A group of zoologists from San Francisco de Quito University in Ecuador discovered the new endemic look of the PRISTIMANTIS rain frog in Andes and called it in honor of the British rock band Led Zeppelin. It is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the scientific article published in the journal NEOTROPICAL BIODIVERSITY
“The name is given in honor of Led Zeppelin and their unusual music, this is a British rock band formed in London in 1968, one of the most influential groups during the 1970s and the ancestral of both hard-rock and hevi- Metal, “the article says.
Little frog, which can grow to 3.6 centimeters in length, can be found in copper-red eyes and multicolored – yellow, brown, black and orange – skin.
Pristimantis Ledzeppelin found in the mountain forests of the Cordillera del Condor in the south-east of Ecuador. In recent years, there were several types of endemic – inhabiting only in this area – amphibians. In their work, Zoologists called this ecodegion in tropical Andes one of the most vulnerable in the world. Wildlife here is threatened by expanding agriculture, logging and mining of minerals on numerous concession sites.
“At the duration of Pristimantis LedZeppelin, you can observe animal husbandry, wood extraction, small-scale mineral mining, which will probably become more active, since this area is in concession for mining from a transnational company,” the scientists noted.
In the conclusions of his report, Zoologists called for new long-term initiatives to preserve small vertebrates in the Cordillera del Condor region, since a number of new species described with high probability live only in this limited area.