''Craugastor amniscola'' 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 ...

s in the family

Craugastoridae Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 129 species. They are found from the southern United States south ...

. It is found in western

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and in

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. 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 ...

''amniscola'' is derived from Latin ''amnis'' for rivulet and ''-cola'' for dweller and refers to the habitat of this species. Accordingly, common name rivulet rainfrog has been coined for it.

Description

Adult males can reach at least and adult females at least in snout–vent length. The snout is subacuminate in dorsal view and round in lateral view. Males have a few scattered, large, flat or rounded tubercles in their upper eyelids. The tympanum is distinct. The finger and toe discs are weakly developed. The fingers have weak lateral keels while the toes have lateral flanges and moderate webbing. The upper parts are medium to olive brown, with heavy black mottling on the back. The limbs have moderately distinct crossbars. The flanks and the groin are whitish with irregular brown or black mottling. The venter is whitish or cream.

Habitat and conservation

''Craugastor amniscola'' inhabits premontane dry forests along small tributary streams 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 ...

. Development is direct, i.e., there is no free-living larval stage. This species is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and water pollution.

Chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi ''Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and ''Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extincti ...

is a potential threat.

References

amniscola Amphibians of Guatemala Amphibians of Mexico Taxa named by Jonathan A. Campbell Taxa named by Jay M. Savage Amphibians described in 2000 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Craugastoridae-stub