Report by Aarya Sinha
An international team of Scientists led by Dr Abel Batista, from Panama, and Konrad Mebert from Switzerland, has discovered a new species of rain frog and named it after Greta Thunburg (A Spanish climate activist).
This new species has been discovered in the Panama jungle (located in Isthmus of Panama, a narrow bridge that connects North and South America), primarily on Mount Chucanti, a sky island surrounded by lowland tropical rainforest in eastern Panama.
Pristimantis gretathunburgae or popularly known as Greta Thunberg rainfrog was originally discovered in 2012 and was thought to be a part of already categorized Pristimantis family (it is a genus of frog mainly found in South Caribbean and in central and southern America with 570 species found so far). However, recent DNA analysis confirmed that the frog is a new species.
About Pristimantis gretathunburgae
The Pristimantis gretathunburgae are about 3-4 cms long and exhibit distinctive prominent black eyes, have a contrasting light upper lip, a larger head, and a commonly single conical tubercle on the upper eyelid.
The species has been seen at altitudes between 700-1500 meters above Mean Sea Level (MSL) where trees of the forest are mostly covered with moss.
They spend most of their time tucked in leaves of bromeliads plants. Reproductive activities of such species are observed with the arrival of the rainy season.
According to the scientists, the discovery of such new species helps to highlight the importance of conserving threatened ecosystems such as Cerro Chucanti of Panamawhich.
Image credit: official Twitter account of Dr Konrad Mebert