A team of researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi has described a new species of frog from Bibita Mountain, an unexplored and isolated mountain in southwestern Ethiopia.
Bibita Mountain dwarf puddle frogs (Phrynobatrachus bibita), females. Image credit: S. Goutte & J. Reyes-Velasco, New York University Abu Dhabi.
The highlands of Ethiopia are known for their high degree of diversity and endemism.
Approximately half of all species of anurans (frogs and toads) from this country are endemic, including five endemic genera.
Bibita Mountain was under the radars of New York University’s Dr. Jacobo Reyes-Velasco and colleagues for several years due to its isolation and because no other zoologist had ever explored it before.
“Untouched, isolated, and unexplored: it had all the elements to spike our interest,” Dr. Reyes-Velasco said.
“We tried to reach Bibita in a previous expedition in 2016 without success. Last summer, we used a different route that brought us to higher elevation.”
Named the Bibita Mountain dwarf puddle frog (Phrynobatrachus bibita), the newfound species is unique among Ethiopian puddle frogs.
It has a small size (1.7 cm for males and 2 cm for females), a slender body with long legs and elongated fingers and toes, and a golden coloration.
“When we looked at the frogs, it was obvious that we had found a new species, they look so different from any Ethiopian species we had ever seen before,” said Dr. Sandra Goutte, also from New York University Abu Dhabi.
The team also sequenced tissue samples from the Bibita Mountain dwarf puddle frog and found that it is genetically different from any frog species in the region.
“The discovery of such a genetically distinct species in only a couple of days in this mountain is the perfect demonstration of how important it is to assess the biodiversity of this type of places,” said New York University’s Dr. Stéphane Boissinot.
“Bibita Mountain probably has many more unknown species that await our discovery; it is essential for biologists to discover them in order to protect them and their habitat properly.”
The discovery is reported in the journal ZooKeys.
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S. Goutte et al. 2019. A new species of puddle frog from an unexplored mountain in southwestern Ethiopia (Anura, Phrynobatrachidae, Phrynobatrachus). ZooKeys 824: 53-70; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.824.31570
