Telmatobius marmoratus

The marbled water frog or Protero spiny-chest frog  (Telmatobius marmoratus) is a frog.  It lives in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru.

Name
Scientists named the frog marmoratus from the Greek word marmor meaning to shine like marble stone. 

Home
This frog lives in streams, waterfalls, and grassy places with water that moves slowly. Scientists saw this frog between 1800 and 5244 meters above sea level.

Scientists have seen this frog in some protected parks: Parque Nacional Lauca, Parque Nacional Cotapata, Parque Nacional Sajama, and Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Apolobamba. Scientists think it might also live in Reserva Nacional del Titicaca. People have also seen it at places where scientists study where old humans used to live  in Sacsayhuaman and Tambomachay.

Young
This frog has young in both the wet and dry parts of the year. It has young in bogs.

Danger
Scientists say this frog is in big danger of dying out, but it is not in the same danger everywhere.  In Chile, the frog is not in danger. In Peru and Bolivia, people catch the frog to eat.  The frog is also in danger from people taking water to use, too much algae in the water, climate change, and pollution from farms and homes. Scientists found the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on the frog, so they think the fungal disease chytridiomycosis could kill this frog too.

Scientists saw the frog in places where it did not live before.  The glaciers high in the Andes are melting, so the frogs climb up and live in places that were too cold for them before. But then the frogs bring the chytrid fungus with them too.

Some people catch this frog to eat, use in medicines, or make into juice.

References

Category:Frogs of South America