Newly discovered glass frog in Costa Rica!

If you’ve never heard of or seen glass frogs, they’re amazing in a really interesting, bizarre way.  Their underside is transparent, at least transparent enough that you can see their organs.  If this is all new to you, check out this youtube video where you can see the beating heart of a live healthy glass frog, through its skin.

Now according to an article I read last night, a new species of glass frog was discovered in Costa Rica, in an area that has had a lot of research carried out.  Amazingly, this little frog has been living under scientists noses for decades.  There are almost 150 known species of glass frog, living in Central and South America, most of that diversity is concentrated in mid to high elevations.  Apparently this new frog went un-noticed for so long because its call sounds like an insect more than a typical glass frog.  You can read the article about this frog here.

I even went searching for them with my field biology class the first time I visited Ecuador; looking through streams with a headlamp in the cloud forest night.  I heard the calls of the frog everywhere but we were unlucky and I’ve never seen one in the wild so far.  I’m determined to see these guys up-close when Erin and I visit Ecuador this summer.