A new species of toad¹ was discovered hiding in the leaf litter（落叶层） of the Peruvian Yungas. The word is used widely by the locals to describe ecoregion（生态区域） of montane（山地森林的） rainforests, and translates as "warm valley" in English. The new species Rhinella yunga was baptized after its habitat preference. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

 

Like many other toads² of the family Bufonidae the new species Rhinella yunga has a cryptic³（神秘的） body coloration resembling the decaying leaves in the forest floor ("dead-leaf pattern"), which is in combination with expanded cranial（头盖的） crests⁴ and bony protrusions cleverly securing perfect camouflage⁵. The different colors and shapes within the same species group however make the traditional morphological methods of taxonomic research hard to use to identify the real species diversity within the family. Nevertheless, Rhinela yunga is distinct from all related species in absence of a tympanic membrane⁶, a round membranous⁷ part of hearing organ being normally visible on both sides of a toad's head.

 

"It appears that large number of still unnamed cryptic species remains⁸ hidden under some nominal⁹ species of the Rhinella margaritifera species group," explains Dr Jiří Moravec, National Museum Prague, Czech Republic.

 

Among the other interesting characteristics of the true toads from the family Bufonidae are a typical warty¹⁰（有疣的）, robust¹¹ body and a pair of large poison parotoid glands¹² on the back of their heads. The poison is excreted by the toads when stressed as a protective mechanism¹³. Some toads, like the cane¹⁴ toad Rhinella marina, are more toxic¹⁵ than others. Male toads also possess a special organ, which after removing of testes becomes an active ovary and the toad, in effect, becomes female.

点击收听单词发音