An international team of researchers from Ecuador and Peru has discovered two new frog species living in the tropical rainforests of the Amazon basin — and named one of them after famous American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.
Dendropsophus kubricki, adult male, from Río Tapiche, Requena, Peru. Image credit: P.J. Venegas.
The two new species — Dendropsophus kamagarini and D. kubricki — belong to the genus Dendropsophus, the most diverse genus of treefrogs in the Neotropics.
Both are described in an article by Dr. C. Daniel Rivadeneira, Dr. Pablo Venegas, and Dr. Santiago Ron from Ecuador’s Catholic University (PUCE) and Peru’s Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in the journal ZooKeys.
“Dendropsophus kamagarini occurs in the Amazon basin of southeastern Peru, northwestern Brazil, and northeastern Bolivia, from the Andean slopes to lowland tropical rainforest,” the scientists said.
“This species is an opportunistic breeder. It congregates for breeding at temporary and permanent ponds in flooded forest and Terra Firme forest.”
“Adults of both sexes were found at night perching on leaves of bushes and trees, on branches and on palm fronds. Males were calling perched from 2−3 m above the water.”
Dendropsophus kamagarini, adult male, from El Negro, Manuripi, Bolivia. Image credit: A. Muñoz.
“Dendropsophus kubricki is distributed in the Amazon basin in northeastern and central Peru, at elevations between 106 (Jenaro Herrera) and 725 m (Cordillera Azul),” they added.
“This species was found in flooded forest. Specimens from Chambira were collected in a small pond in a Terra Firme forest.”
“Males call at night while perching on leaves of bushes and trees. They were observed between 0.3 and 0.4 m above the water.”
The researchers dedicated this species to Stanley Kubrick for ‘his legacy to film culture and science fiction,’ and ‘because of his masterpiece A Clockwork Orange.’
“Back in 1972, when Anthony Burgess explained the title of his famous novel A Clockwork Orange, he said: ‘I’ve implied the junction of the organic, the lively, the sweet – in other words, life, the orange – and the mechanical, the cold, the disciplined…’,” the authors explained.
“Without knowing, he was also giving a good metaphor to describe ecosystems.”
“Nature works as the interplay between life and its cold, mechanical, and disciplined physical matrix.”
“Furthermore, both new frogs are characterized by having a bright orange blotch on the shanks, reminiscent of the ‘orange pieces of nature’,” they said.
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C.D. Rivadeneira et al. 2018. Species limits within the widespread Amazonian treefrog Dendropsophus parviceps with descriptions of two new species (Anura, Hylidae). ZooKeys 726: 25-77; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.726.13864
