New colorful rainforest frog named after Prince Charles
by mongabay.com staff
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown species of frog and named it in honor of Prince Charles, according to a paper published in the journal Zootaxa.
The species, dubbed Hyloscirtus princecharlesi, was one of two ‘new’ species described from highly endangered clouds forests in Ecuador. The second species is called Hyloscirtus cryptico.
Both species live in montane forest streams, a habitat that has particularly affected by the chytrid epidemic that has killed untold numbers of amphibians globally and driven dozens of species to extinction since the early 1980s.
Hyloscirtus princecharlesi was first identified by Luis A. Coloma, an Ecuadorian scientist, among preserved museum specimens. In 2009 he collected specimen in the wild at Reserva Las Gralarias, a private nature reserve…
