August 3, 2007
After catching up paperwork, I headed back to the city to meet with Dr. Luis Coloma, one of the most respected amphibian biologists of our time. Ron Santiago another very well respected amphibian biologist has joined the Coloma Team. I looked forward to this meeting and sharing the photos and specimens with this team. Upon arrival at the Catholic University, I ran into a bunch of Americans in front of the biological Sciences building. As it turns out, Mark Warner from Phoenix Zoo, his wife, and friends were going out with Luis into the field to search for Atelopus. I was incredibly jealous. After Luis got his American team all set for their outing tomorrow he toured me around his pilot facility in his lab. This facility, supported by St. Louis Zoo is the pilot program to Luis's future amphibian rescue center. His 20 million dollar plan for this rescue facility seems outrageous to some, but if one sits down and thinks about how that 20 million dollars could save 8% of the world's population of known amphibians, it really isn't a high cost at all. It is amazing that all of that biodiversity is contained within a country the size of Colorado! And that is just the amphibians! That is why naturalists like E. O. Wilson has called this small little country one of the world's hotspots of biodiversity.
Luis and Ron showed me all around the pilot facility which had grown dramatically since our visit in December. We went into the cricket room where they had expanded their cricket cultures and were also breeding mealworms as well as springtails. Their springtail cultures were amazing! I took several pictures so that I could duplicate the setup back at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. They then showed me the cold room where amphibians from higher elevations were housed. Most people that I talk with think that since Ecuador is on the equator, it should be warm. However, up in the Andes, the temperatures can be pretty darn chilly but the frogs seem to like it, especially when the low temperature comes with the cool mist from the clouds. People are always shocked of our pictures of us in sweatshirts and long pants.
Luis showed me Gastrotheca spp. whom incubate their young in their backs, he showed me the tiny Atelopus spumarius of which he was trying to spawn, and he showed me Atelopus spp. that have yet to be described to science. Those Harlequin frogs were gorgeous. Seeing these specimens made me even more jealous of Mark Warner and company. After the tour, Luis sat down to look at the photos and specimens that we had collected on Reserva Las Gralarias. I started off with the glass frog that we had found perched over the stream in Canyon's trail. Luis searched through his books and computer files, he had never seen this spp. before! This was exciting! A new glass frog? Then I showed him the specimens that we had collected of another species. He took the preserved specimen out of the jar with his forceps, carefully counting tubercles and looking at the specimens' eyes. The coppery red eye color and other features seemed to key out to be Eleutherodactylus vericundus, but when he had his museum specimens brought over for comparison, nope, it isn't E. verecundus. Again, this maybe a new species to science! Well, that makes four new species to science if you count The Punk Rocker. Ron Santiago had not seen the picture of The Punk Rocker yet, so I shared that with him and he and Luis were very excited. They are now planning a trip to RLG to see if they can find this frog and the other new species too! After the meeting I headed back to Hotel Quito and grabbed dinner across the street at the Acapulco. New Species To Science?
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