Leucostethus fugax

The Pastaza rocket frog (Leucostethus fugax) is a frog.  It lives in Ecuador.

Body
The adult male frog is about 17.9–19.5 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is about 19.3–20.1 mm long.  The belly is cream-white in color. There is a line down each side of the body starting at the eye. There are some marks on the chest and throat.

Name
Scientists gave this frog the name fugax because that is the Latin word for "fugitive," or "runaway." They gave it this name because the frogs jumped out of the scientists' hands, especially Juan A. Rivero's.

Home
Scientists saw this frog in tropical forests on hills, forest that has never been cut down and in forest that has been cut down and is growing back. They saw it  between 210 and 700 meters above sea level.

The frog lives near a protected place, Reserva Biológica El Quimi, and scientists think the frog might live inside it.

Young
Scientists did not see the female frog lay eggs, but they think the tadpoles swim in streams because that is what other tadpoles in Leucostethus do.

Danger
Scientists say this frog is in some danger of dying out. People change the places where it lives to farms and places for animals to eat grass and to cut wood to build with. People also dig into the ground for copper and cold. This stops forests and makes bad chemicals that can hurt the frog and other living things.

References

Category:Frogs of South America