Photograph courtesy Paul Ouboter via Conservation International

Sporting a spur on its heel, the aptly named cowboy frog is 1 of 46 potentially new species found during recent expeditions in the tiny South American country of Suriname, scientists announced this week.

For three weeks in 2010, scientists roamed three pristine rain forests near the southwestern village of Kwamalasumutu (map).

The surveys, which documented nearly 1,300 species, were part of Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), which typically sends small teams of scientists into remote habitats for intense, monthlong surveys.

Despite two decades of surveys, RAP has “a long way to go and not enough time,” program director Trond Larsen said by email.

“It’s imperative that we understand which species exist and where they live if we are to prevent them from becoming extinct.”

(Related pictures: “20 Surprising Species of the Past 20 Years.”)

—Christine Dell’Amore

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