End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

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Matt Cage
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End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Matt Cage »

I have been lucky enough to take multiple trips to the Amazon with Amazon Ecotours (formerly Margarita Tours). http://www.amazon-ecotours.com. We went in January of 2010 with a great group. That trip included multiple FHF users including David (Moloch), Dick Bartlett, Courtgaverth, and Young Cage (my Dad). It was a great time. Many have posted trip reports but I have not. These reports were lost in “the crash”.

I know there is a group ready to go in the next week or so, so I'll see if I can get my entire Peru posts up. I'm going again in May, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

We flew into Iquitos, Peru and spent a day and a half there, which is always fun, but I’m ready to go downstream.

This trip is an adventure and anybody interested in herps should do what they can to get there. It is an adventure of a lifetime!

Flying into Iquitos
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Iquitos
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We took our riverboat downstream to Madre Selva and it took most of the day. The boat downstream is very comfortable and has multiple cabins and public areas. It’s a beautiful trip downstream, lots of scenery, birds, dolphins, and sometimes herps on the shore. I’m always ready to get off it though after the all day trip. Here is the boat, the Nenita:


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And the Amazon and it‘s tributaries:

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We saw many river dolphins:
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We then stayed at Madre Selva, camp with permanent structures, including a kitchen, dining area, lab, showers (river water). We were there for 8 nights. There are multiple trails to keep any herper busy day and night. Then off back towards Iquitos, to a preserve called Santa Cruz. It is a bit different habitat with some different species. At both preserves, the food was great and the camps were very comfortable.


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And on to the herps. There are lots of amphibian species there, and many are very tough to ID. Walking the jungle during the day and night is productive, especially if it is raining.


These things are amazingly hard to control.
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Caecilia gracilis (possibly)




I found these every night on leaves up to 4 feet up.
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Bolitoglossa altmazonica
Amazon climbing salamander




There is pockets in the forest at Madre Selva where these are abundant:
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Atelopus spumarius
Amazon Harlequin Toad





I find a few of these per trip on the trails at night. They are spectacular.
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Bufo dapsilis
Sharp-Nosed Toad




And possibly my favorite Bufo
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Bufo margaritifera
Crested Forest Toad





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Bufo marinus
Cane Toad






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Chiasmocleis bassleri
Bassler's Sheep Frog



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Dentrobates ventrimaculatus
Amazonian Poison Frog
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Epipedobates pictus
Spotted-Legged Poison Frog




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Epipedobates trivattus
Three-striped Poison Frog



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Lithodytes lineatus
Painted Antnest Frog







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Eleutherodactylus acuminatus
Common Rain Frog






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Eleutherodactylus ockendeni
Carabaya Rain Frog






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Eleutherodactylus martiae






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Eleutherodactylus variabilis



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Ischnocnema quixensis





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Hamptophryne boliviana







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Hydrolaetare schmidtii



These things are HUGE
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Hyla boans







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Hyla calcarata






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Hyla fasciata





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Hyla geographica






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Hyla granosa




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Hyla lanciformis





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Hyla leali





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Hyla nympha





One of my favorites, and can be quite common and variable.
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Hyla punctata







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Hyla triangulum








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Leptodactylus (?)





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Leptodactylus pentadactylus
Smokey Jungle Frog







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Leptodactylus stenodema





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Leptodactylus wagneri






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Nyctimantis rugiceps






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Osteocephalus cabrerai








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Osteocephalus deridens







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Osteocephalus fuscifacies






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Osteocephalus planiceps






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Osteocephalus taurinus







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Osteocephalus ??




This is possibly my favorite frog that I’ve ever found. I usually find one or two per trip in foliage at night.
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Phyllomedusa bicolor
Giant Monkey Frog




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Phyllomedusa vaillanti











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Scinax cruetomma






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Scinax rubra






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Sphaenorhynchus carneus






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Sphaenorhynchus lacteus


As time allows, I’ll get further.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Wow!

That was an incredible post. Someday I will get down there.

Are there good field guides and keys for all those amphibian species?
Kfen
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Kfen »

Fantastic! I really need to go on one of these trips. Keep the pics coming!
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Mike Pingleton
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Mike Pingleton »

This came just in time! I'm one of the group going down next week and I'm stoked. I've been studiously studying the herpetofauna of the region and your post has a couple frogs I'd never heard of before.

Great photos - I look forward to the next segment (and I hope I get to see everything you've posted!).

-Mike
sdpete
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibianshttp://ww

Post by sdpete »

Matt,
That was fantastic! Is it possible that the third Phyllomedusa bicolor is P. vaillanti? Just a gut feeling. The P. bicolor, Bufo margaritifera or Bolitoglossa would have made the trip for me.
-Peter
ColdBloodedHerps
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by ColdBloodedHerps »

Amazing post! Love that Sharp-nosed toad and that interesting last frog! :D
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Holy hell. Bufo margaritifera looks like a rejected prop from a bad 60's scifi TV series...

Thanks for showing - great that you included the habitat!
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Steve Atkins
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Steve Atkins »

looks like an amazing trip, can't wait to see the rest.

How many people do they take on a tour?
Mourits
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Mourits »

Very nice!!!
That Bufo margaritifera is amazing!!
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moloch
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by moloch »

Matt,

Lovely photos. It is great to see these wonderful frogs again. The trip was so much fun and I am sure that the crowd this year will enjoy themselves as well.

Congrads on leading the tour later this year.


Regards,
David
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Daniel D Dye
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Daniel D Dye »

Matt,

I was booked for the tour this month, but had to cancel. I'm surely going to try again...maybe in 2012.

The Sphaenorhynchus lacteus's texture and color gives it the appearance of melting...awesome.

Daniel
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kcmatt
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by kcmatt »

Great diversity in there. Really liked the H. punctata in addition to the standard favorite Phyllomedusa. Thanks for the post.
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Jon Wedow
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Jon Wedow »

Amazing group of photos! It's hard to believe just how many frogs are in that area. I'd love to see a comprehensive book someday that includes all of these species and more.

Jon
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David Hardesty
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by David Hardesty »

Awesome post and that forest crested toad would be one of my favorites also.
Mikhail F. Bagaturov
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Mikhail F. Bagaturov »

Excellent fotos and frogs!
Thanks for sharing this. One day i shall go to sone Amazon forest to see some of those in person.
Matt Cage
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Matt Cage »

Part 3 is coming at some point soon.....busy

Anyway, thanks to everybody for their replies and comments.

Bryan, there are no fully comprehensive guides at this point. I get everything I can get my hands on to help in the area. Here is a list of some of the best field guides for the area:
Richard and Patricia Bartlett "Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon"
Lily Rodriguez and William Duallman "Guide fo the Frogs of the Iquitos Region, Amazonian Peru" (OOP)
James Dixon and Pekka Soini "The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru" (OOP)
William Duellman "Cusco Amazonico"
Jonathan A. Campbell and William W. Lamar "The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere"
On top of that, I have a bunch of PDF guides that I have put together. Identification is not easy there.
Hope to see you somewhere this herpin' season!

Mike, can't wait to see your photos!

Peter, you are correct, thanks!

Fox, Usually 12-18 people, herp oriented. It is a great time to be there with others with herp interest. It is so much fun to run across others on the trail or at the end of the night and check out the stuff they found.

David, Glad you see your posts back here. I've missed them. Hopefully we'll see each other on some continent again soon!

Daniel, we will talk about it in March. It is a GREAT time, hope you can pull it off!

Matt, I agree with you, I love both. The Phyllomedusa are just SO cool.
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SnakeStick
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by SnakeStick »

This post is sweet :!:
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ahockenberry
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by ahockenberry »

Amazingly good shots - especially of the "dart" frogs - sorry, I am not sure if that is the proper nomenclature !

In any case, well done !
Brian Eagar
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Re: End of year Part 2, Peruvian Amazon, Amphibians

Post by Brian Eagar »

Very nice Matt!
That is an incredible amount of amphibian diversity. I'd love to do that trip someday.
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