Hyloxalus vertebralis (Boulenger, 1899)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Superfamily: Dendrobatoidea > Family: Dendrobatidae > Subfamily: Hyloxalinae > Genus: Hyloxalus > Species: Hyloxalus vertebralis

Phyllodromus vertebralis Boulenger, 1899, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 4: 456. Syntypes: BMNH (several specimens), by original designation; according to museum records these are BMNH 1947.2.13.96–99 (formerly 1899.10.30.21–22) and 1947.2.14.1–2 (formerly 1899.10.30.23–26). Type locality: "Cañar, 8400 feet altitude", Cañar, Ecuador.

Prostherapis vertebralisPeracca, 1904, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Univ. Torino, 19 (465): 17.

Phyllobates vertebralisBarbour and Noble, 1920, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 63: 401.

Colostethus vertebralisEdwards, 1971, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 84: 148.

Hyloxalus vertebralisGrant, Frost, Caldwell, Gagliardo, Haddad, Kok, Means, Noonan, Schargel, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 299: 169.

Common Names

Vertebral Rocket Frog (Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxii). 

Rana Cohete Vertebral (Spanish: Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxii).

Boulenger's Rocket Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 49).

Distribution

Elevations of 1742–3859 m in the inter-Andean valleys and on slopes of the Cordilleras Occidental and Oriental in southern Ecuador (Chimborazo, Cañar, Azuay, and Loja provinces).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Ecuador

Endemic: Ecuador

Comment

Reviewed by Edwards, 1971, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 84: 158-162. See account by Coloma, 1995, Misc. Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, 87: 54. Almendáriz C. and Orcés, 2004, Rev. Politécnica, Quito, 25: 111-112, provided distributional data for Ecuador. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status (as Colostethus vertebralis) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 227. Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 155–158, provided an account, with photographs, which summarized identification, adult and larval morphology, systematics, natural history, distribution (including a dot map), conservation, and (on pp. 561–562) the advertisement call.

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