''Rhinella arborescandens'' is a species of

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

in the family

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

. 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 ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and only known from its type locality near Mendoza, northern

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

, in the

Amazonas Region Amazonas may refer to: Places * Amazon River, known as ''Amazonas'' in Spanish and Portuguese *Amazonas (Brazilian state), Brazil *Amazonas (Colombian department), Colombia *Amazonas (Peruvian department), Peru *Amazonas (Venezuelan state), Venez ...

. It is unusual among ''Rhinella'' toads because it is

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, hence 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 ...

''arborescandens'', derived from Latin ''arbor'' for tree and ''scando'' meaning to climb.

Description

''Rhinella arborescandens'' is a small and robust-bodied toad. 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 ...

consists of an adult male (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 ...

) measuring and an adult female measuring in snout–vent length. The dorsum is reddish brown, and the male had a pale yellow mid-dorsal stripe. The

parotoid gland The parotoid gland (alternatively, paratoid gland) is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of some frogs (especially toads), and salamanders. It can secrete a number of milky alkaloid substances (depending on the species) known ...

is ovoid. The cranial crests are absent, as is the tympanum. The skin bears evenly distributed, small tubercles.

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 ...

of ''Rhinella arborescandens'' is montane tropical rainforest. The type specimens were found in

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

s some 5–6 metres above the ground at an elevation of about

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 shares this microhabitat with '' Pristimantis schultei''. The location is unprotected, but the threats to this little known species are unknown.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27987449 arborescandens Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Peru Endemic fauna of Peru Amphibians described in 1992 Taxa named by William Edward Duellman Taxonomy articles created by Polbot