Five new frog species discovered in Peruvian Amazon
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Pablo J. Venegas led a team of researchers who discovered five new frog species in the Peruvian Amazon, a biologically diverse region of South America.
The team conducted ten expeditions between 2021 and 2025, surveying amphibians and reptiles in remote forests and grasslands. Their work documented over 80 amphibian and reptile species, with approximately 50 frogs and 23 lizards previously unknown to science. Venegas and colleagues Luis A.
García-Ayachi, Allesandro Catenazzi, and Santiago Ron formally described the new frogs in a study published in Zootaxa. They identified the species, Pristimantis basicordellum, Pristimantis culmecordellum, Pristimantis rhodocanthus, Pristimantis solitarius, and Pristimantis aisatipoki, by analyzing their physical traits, genetic data, and calls. These frogs live at elevations between 183 and 1,778 meters, ranging from the Amazon lowlands of Huánuco to the Junín slope in central Peru. The Rainforest Partnership, which supports Venegas’s work, highlighted Pristimantis aisatipoki as particularly meaningful.
The frog was discovered during an expedition in Satipo, where the organisation began its conservation efforts in Peru. Its name, “aisatipoki,” comes from the Asháninka language and means “those who arrive” or “those who settle,” acknowledging the region’s history and biodiversity. The Rainforest Partnership has published 26 peer-reviewed articles based on this research, and expects to publish more as they continue to document the region’s species.
