Five New Rain Frogs Described From Peru's Amazon Lowlands and Andean Slopes
Herpetologists led by Pablo Venegas formally named the species in Zootaxa, from sites ranging from 183 to 1,778 metres in elevation.
Five frogs new to science have been formally described from the Peruvian Amazon, according to a paper published on 16 October 2026 in the taxonomic journal *Zootaxa*. The authors are Pablo J. Venegas, Luis A. García-Ayachi, Alessandro Catenazzi and Santiago R. Ron.
The new species
All five belong to the rain-frog genus *Pristimantis*, in the *P. lacrimosus* group:
- *P. aisatipoki*: Amazon slope of Junín, central Peru, at 1,466 to 1,723 metres. Its name comes from the Asháninka language.
- *P. basicordellum*: Cordillera Escalera, Loreto, around 300 metres.
- *P. culmecordellum*: Cordillera Escalera, around 1,700 metres.
- *P. rhodocanthus*: Amazon slope of San Martín, around 1,778 metres.
- *P. solitarius*: Amazon lowlands of Huánuco, 183 metres; known so far only from a single specimen.
The authors tell the species apart using body shape, skin texture, size and colouring, backed by molecular data, and by call recordings for two of them.
Why it matters
Venegas works in Peru with the nonprofit Rainforest Partnership, which reports that expeditions across the Peruvian Tropical Andes in 2021 and 2025 turned up more than 80 amphibian and 30 reptile species, including dozens that appear to be new. So far 20 amphibian and 8 reptile species from those surveys have been formally described.
Naming a species is the first step toward protecting it: it lets conservationists assess where it lives and what threatens it.
Context
Formal description does not mean a species is safe. *P. solitarius* is known from one specimen, so little is yet understood about its range or numbers, and the paper is a taxonomic description rather than a conservation assessment.
