Discovered in 2015, the Diane's bare-hearted glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium dianae) is long in name but small in stature. This inch-long species is one of more than 100 species of glass frogs, unique for their translucent skin, which leaves the internal organs visible. A nocturnal creature, it is native to the rainy foothills of Costa Rica, where it feeds on small insects. Frogs are often seen as indicator species, and this species' discovery is considered a promising sign of forest health in Costa Rica, despite the threat of deforestation worldwide.
The newfound frog belongs to the genus Hyalinobatrachium in the amphibian family Centrolenidae. With its 149 species, this family is found from southern Mexico, through Central America, into the northern half of South America, and along the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil and the extreme northeastern margin of Argentina. The new species, named the Diane’s bare-hearted glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium dianae), lives in the tropical wet forests and premontane rainforests of the Caribbean foothills of Costa Rica, at elevations between 400–800 m.
The species name honors Dr Kubicki’s mother Janet Diane Kubicki. “We propose the name ‘dianae’ in dedication to the senior author’s mother, Janet Diane Kubicki, who always encouraged Brian’s life-long interest with natural history and especially fishes and amphibians,” the team wrote in the paper published in the journal Zootaxa. “Additionally alluding to the Roman goddess of the hunt, wild animals and woodlands, Diana, who was believed to have a preference of dwelling in sacred forests on high mountains. This being in relation to our own ‘hunt’ among Costa Rica’s mountainous forests to better understand the amphibians dwelling within.” The new species was described from six specimens collected at three different sites along the Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica. Dr Kubicki and his colleagues, Dr Stanley Salazar of the Research & Adventure Park in Costa Rica and Dr Robert Puschendorf of Plymouth University, UK, distinguished it from other glassfrogs due to its unique combination of morphological characteristics, advertisement call, and genetic distance. The Diane’s bare-hearted glassfrog is a small frog about 2.7-2.9 cm long. It is lime green in color and has a transparent belly.
