''Eleutherodactylus rufescens'', commonly known as the red peeping frog or Nevado de Colima chirping frog, 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 ...

in the family

Eleutherodactylidae The Eleutherodactylidae are a family of direct-developing frogs native to northern South America, the Caribbean, and southernmost North America. They are sometimes known under the common name rain frogs. Formerly the subfamily Eleutherodactylina ...

. 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 Mexico and known from the region of the eponymous

Nevado de Colima Nevado (1813? – 1821) was a Mucuchies dog that was given to Simón Bolívar by the local people of Mucuchíes, Mérida, in the Venezuelan Andes. It was given as a kind of present shortly after the Battle of Niquitao during his triumphal Adm ...

mountain in

Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and ...

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

, and further east and south in the Jalisco and

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

states. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

is subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s. 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 ...

Description

Males measure and a female paratype was , although Quezada-Hipólito and colleagues reported a calling male as small as in snout–vent length. The snout is short and somewhat rounded. The head is relatively wide with small eyes; in comparison, the tympanum is relatively large. The skin of the dorsum and limbs is visibly warty, although the warts are small. The dorsal ground color is variable and ranges from gray through buff, pale yellow, orange-red to brown. In most specimens, the neck and arms are darker than the body and legs. There is a broad dark-brown mid-dorsal stripe with well-defined margins.

Habitat and conservation

The species' natural

s are tropical lower montane forests and pine and oak 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 is a terrestrial frog. ''Eleutherodactylus rufescens'' is widespread on the slopes of Nevado de Colima. During the rainy season it is also numerous. The major threat to this species is the eruption of the

Volcán de Colima The Volcán de Colima, 3,820 m (12,533 ft), also known as Volcán de Fuego, is part of the Colima Volcanic Complex (CVC) consisting of Volcán de Colima, Nevado de Colima () and the eroded El Cántaro (listed as extinct). It is the youngest of ...

. The species' range includes the Volcan Nevado de Colima National Park. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) has assessed this species as " Vulnerable"; several records extending its known range to east and south have been published after the assessment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleutherodactylus Rufescens rufescens Endemic amphibians of Mexico Fauna of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Amphibians described in 1959 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot