The Talamanca Mountains in Costa Rica has a new Glass Frog species. The frog, scientifically known as Hyalinobatrachium diannae, is transparent and can be seen with your naked eyes. The new taxonomic species was first introduced in Biotaxa’s online database for taxonomic journals (Zootaxa) on February 2. Glass Frogs can be found throughout Central America and South America due to their distinctive lack of skin pigmentation. Hyalinobatrachium diannae, a new species of Glass Frog, sounds more insect-like when it makes its advertising call. Image: Brian Kubicki. Herpetologists, both amphibian and reptile experts aren’t sure why Glass Frogs can see through. Many believe that their translucence is a camouflage. This could protect them from predators, or make it easier for them to capture prey. Scientists have identified 14 149 glass frog species, of which fourteen can be found here in Costa Rica. This is the first glass frog to be discovered in Costa Rica since 1973.. Brian Kubicki works for the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center and discovered this new species. He named it Janet Diana Kubicki. Stanley Salazar, Robert Puschendorf and Kubicki were the lead authors. They found six new species at higher altitudes in the Talamanca Mountains of western Limon and Heredia. This 2.5-cm-long amphibian is brightly black with white eyes and has very long, thin feet. Unique advertisement call H. dianae has many features that are similar to its cousins. The exception is its distinctive call. Kubicki of Tico Times stated that H. dianae’s unique advertisement call was “quite special.” You can view the internal organs of H.dianae from its underside. Image: Brian Kubicki. Male frogs use their calls to lure females. H.dianae sounds like a metallic whistle, with rapid pulses. Kubicki claims it sounds like an insect’s call, and that is why the species was so difficult to find. Kubicki was shocked to find the new species of glass frog in Costa Rica. He added, “Costa Rica has been well studied by herpetologists, so it was unexpected that this discovery would be made.” They published a March article in Mesoamerican Hispetology about the discovery of three Costa Rican fringe-limbed treesfrogs. Citation: “A new species glassfrog, the genus Hyalinobatrachium, (Anura, Centrolenidae), is found in the Caribbean foothills, Costa Rica,” Brian Kubicki and Stanley Salazar. Zootaxa. February 2015. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3920.1.4. BBC Video – New Glass Frog species
