Ranitomeya sirensis (Panguana) in situ

[joshwholivesinperu]

A couple weeks ago, I made a trek to the Cordillera El Sira in central Peru. As many know, this is the only known locality of the nominal form of sirensis. Well, I didn't find the nominal form, but I did find lots of other frogs. I thought I would share some of my photos here. Many of you may have already seen these on facebook, but it is always nice to share them in the forums as well. Enjoy!

Our first day in Puerto Inca, we were greeted by a wonderful sunset. We were walking down this road trying to find a patch of forest on the outside of town to look for some critters.
Sun set over Puerto Inca, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

We managed to find a very nice little patch of forest next to a creek and there was a nice trail leading into it. We found a very small, rarely traveled trail branching off of the main trail. We decided to try this small trail. Upon taking the trail, we were greeted by a large tree right in the middle of the path. Taking a closer look, Ii noticed a large wandering spider (Phoneutria sp.) on the trunk. With great caution, my friend Jason decided to take a series of photos. Spiders in the genus Phoneutria are known to be QUITE dangerous. Further down the trail we went and realized this place is CRAWLING with Phoneutria! They were everywhere! So we proceeded with great caution. I decided to try my luck at finding Ameerega hahneli sleeping on top of plants. Within minutes, I had found a very nice specimen on top of a small leaf. I had caught it so we could get some photos of it, but when Jason and I tried to get it into position, it jumped into the darkness. We tried our luck at finding more, but had no luck. Instead, we had great luck finding very large and very beautiful Ameerega trivittata. Here is a dull specimen in the next picture.
A dull colored Ameerega trivittata, Puerto Inca, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

And here is a real stunner of a specimen! Most of them were quite stunning, but this one took the win.
Ameerega trivittata sleeping, Puerto Inca, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Ameerega trivittata sleeping on leaf, Puerto Inca, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

While I was taking pictures of the stunning trivittata above, Jason said to me "Oh s&¡t!!! Be careful dude! There is a big Phoneutria right next to your head!" I looked up and this guy was right in my face!
Phoneutria species, Puerto Inca, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

So, we decided we were sick of dodging the mosquitos and we walked back to town to grab some food. On the way back, we had found a tree in someones front yard that had a few trapdoor spider like mygalomorphs liiving in it. We decided to take a couple pictures. Then, we were quickly greeted by the owners of the property. A woman said hello and asked what we were doing. We showed here and she immediately started telling us about all the spiders they see around the house. We ask if we could take a look around their property. She said absolutely. So we started searching around their banana plants and were met by her husband. He was a very nice man and started helping us look for spiders. We told him about tarantulas of the genus Avicularia and that we would love to see one. He knew exactly what we were talking about and said they are always aroun the house. We started looking in one of the rooms for the kids and we found one on the ceiling, which was made of thatched palm leaves. He gave us permission to climb up onto the beams so we could get some pictures. Here are the results of that.

My friend Jason Newland quite excited about finding an Avicularia.
Jason up close and personal with an Avicularia, Puerto Inca, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Jason with an Avicularia sp. Puerto Inca, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

I love tarantulas as well and they are always a joy to find.
Me with Avic by josh richards, on Flickr

We went to a restaurant to have some roasted chicken and fries. When we were done, Ii asked how much the bill was. They guy told us 10 Euros each. WHAT!!! I told him I don't have Euros. Then he said it was 10 dollars each. I told him I don't have dollars. I have Peruvian Soles. Then his wife walks up and tells him to shut up and tells us it is 10 soles each. See, the guy thinks we were wealthy Europeans or Americans and wanted to make some quick cash off of us. 10 euros or 10 dollars each would have equaled 31 soles to 35 soles each when the actual cost was 10 soles each. I am glad his wife came and set him straight haha! But wait! It's not over yet! I handed him a 50 sole bill. I should have gotten 30 soles back from him. He comes back and hands me 5 soles and walks away saying thank you! Does he think that gringos can't do math?? I immediately said, "Sir, you shorted me! where is the rest?" He said, "Oh I'm sorry. Here you go!" The funny thing is before I could even finish saying to him that he shorted me, he already was apologizing and pulling the rest of my money out of his pockets. He knew what he was doing and he knew he had been caught. What does this tell us?? This tells us that this area is frequented by Germans. The only areas I ever see this kind of behavior from the locals are areas that have very special frogs that smugglers frequently go after. The same kind of things happen around the habitat of Ameerega silverstonei.

So the next day, we take a moto taxi for a 20 minute ride to a nearby native villiage. We were dropped off at a logging camp just past the villiage. We were immediately greeted by a wonderfully friendly lady and gentleman. They told us where we could find some trails into the forest. and talked to us a while about the surrounding forest, where they are from, and what they are doing there. We Thanked them and went on our way. Not far from the camp, we found a few very large Xanthosoma plants on the side of the dirt road. We were hot and tired from walking up this steep hill with heavy packs on. We decided to use it as an excuse to rest. "Lets look in these Xanthosoma for frogs." I climed up the road cut and leaned over to look into the plants. Sure enough, I saw a brilliant orange and black frog on a leaf with a tadpole on its back! "Jason, heres one!" He came up and had a look. This was his first time seeing a Ranitomeya. He was stoked! Now Jason is a tarantula guy. He loves them, but after being on a couple frog trips with me, he is quickly becoming a frog guy too. I started looking through some of the other Xanthosoma next to the one the male was near. "Here is the female to that male Jason!" I tried to catch one of them to get some photos as the frogs were not in a position to be photographed. I failed miserably. We decided to look around in the surrounding clearing as there was lots of Xanthosoma. We could hear males calling from the thickets, but couldn't locate them, I did end up finding another Ameerega hahneli and it was a wonderful deep burgundy/ bronze color. I could not catch it however. So we decided it is time to move on after just finding Phoneutria with egg sacs in the Xanthosoma.

Further up the road... like 2 kilometers up the road, we come across a logger cuting a log into 4x4 beams with a chain saw. Looking at his work with a chain saw, I was thoroughly impressed! He could cut with a chain saw, without guides, just eye balling it, PERFECT 4x4 beams that were incredibly straight and consistent thickness all the way down the beam. No twists and no flaws! Amazing! I asked the guy if there were any trails that lead into the forest toward the mountains. He told us that he is not from around here. He is from Oxapampa and he does not know of any trails in the area except one. He pinted us toward it and we thanked him and went on our way. We found the trail and made our way down it. The trail lead to a large clearing where we could hear the whirring of chain saws and could see the trees falling on the other side of the clearing. Such a sad sight.

Me walking through the clearing looking for Xamthosoma plants. Photo by Jason Newland.
Me looking for Xanthosoma plants by josh richards, on Flickr

We had found high numbers of Xanthosoma growing right onn the edge of the clearing. We decided to try our luck in these plants. I walked just into the edge of the forest to peek inside the phytotelma and I found myself surrounded by these annoyingly aggressive black ants that covered EVERYTHING! They thought they owned everything and they made sure you knew that! We set our packs down on the outside of the clearing where there were no ants and by the time we came back to get our packs just minutes later, they were covered in ants and they would attack you when you tried to retrieve your pack! How rude! Anyway, as we searched the phytotelma of Xanthosoma, we were greeted by flighty frogs, tadpoles, and eggs! There was a VERY healthy poplation on the edge of this clearing that was actively being cut! We found probably a dozen and a half frogs just in a short distance. We could hear males calling, and we saw many pairs sitting together in teh plants. Such a great sight to see, especially in a clearing! We searched through forest habitat as well, but we found no Ranitomeya. They were only found along the edges of clearings.

Xanthosoma growing on the edge of the clearing. There was a good density of frogs here.
Ranitomeya sirensis were very common in the Xanthosoma along this clearing. Cordillera El Sira, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Xanthosoma species, the preferred breeding pant of Ranitomeya sirensis in this area. Cordillera El Sira, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

Here is a beautiful female Ranitomeya sirensis on a downed bromeliad on the edge of the clearing.
Ranitomeya sirensis, panguana morph, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Female Ranitomeya sirensis, panguana morph, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Female Ranitomeya sirensis, panguana morph, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Ranitomeya sirensis on a bromeliad, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

And here is a young juvenile that was in the same bromeliad.
Juvenile Ranitomeya sirensis, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

We decided it would be a good idea to set up camp in the area and then we can head off and search some more without lugging around our packs. We found a great flat spot in the forest and quickly set up camp. We put our gear in teh tent and headed off with the cameras. We had made our way down the trail into a small wooded area with a nice stream and noticed some more clearings, so we decided to search them. With no luck finding frogs around those clearings, we headed back toward camp as we were running low on water and were tired. On the way back, we stopped to peek around the creek. We ended up finding a bunch of Ameerega hahneli next to the creek. This population is one of my favorites I have seen so far. The burgundy/bronze color to the back with gray spots is really nice I think!
Ameerega hahneli, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr
Ameerega hahneli, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

So after success finding lots of hahneli, we made it back to camp. Remember those black ants I mentioned earlier... Yeah... By the time we made it back to camp, our tent was COVERED in these black ants! They were even managing to get inside the tent some how! We decided there is no way we can sleep here or we will wake up without limbs or something the next morning. We had run out of water and were feeling dehydrated. We decided to pack the tent and gear and just head back to town.

With our packs back on, we made our way back up the muddy trail up the hill toward the forest at the top of the clearing. The sun was setting at this point and we were presented with this photo opportunity.

Sunset over the Cordillera El Sira, Huanuco, Peru.
Sun setting over the Cordillera El Sira, Huanuco, Peru by josh richards, on Flickr

Making our way back to the dirt road was a struggle for both of us, dehydrated and weighed down by heavy packs. The muddy, unstable trail did not help. We finally made it back to the dirt road where we were offered a much easier terrain to walk. We had made it back to the spot where we had found the first frogs not far from the logging camp. We again, used this as an excuse to take our packs off. It was quite dark at this point. I took my flashlight and looked into a large Xanthosoma. Sure enough, there was the pair we saw earlier hunkered in the bottom of a Xanthosoma axil. I managed to catch the male, but we were too tired and it was too dark to take pictures, so we just let him go.

Continuing on, we made it back to the logging camp and again, were greeted by very friendly people. This time, a few of the loggers were there enjoying a meal. We were invited to sit and offered drinks and food. We eagerly accepted. It was rice, beans, and white lipped peccari that we ate. It tasted great after that long hike. We had talked about our day and what we found and not long, a truck showed up. It was the owner of the ogging company with the rest of his crew. They all came to sit and eat. They were all very friendly and eager to get to know us. After dinner and all the chat was over, we were offered a ride back to Puerto Inca. What a relief! We didn't know how we were going to make the 20 minute ride back as there were no cars or moto taxis out there at this time. before we left, we offered the nice woman who made us food 10 soles for her kindness. She eagerly refused and said it was not needed. We had to almost force her to accept it haha! She told us she is not used to that kind of generosity. We were not used to is either! Rarely is anything done just out of kindness here. People always expect something in return.

When we finally made it back to Puerto Inca, we offered Juan (the owner of the logging company) 10 soles as well. He refused and said he was glad to help. We thanked him and told him we will probably meet again soon and he drove off. What a nice experience we had with those people. I will definitely be going back to the Cordillera El Sira, hopefully soon. It is a wonderful place full of diversity. Besides, it would be nice to find the nominal form of sirensis one day

Saludos from Peru!

Josh

[Revosok]

Cool!