A new fleshbelly frog species has been discovered by an international team of scientists from Peru and the United States.

Several specimens of the new species, named Noblella madreselva, were collected at 2,330 – 2,370 m elevation in Madre Selva, near Santa Ana, in the Peruvian province of La Convención.

“The name madreselva, which translates to ‘mother jungle’ from Spanish, honors the efforts of local conservation initiatives, such as the local ecotourism lodge Madre Selva and the ecological project Sircadia, that aim at protecting the delicate and biologically rich montane forest ecosystems in the region,” the scientists explained.

Noblella madreselva is a very small frog, approximately 15-18 mm in length.

It’s likely that the species has restricted distribution, inhabiting the upper watersheds in the valleys adjacent to the locality where it has been discovered.

Described by the researchers as ‘striking,’ the coloration is what visibly differentiates Noblella madreselva from its relatives.

Most noticeably, it stands out with the wide irregularly shaped white mark on black background all across, stretching from the frog’s chest down to its belly.

A brown splash on its head forms a distinguishable dark facial mask.

Because of the frog’s limited habitat, the team fears that the species is threatened by a large number of risks, including deforestation, diseases and the agricultural activities in the region.

However, as for the moment, Noblella madreselva has been proposed by the team to be classified as ‘data deficient’ in the IUCN Red List, until new data regarding its distribution become available.

“It is therefore imperative to document the highly endemic amphibian faunas of wet montane Andean forests as a first step towards designing a network of natural reserves that maximizes protection of amphibian biodiversity,” the scientists said.

Research describing the new species is published online in the journal ZooKeys.

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Catenazzi A et al. 2015. A new species of Noblella (Amphibia, Anura, Craugastoridae) from the humid montane forests of Cusco, Peru. ZooKeys 516: 71-84; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.516.9776