| Hyalinobatrachium dianae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Centrolenidae |
| Genus: | Hyalinobatrachium |
| Species: | H. dianae |
| Binomial name | |
| Hyalinobatrachium dianae Kubicki, Salazar, and Puschendorf, 2015 [1] | |
Hyalinobatrachium dianae, also known as Diane's bare-hearted glass frog, (or a Kermit frog due to its peculiar appearance) is a species of Costa Rican glass frog in the family Centrolenidae. [2] [3]
Hyalinobatrachium dianae is lime-green in color with transparent skin on its underside that allows one to view its internal organs. Its skin is uniformly colored without any noticeable light or dark variation. H. dianae has silvery-white irises with small dark spots. [1] The species has bulging white eyes with horizontally-shaped black pupils that resemble those of the Muppet character Kermit the Frog. UPI remarked "Hyalinobatrachium dianae has the kind-hearted muppet's sad but lovable eyes and lanky limbs." [2] H. dianae is roughly 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long and lives in rainforest foliage of Costa Rica. It is found at elevations of 400 to 800 metres (1,300 to 2,600 ft) in forest near the Caribbean coast. The known territory of the frog is mostly within protected conservation sites and thus the species is under minimal threat from human activity. [4]
H. dianae is distinguishable from other members of Hyalinobatrachium by its granular skin texture, its uniform color, and its advertisement call. [1] [2] DNA testing confirmed that it was a unique species; it was 12% divergent from its nearest relative, Hyalinobatrachium chirripoi . [1] The advertisement call consists of "a single tonal long metallic whistle-like note with a duration of 0.40–0.55 s ... and a dominant frequency of 3.35–3.44 kHz".[ citation needed ] The frog's discoverers postulated that the frog went undetected in previous surveys of Costa Rica because its call is more like an insect than a typical frog.[ citation needed ]
Hyalinobatrachium dianae was discovered in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica, and described from six specimens collected in the area. [2] The find was announced by researchers Brian Kubicki, Stanley Salazar, and Robert Puschendorf from the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center in April 2015. [5] It is the 14th species of glass frog known from Costa Rica, and 149th overall. [2] Kubicki chose the specific name in honor of his mother, Janet Diane Kubicki. [5]
Due to the frog's resemblance to Kermit, the discovery attracted a substantial amount of attention in popular media. Tweets and news articles comparing H. dianae to Kermit helped images of the frog go viral. [6] [7] The attention prompted Disney to release an official interview where Kermit talked about H. dianae, saying, for example, "Googly eyes run in our family." [8] Commenting on the attention, Kubicki said he was surprised because he had not noticed the resemblance himself, but was "glad" that it "ended up getting so much international attention" which drew attention to "the amazing amphibians that are native to Costa Rica and the need to continue exploring and studying the country's amazing tropical forests." [4]
Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson in 1955. Kermit is the pragmatic everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably as the showrunner and host of the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show and a featured role on Sesame Street. He has appeared in other television series, feature films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. He also served as a mascot of The Jim Henson Company and appeared in various Henson projects until 2004.
The glass frogs belong to the amphibian family Centrolenidae, native to the Central American Rainforests. The general background coloration of most glass frogs is primarily lime green, the abdominal skin of some members of this family is transparent and translucent, giving the glass frog its common name. The internal viscera, including the heart, liver, and gastrointestinal tract, are visible through the skin. When active their blood makes them visible; when sleeping most of the blood is concealed in the liver, hiding them. Glass frogs are arboreal, living mainly in trees, feeding on small insects and only coming out for mating season. Their transparency conceals them very effectively when sleeping on a green leaf, as they habitually do. However, climate change and habitat fragmentation has been threatening the survival rates of the family.
Hyalinobatrachium is a genus of glass frogs, family Centrolenidae. They are widely distributed in the Americas, from tropical Mexico to southeastern Brazil and Argentina.
Sachatamia ilex is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in eastern Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and western Ecuador. Common name Limon giant glass frog has been coined for this species, apparently in reference to its type locality in the canton of Limón, Costa Rica, and it is also known as the ghost glass frog.
Hyalinobatrachium chirripoi is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in extreme northern Ecuador, northwestern Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, as well as in Honduras. The specific name chirripoi refers to the Chirripó Indians inhabiting the area of the type locality, Suretka in the Talamanca canton of Costa Rica. The common name Suretka glass frog has been coined for it.
Hyalinobatrachium colymbiphyllum, also called the bare-hearted glass frog, plantation glass frog and the cricket glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae that is found in moist forests, often near streams, in countries in Central America and South America. They are small, green frogs with many similarities to other glass frogs, however, they have the most transparent undersides of any glass frogs. Their transparent undersides make them ideal bio-indicators for how global warming and other threats are affecting the animals in the forests.
Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni, also known as Fleischmann's glass frog or the northern glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the tropical Americas from southern Mexico to Ecuador. Specifically, these frogs occur in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. Notice that this and related species have often been confused with each other, and the exact distribution depends on the source. This frog tends to have green skin, pale yellowish spots, yellow fingertips and translucent skin covering its stomach.
Hyalinobatrachium iaspidiense is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae from South America. Its specific name refers Quebrada de Jaspe, its type locality.
Hyalinobatrachium orientale is a species of glass frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found on the island of Tobago and in eastern Venezuela. Its common name is eastern glass frog. The Tobagonian population has been described as subspecies Hyalinobatrachium orientalis tobagoensis(Hardy, 1984). The latter is sometimes referred to as Tobago glass frog. H. orientale is distributed throughout the Central Eastern ranges of the Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela and Tobago Island with an altitudinal range of 190 to 1200 meters.
Hyalinobatrachium pellucidum, also known as the Rio Azuela glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in lower montane rainforests on the Amazonian Andean slopes in Ecuador and Peru. The specific name pellucidum is Latin for "transparent" and refers to the transparent parietal peritoneum of this species.
The powdered glass frog or Chiriqui glass frog is a frog species in the glass frog family (Centrolenidae). The species is found from north-central Honduras south to northwestern Ecuador.
Hyalinobatrachium talamancae is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is endemic to the Limón Province, Costa Rica. Its common name is Talamanca glass frog. Its natural habitats are premontane wet forests. It is a regularly seen frog in suitable habitat.
Hyalinobatrachium taylori is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. Its common name is Taylor's glass frog, and in Spanish, ranita de cristal de Taylor. It may represent at least two distinct species.
Hyalinobatrachium valerioi, sometimes known as the La Palma glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in central Costa Rica and south to Panama and the Pacific lowlands and slopes of western Colombia and Ecuador; also in the Magdalena River Valley of Colombia.
Hyalinobatrachium vireovittatum is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in scattered localities in Costa Rica and west-central Panama. It has, however, been suggested that most populations actually represent Hyalinobatrachium talamancae, with Hyalinobatrachium vireovittatum restricted to its type locality in the San Isidro de El General district.
Hyalinobatrachinae is a subfamily of glass frogs that was established in 2009. They are found in the Americas from Mexico south to southeastern Brazil and Argentina.
Juan Manuel Guayasamin is an Ecuadorian biologist. He earned his Ph.D. in 2007 from University of Kansas, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and as of 2017 he is working as professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. His research interests include the evolution of glass frogs (Centrolenidae) and direct-developing anurans. His main contributions have been: phylogenetic taxonomy of glassfrogs, description of the variation of skin texture in frogs, description of numerous species of amphibians and reptiles, and a monographic review of all Ecuadorian glassfrogs. A team led by Juan M. Guayasamin discovered Hyalinobatrachium yaku in May 2017, a glassfrog with transparent venter. To date (2020), he has described a total of 6 amphibian genera, 55 species of amphibians, and 11 reptiles, including two geckos from the Galápagos Islands.
Priscilla Latham Hollister Starrett was an American herpetologist who researched anuran (frog) morphology, systematics and behavior.
Hyalinobatrachium nouns, also known as Nouns' glassfrog, is a species of glass frog in the family Centrolenidae, distributed in western Ecuador.