Description
Pristimantis gladiator has the following combination of characters: skin of dorsum smooth with short ridges, the venter is areolate; small tubercles on eyelid and near ear; no dorsolateral or discoidal folds; tympanum prominent and round; snout short and acuminate in dorsal view and round in lateral view; interorbital space flat and broader than upper eyelid; fontoparietal fontanelle not exposed; fingers lacking lateral fringes, subarticular tubercles round, nonconical and simple. Ulnar tubercles not prominent, antebrachial tubercle elongate; one or two small heel tubercles; outer tarsal tubercles small, non-conical; toes lacking lateral fringes and basal webbing; all toes bearing discs on pads. Dorsum and flanks brown with dark brown spots; limb bars narrow, oblique, venter is cream with brown flecks. Colorless areas in preservative are the axilla, groin, and anterior and posterior thigh surfaces which in life are orange or orange-tan. Adults are small and range from 14.9-15 mm SVL.

Color in life is as follows: dorsum brown to orange-tan with brown markings; flanks green to orange-tan with brown markings; flanks green to orange-tan; venter gray to yellow-gray; throat yellow; iris bronze to gray-brown with median horizontal red-brown streak. Pristimantis gladiator most closely resembles P. leoni and P. pyrrhomerus but differs from both in having small heel tubercles, less prominent tubercles on the upper eyelid and above and behind the ear, and round rather than broad subarticular tubercles of the fingers. Pristimantis gladiator has large choanae as does P. leoni, whereas in P. leoni the prevomerine odontophores are concealed. Pristimantis gladiator is also distinguished from P. leoni and P. pyrrhomerus in having orange rather than bright red flash colors.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Ecuador

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Known only form the Papallacta valley near Cujuya, Napo Province, Ecuador, at elevations ranging from 2350-2910 m.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The four known specimens were collected under a log in pasture land or in forest in the cloud forests on the Amazonian slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes.

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss

References

Lynch, J. D. (1976). ''Three new leptodactylid frogs (Genus Eleutherodactylus) from the Andean Slopes of Colombia and Ecuador.'' Herpetologica, 32(3), 310-317.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Pristimantis gladiator <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/2930> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Apr 16, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 16 Apr 2024.

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