Tiny frog is the first new glass frog discovered in Costa Rica in more than four decades
From it sharp hawkish jawline to its white-shaded eye bulbous eye-balls a newly discovered species of Costa Rican glass frog is drawing inevitable comparisons to perhaps the most famous fictional frog -- the Jim Henson Muppet Kermit.
From the underside the similarity between the eye-catching frog and Kermit vanishes. Like most glass frogs, you can see its organs through the semi-translucent of its underbelly. But from the top, the similarities are uncanny, to say the least.
Glass frogs belong to a suborder named Neobatrachia of the general frog order Anura. They get their colloquial name for their semi-translucent skin, but many of them are quite colorful camoflage themselves in their rainforest homes. Located across Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, these tiny amphibians are regarded as tiny biosensors as they often fall ill in the presence of pollutants before larger creatures like mammals and birds might.
The newly discovered glass frog species is a dead-ringer for Kermit the frog. [Image Source: C.R.A.R.C.]
The discoverer of the new species, Brian Kubicki notes:
[The glass frogs are] good indicators of the general health of the eco-system.
How did Kubicki recognize that the green glass frog was a new and distinct species? Two of the most important clues were the coloration and the calls.
The new discovery is the fourteenth species of glass frog discovered in the jungles of Costa Rica. Kubicki is the founder of the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center (C.R.A.R.C.) a privately funded research center. Growing up on a farm in rural Minnesota Kubicki developed a love for amphibians, which he pursued as a career in college. He describes how he wound up in Costa Rica, writing:
After obtaining scientific research permits from the Costa Rican government I made my first trip to Costa Rica in August of 1997 for a three-week trip to conduct fieldwork with glass frogs. During my short visit to Costa Rica in August of 1997 I fell even more in love with the amphibians of the country and decided that I wanted to further my understanding of them by moving there on a permanent basis to dedicate my life to their scientific study. I moved to Costa Rica in 1998 and I have been a permanent resident ever since.
In 2002 Kubicki had seen enough success in terms of publications secure donations to purchase 49 hectacres of rainforest land in the Carribean foothills, located roughly two hours from Costa Rica's capitol city of San Jose. He launched the C.R.A.R.C. on this privately owned preserve, which he dubbed the Guayacán Rainforest Reserve. Most of his discoveries have been conducted in the field on the Reserve and much larger adjacent protected regions including the Macho River Forest Reserve, Tapantí National Park, Chirripo National Park, and La Amistad International Park.
Maps showing the location of the CRARC are seen above, along with a view of the privately owned jungle preserve. [Image Source: C.R.A.R.C.]
According to Kubicki Costa Rica is home to over 200 known species of amphibian or roughly 3.9 species per 1,000 sq. km of land. Kubicki has personally led the discover of nearly 40 amphibian species and has authored several prominent papers on amphibian discoveries and amphibian diversity in the region.
Joining him in his paper on the newly discovered "Kermit" lookalike are Stanley Salazar and Robert Puschendorf. The trio published the paper [PDF] in the Feb. 2015 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. Kubicki named the newly discovered species Hyalinobatrachium dianae in honor of his mother Janet Diane Kubicki.
A bottom view of the newly discovered glass frog species is seen. [Image Source: C.R.A.R.C.]
The discovery is salient as it's the first new glass frog species found since 1973. Kubicki hopes that the attention around the Kermit look-alike will help bring attention to the region's incredible array of species and help to secure funding for his efforts to conserve them.
As leader of the Glass Frog Research and Conservation Project, Kubicki is looking to protect these tiny rainforest dwellers. He's particularly focused on saving the critically endangered Lemur Leaf Frog, a close relative of the newly discovered Kermit look-alike. Recognizable via its eye-catching yellow and orange coloration the Lemur Leaf Frog is only known to be found in two small patches of Costa Rican forest. One of those patches is the Guayacán Rainforest Reserve.
(Ed. Note: I've reached out to see if this Kubicki is a relation of our former editor-in-chief Kris Kubicki. I'm not sure if it is, honestly!)
Sources: Zootax [paper; PDF], C.R.A.R.C. [press release], via USA Today
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