The glass frogs belong to the amphibian family Centrolenidae. While 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, and only come out for mating season. Their transparency conceals them very effectively when sleeping on a green leaf, as they habitually do.
Cochranella is a genus of glass frogs, family Centrolenidae. They are found in Central America from Honduras southward to the Amazonian and Andean cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Hyalinobatrachium is a genus of glass frogs, family Centrolenidae. They are widely distributed in the Americas, from tropical Mexico to southeastern Brazil and Argentina.
Espadarana audax is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found on the Amazonian versant of Andes in northeast Peru, eastern Ecuador, and southern Colombia.
Centrolene ballux is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is known from a few disjunct localities on the Pacific versant of the Cordillera Occidental in southern Colombia and northern Ecuador. Common names golden-flecked glassfrog and Burrowes' giant glass frog have been coined for it.
Centrolene heloderma is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae from the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also known as Pichincha giant glass frog or bumpy glassfrog.
Centrolene lynchi, also known as Lynch's giant glass frog, Lynch's glassfrog, and the Tandayapa giant glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the Risaralda Department and Nariño Department on the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia and on the western Andes in the Pichincha, Cotopaxi, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Provinces, Ecuador. It is named after John Douglas Lynch, the herpetologist who collected the first specimens of this species.
"Centrolene" medemi is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. The species occurs in the Cordillera Oriental in the Tolima, Caquetá, and Putumayo Departments in Colombia and adjacent Napo in Ecuador. The generic placement of this species within the subfamily Centroleninae is uncertain. The specific name medemi honors Fred Medem, collector of the holotype. Common name Medem giant glass frog has been coined for it.
Centrolene notosticta is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found on the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia and on its extension to north, Serranía del Perijá, in the Zulia state in Venezuela.
Centrolene sanchezi is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the Andes mountains in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and rivers.
Nymphargus balionota is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Common names Mindo Cochran frog and mottled glassfrog has been coined for it.
Hyalinobatrachium aureoguttatum, also known as the Atrato Glass Frog and Sun Glassfrog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in northern Ecuador, Pacific lowlands and western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia, and eastern Panama. It occurs from near sea level to 1,560 m (5,120 ft) asl.
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 munozorum, also known as Upper Amazon glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the upper Amazon Basin in Ecuador, Colombia, and northern Bolivia; it is presumably to be found in intervening Peru; earlier records from Peru have been assigned to Hyalinobatrachium carlesvilai.
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.
Nymphargus is a genus of glass frogs in the subfamily Centroleninae, which was established in 2007. They are distributed in the Andean slopes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. They are characterized by lacking webbing among the outer fingers, lacking humeral spines in adult males, and having a lobed liver covered by a transparent hepatic peritoneum. They can be more specifically characterized as having a head that is darker green than the body, there being yellow spots surrounded by black on head and body, upper eyelids are dark lavender. The conservation status of the Nymphargus frogs was largely believed to be critically endangered due to the minimal research done on this genus. Once the scope of the research was broadened the conservation status was able to be determined as being vulnerable. More frogs of different variations were found increasing the genus’ population.
Rulyrana is a small genus of glass frogs. They are found in South America, on the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and possibly Bolivia, as well as on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Central and the western slopes of the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia.
Hyalinobatrachium yaku is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the Pastaza, Orellana and Napo Provinces of Ecuador. One of the remarkable characteristics of this species is that their belly and some internal organs are transparent leaving the red heart completely exposed through transparent parietal peritoneum and pericardium. The glassfrogs are generally small, ranging from 0.8 to 3 inches (2-7.5 cm) in length. This species can be differentiated from other frogs in the Hyalinobatrachium genus by the row of dark green spots down the middle of its back.
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.
