A team of scientists working in Ecuador say they have discovered 30 new species of frog and a “blunt-snouted, slug-sucking snake”.

Intriguingly, the researchers say the frogs do not produce tadpoles, but lay eggs in trees which hatch into miniature version of their parents. Of the 30 potential new species, 14 live atop one mountain: Cerro Pata de Pajaro.

As is always the case when animals are discovered in this fashion, these species are imminent danger due to loss of habitat.

“There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear as soon as, or even before, they are formally described by science”, says Paul Hamilton of Reptile and Amphibian Ecology International, which led the expedition that discovered them (press release).

As well as deforestation and the ongoing crisis in the amphibian world, climate change may also make their mountain home less pleasant for them.

Also found on this trip (pictured right):

That slug-sucker, which has a blunt snout “made just perfectly for jamming into the hole of a snail shell and providing that suction to suck the snail right out of there” (Daily Mail, Guardian).

A gecko small enough to sit on a pencil.

More frogs!

Images: Paul S. Hamilton/RAEI.org