Juan Carlos Cusi Martinez

Juan Cusi is a Peruvian herpetologist who has led and participated in the identification of multiple amphibian species. His research focuses on diversity, ecology, conservation and taxonomy. He is a Collaborator Researcher at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru. Additionally, Juan Cusi is part of the Edgar Lehr's Lab.

Early life and education
Juan Carlos Cusi Martinez was born and raised in Lima, Peru. Growing up, he attended Colegio Nuestra Señora de Cocharcas and developed an interest in biodiversity while visiting different places within the country with his family. He pursued a B.S. in Biology Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas at the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), where he graduated in 2011. And later pursued a Master in Zoology with mention in Herpetology in the same institution.

Career and research
Since 2011, he has been a biologist associated with the Museo Nacional de la Universidad de San Marcos. In the same year, he joined the Lehr's Lab as an associate researcher with the university where he completed his undergraduate education. Since then, he has been collaborating and publishing research with Lehr and his colleagues.

From 2012 to 2014, Juan Carlos Cusi was among the eight scientist scholars awarded a grant for independent research through the BioCuencas project. This project was created by Conservation International and the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Finlandia (MAEF) with the support of the San Martin Regional Government and CorpoAmazonia. Juan Carlos Cusi worked alongside Rudolf von May conducting research in the Alto Mayo Protection Forest and the Mishkiyacu and Rumiyacu Basins, aiming to assess amphibian diversity and conservation status. Fieldwork involved expeditions to various locations, gathering data on 24 amphibians and 6 reptiles.

Simultaneously, he led a community-based project named Conservation and Inventory of Amphibians at the Tabaconas-Namballe National Sanctuary in Cajamarca, Peru, through the Rufford Foundation, which awarded him a £6000 grant. He developed a series of workshops directed at park rangers from Chichilapa Biological Station in February 2013, August 2013, and January 2014 to involve them in conservation efforts. Additionally, he created a monitoring guide and photographic field guide featuring species from the area.

He was part of the team of specialists associated with the Museo de Historia Natural - UNMSM overseeing the release of the Guia de Inventario de Fauna Silvestre (Wildlife Inventory Guide) from the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment in 2017.

He had been involved in biological surveys, species identification, and paper publications since 2013 as part of the Lehr’s Lab. However, his research gained national and international attention in 2017 following the identification of three amphibian species: the Pui Pui Rubber Frog, Hill Dweller Rubber Frog, and Humboldt’s Rubber Frog. This discovery came after five years of fieldwork and biological surveys at the Pui Pui Protection Forest. Subsequently, these findings contributed to the establishment of the Pui Pui Protection Forest Master Plan, where he was acknowledged and thanked for the Lehr’s Lab's significant contribution to conservation efforts.

In 2021, Cusi contributed to a collaborative study on behavioral patterns in frogs worldwide, working with international researchers. The study resulted in the publication titled "Common Endocrine Signature Marks the Convergent Evolution of an Elaborate Dance Display in Frogs".

In 2023, he served as the second author in the publication announcing the discovery of a new snake species at Otishi National Park, named Tachymenoides harrisonfordi in honor of the actor Harrison Ford. The research was particularly challenging due to the remote location in the Valle VRAEM, an area known to be under narcotraffic control. At some point during the fieldwork period, they had to be evacuated by the Peruvian Air Force.

Notable publications

 * Lehr, E., Cusi, J. C., Fernandez, M. I., Vera, R. J., & Catenazzi, A. (2022). A new species of Proctoporus (Reptilia, Gymnophthalmidae, Cercosaurinae) from the puna of the Otishi National Park in Peru. Taxonomy, 3(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy3010002
 * CUSI, J. C., GAGLIARDI-URRUTIA, G., BRCKO, I. C., WAKE, D. B., & MAY, R. V. (2020). Taxonomic status of the neotropical salamanders Bolitoglossa Altamazonica and Bolitoglossa peruviana (amphibia: Caudata: Plethodontidae), with the description of a new species from Northern Peru. Zootaxa, 4834(3). https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4834.3.3
 * Lehr, E., Moravec, J., Cusi, J. C., & Gvoždík, V. (2017). A new minute species of Pristimantis (amphibia: Anura: Craugastoridae) with a large head from the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park in central Peru, with comments on the phylogenetic diversity of Pristimantis occurring in the Cordillera Yanachaga. European Journal of Taxonomy, (325). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2017.325