Espadarana prosoblepon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Espadarana prosoblepon |
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Hyla prosoblepon Boettger, 1892 |
The emerald glass frog (scientific name: Espadarana prosoblepon) is a type of frog that belongs to the Centrolenidae family. It's also known as the Nicaragua giant glass frog. You can find this amazing frog in countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
These frogs live in warm, wet places like lowland tropical forests and cloud forests in the mountains. They are active at night and prefer to stay in low plants in old, untouched forests. The name "prosoblepon" comes from Greek words meaning "forward" and "see," which describes how their eyes are placed on their head. Even though they face some threats like trees being cut down and pollution, the IUCN (a group that checks on animals) says they are not currently in danger of disappearing.
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About the Emerald Glass Frog
The emerald glass frog is considered to be of "least concern" by the IUCN. This means it has a wide range, a large population, and isn't expected to decline much. These frogs can live for more than five years.
They are small and green, sometimes with dark spots on their backs. Their bodies are partly see-through, which helps them blend in with their surroundings. Their bones are green! Both male and female frogs have special "humeral hooks" on their arms. Males have larger ones and use them for fighting.
Emerald glass frogs live in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. They usually breed during the rainy season, which is from May to November. Male frogs are very protective of their space and will call out from leaves to mark their territory.
Body Features
Emerald glass frogs are medium-sized. Males are about 2.1 to 2.8 centimeters long, and females are a bit bigger, from 2.5 to 3.1 centimeters. When they are tadpoles, they are about 1.2 centimeters long and have eyes and nostrils on their backs.
What makes them special among glass frogs is that males have a noticeable spine on their arm (the humeral spine). They also have webs between their third and fourth fingers. Males are slightly smaller and lighter than females. The size of a male's body or his humeral spine doesn't always mean he will win a fight.
The frog's head is wide and looks round from above. Their eyes are large and stick out, with only a small space between them. They don't have a visible eardrum (tympanum). Because their skin is smooth and clear, you can often see their green bones and even their intestines, though a white membrane covers most of the intestines. Their fingers are different lengths, and some are webbed.
Colors and Patterns
While their body shape is quite similar among all emerald glass frogs, their colors can vary a lot. Some populations might be yellow, black, or different shades of green. When they are tadpoles, they are black, but later they change to brown or red.
Their backs are usually a bright emerald green, which is how they got their name. They might also have small black spots. Their fingers are a little lighter in color than the rest of their body. Their bones are green because of a special substance called biliverdin. The iris of their eyes is usually gray or silver with dark edges.
Life Cycle and Reproduction
Like most frogs, emerald glass frogs lay eggs (they are oviparous). They also have many partners during mating season (they are polygynandrous). Their mating season is from May to November, which is the wet season in their homes. Studies suggest that more rain means more egg clutches are laid.
Development of Young Frogs
These frogs start as eggs laid on land. Then, they develop into tadpoles that live in water. Finally, they become adult frogs that live on land. After the eggs are laid, it takes about 8 to 20 days for them to develop.
When it rains, the tadpoles often drop into the water below them. This is thought to be a way to hide from predators. The newly hatched tadpoles are about 12 millimeters long. They have special mouth parts that help them stick to rocks and other things in the stream. After hatching, they stay in the leaf litter and mud for several months. Once they grow into full adults, they move to live on land.
Egg Clutches
Emerald glass frogs lay their eggs in groups called clutches. Each clutch has about 10 to 40 black eggs, and each egg is about 10 millimeters wide. The eggs are laid close together and covered in a jelly-like layer. This forms a flat, round mass, usually about 50 millimeters across.
Parental Care
Female emerald glass frogs usually don't stay with their eggs for long, maybe a few hours after laying them. However, male frogs have been seen guarding the eggs as they protect their territory. While there's no clear proof that female care helps the eggs, male care seems to make the eggs more likely to survive.
Where They Live
Emerald glass frogs like wet places, whether on land or near water, in rainforests and other wet forests. Since they have both land and water stages in their life, they often live in plants next to streams. They prefer shallow streams because these areas have more rocks and logs with plants on them, which are good places to lay eggs and are less likely to flood.
Distribution and Range
You can find the emerald glass frog from eastern Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, all the way to the Pacific side of Colombia and Ecuador. In Colombia, they live in the northern and eastern parts, including the Magdalena Valley. They are also found along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.
They are often seen in Costa Rica, though their numbers have dropped a lot in Monteverde, Costa Rica, since the mid-1980s. This decline might be due to a disease called chytridiomycosis. However, other groups of these frogs in Costa Rica are stable. In some places, like Zarcero, the emerald glass frog is the most common glass frog. They are also common in Panama, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, and fairly common in Honduras and Colombia.
Their population is currently stable and not broken up into small, separate groups. Emerald glass frogs tend to stay in the same small area, usually within about 2 meters. However, they might migrate sometimes. Studies show that both male and female frogs are more active when it rains.
Altitude
Espadarana prosoblepon lives at heights from 20 to 1,500 meters above sea level. They prefer humid areas like forests and rainforests. They seem to be more common at higher altitudes because there are more stream habitats near rivers. The highest they've been found is 1,500 meters. In these high places, they like dense plant areas, such as evergreen forests along fast-flowing streams. They lay their eggs on nearby leaves in these spots.
Behavior
Emerald glass frogs are active at night (they are nocturnal), and their activity increases when it rains. Male frogs are very territorial and tend to stay in their chosen spot. This can lead to fights. When they fight, males use their humeral hooks to grab onto other males.
What They Eat
Adult emerald glass frogs are carnivores, meaning they eat meat. They mostly eat insects. Tadpoles can eat both plants and meat. They eat algae, small water creatures, and even other tadpoles.
Fighting Among Males
Male emerald glass frogs have large humeral spines that they use for fighting. The size of these spines varies between individuals and can affect who wins a fight. If another male enters a frog's territory, the two males will grapple with each other. These fights can last up to 30 minutes. This happens more often in areas where many males live close together.
During a fight, males hang by their toes on the same or nearby plants. They grab each other face-to-face, hooking their humeral hooks into the other frog's armpit area. After the fight, the males might make a small "peep" sound or just jump to another leaf. The fight ends when one male jumps to a lower leaf or flattens his body against the leaf, showing he gives up.
Calling and Sounds
Even though they are most vocal during the wet season, these frogs have been heard calling all year round. The male's call is used to attract a female to his territory. It sounds like a short "chee-chee-chee," sometimes with chirps in between. They can call from 1 to 43 times per hour, and each call lasts about 1.5 to 3 seconds.
The calling is loudest when the male is mating or right after the eggs have been laid. When two males are close to each other, they make a quick series of short beeps. Frogs that call for longer periods tend to have more success in mating.
History and Threats
Over the past 30 years, there has been a big drop (about 40%) in amphibian populations in South America, and the emerald glass frog was among them. This sudden decline was puzzling because there wasn't much disturbance in their habitats. After some research, scientists thought the decline was caused by a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which causes a disease called chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Luckily, emerald glass frog populations have stayed fairly stable after this big drop, which is why they are still on the IUCN's "least concern" list.
The emerald glass frog's numbers dropped a lot in Monteverde, Costa Rica, since the 1980s, but they have remained stable in other nearby areas. Several things might cause declines, including habitat destruction (when their homes are destroyed), harmful farming practices, chemical pollution, and diseases.
The chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is a threat because it harms the frog's skin and breathing system. Some frogs are less affected by this fungus because their bodies are different. The emerald glass frog was able to survive during the decline, which suggests it has a good resistance to the fungus. Another threat is a "chytrid collapse," where most of the population quickly dies off, but a few frogs manage to survive.
There isn't much information about what eats these frogs, but crabs and small predators like spiders have been seen eating them. In general, the main threats to emerald glass frogs are related to their habitat, such as trees being cut down (deforestation), people entering their habitats, and pollution from illegal crop spraying.
Conservation Efforts
There are efforts to protect the emerald glass frog. For example, in Ecuador, their homes overlap with protected areas like the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve and the Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve. They are also found in many protected areas in Colombia and Central America. Because the emerald glass frog has a wide distribution and large populations, it hasn't needed as much specific conservation help as some other endangered species.
See also
In Spanish: Espadarana prosoblepon para niños
