Eleutherodactylus coqui

Contents

Eleutherodactylus coqui is a small terrestrial frog endemic to Puerto Rico that has become a well-known invasive species in parts of the Caribbean and the United States. The species is famed for its loud nocturnal call and cultural significance in Puerto Rican San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ponce, Puerto Rico communities, and it has been the subject of studies by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Research on the species intersects work by herpetologists associated with the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Puerto Rico, and the Natural History Museum, London.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Eleutherodactylus coqui was described by Oldfield Thomas and placed in the genus Eleutherodactylus, a clade that includes many direct-developing frogs studied by teams at the Field Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Taxonomic treatments reference contributions from researchers affiliated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature assessments and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Nomenclatural history involves comparison with congeners documented in monographs from the British Museum and analyses published in journals tied to the Royal Society. Common names and vernacular usage are discussed in cultural works from institutions like the Puerto Rican Cultural Institute and in field guides produced by the National Audubon Society.

Adults of this species display morphological traits measured in comparative studies by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, with diagnostic characters noted in keys from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum, London. Coloration and skin texture descriptions appear in identification guides used by the National Park Service and by research programs at the University of Florida and the University of California, Berkeley. Vocal sac anatomy and tympanum morphology have been documented by researchers publishing through the American Museum of Natural History and the Royal Society Publishing network.

Native ranges are primarily within the main island of Puerto Rico, including ecosystems managed by the El Yunque National Forest administration and parklands near San Juan, Puerto Rico and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Introduced populations were reported in Hawaii, Florida, and parts of the Caribbean, with detection alerts coordinated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Habitat associations have been the subject of landscape ecology studies with collaborators from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras and the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, and conservation planning has involved agencies such as the United States Forest Service and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (Puerto Rico).

Nocturnal calling behavior, including the species’ distinctive "co-qui" note, has been analyzed in acoustic surveys by teams at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and in ecological studies funded by the National Science Foundation. The species’ role in food webs was examined alongside work from the Smithsonian Institution and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), with diet studies referencing insect collections at the Natural History Museum, London and the Florida Museum of Natural History. Predation and parasitism records appear in publications connected to the American Museum of Natural History and the Royal Society journals, and interactions with urban environments have been explored by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Miami.

Reproductive mode is direct development, a subject treated in developmental studies at the University of Puerto Rico and in comparative embryology work at the Karolinska Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. Clutch characteristics and parental behaviors were documented in field studies coordinated with the El Yunque National Forest research stations and published via the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and the Royal Society Publishing outlets. Life history parameters have informed management guidance produced by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation assessments for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Conservation status and threat analyses have been compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and local authorities including the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (Puerto Rico). Threats include habitat alteration within lands managed by the United States Forest Service and climatic factors studied by teams at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Management responses to invasive populations have involved coordination among the United States Department of Agriculture, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with outreach supported by the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Puerto Rico.