{
  "id": 809978,
  "title": "How a mystery kept in London led to the discovery of a new Ecuadorian frog",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/how-a-mystery-kept-in-london-led-to-the-discovery-of-a-new-ecuadorian",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-13T21:20:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mystery-london-discovery-ecuadorian-frog.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "London researchers have resolved a taxonomic mystery that persisted for over a century, leading to the discovery of a new frog species in Ecuador. Scientist Santiago Ron from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador traveled to England to examine historical specimens at the Natural History Museum, which had been misidentified for decades. These specimens, collected during the 19th century in Ecuador's Chocó forests, were compared with present-day frog populations. Researchers determined that these historical specimens had been mistakenly linked with another species, causing the newly identified Pristimantis milpe to remain unnamed for so long. This common frog inhabits an extensive range of 67,000 square kilometers, stretching from sea level to 1,200 meters in altitude, primarily in the Ecuadorian Chocó and southern Colombia. The study emphasizes the importance of connecting scientific names with living populations in nature and highlights that even prevalent species can hold significant scientific value and surprises.",
  "summary": "Scientists from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador officially described Pristimantis milpe, an abundant and widely distributed species that had been confused with another species for more than a century. To solve the mystery, researchers reviewed historical specimens collected in Ecuador during the 19th century and preserved at the Natural History Museum in London.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}