''Flectonotus pygmaeus'' (also known as: Puerto Cabello treefrog, es, ranita marsupial pigmea) is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Hemiphractidae The Hemiphractidae are a family (biology), family of frogs from South America, South and Central America. Previously, this group had been classified as a subfamily (Hemiphractinae) under family Hylidae. More recent research classifies these gen ...

. It is found on the

Mérida Andes Mérida or Merida may refer to: Places *Mérida (state), one of the 23 states which make up Venezuela *Mérida, Mérida, the capital city of the state of Mérida, Venezuela * Merida, Leyte, Philippines, a municipality in the province of Leyte * ...

and

Venezuelan Coastal Range The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System ( es, Sistema Montañoso Caribe) is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the c ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and on adjacent eastern slopes of the northern Cordillera Oriental in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

is humid pre-

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

. It is strongly associated with

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s, and can survive in degraded forest if bromeliads are present. It is threatened by

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, and locally, collection of bromeliads.

References

Flectonotus Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Venezuela Taxa named by Oskar Boettger Amphibians described in 1893 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Hemiphractidae-stub