''Pulchrana fantastica'', also known as the splendid stream frog, 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 ...

of "

true frog True frogs is the common name for the frog family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are present in North A ...

", family Ranidae. 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 northern

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

(Indonesia) and is currently known from the

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

and

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

provinces. Its nearest relatives are ''

Pulchrana centropeninsularis ''Pulchrana centropeninsularis'' is a species of "true frog", family Ranidae. It is found in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (Indonesia). The specific name ''centropeninsularis'' refers to the area of its original discovery, the state of Pahang i ...

'' and ''

Pulchrana siberu ''Pulchrana siberu'', also known as the Siberut Island frog, is a species of true frog, family Ranidae. It is found in the Mentawai Islands, off the Sumatran west coast (Indonesia), including the eponymous Siberut Island. It possibly occurs in Su ...

''. 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 ...

''fantastica'' is derived from the Greek ''phantastikós'' and refers to the "extraordinary beauty" of this frog.

Description

Adult males measure 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 ...

; females are unknown. The body is slender. The snout is obtusely pointed in dorsal view and slightly protruding in lateral view. The tympanum is visible and the supratympanic fold is distinct. The fingers are long and slender and lack webbing, but have tips slightly enlarged into rounded discs. The toes are webbed and have tips enlarged into discs. The dorsum ranges from finely granulated to granular. The dorsal coloration is black. There usually is a middorsal marking consisting of an orange, discontinuous line of variable length, possibly in combination with spots; this marking is lacking in all juveniles. There is a pair of continuous orange dorsolateral lines running from the tip of the snout over

canthus rostralis In snakes and amphibians, the canthus, canthal ridge or ''canthus rostralis'',Spawls S, Branch B. 1995. ''The Dangerous Snakes of Africa''. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. . is the angle between the flat crown of the head and the ...

sacrum The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...

, eventually breaking into spots at the posterior pelvic region. The flanks are brown and have yellow spots. The venter is greyish-brown. The dorsal surfaces of the limbs are brown with yellow to orange round or elongated, sometimes connected spots. Males have paired internal subgular

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the vocal sac is one way o ...

Habitat

''Pulchrana fantastica'' occurs in primary forest at elevations between

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 ...

. The lowland records come from a typical

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

forest. Specimens have been found on the forest-floor leaf litter and various perches (low vegetation, dead logs, roots, and rocks) near small to medium-sized streams, and even on a dead branch in a stream.

Conservation

As of November 2021, this species has not been included in the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

. Arifin and colleagues consider the ongoing loss of primary forest a major threat to ''Pulchrana fantastica''. All populations sampled in Aceh come from protected areas, including the

Mount Leuser National Park Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, settled ...

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q109796453 fantastica Amphibians of Indonesia Endemic fauna of Sumatra Amphibians described in 2018