The web-footed coqui, stream coqui, Puerto Rican stream frog or Karl's robber frog (''Eleutherodactylus karlschmidti''), is a possibly extinct Puerto Rican frog species in the family Eleutherodactylidae. It was first described by Chapman Grant in 1931, and was named after herpetologist

Karl Patterson Schmidt Karl Patterson Schmidt (June 19, 1890 – September 26, 1957) was an American herpetologist. Family Schmidt was the son of George W. Schmidt and Margaret Patterson Schmidt. George W. Schmidt was a German professor, who, at the time of Karl ...

. It is the largest ''Eleutherodactylus'' species of Puerto Rico.

Description

The maximum size is in snout–vent length. The overall appearance is stocky. The head is wider than the body. The eyes are large and protruding. The tympanum is small but distinct. The limbs are strong and relatively short. The fingers and the toes bear large discs. The fingers have no webbing whereas the toes are extensively webbed (the only

coquí Coquí is the common name for several species of small frogs in the genus ''Eleutherodactylus'' native to Puerto Rico. They are onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui and the upland ...

to do so). Skin is warty dorsally and smooth ventrally. Dorsal coloration consists of green, yellow, and black marbling. A yellow line runs between the eyes. Another yellow line touches the lip and extends backward to the tympanum. A vague transverse band is located at the shoulders and another, more distinct one half-way along the dorsum. The sides and lower part are marbled gray to partly plain gray. Males have bi-lobed vocal sac. Males advertisement call is loud and sonorous.

Habitat and conservation

''Eleutherodactylus karlschmidti'' is an aquatic species that occurs in mountain streams 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 prefers rocky torrents in closed

mesic Mesic may refer to: * Mesic, North Carolina, a town in the United States * Mesic habitat, a type of habitat See also *Mesić (disambiguation) *Mešić Mešić is a Bosnian surname, a patronymic derived from the masculine given name '' Meša'', it ...

forests. Males call from boulders, banks, and waterfalls. Development is direct (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage). This species was once abundant in eastern Puerto Rico as well as in the western mountains. Its former range included the El Yunque National Forest. However, the latest record is from 1988, possibly even earlier, despite repeated surveys. It is almost certainly extinct. The likely reason is a combination of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis and climate change. Also invasive predators might have played a role.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q309103 karlschmidti Amphibians of Puerto Rico Endemic fauna of Puerto Rico Extinct animals of the United States Amphibians described in 1931 Taxa named by Chapman Grant