New Frog - The Kermit!

[boedicca]

This is so cool. A new species of frog has been discovered - and it looks just like Kermit!

As to why this is relevant to the environment, new species are discovered quite often. It's not all a disappearing act.


Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog has some competition.

A newly discovered species of glassfrog looks an awful lot like the famous Muppet.

Bulging white eyes, Kelly green skin, the works.

But the name's not nearly so catchy as its famous counterpart: Hyalinobatrachium dianae, or Diane's bare-hearted glassfrog. If you have to, you can call it H. dianae for short.

Scientists found the species on the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica....

Newly discovered frog species looks like Kermit - CNN.com

 

[Steven_R]

 

[waltky]

New frog species discovered in Colombia

Frog species with yellow eyebrows found in Colombia
Wed, 09 Mar 2016 - A new species of terrestrial frog with yellow eyebrows is discovered in the high-altitude moorlands of Colombia.

Researchers say they have discovered a new frog species with distinctive yellow eyebrows in Colombia. The frog has a dark camouflage pattern which allows it to blend in with the rocky soil on which it dwells. Researchers with the Humboldt Institute found the frog, which they named Pristimantis macrummendozai, in the Iguaquen Merchan moorlands, in central Boyaca province.

Froggie went a-courtin', a-ha!​

Colombia is one of the world's most biologically diverse countries. Researchers said that the species was well adapted to its moorland surroundings. They said that female Pristimantis took advantage of the moist soil to lay their eggs in the ground.

According to their studies, the Pristimanti's preferred breeding environment was at high altitude, above 3,500m (11,500ft). Environmentalists in Colombia have been fighting for the country's moorlands to be protected. Last month, they celebrated when Colombia's constitutional court banned mining in the moorlands, arguing that it could cause irreversible damage to their fragile ecosystem.

Frog species with yellow eyebrows found in Colombia - BBC News

 

[waltky]

If ya eat one, will it make yer belly glow inna dark?...

World’s first fluorescent frog found in Argentina
Wed, Mar 15, 2017 - ALL THINGS BRIGHT: In normal light the polka-dot tree frog found in Argentina’s Amazon basin has a dull complexion, but under ultraviolet light it glows bright fluorescent green

The world’s first fluorescent frog has been discovered in the Amazon basin in Argentina. Scientists at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires made the discovery by accident while studying the pigment of polka-dot tree frogs, a species common to the rainforest. In normal light the frog appears to have a dull, mottled browny-green skin with red dots, but under ultraviolet (UV) light it glows a bright fluorescent green.

Fluorescence — the ability to absorb light at short wavelengths and re-emit it at longer wavelengths — is uncommon in creatures that live on land. The translucent frog was found to use a combination of lymph and glandular emissions to fluoresce. The researchers, who published their discovery on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the trait enhanced the brightness of the frog by between 19 and 29 percent depending on the level of ambient light in its surroundings.

The compound causing the blue-green glow of the polka-dot tree frog was not previously thought to exist in vertebrates and its discovery has excited researchers. “This is very different from fluorophores found in other vertebrates, which are usually proteins or polyenic chains,” Maria Gabriella Lagoria, a photochemist at the University of Buenos Aires and study coauthor, told Chemistry World.

The discovery opens up the possibility that other amphibians might be able to fluoresce, particularly those with translucent skin similar to that of the tree frog. Speaking to the journal Nature, which first published news of the fluorescent frog, coauthor Julian Faivovich expressed his hope that the discovery would inspire interest in the phenomenon, adding that he hoped scientists would “start carrying a UV flashlight to the field.”

World’s first fluorescent frog found in Argentina - Taipei Times

 

[depotoo]

Well, shrimp fluoresce, and I have noticed after I eat them...

If ya eat one, will it make yer belly glow inna dark?...

World’s first fluorescent frog found in Argentina
Wed, Mar 15, 2017 - ALL THINGS BRIGHT: In normal light the polka-dot tree frog found in Argentina’s Amazon basin has a dull complexion, but under ultraviolet light it glows bright fluorescent green

The world’s first fluorescent frog has been discovered in the Amazon basin in Argentina. Scientists at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires made the discovery by accident while studying the pigment of polka-dot tree frogs, a species common to the rainforest. In normal light the frog appears to have a dull, mottled browny-green skin with red dots, but under ultraviolet (UV) light it glows a bright fluorescent green.

Fluorescence — the ability to absorb light at short wavelengths and re-emit it at longer wavelengths — is uncommon in creatures that live on land. The translucent frog was found to use a combination of lymph and glandular emissions to fluoresce. The researchers, who published their discovery on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the trait enhanced the brightness of the frog by between 19 and 29 percent depending on the level of ambient light in its surroundings.

The compound causing the blue-green glow of the polka-dot tree frog was not previously thought to exist in vertebrates and its discovery has excited researchers. “This is very different from fluorophores found in other vertebrates, which are usually proteins or polyenic chains,” Maria Gabriella Lagoria, a photochemist at the University of Buenos Aires and study coauthor, told Chemistry World.

The discovery opens up the possibility that other amphibians might be able to fluoresce, particularly those with translucent skin similar to that of the tree frog. Speaking to the journal Nature, which first published news of the fluorescent frog, coauthor Julian Faivovich expressed his hope that the discovery would inspire interest in the phenomenon, adding that he hoped scientists would “start carrying a UV flashlight to the field.”

World’s first fluorescent frog found in Argentina - Taipei Times