ECUADOR-SHAPE CHANGING FROG New shape-changing frog species named 'Pristimantis Mutabilis'

Record ID: 150505

  • Title: ECUADOR-SHAPE CHANGING FROG New shape-changing frog species named 'Pristimantis Mutabilis'
  • Date: 5th June 2015
  • Summary: MINDO, ECUADOR (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HERPETOLOGISTS FROM THE TROPICAL HERPING INITIATIVE IN ECUADOR HEADING INTO CLOUD FOREST IN MINDO
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ecuador
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8WUGJCT8ATC1WNPJPK8VE2F2F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A marble-sized frog capable of changing its skin texture to mimic its surroundings has been officially named 'Pristimantis Mutabilis' or 'Mutable Rainfrog'.
    The frog was first discovered in 2009 by American researchers Katherine and Tim Krynak in north-central Ecuador and marks the first amphibian known to have this unique shape-shifting quality.
    "While the study of amphibians is hundreds of years old, it's the first time that an amphibian, of which there are 7000 species, can change its texture in so little time. It has a lot of implications," said Juan Manuel Guayasamin, an evolutionary biologist at the Universidad Tecnologica Indoamerica in Ecuador.
    "First of all it's surprising, the short time one is watching the animal you can't believe it. It has many other implications, how these phenomena occur physiologically and also the implications for taxonomy, for the description of a species, because when you work to describe a species what you do is use a series of characteristics that we assume are stable: we guess this frog always has tubers [anatomical prominences] and assume that this other frog doesn't ever have tubers and that's how we differentiate them. To find one [frog] where there are such drastic variations in so little time it makes you think a bit about whether the taxonomy work we are doing is adequate or not."
    Scientists believe the frog's ability to dramatically transform its skin, from spiky to smooth and back again, in just a few minutes helps it camouflage itself to ward off predators.
    Jaime 'Snake' Garcia, a herpetologist at the Tropical Herping initiative in Quito, explained how new species are given names to make their scientific debut.
    "There are several ways to create a name [for the frog], in this case it's 'Pristimantis Mutabilis'. People sometimes confuse [the word] mutable, they think we are talking genetically but in this case the meaning is from the Latin, meaning 'shape change', mutable or changeable, which are the synonyms. In this case they named it 'Pristimantis Mutabilis', or it could be a location, 'Nympharbus las Gralarias', from the same reserve in which this species was discovered. With this [new name] the publication goes out and science has a new species," he said.
    A wide variety of frog species can be found in Ecuador, such as those known as 'glass frogs' because of their transparent skin.
    The South American country has the third-greatest diversity of amphibians following Brazil and Colombia.
    Due to its miniscule size and ability to camouflage, the mutable rainfrog - or 'transformer frog', as it's been dubbed - has proven difficult to locate.
    Guayasamin said the frog, even if in very close range, is almost impossible to find if it isn't singing, making it difficult for scientists to determine the scope of the mutable rainfrog population.
    "We want to get an idea of this species' population size, the distribution of this species. They are very special animals because they live in moss, they are very small animals, sort of green, brown, since they live in the moss it's very difficult to find them. If they are not actually singing it is almost impossible to find them. So we would like to do a guided sampling of those trees which have moss to see the size of the population to find out if it is or isn't a threatened species," he said.
    When Katherine and Tim Krynak first came across the tiny creature in 2009 they dubbed it 'punk rocker' because of its spiky texture. After placing it on a smooth surface they were surprised to notice later that the spikes had completely disappeared to imitate its flat surroundings.
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