Ranitomeya yavaricola

Ranitomeya yavaricola is a frog.  It lives in  Peru. Scientists think it could live in Brazil too.

Body
The adult male frog is about   15.2 - 17.7  mm long from nose to rear end and two adult female frogs were 16.8 and 17.7 mm long. The skin of the frog's body is black with light blue spots and stripes on the back. There is one dot on the inside of each eye.  The belly is blue-green with black spots. The iris of the eye is black in color.

Scientists used to think this was the same frog as Ranitomeya flavovittata, but R. flavovitata has black marks on its legs and R. yavaricola does not.

Home
Scientists have looked in many places, but they only found this frog in one place: Lago Preto Paredón in Peru. They found it 120 meters above sea level.

This frog lives in forests that do not fill with water, but people did find it near wetlands with trees in them. It lives in places with lots of Geonoma palm plants. People see the frogs sitting on small, woody plants, plants that grow on other plants, and tree branches. It hides by roots and in plants.

Young
The female frog lays her eggs in bromeliad plants. After the tadpoles hatch, they swim in pools of water in the plants.

The tadpoles have light gray heads and clear-and-brown bodies. The tail and belly are clear, so a human can see the organs inside the body. There are some red spots near the face. The eyes are black in color.

Danger
Scientists do not know if this frog is in danger of dying out because the place where scientists found it is protected. But human beings get wood to build with in other places nearby.  People try to catch many frogs in Ranitomeya to sell as pets because of their interesting colors. They catch the frog even when it is against the law.  People have tried to buy R. yavaricola as a pet, but no one has been caught selling it yet.  Scientists say this is because the frog is so hard to find and catch.

Many parts of Lago Preto Paredón are protected parks.

First paper

References

Category:Frogs of South America