''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' 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

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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to the western flank of the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

in northern

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 ...

. 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 ...

''ruthveni'' honors Alexander Grant Ruthven, an American herpetologist who was the first one to study .

Description

Adult males measure and adult females, based on a single specimen, in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

. The head is wider than it is long and wider than the body in females but not in males or juveniles. The snout is subacuminate in dorsal view but rounded in profile. The tympanum is larger in males than in females; the supratympanic fold is prominent. The dorsolateral folds are thin. Skin on the dorsum is finely granular with scattered larger warts. The fingers have no webbing. The finger and toe tips bear expanded disks. Subarticular adhesive pads are present. Alcohol-preserved specimens are dorsally brown with pale brown blotches on the back and cream spots on the flanks. The limbs are pale brown with darker brown bands. ''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' is externally nearly indistinguishable from ''

Cryptobatrachus boulengeri ''Cryptobatrachus boulengeri'', also known as Boulenger's backpack frog, is a species of frogs in the family Hemiphractidae. It is endemic to Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. The specific name honours George Albert Boulenger, ...

'', but has more enlarged tubercles on its dorsum. An osteological difference is that ''C. ruthveni'' lacks the lateral expansion of the anterior part of the braincase seen in ''C. boulengeri''. Female frogs carry the eggs on their back. The eggs have direct development (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage).

Habitat and conservation

''Cryptobatrachus ruthveni'' occurs in riparian habitats in creeks 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 is abundant within its small known range. It 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 agrochemical pollution mainly caused by coffee plantations. It is not known to occur in protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4672233 ruthveni Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of the Andes Endemic fauna of Colombia Amphibians described in 2008 Taxa named by John Douglas Lynch Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta