Second time's the charm when tracking the lowland harlequin

Being more an amphibian person than a reptile person, on the first of my many trips to Amazonian Peru the anuran I wished most to see was Atelopus spumarius, the Amazon harlequin frog. When I told our Peruvian guides C-sar and Segundo this they had no idea what I was talking about for firstly, most of the tour clients who visited were snake enthusiasts and secondly, I had no idea what the local name for Atelopus was. So I came up with a name that I thought might help; Ranita Pintada, little painted frog. Despite walking through rainforest that seemed ideal I zeroed out. Wondering why, the finding of Atelopus became nearly an obsession.

The next trip down there I was better prepared. I brought a picture with me. Still neither Segundo nor C-sar recognized the frog, but now they knew what I was hoping for, and being astute guides, they headed to the back of the preserve. That day, along the long trail, they found not one but two of this coveted species. Couldn't be any better than that.

We now find this taxon on nearly every trip, and there are, in fact, at least two very distinct patterns. Both are shown in this post. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I have enjoyed finding them.

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.