| Titicaca Water Frog | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Leptodactylidae |
| Subfamily: | Telmatobiinae |
| Genus: | Telmatobius |
| Species: | T. culeus |
| Binomial name | |
| Telmatobius culeus (Garman, 1876) |
|
Telmatobius culeus, commonly known as the Titicaca Water Frog, is a very large and critically endangered species of frog in the Leptodactylidae family.[1] It is entirely aquatic and only found in Lake Titicaca and rivers that flow into this lake in South America. While the lungs are greatly reduced, this frog has excessive amounts of skin, used to help the frog breathe in the high altitude in which it lives.[2]
In the early 1970s, an expedition led by Jacques Cousteau reported frogs up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in outstretched length, with individuals commonly weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), making these the largest exclusively aquatic frogs in the world (the African goliath frog is larger, but sometimes it can be seen on land). The snout-vent length is 7.5–13.8 centimetres (3.0–5.4 in).[2]
Once common, the Titicaca Water Frog has declined drastically and is now facing extinction due to over-collecting for human consumption, pollution, and predation of tadpoles by introduced trout.[1] It may also be threatened by the disease chytridiomycosis.[1] Several other species in the genus Telmatobius are facing similar risks.[1]