''Centrolene ballux'' is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is known from a few disjunct localities on the Pacific versant of the Cordillera Occidental in southern

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 ...

( Nariño Department) and northern Ecuador ( Pichincha and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Provinces). Common names golden-flecked glassfrog and Burrowes' giant glass frog have been coined for it.

Etymology

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 ...

''ballux'' is Latin meaning "gold dust", in reference to the tiny gold flecks on the dorsum.

Description

Adult males measure and females in snout–vent length. The snout is rounded. Both fingers and toes are webbed. The tympanum is visible. The dorsum is dark lime green and has minute pale gold-white flecks, which are most numerous on the hind limbs. The tips of digits are yellowish green. The venter is translucent.

Habitat and conservation

Its natural habitats are humid upper montane forests at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It occurs in vegetation some 50 to 200 cm above the ground, typically near streams or ditches. Breeding takes place in streams. It is an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

due to climate change (which changes humidity) and habitat loss, possibly also introduced predatory fish as well as pollution and chytridiomycosis. It occurs in Reserva La Planada (private) in Colombia and in Reserva Las Gralarias in Ecuador.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q859462 ballux Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Ecuador Amphibians described in 1989 Taxa named by William Edward Duellman Taxonomy articles created by Polbot