JAKARTA - Researchers have just discovered two species of frogs whose bodies are similar to unique glass. This species is probably already threatened with extinction. This amphibian comes from a mining site in the Andes in Ecuador, near the Guayllabamba river.
The new species is described as the Mashpi glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium mashpi) and the glass noun frog (Hyalinobatrachium nouns).
A closer look at their DNA and the different cells, helps to distinguish them from other glass frogs. The glass frog is characterized by a completely transparent stomach, showing a red liver, a textured white liver and digestive system, and, in the female, a greenish egg pouch.
"Initially, when we started collecting them, we thought they were the same species," said evolutionary biologist and lead author of the paper describing the new species, Juan Manuel Guayasamin.
This research paper was published in the journal PeerJ last week. "Many of these sites are very remote, which is one of the reasons why we were able to discover new species," said environmental science PhD candidate and study co-author, Becca Brunner.
"You can walk just a few kilometers over a ridge and find a different frog community from where you started."
Researchers have marked the two new species as listed as critically endangered. This is based on guidelines from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the organization that maintains the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, a catalog that tracks the conservation status of animals and plants.
Launching Metro, Thursday, March 24, researchers are concerned about pollution and habitat loss, as frogs are found in forests where agriculture and mining threaten their environment.
"If a mining company comes along and destroys some of the rivers that we know where these frogs are. That might be the extinction of the species," Brunner said.
The glass frog highlights the biodiversity of the Andes, and hints at how much is left to learn about the animals that live in the mountains. It is claimed, there are 156 known species of glass frogs living throughout South America, mainly in the northern Andes and Central America.
"The problem is not finding new species, the real challenge is having the time and resources to describe them," Guayasamin said.
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