''Pristimantis lindae'' 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

Strabomantidae The Strabomantidae are a family of frogs native to South America. These frogs lack a free-living larval stage and hatch directly into miniature "froglets". This family includes ''Pristimantis'', the most speciose genus of any vertebrate. System ...

. 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 Peru and only known from Kosñipata Valley (also spelled Cosñipata) on the northeastern slopes of the Cadena de Paucartambo, a frontal range of the Cordillera Oriental in

Cusco Region Cusco, also spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu suyu ), is a department and region in Peru and is the fourth largest department in the country, after Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It borders the departments of Ucayali on the north; Madre de D ...

. The specific name ''lindae'' honors , an American herpetologist and wife of , the species describer. Nevertheless, common name Santa Isabel robber frog has been coined for this species.

Description

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 ...

is an adult female measuring 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 body is robust. The head is wider than it is long; the snout is long and rounded. The tympanum is prominent. The forearms are slender whereas the hind limbs are moderately short and robust. The fingers and the toes have lateral fringes and bear expanded discs; the fingers also have basal webbing. The dorsum is shagreened and tan in color, with dark brown markings. The throat is pinkish cream and has black flecks. The flanks and the belly are cream with black reticulations. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

is bronze and has a median horizontal reddish brown streak.

Habitat and conservation

''Pristimantis lindae'' occurs in montane tropical

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

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 ...

. Specimens have often been found perched about above the ground, although the holotype was on a bush. Development is presumably direct (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage). It is an uncommon species but the population appears to be stable. Specimens infected with ''

Ranavirus ''Ranavirus'' is a genus of viruses, in the family ''Iridoviridae''. There are six other genus, genera of viruses within the family ''Iridoviridae'', but ''Ranavirus'' is the only one that includes viruses that are infectious to amphibians and ...

'' and ''

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ''Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' ( ), also known as ''Bd'' or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Since its discovery in 1998 by Lee Berger, the disease devastated amphibian popul ...

'' have been found, but craugastorid frogs do not seem to be adversely affected by such infections. ''Pristimantis lindae'' occurs in the buffer zone of the Manu National Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pristimantis Lindae lindae Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Peru Endemic fauna of Peru Amphibians described in 1978 Taxa named by William Edward Duellman Taxonomy articles created by Polbot