Amphibian
Golden Tree Frog
Phytotriades auratus
The Golden Tree Frog is one of Trinidad's most remarkable endemics: a tiny, brilliantly coloured frog that lives almost exclusively inside the rainwater pools held by giant bromeliads on the highest peaks of the Northern Range. Its global range is two mountaintops.
Identification
A small treefrog with smooth, golden-yellow skin and large dark eyes. Adults are approximately 3 to 4 cm long. The species is rarely seen outside its bromeliad microhabitat and is almost never photographed in the wild without dedicated effort.
Range and Habitat
Restricted to El Tucuche and the higher elevations of El Cerro del Aripo, the two tallest peaks in Trinidad. The species depends on giant tank bromeliads (Glomeropitcairnia erectiflora) that collect rainwater in their leaf bases, forming the entire aquatic environment in which Golden Tree Frogs feed, breed, and develop.
Conservation
Listed as Critically Endangered globally and designated an Environmentally Sensitive Species under the EMA Act. Both summit ecosystems lie within protected forest. Climate change poses an existential threat: warming temperatures may drive bromeliad communities upslope until there is no more mountain left.
Threats
- Climate change driving habitat upslope into nothing
- Disturbance of summit bromeliad communities
- Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis)