Noblella is a small genus of frogs that is active during the day, unlike most neotropical cloud forest frogs which must be searched for at night. The genus is primarily Andean but has a few representatives in the Amazon basin as well. Our new Noblella species was first found by our “Keepers of the Wild”reserve warden Fausto Recalde in the Viscaya Unit of EcoMinga’s Naturetrek Reserve (see map). Further field research by our reserve manager Juan Pablo Reyes and his colleagues, and by Mindee Gudrum, a student at theSchool for International Training, turned up more individuals, which provided a more complete picture of the species’ range of variation. Molecular work by Santiago Ron of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador confirmed that it was new and in fact was one of the most phylogenetically distinctive species of Noblella. (The molecular study included almost all known Noblella species and many of their closest relatives; the resulting phylogeny revealed that the genus Noblella as currently recognized is really a mixture of two different lineages, and should be split up, but that is a story for another day.)
Noblella naturetrekii was named after the UK nature tour company, Naturetrek. Before EcoMinga existed, I had helped Naturetrek set up their Ecuadorian plant tours, and I guided the first ones. I was impressed by the level of knowledge of their tour participants. Naturetrek and its CEO David Mills was a strong supporter of the World Land Trust‘s worldwide conservation efforts, and after my friends and I founded EcoMinga, WLT reconnected us with Naturetrek. Since 2009 Naturetrek has given more tha $400000 to WLT for us, and with those funds we have built two “Naturetrek Reserve” units in the upper Rio Pastaza watershed, encompassing more than a thousand acres, to protect strategic and highly threatened Andean cloud forests. The main Naturetrek Reserve unit fills the gap between our Cerro Candelaria Reserve and our Machay Reserve, forming a critical link in our Llanganates-Sangay biological corridor between the two national parks in our area. The second unit, which we call the “Naturetrek-Viscaya Unit,” protects the lower slopes of the mountain range above the settlement of Viscaya. The new Noblella has now been found in both of these units. An additional population was discovered just outside the Naturetrek-Viscaya Unit, but this population was destroyed by deforestation and road-building just a few months after its discovery.
Our Banos-area reserves, with the properties of the Naturetrek units outlined in yellow (thin yellow lines are still in process of purchase), other units in red, and national parks in green. Click to enlarge.
This is not the only special species found in the Naturetrek Reserves. We have also found another new species of frog there, currently being described, and in the Naturetrek Viscaya Unit we have also found a new species of lizard, which is quite surprising. There are also many special plants in both units, including our recently described Blakea attenboroughii in the main Naturetrek Reserve Unit. I am sure there will be more new species from these reserves, because they have been carefully selected to protect unusual microhabitats.
David Mills and Naturetrek’s support for our work is ongoing, and Naturetrek will be helping us enlarge the area we protect. It is a model company in its support for nature, and deserves all the recognition it can get for this. Naturetrek has just been nominated ‘Best Safari, Wildlife & Nature Holiday Company’ in the prestigious British Travel Awards. Currently they’re in second place in the voting, and they’d greatly appreciate our readers’ support. Click here to vote:https://www.britishtravelawards.com/btaform.php?nomLink=117 They deserve it!
Lou Jost, Fundacion EcoMinga
Cutín Noblella de Naturetrek (Noblella naturetrekii), una nueva rana de nuestra Reserva Naturetrek
Traducción: Salomé Solórzano Flores
**IMG 01**- Conoce a Noblella naturetrekii, una nueva especie de rana de nuestro mosaico Reserva Naturetrek. Fotografía: Juan Pablo Reyes/Ecominga.
Noblella es un pequeño género de ranas que está activa durante el día, a diferencia de muchas ranas de bosques nublados neotropicales que pueden encontrarse por la noche. El género es principalmente Andino, pero también tiene algunos representantes en la cuenca amazónica. Nuestra nueva especie Noblella fue encontrada primero por nuestro guardia de la reserva “Guardianes de la Naturaleza”, Fausto Recalde, en la Unidad Viscaya de la Reserva Naturetrek de EcoMinga (Ver el mapa). La investigación de campo adicional llevada a cabo por nuestro gerente Juan Pablo Reyes y sus colegas, y por Mindee Gudrum, un estudiante de School for International Training, permitió la observación de más individuos, los cuales brindaron una imagen más completa del rango de variación de la especie. La investigación molecular llevada a cabo por Santiago Ron de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, confirmó que era una especie nueva y que, en efecto, era una de las especies filogenéticas más distintivas de Noblella (El estudio molecular incluyó casi todas las especies conocidas de Noblella y muchos de sus parientes cercanos; la filogenia resultante reveló que el género Noblella, como se reconoce actualmente, es en realidad una mezcla de 2 linajes diferentes, y debería dividirse, pero esa es una hisotira para otro día).
Noblella naturetrekii lleva el nombre de la compañía de turismo natural de Reino Unido (UK), Naturetrek. Antes de la existencia de EcoMinga, ayudé a Naturetrek a preparar y guiar sus primeros recorridos de plantas ecuatorianas **Recorridos botánicos ecuatorianos/Visita a la planta ecuatoriana**. Estuve impresionado por el nivel de conocimiento de los participantes de tour. Naturetrek y su CEO David Mills fueron un fuerte soporte de los esfuerzos de conservación de World Land Trust, y luego de que mis amigos y yo fundaramos EcoMinga, WLT nos reconectó con Naturetrek. Desde 2009, Naturetrek ha donado más de $400 000 a WLT para nosotros, y con estos fondos hemos construido dos unidades de “Reservas Naturetrek” en la cuenca alta del Río Pastaza, abarcando más de mil acres (4.05 km2), para proteger los bosques nublados andinos estratégicos y altamente amenazados. La unidad principal de la Reserva Naturetrek llena el vacío entre nuestra Reserva Cerro Candelaria y nuestra Reserva Machay, formando un vínculo crítico en nuestro corredor biológico Llanganates-Sangay entre los dos parques nacionales en nuestra área. La segunda unidad, a la cual llamamos “Unidad Naturetrek-Viscaya”, protege las laderas más bajas de la cordillera sobre el asentamiento de Viscaya. La nueva Noblella ahora se ha encontrado en ambas unidades. Se descubrió una población adicional en las afueras de la Unidad Naturetrek-Viscaya”, pero esta fue destruida por la deforestación y la construcción de una carretera justo pocos meses después de su descubrimiento.
**IMG 02** – Nuestras reservas en el área de Baños, con las propiedades de las unidades Naturetrek delineadas en amarillo (Líneas amarillas finas todavía están en proceso de compra), otras unidades en rojo, y parques nacionales en verde. Click para agrandar.
Esta no es la unica especie especial encontrada en las Reservas Naturetrek. También hemos encontrado otra nueva especie de rana aquí, la cual actualmente se encuentra siendo descrita, y en la Unidad Naturetrek-Viscaya hemos encontrado nuevas especies de lagartijas, lo cual es bastante sorprendente. También hay muchas especies de plantas en ambas unidades, incluyenbdo nuestra recientemente descrito Blakea attenboroughii en la unidad principal de la Reserva Naturetrek. Estoy seguro de que habrá nuevas especies de estas reservas, ya que han sido cuidadosamente seleccionadas para proteger microhábitats inusuales.
El apoyo de David Mills y Naturetrek continúa, y Naturetrek nos ayudará a ampliar el área que protegemos. Es una compañía modelo en su aporte a la naturaleza, y merece todo el reconocimiento que puede obtener por esto. Naturetrek ha sido nominado a “Mejor empresa de vacaciones de Safari, Vida Salvaje y Naturaleza” en el prestigioso British Travel Awards. Actualmente están en segundo lugar en las votaciones, y apreciarían bastante el apoyo de nuestros lectores. Click aquí para votar:https://www.britishtravelawards.com/btaform.php?nomLink=117 Lo merecen!
One of the most emblematic Andean birds is the Sword-billed Hummingbird, Ensifera ensifera. We have them in most of our reserves, but they are elusive and hard to photograph when we are hiking around. A few days ago, however, one of these wonderful birds landed in front of my kitchen window and stayed long enough for me to get my camera, so I finally got a picture of it. This species has co-evolved with several species of cloud forest plants with long tubular flowers; this hummingbird is the only organism able to pollinate these plant species. This particular individual may have been attracted to two of these co-evolved species, Passiflora mixta and Passiflora tarminiana, which both grow wild around my house (though this hummingbird is also perfectly able to feed from regular flowers too).
A large hummingbird like this needs lots of nectar for fuel, and each of the flower species that have co-evolved with this hummingbird have large nectaries loaded with sweet liquid. Below I’ve made cross-sections of both these passionflower species, so you can see the nectar chambers at the base of the tubes:
Left: P. tarminiana; right, P. mixta. Photo: Lou Jost/EcoMinga
All that nectar is a big temptation of other species too. Since other species don’t have tongues long enough to reach the nectar, they have to rob the nectar by breaking into the nectaries, drilling or biting holes in the back of the flower. Nectar -robbing doesn’t pollinate the flower, so the robbed nectar is wasted as far as the plant is concerned. Flower variations that happen to be more resistant to robbers will have more nectar to offer the Sword-billed Hummingbird, and will therefore get visited more often by it, and will get pollinated more often and leave more descendants. Thus natural selection will eventually lead to flowers whose backsides are somewhat protected against robbers. The thickened “armored” walls of the nectaries are visible in the above cross-sections.
The base of this passionflower has been pierced multiple times by nectar robbers, probably flowerpiercers. Photo: Lou Jost/EcoMinga.
Still, some robbers get through. Several entire genera of nectar-robbing birds have evolved to take advantage of this resource. The most dedicated thieves are the eighteen bird species belonging to the genus Diglossa, the Flower-piercers. They often have sharp hooks on their bill tips to rip holes in the backs of flowers. Some of the species that rob these particular passionflowers are the White-sided Flower-piercer, the Masked Flower-piercer, and the Glossy Flower-piercer. Many short-billed hummingbirds also drill holes in the backs of the flowers, or use the holes made by flower-piercers. Bees also rob the nectar by biting holes in the back of the flowers, and butterflies steal their share by visiting the holes made by all these other thieves. Some passionflower species put tiny nectaries on the backs of their flowers to attract ants and wasps, which might deter some of these thieves.
Black Flowerpiercer feeding on Fuchsia. Photo courtesy Roger Ahlman.
The Slater Museum of Natural History of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington kindly gave me permission to show their scan of the skeleton of this bird, surely one of the weirdest of all vertebrate skeletons. Note the huge keel of the breastbone (sternum), where the powerful wing muscles are attached in the living bird. Note also the bony base of the enormous tongue circling underneath and behind the head, and the little feet pointing backwards:
Sword-billed Hummingbird skeleton, scan courtesy of the Slater Museum of Natural History.
The Sword-billed Hummingbird occurs in most of our Banos-area EcoMinga reserves, at elevations from about 2000m to 3400m: Cerro Candelaria Reserve, Viscaya Reserve, Naturetrek Reserve, Rio Verde Reserve, Rio Zunac Reserve, Rio Machay Reserve, and Chamana Reserve. Our lowland Rio Anzu Reserve is too low for it.
Riama meleagris in our Naturetrek/Viscaya Reserve. Note the iridescence on the scales. Click to enlarge. Photo: Juan Pablo Reyes/EcoMinga.
A few days ago our reserve manager, herpetologist Juan Pablo Reyes, was working with community members in our Naturetrek/Viscaya Reserve a few kilometers north of the town of Banos (Tungurahua province) when he accidentally encountered a lizard he had never seen before. It proved to be Riama meleagris, a species that has previously been recorded from only two other sites, both in Tungurahua province. Both those other localities are now now highly disturbed, and the species is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Our reserve is the only protected area where this species has been found; it is good to know that it will be protected from deforestation here at least.
Rialma meleagris in our reserve. Click to enlarge. Photo: Juan Pablo Reyes/EcoMinga.
The former landowner, Jorge Peña, and his family, who now help us care for the reserve. Click to enlarge. Photo: Juan Pablo Reyes/EcoMinga.
Fundacion EcoMinga 