In the heart of the jungle shared by Peru and Brazil, a team of specialists has documented a new poison frog tiny in size and bright in color. Baptized Ranitomeya hwata, was registered in the Alto Purús National Park, one of the best-preserved landscapes in the Amazon basin.
With scarcely 15 millimeters in length and a very marked chromatic layout, the species occupies microhabitats in bamboo forests of the genus GuaduaThe discovery was verified by the National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (Sernanp) and published in the scientific journal Zootaxa after years of prospecting in the Purús River basin.
Discovery and context
Scientific confirmation is part of long-term expeditions through areas of difficult access in the Purús basin, a biogeographic corridor that acts as a natural border between Peru and Brazil. According to Sernanp, the record highlights the role of this protected area as a sanctuary for little-known species.
The work was developed by an international team that included Evan Twomey (Goethe University Frankfurt), Paulo Melo-Sampaio (National Museum of Brazil) and Jason L. Brown (Southern Illinois University), together with the Peruvian researcher Roberto Gutiérrez Poblete (UNSA Natural History Museum and Sernanp), among other specialists.
Likewise, institutions of Germany, Brazil, United States, Spain and Peru, with key contributions from the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute and the Biodiversity Museum of PeruThe publication in Zootaxa reinforces the relevance of the discovery for Amazonian herpetology.
Traits and differentiation
At first glance, Ranitomeya hwata shows intense yellow dorsal stripes on a dark background, a mottled belly and a black band which separates the throat from the abdomen. These features make it easy to distinguish it from similar congeners in the region.
Its size —approximately 1,5 centimeters— places it among the smallest of its kind Ranitomeya, a group known for its skin toxicity and warning coloration, which deters potential predators. The combination of measurements and color patterns proved key to its taxonomic diagnosis.
Habitat and reproductive behavior
The species is associated with the Guadua bamboo forests, where it uses natural cavities in the stems that collect rainwater as small breeding pools. This microhabitat provides shelter and resources for larval development.
A striking aspect is the reproductive strategy: males exhibit a behavior polygynous, recruiting multiple females to a single breeding site. This pattern, uncommon among close relatives, provides novel insights into the diversity of reproductive tactics in Amazonian amphibians.
The authors point out that specialization in bamboo habitats and the microenvironment selection They could have shaped both the ecology and behavior of the species, favoring its isolation and differentiation from other frogs in its lineage.
Conservation and relevance of the protected area
El Alto Purús National Park, in the regions of Ucayalà ​​and Madre de Dios and in contact with the Brazilian border, is considered the largest park in Peru and one of the least disturbed. Its inaccessibility has allowed it to maintain intact habitats that are home to endemic and newly described species.
According to Sernanp, the identification of Ranitomeya hwata reinforces the value of the Protected natural areas as biodiversity refuges and supports the need to sustain monitoring, research and adaptive management efforts in the Amazon.
The discovery of Ranitomeya hwata In the Peruvian-Brazilian Amazon, it illustrates how scientific exploration in protected areas continues to reveal unknown fauna: a tiny frog, with warning colors and unique habits in bamboo, which highlights the effective conservation of the last large contiguous forests in the region.
