Adult, 4,800′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Adult, in situ 5′ Above Ground, 4,800′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
PURPLE ADORNED ROBBER FROG
Eleutherodactylus decoratus – Taylor 1943
Eleutherodactylus decoratus purpurus – Lynch 1973
IDENTIFICATION:
DISTRIBUTION:
The purple adorned robber frog is known only from the cloud forest region of the Rancho del Cielo Biosphere Preserve, in the Sierra de Guadalupe of south-central Tamaulipas, Mexico. It may also be found near El Chihue, Tamaulipas in a small area of remnant cloud forest but this has yet to be verified.
HABITAT:
E. d. purpurus appears to be found only within cave rich (karstic) cloud forest – both virgin and slightly altered by local inhabitants. They are most often found within the region’s caves, sinkholes and moss-covered boulder jumbles, but may also occasionally be found beneath logs and rocks on the forest floor as they travel from site to site.
Cloud Forest Limestone Karst Region, 4,800′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
NATURAL HISTORY:
TAXONOMY:
In the Eleutherodactylus alfredi group as defined by Lynch and Duellman (1997).
TYPE:
Described as Eleutherodactylus decoratus purpurus by Lynch (1967). Holotype: UMMZ 102496. Type locality: “a cave near Rancho del Cielo, 5 km. NW Gomez Farias, Tamaulipas, México, 3500 feet elev.”
PERSONAL NOTES:
I have seen the subspecies purpurus only once. In August, 2004 I found the above photographed individual in a small cave near San Jose, in the Rancho del Cielo Biosphere Preserve. It was perched motionless in a small alcove on the cave’s ceiling – a remarkably precarious situation considering the frog must have climbed upside-down along the horizontal ceiling for 5-6′ to get where it was! One look at the well-expanded toe-tips of this species made the scenario believable.
CONSERVATION STATUS:
IUCN Red List status for this species is currently “Vulnerable” due to the continued degradation and transformation of it’s cloud forest habitat, and highly fragmented distribution. Mexico protects E. decoratus under the “Special Protection” category.
REFERENCES:
Campbell, J. A., W. W. Lamar, and D. M. Hillis. 1989. A New Species of Diminutive Eleutherodactylus (Leptodactylidae) from Oaxaca, Mexico. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 102:491-499.
Canseco-Márquez, L. and E. N. Smith. 2004. A Diminutive Species of Eleutherodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae), of the alfredi Group, from the Sierra Negra of Puebla, Mexico. Herpetologica 60(3):358-363.