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PICTURE SHOWS: Co-author David S?Anchez in the rainforest on a survey A bizarre new species of frog with a 'tapir-like' nose for burrowing underground has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest thanks to its 'beeping' calls. The new species, found at the lower Putumayo basin in Loreto, Peru, has a long, curved-down snout, much like the tapir, the herbivorous Amazonian mammal. Christened Synapturanus danta, it has dark brownish-red Chocolate-like skin, a 'blobby body' and measures just 0.7 of an inch (1.79cm). It also has a chest and belly that's creamy yellow, with 'brown speckles toward the flanks', researchers report. Its body shape and general appearance, ideal for burrowing, seems to suggest it's adapted to the soft soil of the Amazonian peatlands. Researchers were only able to find it by tracking its distinctive calls through the peatlands and digging on their hands and knees. 'These frogs are really hard to find, and that leads to them being understudied,' said Michelle Thompson, a researcher in the Keller Science Action Center at Chicago's Field Museum and one of the authors of a study describing the frog. 'It's an example of the Amazon's hidden diversity, and it's important to document it to understand how important the ecosystem functions. 'It looks like a caricature of a tapir, because it has a big blobby body with this tiny little pointy head.' The people of Peru's Comunidad Nativa Tres Esquinas have actually long known about the tiny, burrowing frog. One local name for it is rana danta, which translates as 'tapir frog' for its resemblance to the large-nosed mammal, but until now, it had remained elusive to biologists. Thanks to the help of local guides, an international team of researchers was able to find the frog in November, 2019 and give it an official scientific name and description in their new paper published this month. 'Frogs of this genus are spread throughout the Amazon, but since they live underground and can't get very far by digging, the ranges each species is distributed in are fairly small,' said first author Germ?An Ch?Avez at Peru's Instituto Peruano de Herpetolog??a. 'Since we found this new species in Amazon peatland, it wouldn't be strange for it to be restricted to this environment. 'Its body shape and general look seems to be adapted to the soft soil of the peatland, rather than the robust and wider shape of species in other environments.' S. danta was found during a rapid inventory led by Field Museum scientists, a research program in which scientists spend a few weeks in a patch of the Amazon. Local guides who were familiar with the frogs led the researchers to peatland areas ??" wetlands carpeted with nutrient-rich turf made of decaying plant matter 'The frogs are tiny, about the size of a quarter, they're like brown, they're underground, and they're quick,' said Thompson. 'You know these little frogs are somewhere underground, but you just don't see them hopping around.' 'We just kept hearing this beep-beep-beep coming from underground, and we suspected it could be a new species of burrowing frog because there had recently been other species in its genus described.' The team searched by night, when the frogs were most active. 'We had already caught a juvenile our first night in the peatlands, but at 2-3am, we were tired,' said Ch?Avez. 'So, we chose our last night in that site, after three hard nights searching for frogs and snakes, to go to the peatlands exclusively to find those frogs that we heard the first night. Once they heard a call, they created an imaginary one metre by one metre square, and dug with their hands in this square to find them. 'We could hear them underground, going beep-beep-beep, and we'd stop, turn off our lights, and dig around, and then listen for it again,' said Thompson. 'After a few hours, one hopped out of his little burrow, and we were screaming, 'Somebody grab it!'' In addition to finally finding adult specimens of the frogs, the team recorded their calls and performed an analysis of the frogs' DNA to help confirm a new species. Synapturanus is the name of the already-existing genus that the species belongs to, and danta is Spanish for 'tapir'. It's thought the frogs' burrowing behaviour that made them hard to find likely makes them an important part of their peatland home. 'They're part of the underground ecosystem,' said Thompson. 'They're moving down there, they're eating down there, they're laying their eggs down there. 'They contribute to nutrient cycling and changing the soil structure.' In the future, the team want to confirm whether S. danta is restricted to a peatland habitat. 'I think possibilities that this frog would be a wetlands specialist are high, but still need to go further in this research to confirm it,' said Ch?Avez. When: 31 Mar 2022 Credit: Michelle Thompson/Field Museum of Chicago/Cover Images **EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH STATED PHOTOGRAPHER AND/OR SUPPLIER.**
2022-03-31
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