''Telmatobufo bullocki'' is a species of
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...
in the family
Calyptocephalellidae
The Calyptocephalellidae are a family of toads (although not true members of the Bufonidae) found in Chile containing two living genera, '' Calyptocephalella'' and ''Telmatobufo.''
The genus ''Calyptocephalella'' contains one living species, th ...
.
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 els ...
to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
, and is only known from a few locations in the
Cordillera de Nahuelbuta
The Nahuelbuta Range or Cordillera de Nahuelbuta () is a mountain range in Bio-Bio and Araucania Region, southern Chile. It is located along the Pacific coast and forms part of the larger Chilean Coast Range. The name of the range derives from ...
, a part of the
Chilean Coast Range
The Chilean Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula ...
. It is extremely rare; extensive fieldwork in 1992–2002 turned up only a single adult. It occurs in fast-flowing streams in temperate ''
Nothofagus
''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gu ...
'' forest. The
tadpole
A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...
s are free-swimming and feed on algae growing on submerged rocks. It is threatened by siltation of streams caused by clear-cutting. It occurs within the
Nahuelbuta National Park
Nahuelbuta National Park () is one of the few parks located in La Araucanía Region of Chile's Coastal Mountain Range. It sits atop the highest part of the Cordillera de Nahuelbuta. Created in 1939, it consists of 6,832 hectares situated just 162 ...
.
References
Telmatobufo
Amphibians of Chile
Endemic fauna of Chile
Taxa named by Karl Patterson Schmidt
Amphibians described in 1952
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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