''Pristimantis mutabilis'', also known as the mutable rainfrog or "punk rock" rainfrog, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 found in the Ecuadoran

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

of Pichincha and Imbabura provinces. ''Pristimantis mutabilis'' is the first known

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

species that is able to change skin texture from tuberculate to almost smooth in a few minutes, an extreme example of

phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic plasticity refers to some of the changes in an organism's behavior, morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. Fundamental to the way in which organisms cope with environmental variation, phenotypic plasticity encompa ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''mutabilis'' (changeable) refers to this ability. The physiological mechanism behind the skin texture change remains unknown.

Taxonomy and discovery

''Pristimantis mutabilis'' was formally described in 2015 in the ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society). ...

''; 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 ...

was collected in 2013. The species was placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Pristimantis ''Pristimantis'' is a very large genus of frogs distributed in the southern Caribbean islands (Lesser Antilles) and in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. With 596 described species (as of October 20 ...

'' on the basis of genetic studies supported by the morphological analysis. The new species was first spotted in 2006, but only in 2009 the first specimen was collected and its unusual abilities were discovered. Also '' Pristimantis sobetes'', a related species but from a different species group, have been found to display similar skin texture plasticity, suggesting that this trait may be more common in ''

'' than in other amphibians.

Description

Males measure about and females in snout–vent length. In life, males have light brown to pale greyish green dorsum, with bright green marks and grey to dark brown chevrons, outlined by thin cream or white line, with orange dorsolateral folds. The belly is pale grey to brown with darker, diffuse spots, and few small white spots. Females have red flash coloration.

Habitat and conservation

The species'

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 ...

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

and it is known from both primary and secondary Andean 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 ...

. ''Pristimantis mutabilis'' is only known from three sites in two separate reserves. Based on the vocalizations during the night, it is abundant, but it is difficult to see because of its arboreal habits. However, the known subpopulations are separated by a dispersal barrier (the dry valley of the Guayllabamba River), and the general area is suffering from habitat destruction and fragmentation.

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 extinc ...

might also be a threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q19683980 mutabilis Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Ecuador Endemic fauna of Ecuador Amphibians described in 2015