Osteocephalus yasuni Ron and Pramuk, 1999

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hylidae > Genus: Osteocephalus > Species: Osteocephalus yasuni

Osteocephalus yasuni Ron and Pramuk, 1999, Herpetologica, 55: 435. Holotype: QCAZ 11336, by original designation. Type locality: "at the Yasuní Scientific Research Station (76° 24′ 19″ W, 00° 04′ 32″ S; altitude 230 m), Provincia del Napo, Ecuador".

Common Names

Yasuní Spiny-backed Treefrog (Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxiv). 

Rana Espinosa de Yasuní (Spanish: Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxiv).

Distribution

Upper Amazon Basin in Ecuador within a latitudinal range encompassed by the Rio Napo to the north and the Rio Yasuni to the south; also known from two localities near Iquitos, Departamento Loreto, in northeastern Peru, Ucayali Department in Amazonian central Peru, as well as in adjacent Amazonas, Colombia, and Acre in the southwestern part of Brazilian Amazonia, all localities 180–331 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

Comment

Colombia record provided by Lynch, 2002, Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Exact. Fis. Nat., 26: 289–292. Cisneros-Heredia, 2007, Herpetozoa, Wien, 19: 183, provided a record from Tiputini Biodiversity Station, 31 km east of the type locality and discussed aspects of the diagnosis. Cisneros-Heredia, 2007, Herpetozoa, Wien, 19: 183, provided a new record and documented ontogenetic changes in coloration. In the Osteocephalus leprieurii species group of Jungfer, Faivovich, Padial, Castroviejo-Fisher, Lyra, Berneck, Iglesias, Kok, MacCulloch, Rodrigues, Verdade, Torres-Gastello, Chaparro Auza, Valdujo, Reichle, Moravec, Gvoždík, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Ernst, De la Riva, Means, Lima, Señaris Vasquez, Wheeler, and Haddad, 2013, Zool. Scripta, 42: 351–380, who also provided a record from Acre, Brazil. Moravec, Arista-Tuanama, Gagliardi-Urrutia, and Gvoždík, 2016, Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 80: 317–341, provided the records from the department of Ucayali, Amazonian Peru. Metcalf, Marsh, Torres Pacaya, Graham, and Gunnels, 2020, Herpetol. Notes, 13: 753–767, reported the species from the Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, Loreto, northeastern Peru. Crnobrna, Santa-Cruz Farfan, Gallegos, López-Rojas, Llanqui, Panduro Pisco, and Kelsen Arbaiza, 2023, Check List, 19: 444, provided a record from Ucayali Department, central-eastern Peru. Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 486–488, provided an account, with photographs, which summarized identification, adult morphology, systematics, natural history, distribution (including a dot map for Ecuador), conservation, and (on pp. 594–595) the advertisement call.

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