''Eleutherodactylus ruthae'' (common name: Ruth's robber frog) 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 scattered locations in both

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 ...

and 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 ...

. It was described by

Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Gladwyn Kingsley Noble (September 20, 1894 – December 9, 1940) was an American zoologist who served as the head curator for the department of herpetology and the department of experimental biology at the American Museum of Natural History. Nobl ...

, who named it in honour of his wife, Ruth Crosby Noble; she also first discovered the species. It might represent more than one species. '' Eleutherodactylus aporostegus'', ''

Eleutherodactylus bothroboans ''Eleutherodactylus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Eleutherodactylidae.Hedges, S. B., W. E. Duellman, and M. P. Heinicke . 2008. New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and co ...

'', '' Eleutherodactylus tychaethrous'' were first described as

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''Eleutherodactylus ruthae'', but have later been elevated to full species status.

Description

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 ...

, an adult male, measured in snout–vent length. The snout is distinctly shovel-shaped. Dorsum is spotted. Skin is glandular and finely warty above, with best developed warts on sides of body.

Habitat and conservation

The 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 of ''Eleutherodactylus ruthae'' are xeric pine forest and mesic forest. Its altitudinal range is from sea level asl. Males call from closed underground chambers where the eggs are also laid. This rarely encountered frog is believed to be declining. 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. However, it has declined even in suitable habitats, and factors such as invasive predators, climate change, and chytridiomycosis might also play a role.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleutherodactylus Ruthae ruthae Endemic fauna of Hispaniola Frogs of Haiti Amphibians of the Dominican Republic Endangered fauna of North America Taxa named by Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Amphibians described in 1923 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot