Variable Harlequin Frog

About the Variable Harlequin Frog

Atelopus varius, the Costa Rican variable harlequin toad or clown frog, is a small Neotropical true toad from the family Bufonidae. Once ranging from Costa Rica to Panama, A. varius is now listed as critically endangered and has been reduced to a single remnant population near Quepos, Costa Rica (rediscovered in 2003), and has only relict populations in western Panama. Recent variation in air temperature, precipitation, stream flow patterns, and the subsequent spread of a pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) linked to global climate change have been the leading cause of decline for A. varius. A. zeteki has been considered a subspecies of A. varius, but is now generally considered a separate species.

The historic range of A. varius stretched from the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of the Cordilleras de Tilaran mountain range in Costa Rica into western Panama. Suitable habitat includes both pre-montane and lower-montane zones as well as some lowland sites along rocky streams in hilly areas (ranging from 6 to 2,000 metres or 20 to 6,562 feet in elevation).

A. varius is a diurnal frog often found on rocks or in crevices... Wikipedia →