
Everyone knows and loves Jim Henson creation and Muppets star Kermit the Frog, despite his not really looking all that much like a frog we’ve ever seen…not until now, that is.
A new species of frog called Hyalinobatrachium dianae, or the more understandable name “Diane’s Bare-hearted Glassfrog” (OK maybe that also doesn’t make much sense, but it will in a bit!), has been discovered in the Caribbean foothills of Costa Rica, and it looks a whole lot like Mr. Kermit.
You can learn more and check out an image of Kermit’s real-life counterpart below.
The species was photographed by Dr. Brian Kubicki, who submitted a report on the discovery with zoologist Stanley Salazar of the Veragua Rainforest Research & Adventure Park in Provincia de Limon, Costa Rica, and Robert Puschendorf of the School of Biological Sciences at Plymouth University.
Kubicki gave the creature the unique “Diane’s Bare-hearted Glassfrog” name based on two things: his mother, and its translucent underbelly that allows you to see some of its insidey parts, like the heart.
Here’s more on the discovery:
We would like to share the exciting news about a newly discovered and described species of glassfrog, Hyalinobatrachium dianae, from the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica. The authors (Brian Kubicki, Stanley Salazar, and Robert Puschendorf) distinguished H. dianae from other glassfrogs due to its unique combination of morphological characteristics, advertisement call, and genetic distance. This new species was described from six specimens collected at three different sites along the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica between 400 to 900 meters above sea level. Hyalinobatrachium dianae was named in honor of the senior author’s mother Janet Diane Kubicki. With the addition of H. dianae, Costa Rica is known to have 14 glassfrogs inhabiting its tiny national territory! The last time a new glassfrog was described from Costa Rica was back in 1973.
Here’s one of the images of the real-life Kermit taken by Kubicki. You can see more, including one of its see-through belly, at the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center website.
Image

[Source: via Mashable]
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