Luis A. Coloma

Luis A. Coloma is an amphibian biologist who was born in Guaranda, Provincia Bolívar, Ecuador, in 1962. He received his licenciatura in biological sciences from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) in 1987. In 1991, he was granted an MA by the Department of Systematics and Ecology at the University of Kansas, where he was mentored by William E. Duellman; his thesis was “Ecuadorian Frogs of the Genus Colostethus (Anura: Dendrobatidae).” For his PhD, he was under the guidance of Linda Trueb; in 1997, he completed his dissertation, “Morphology, Systematics, and Phylogenetic Relationships among Frogs of the Genus Atelopus (Anura: Bufonidae).”

For 19 years, from 1991 to 2010, he was Professor, Senior Lecturer in charge of vertebrates, and in charge of the herpetology section at the Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas at PUCE. He mentored 23 licenciatura students. Since 2011, he has been Director and Researcher at the Centro Jambatu de Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios in Quito, Ecuador. Coloma has published 69 scientific papers, with 56 of these articles focused on amphibians indexed in Scopus (as of 31 May 2023). Additionally, he has published 32 outreach publications, among the latter two coffee table photo books: Ecuador Megadiverso and Sapos, Ecuador Sapodiverso.

He has described or co-described 31 new species of frogs, among which 28 are Ecuadorian frogs of the genera Atelopus (7), Hyloxalus (6), Gastrotheca (4), Hyloscirtus (4), Engystomops (3), Pristimantis (2), Leucostethus (1), and Epipedobates (1).

Five species of frogs, one lizard, and one earthworm have been named in his honor by his colleagues. In 2007, he was awarded the Sabin Award for Conservation of Amphibians by the World Conservation Union and Conservation International. In 2008, he received the Saint Louis Zoo Conservation Award in recognition of his extraordinary lifelong dedication to the conservation of Ecuadorian biodiversity. In 2009, he was appointed member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences.