Andinobates abditus

Collins' poison frog (Andinobates abditus) is a frog.  It lives in Ecuador.

Body
The adult male frog is about 16.3–17.3 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is about 17.3–17.7 mm.  This frog is very small. The skin of the frog's back is light brown in color with orange marks where the legs meet the body.

Home
Scientists found this frog high in the hills, 1700  meters above sea level, in a forest where the trees grew very close together.  There was moss and plants growing on top of other plants.

Young
The female frog lays eggs on the ground. After the eggs hatch, the adult frogs carry the tadpoles on their backs. They take the tadpoles to water in bromeliad plants. The tadpoles swim and grow in the water.

Danger
Scientists say this frog is in big danger of dying out. In the 1980s, many of these frogs disappeared. Scientists think the fungal disease chytridiomycosis killed them, but they are not sure. Also, human beings change the places where the frog used to live to make farms, make places for cows to eat grass, get oil and gas fuel out of the ground, and get wood to build with. Volcanoes threw hot rock and ashes into the air near where the frog lives, so this may have killed some frogs too.  In the late 1980s, scientists went to Ecuador and looked for the frog, but they did not find one. Scientists think there are 50 or fewer of these frogs alive now.

References

Category:Frogs of South America