A new silent frog can communicate by touch

A new species of frog does not make a rib. In fact, there are no developers.

Many frogs have unusual markings that prevent them from turning translucent into shapeless jumpers (SN: 12/22/22; 6/15/22). A recently discovered amphibian lacks a voice. It joins seven other silent species of frogs, called spiny frogs, which live in East Africa.

Instead of coercion, the spines in the throats of male frogs help their female counterparts recognize potential through touch, like braille, says conservation biologist Lucinda Lawson of the University of Cincinnati.

Lawson and colleagues spotted the tiny frog, only about 25 mm long, in 2019 while surveying wildlife in Tanzania’s Ukaguru Mountains. The team immediately recognized the animal, now named Hyperolius ukaguruensislike a thorny frog’s throat with a reed. But something seemed to be happening.

“It is” [was] wrong color,” Cicero says. Most frogs from this group are green and silver, but this one was gold and brown. Some live measurements to check if particular frogs simply had different colors or if a new species could be revealed were the smaller eyes of the spiny-throated cane frog. The researchers agreed: “Let’s do some genetics,” Cicero said.

DNA tests were run on the two frogs as they suspected they belonged to a new species, and details related to the known spiny-throated species. Comparing the genetic makeup of golden frogs with that of other oddballs revealed that they were distinct from each other, Lawson and colleagues report on February 2. PLOS FIRST.

Each species of frog in this group is silent – included H. ukaguruensis — he lives in his solitary domain of the forest. All seven species previously recognized as endangered or vulnerable. This makes it possible to identify vital species and add them to the conservation priority list, Smith says. Then governments and institutions can begin to protect the region that the new potentially endangered animal calls home.