Common Frog in Ecuador Finally Gets Its Own Name After 100 Years

For more than a century, a common frog living across the forests of western Ecuador and southern Colombia was hiding in plain sight under the wrong scientific name. Researchers at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) have now formally described it as Pristimantis milpe, the “Milpe Robber Frog,” after revisiting specimens collected in Ecuador during the 19th century and stored at the Natural History Museum in London.

The case is unusual because newly described species are typically rare or confined to small areas, while Pristimantis milpe is abundant, widespread, and easily detected by its nighttime call. Its known range covers more than 67,000 square kilometers of Chocó forest in western Ecuador and southern Colombia, from sea level up to 1,200 meters elevation. The formal description was published in the journal ZooKeys.

Santiago Ron, a PUCE researcher and the study’s lead author, traveled to England to investigate the taxonomic mix-up, examining the original “type” specimens that had been collected in Ecuador in the 19th century and kept at the museum ever since. Comparing them with frogs living today in the Ecuadorian Chocó, the team found the historical specimens had been incorrectly assigned to another species, leaving a common frog without its own scientific name for decades. “That such a common species has gone unnoticed under the wrong name for decades highlights the importance of correctly connecting scientific names with living populations in nature,” said Jhael Ortega, a PhD student at Virginia Tech and one of the study’s authors.

Male Milpe Robber Frogs call at night from leaves on shrubs and bromeliads several meters above the forest floor, producing a loud, click-like sound. Females and males also look different: females show orange or light-blue tones marked with black spots on the groin and thighs, while males are more uniformly colored. The Ecuadorian Chocó forest is home to more than 250 species of amphibians, including this newly recognized frog.