An adult of the recently discovered species Hyloscirtus hillisi seems to smile for the camera.
BY A newly discovered species of Ecuadorian frog has a secret weapon: A spine on the side of its thumb.
These tree-dwelling amphibians likely use their special digit to puncture the skin of predators or competitors within the same species, says study leader Santiago Ron, an evolutionary biologist at Catholic University of Ecuador.
Ron and colleagues found Hyloscirtus hillisi during a two-week expedition in Cordillera del Cóndor, a remote, little-studied region of the Andes that’s also under threat due to mining. (Read about a bizarre horned frog rediscovered recently in Ecuador.)
“We walked two days along a steep terrain. Then, between sweat and exhaustion, we arrived to the tabletop, where we found a dwarf forest,” field biologist Alex Achig said in a statement. “The frogs were difficult to find, because they blended with their background.”
The odd extra claw on both male and female H. hillisi is likely used as a defense mechanism, a new study says.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GUSTAVO PAZMIÑO, BIOWEB ECUADOR
Odd though it is, the claw-like structure exists in four other species of related frog, notes Ron, whose study recently appeared in the journal ZooKeys. A few years ago, one of those species, Hyloscirtus condor, used its claw to tear through a latex glove and scratch the hand of the person collecting it, he added.