The little frog was sitting atop a frond well, up out of reach in a Bactris riparia (spiny palm).



Marisa jokingly told Emerson, the preserve manager, that she wanted the frog and taking her statement at face value, he set about getting it for her. A few minutes later Emerson called Marisa and showed her the frog, then sitting quietly on the crook of his snake hook.

The next morning Marisa, showed Kenny and me the frog. Neither of us were able to identify it to species. In fact, we even vacillated on genus, but eventually agreed on Pristimantis. Kenny just called it Pristimantis sp., I preferred Pristimantis sp. cf okendeni. Lots of pictures were taken.

After returning home, Kenny continued to attempt a positive identification, and thanks to AmphibiaWebEcuador he succeeded.

Marisa and Emerson had collected a species thought previously to be rare in and endemic to Ecuador - Pristimantis orphnolaemus, a small anuran best known as a canopy dweller in primary forest. Its finding has documented a new herpetofaunal species in Peru and it was found on Santa Cruz Forest Preserve.

Thanks to all for the efforts both afield and in researching the find.