antonsrkn
Hyloscirtus torrenticola
El Pepino tree frog (Hyloscirtus torrenticola) - Amazonian foothills, Ecuador
Hyloscirtus has to be one of my favorite tree frog genera. Colloquially known as torrenteers or sometimes babbling torrenteers, these tree frogs are associated with high quality running water in jungle settings. They have a beautiful call but also a pesky habit of calling from underneath rocks or from within crevices, so while its often relatively easy to hear them it can be insanely annoying and fruitless trying to track one down. For this reason im always happy when I see a new species in the genus. This is a relatively small species that is found across a narrow elevational gradient in on the East slope of the Andes in the Amazonian foothills of Northern Ecuador and Southern Colombia. This was the only adult I saw, and a few fresh metamorphs that had just barely left the water and still had their tail, although hard to tell at that stage I presume they belong to this species as well. This individual had his back foot gnawed off by a predator at some point but it has since healed over and the frog seems to be doing just fine without the back foot.
Hyloscirtus torrenticola
El Pepino tree frog (Hyloscirtus torrenticola) - Amazonian foothills, Ecuador
Hyloscirtus has to be one of my favorite tree frog genera. Colloquially known as torrenteers or sometimes babbling torrenteers, these tree frogs are associated with high quality running water in jungle settings. They have a beautiful call but also a pesky habit of calling from underneath rocks or from within crevices, so while its often relatively easy to hear them it can be insanely annoying and fruitless trying to track one down. For this reason im always happy when I see a new species in the genus. This is a relatively small species that is found across a narrow elevational gradient in on the East slope of the Andes in the Amazonian foothills of Northern Ecuador and Southern Colombia. This was the only adult I saw, and a few fresh metamorphs that had just barely left the water and still had their tail, although hard to tell at that stage I presume they belong to this species as well. This individual had his back foot gnawed off by a predator at some point but it has since healed over and the frog seems to be doing just fine without the back foot.