park located in the South-western region of Dominican Republic. It was created in 1983 by Presidential Decree (No. 1315/83) during the presidency of Salvador Jorge Blanc ...

(Dominican Republic), but

habitat degradation 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 ...

is occurring in this area too.

Taxonomic history

''E. leoncei'' was described by Shreve & Williams in 1963. The type-locality for the species is Foret des Pins, near

Pic La Selle Pic la Selle (; ), also called ''Morne La Selle'', is the highest peak in Haiti at above sea level. The mountain is part of the Chaîne de la Selle mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged i ...

. 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 ...

(YPM 1167) is an adult female collected the 26 February 1959 by P. S. Humphrey.

Distribution and habitat

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 ...

and the majority of subsequent specimens were collected during the day under rocks and logs in pine (''

Pinus occidentalis ''Pinus occidentalis'', also known as the Hispaniolan pine, Hispaniola pine or , is a pine tree endemic to the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the ...

'') and hardwood forests, while one was discovered crossing a road in a pine forest at night. Eleutherodactylus leoncei dist map

This species is restricted to the

in Haiti, and

Sierra de Bahoruco The Bahoruco Mountain Range—Sierra de Bahoruco (or Sierra de Bahoruco) is a mountain range located in the far southwestern region of the Dominican Republic. It is within Pedernales, Independencia, Barahona, and Bahoruco Provinces. A large p ...

in the Dominican Republic, Hispaniola. It has been recorded from 1,182 to 2,303 m asl. It is considered a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

species that lives in upland pine forests, preferring shady spots and calling from the ground. It will not tolerate disturbances to its natural environment. It breeds by direct development and lays its eggs on the ground.

Conservation

The species is found in Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco in the Dominican Republic, but the region is poorly protected, and

is ongoing. It is important to improve the management of existing protected areas and maintain the remaining habitat. The main threat is habitat loss caused by

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksslash-and-burn agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The ...

carried on by local communities. This region has been recently affected by multiple

forest fires A forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Au ...

, some of which have been caused by illegal human activities within the park boundaries. Because of a projected population loss of more than 80% in the next ten years due to extreme destruction of the species' habitat in Hispaniola, the species is listed as Endangered by the

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 ...

Images

File:Eleutherodcatylus leoncei 51071330501 d8d9237ec8o.jpg, Adult female of ''Eleutherodactylus leoncei'' from Sierra de Bahoruco. File:Sierra de bahoruco fire 51002242050 2991b67680.jpg, Effects of wildfires visible along the road in Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco. File:El codo sierra de bahoruco 51071426311 f2a85eb06b.jpg, Typical habitat of ''E. leoncei'' in Sierra de Bahoruco.

References

leoncei Endemic fauna of Hispaniola Amphibians of the Dominican Republic Amphibians of Haiti Amphibians described in 1963 Taxa named by Benjamin Shreve Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Eleutherodactylus-stub