A recently discovered new species of frogs, particularly from a group called grass frogs, were found in the Amazonian Ecuador. Unlike the usual grass frogs that have transparent skin showing their organs, this new type of frog fully expose its heart.
In a study published in ZooKeys titled "A marvelous new glass frog (Centrolenidae, Hyalinobatrachium) from Amazonian Ecuador," the new amphibian is described by its relatively dark green spots at the back of its head and the foremost part of the body. The description was made by a team of scientists led by Juan Guayasamin of Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
In addition, the new type of glass frog has a characteristic long call. The frog is named Hyalinobatrachium yaku, where the species name "yaku," is translated to water in the scientist's local language and Kichwa. Water is a crucial part of glass frogs' reproduction
In an article published by Science Daily, the reproductive behavior if glass frogs are quite usual in this species of frogs. Males are often being called from the underside of leaves and look after the egg clutches.
The researchers noted some behavioral differences between the populations of the glass frog named Hyalinobatrachium yaku. Two of them were spotted in the riverine vegetation of an intact forest in Kallana They have been calling from the underside of leaves a few meters above slow-flowing, relatively narrow and shallow streams.
Other species of this glass frog was observed in an area filled with secondary forests located in an Ecuadorian village of Ahuano. It is the same with the amphibians that were found on the underside of a leaf.
The third locality of this glass frog lives in a disturbed secondary forest in San Jose de Payamino. The scientists studied frogs that have been perching on leaves of small shrubs, ferns, and grasses some 30 to 150 cm above the ground.
"Glass frogs presumably require continuous tracts of forest to interact with nearby populations, and roads potentially act as barriers to dispersal for transient individuals," the authors of this study said. The problems this frog might face is the problem of pollution, road development, habitat degradation, and isolation.
