hear call (9956.8K WAV file)

[call details here]

Description
A small frog with a short, thickset body of snout vent length of 31.5 mm and head length and width of 10.5 mm by 12.5 mm. Frontoparietal lacks bony ridges; snout is short and circular from above and rounded in profile. Eyes are large; tympanum is small, no larger in diameter than half the diameter of the eye (Cochran and Goin 1970).

Chin, chest and upper parts are covered in fine granules often with elongated series of glands between the eyes or in others shaped as a chevron or X on the back. Granules are coarser on the belly, lower parts of femur and around anus. An irregular glandular ridge runs from posterior corner of eye above tympanum and ends above shoulder. Males have a transverse external vocal sac (Cochran and Goin 1970).

Color in life: Dark brown above and cream-colored ventrally, with pink or rose-red sides and concealed limb surfaces. Some have mottling on the back, or a narrow mid-dorsal light stripe, or a pair of wider dorsolateral stripes. The anterior half of the chin in adult males usually slate-colored (Cochran and Goin 1970).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Colombia

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Known to be locally abundant in the region of its type locality of "Bogotá", Cundinamarca, Colombia (2600–3400 m in elevation). These frogs inhabit cloud forests, páramo grasslands and other open areas as long as there are shrubs (Cochran and Goin 1970).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Like other members of the family Strabomantidae, this species is believed to be a direct developer.

Comments
This species was featured in News of the Week on 16 August 2021:

When considering animals living in regions that regularly experience freezing temperatures, endothermic birds and mammals with their thick layers of fat and insulating coats of fur or feathers may come to mind. Ectothermic species, such as amphibians, also occur in such environments; among the best studied are the North American wood frogs, Rana sylvatica, which occur at high latitudes where freezing temperatures are frequent in winter. Wood frogs use cryoprotectants including elevated blood glucose to prevent their tissues from freezing when temperatures drop below 0° C. Tropical amphibians occurring at high elevations may also experience freezing temperatures, but rather than seasonally cold weather, these tropical taxa can experience cold snaps at any time of year ranging from a few minutes to several hours in duration. Carvajalino-Fernández et al. (2021) has provided the first investigation of freeze tolerance in tropical amphibians with their study of six species of Colombian Pristimantis frogs, three of which occur in tropical montane cloud forest habitat that never freezes (1560 m elevation), and three of which are found in the higher elevation Andean páramo (at 3400-3700 m). They showed that two of the three species of páramo Pristimantis elevate their blood glucose levels substantially while also experiencing extracellular freezing, thus confirming that freeze tolerance has evolved in this group. Given that a diverse array of 40 or more amphibian species occupy páramo habitats, the authors speculate that freeze tolerance has likely evolved many times in this diverse amphibian community. (Jimmy McGuire)

References

Cochran, D. M. and Goin, C. J. (1970). ''Frogs of Colombia.'' United States National Museum Bulletin 288. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C..

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Pristimantis bogotensis: Bogota Robber Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/2809> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Dec 26, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 26 Dec 2024.

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