A team of American and Canadian scientists has described a new frog species, ‘Pristimantis koki’, dedicated to Professor Philipp Kok, who has been a staff member of the Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz (UŁ) since 2020, reported the UŁ Communication and PR Centre.

Pristimantis koki is a tiny frog, less than 2 cm long, possibly toxic, currently known only from the Wokomung massif, a large tepui (table mountain) in the Pakaraima Mountains, Guyana, South America.

Dr Philippe J. R. Kok is a Belgian environmental and evolutionary biologist who has been working at UŁ since December 2020. He is a specialist in the herpetofauna of South American tepui – some of the world’s most mysterious and inaccessible ecosystems. He has described 50 new amphibian and reptile taxa (species and genera and even families) from South America. His research indicated that uncontrolled tourism and the associated human presence is threatening amphibian populations in one of the last pristine corners of the globe.