E15: New Species— of harlequin toad from Panama and the troubles to get one specimen!

Dr. Abel Batista is a researcher at the Universidad Autonoma de Chiriqui in Panama. He talks to me about his paper published in Zoological Research in which he describes a new species of harlequin toad!

We talk about the challenges of finding these environmentally sensitive organisms, the dangers of field work in areas where “narcos” and armed guerilla fighters roam, we listen to the call of this new species, and how threatened and endangered harlequin toads help us understand climate change!

The title of the paper is “A new species of Atelopus (Amphibia: Bufonidae) from eastern Panama.” The paper is currently available preprint in Zoological Research: http://www.zoores.ac.cn/en/article/doi/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.319

To learn more about Dr. Batista, follow him on Twitter, @abelbatistapty, or multiple places on Instagram: @abelbat, @fundación_los_naturalistas, @goherpingpanama.