#gastrotheca

photographs by Raby Núñez

San Lucas marsupial frog (Gastrotheca pseustes)

High above the cloud forest tree line you can still find frogs on the Peruvian Andes, like this amazing Abra Acanacu marsupial frog (Gastrotheca excubitor). They live in the puna grasslands ecosystem with mosses, grasses and small shrubs and evolved to entirely skip the tadpole stage, keeping their eggs in their back pouch until tiny replicas of them will eventually emerge. Chytrid fungus stroke hard on them and they’re presently listed as Vulnerable by IUCN. The second photo, while not “in situ”, is nonetheless important to me cause it’s the last living individual. Afterwards I only found dead ones killed by the fungus. #gastrotheca #amphibian #conservation #peru @conservacionamazonica @ilcp_photographers https://www.instagram.com/p/CktSK7tqXzJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

today's funky frog of the day is: this beautiful newly discovered peruvian frog! (as far as i can find, their official name has either not yet been decided on or not yet released to the public, but for now we have this stunning picture!) they belong to the gastrotheca genus. (x)

Gastrotheca argenteovirens by Andrés Mauricio Forero Cano

#Gastrotheca cornuta — The Eyelash Marsupial Frog is named for the pouch on the females back to carry her offspring through direct development. This species skips the free-swimming larval stage and tiny frogs emerge from her pouch once development is complete. This species belongs to the family #Hemiphractidae and many species in this family do wacky things with their developing offspring, such as carry them around in a pouch or just stick them to their back, as is the case with the Hemiphractid #BackpackFrogs (at The Amphibian Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrvIv7zg9Lt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1diwebfb6163m

Photograph by Edelcio Muscat

photographs by Andrey Solís