Herping Ecuador

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
JW35
Posts: 12
Joined: May 19th, 2014, 1:01 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Herping Ecuador

Post by JW35 »

Despite finding numerous amphibian species that I could not identify, there have been a lot of amazing species that I have found during my expedition. I decided to venture on a spontaneous 3 week trip to Ecuador with a friend. Although 3 weeks seems like a long time, it ended too soon for my liking. We started in Mindo Ecuador, ventured down south to Banos and Cuenca, then traveled west to the coast the explore Puerto Lopez beach town, to finally ending our journey in Tena, Ecuador (border of the Amazon). Unfortunately, we did not get to go herping nearly as much as we'd liked, but we were able to find some awesome species.

Our herp species we encountered was this tiny Pastures Rain Frog in MIndo, Ecuador (Pristimantis achatinus)
rsz_img_0861.jpg
rsz_img_0865.jpg
rsz_img_0887.jpg
Our next victims were two Western Basilisk Lizards (Basiliscus galeritus) posing on a nearby rock in Mindo, Ecuador.
rsz_img_0567.jpg
rsz_img_0569.jpg
We then encountered what I believe to be a Black Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus melanonotus) in Mindo, Ecuador
rsz_img_0890.jpg
rsz_img_0891.jpg
Next was a Yellow Groined Rainfrog (Pristimantis luteolateralis) in Mindo, Ecuador
rsz_img_1135.jpg
We then stumbled across a neat Tailess Whip Scorpion (Amblypygi) in Mindo, Eduador
rsz_img_1138.jpg
rsz_img_1142.jpg
rsz_img_1145.jpg
Our first snake on the trip was a tiny Graceful Snail Eater (Dipsas gracilis) in Mindo, Ecuador.
rsz_img_1153.jpg
rsz_img_1154.jpg
rsz_img_1156.jpg
rsz_img_1157.jpg

After our adventures at Las Cajas National Park, the waterfalls at Banos, and our beach vaction in puerto Lopez we ventured onto Tena, specifically a place called Campo Cocha in Ecuador. We found 6 snake species (1 dark black snake that i was unable to get a picture because it moved too quick, but was diurnal, 1 DOR, 2 unidentified snakes that i have photos of on my previous post.) and 6 frog species (5 are again unidentified on my previous post and 1 toad that emitted hallucigenic liquid that i couldnt photograph)

Our first species in this part of ecuador was what i think is a baby caiman
rsz_img_1826.jpg
rsz_img_1833.jpg
rsz_img_1841.jpg
rsz_img_1907.jpg
Our last species that I was able to photograph was a Blunt Headed Tree Snake (Imantodes cenchoa)
rsz_img_1903.jpg
rsz_img_1892.jpg
rsz_img_1898.jpg
rsz_img_1899.jpg
rsz_img_1895.jpg
My last animal which is technically not a herp species so forgive me but I thought was cool enough to share was this Pink ToedTarantula.
rsz_img_1949.jpg

That was primarily all of my decent photographs from my trip. Unfortunately half my time on the trip was spent to birding and the other half to herping so I didn't get to find nearly as many species as I wanted. Like i said i did make a previous post needing help with ID'ing a few amphibian and reptile species from my journey. I also found many other numerous herp species including the endangered Spring Rain Frog, a Gem Anole, Equatorial Anoles, Glass Frogs, a Palm Tree Frog, and a few other species, however that night was too rainy to bring my DSLR and had to resort to using my iphone. I may upload those pictures another day, but a heads up they are not the best quality. But If you enjoyed and want to check out my other photographs of herps or birds feel free to give me a follow on instagram @ J_W35. Im still really new to the forum and if i happen to have made a mistake (it happens more often than not) feel free to correct me. Again Thank you for any positive feedback!
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
DanW
Posts: 103
Joined: November 4th, 2010, 8:02 pm

Re: Herping Ecuador

Post by DanW »

Looks like you found some cool animals. If you go back to spend more time herping you should contact Eric Osterman, who runs Mindo Night Walks.

I'm pretty sure I have pictures of the same Basilisk on the same rock.

Dan
JW35
Posts: 12
Joined: May 19th, 2014, 1:01 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Herping Ecuador

Post by JW35 »

DanW wrote:Looks like you found some cool animals. If you go back to spend more time herping you should contact Eric Osterman, who runs Mindo Night Walks.

I'm pretty sure I have pictures of the same Basilisk on the same rock.

Dan
Yup, I did. A friend of mine, Bob Ferguson actually recommended him to me, we did both the Night Walk Tour with Nick, and the Private tour with Eric. We also stayed in their Air Bnb Tree house. Eric is insanely intelligent and really knows his stuff to finding reptiles We went out on a really good night and found probably around 9-12 different amphibian species. Hes a great guy!
User avatar
brick911
Posts: 3488
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:52 am
Location: Morrisville, PA

Re: Herping Ecuador

Post by brick911 »

Hey, that's me!
JW35
Posts: 12
Joined: May 19th, 2014, 1:01 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Herping Ecuador

Post by JW35 »

brick911 wrote:Hey, that's me!
Yes! Thank you again for the help, Eric is a really good guy and I'm happy to have had the experience of going out for a night with him.
Post Reply