This “new” frog was hiding in plain sight for 100 years
Science Daily · 2026-09-05
Scientists at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador have formally described *Pristimantis milpe*, a common and widespread frog that had been mistaken for another species for over a century. The "Milpe Robber Frog" was identified by studying 19th-century specimens from Ecuador preserved at the Natural History Museum in London, comparing them with living populations. Lead author Santiago Ron, along with Jhael Ortega, highlighted that this frog, active at night with distinctive "clicking" calls, is widespread across more than 67,000 square kilometers of the Chocó forests in western Ecuador and southern Colombia, from sea level to 1,200 meters. The findings, published in the journal ZooKeys, underscore the continued importance of natural history collections for resolving long-standing classification problems and revealing that even common animals can harbor biodiversity surprises.