''Engystomops coloradorum'', also known as Colorado dwarf 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 ...

s in the family

Leptodactylidae The southern frogs form the Leptodactylidae, a name that comes from Greek meaning a bird or other animal having slender toes. They are a diverse family of frogs that most likely diverged from other hyloids during the Cretaceous. The family has u ...

. 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 Pacific lowlands and foothills of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

in the Pichincha and

Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Province Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas () is a Provinces of Ecuador, province in the Republic of Ecuador, created in October 2007 from territory previously in the province of Pichincha Province, Pichincha. Overview The name of the province refers to a ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The snout is subacuminate. The tympanum is small, recessed, and smooth, whereas the tympanic annulus is granular. The forelimbs are slender; fingers are without webbing. The hind limbs are short and the toes have basal webbing. All dorsal surfaces have small tubercles, and there are large tubercles on head and body. The dorsum is brown and may have an orange-brown middorsal stripe posteriorly. The limbs are orange-brown; forelimbs have dark brown markings and hind limbs have dark brown to black bars. The venter is black and heavily mottled with white or bluish white, which becomes dark brown on flanks and hind limbs. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is pale grayish brown or dull bronze and has fine black reticulations.

Habitat and conservation

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 tropical moist forests and more open, altered habitats 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 ...

(AmphibiaWebEcuador puts the lower limit to 400 m). It breeds in small, still waterbodies where it makes foam nests. It can be locally abundant but its range is small. Though adaptable, it is probably 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2238615 coloradorum Amphibians of Ecuador Endemic fauna of Ecuador Taxa named by David C. Cannatella Taxa named by William Edward Duellman Amphibians described in 1984 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot