Real Life Kermit The Frog Discovered By Scientists In Costa Rica
Kermit the Frog’s nearly identical twin has been discovered deep in the jungles of Costa Rica. New species are discovered every day, sometimes in the most unexpected places. Scientists have been working in the Talamanca Mountains for over a century, but it wasn’t until this year that a tiny, semi-translucent frog resembling a real-life Kermit the Frog hopped under their radar.
The new species known as Hyalinobatrachium dianae made its first appearance to the world in the February issue of the taxonomy journal Zootaxa. Glass frogs are characterized by a lack of skin pigmentation. There are 149 known glass frog species, 14 of which have been found in Costa Rica.
This cute see-through species of frog is rare and only found in parts of Central and South America. The H. Dianae glass frog is one of the most translucent of all; in fact you can actually see the frog’s organs through their underbelly. It’s not the translucent quality that resembles real-life Kermit The Frog, but instead those adorable big, bright black and white eyes.
Brian Kubicki, Stanley Salazar and Robert Puschendorf were the scientists that discovered the frog between 400m and 800m up the mountain. This marks the first glass frog discovered in Costa Rica in over 40 years. The frog was named H. dianae after one of the frog discoverer’s mother—Janet Diana Kubicki. Its name is also in honor of the Roman hunting goddess known as Diana.
H. dianae is unique to other glass frogs for a number of reasons, including its long, thin feet, Kermit The Frog eyes, as well as morphological and genetic differences.
The nocturnal frog also uses a rather unique call to attract females, one that is different from any other species ever discovered. The call is described as a long metallic whistle with rapid pulses, more similar to an insect than other frogs.
Scientists believe it was this insect-like call that helped disguise the frog from discovery for so long.