''Plectrohyla matudai'' (common name: Matuda's spikethumb 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

Hylidae Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as "tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic. Taxonomy and s ...

. It is found along the Pacific slopes from southeastern

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, Mexico, through

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, ...

and south-central

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 ...

(Las Nubes range); also in the Grijalva Depression in western Guatemala and on Cerro Azul in northwestern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Etymology

Norman Hartweg named this species after

Eizi Matuda (1894–1978) was a Mexican botanist of Japanese origin. In scholarly works his name is generally romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) scri ...

, Japanese–Mexican botanist and his host in Chiapas.

Description

The

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

consists of three males (including the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

) and two females. Males measured and females in snout–vent length. The head and dorsal surface of body are dark grayish brown, while the sides are lighter but posteriorly mottled with black. Males have bifurcate, rudimentary prepollex (the "spikethumb").

Habitat and conservation

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 ...

s are pine-oak, cloud, and tropical rain 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 typically found in low vegetation with abundant leaf litter along small mountain streams. ''Plectrohyla matudai'' is locally common, and in Guatemala it is one of the most common stream-breeding frogs. 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 disturbance.

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 also a potential threat, although it seems relatively resistant to it, at least as an adult. Its distribution includes several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q917945 matudai Amphibians of Guatemala Amphibians of Honduras Amphibians of Mexico Amphibians described in 1941 Taxa named by Norman Edouard Hartweg Taxonomy articles created by Polbot