A new Harlequin Toad from the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes (Bufonidae: Atelopus)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Both the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental harbor much of Colombia’s Harlequin Toad (Atelopus) diversity, with twelve species described from each of these mountain ranges. Most of them are poorly studied and several species are known from a few localities or a single locality only. No Harlequin Toads have been documented in about 200 km in the southern portion of the Cordillera Oriental. We examined historic material from Parque Nacional Natural Cueva de los Guácharos, department of Huila, that has not been considered previously and cannot be assigned to any available name. Although only a single specimen is known, we here describe this Atelopus from the southern Cordillera Oriental as a species new to science, as it is readily distinguished from all congenerics by a combination of morphological characters (e.g., size, snout profile, webbing, supratympanic crests, skin texture and coloration). Our work provides yet another example of forensic taxonomy and underlines the need for further examination of the Harlequin Toads from the Andes of Colombia in an integrative taxonomic framework.
Source: Salamandra
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W6930967806
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