Malleco Spiny-chest Frog
Alsodes vittatus
The paper assigns new populations at three sites to this species based on morphology and geography, but leaves its taxonomic relationship with the close relative A. neuquensis unresolved.[3]
Size and lifespan
- Body length
- adult maximum in a source 3.7399999999999998 cm[2]
Appearance
The juvenile from a tributary of the Lancu stream had a well-defined yellow line down its back, bordered by black. The adult female from the same tributary had no line.[3]
The adult female from the Lancu tributary had a light brown back with irregular dark brown spots. Two males from the Tupuyuntué River differed in dorsal color: one was light brown with yellow and green tints, and the other was olive brown.[3]
Life
The Lancu tributary had a gentle flow, a mainly rocky bed, and sparse forest showing human disturbance. A nighttime search along about 250 m found one adult female and one juvenile. The Tupuyuntué River study sector was a small stream with a very slight slope, surrounded by disturbed forest. Night searches there found several adults, numerous juveniles, and many tadpoles.[3]
Places
Observed places · La Araucanía Region, Chile (three study sites)[3]
The three sites reported in the paper were a Lancu stream tributary, the Tupuyuntué River, and a Tupuyuntué tributary, at 1,421–1,610 m.
Sources
- Catalogue of Life 2026-09-25 XR
Catalogue of Life · 2026-10-13
- AmphiBIO v1: maximum adult body size (Oliveira et al., 2017)
Oliveira, Sao-Pedro, Santos-Barrera, Penone and Costa / Figshare · 2026-10-26
- Correa C, Riveros-Riffo E, Donoso JP. 2025. Lost for more than a century: the rediscovery of Alsodes vittatus (Philippi, 1902) (Anura, Alsodidae), one of the rarest and most elusive amphibians from Chile. ZooKeys 1230: 195–212.
ZooKeys · 2026-10-27