Recently, exciting news about a newly discovered and described species of glassfrog has been published. This lime-green see-through frog is the living lookalike of Kermit the frog, the lead muppet in the late Jim Henson’s muppetshow.
The frog was discovered from the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica and named Diane’s bare-hearted glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium dianae) in honour of the lead author’s mother Janet Diane Kubicki. The last time a new glassfrog was described from Costa Rica was in 1973.
The authors (Brian Kubicki, Stanley Salazar, and Robert Puschendorf) distinguished H. dianae from other glassfrogs due to its unique combination of morphological characteristics, advertisement call, and genetic distinction. This new species was described from six specimens collected at three different sites along the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica between 400 to 900 meters above sea level. Including H. dianae, Costa Rica now has 14 glassfrogs inhabiting its tiny national territory! The findings are published on 19 February in the journal ZOOTAXA.
The glass frog’s name originates from its translucent, organ-revealing bellies — though the lack of pigmentation is still a mystery to scientists. Their green camouflage colouration, however, is obviously to help the nocturnal frogs go unnoticed on the undersides of leaves during the day.
Translucent underside of the Diane’s bare-hearted glassfrog (Credit: Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center)
(Source: Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center news, 17.04.2015)
