Andreas Hertz and his colleagues, reptile and amphibian specialists at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main Germany, reported the discovery of a new species of rain frog in the open access journal ZooKeys.
The new bright yellow rain frog species Diasporus citrinobapheus was found in the Serranía de Tabasará of western Panama. The frog excretes a chemical on its skin that stained the hands of the researchers who first handled the new species. The genus species name means yellow dyer rain frog.
A mere 2 cm (centimeters) in length, Diasporus citrinobapheus, was first located from its unique male mating call. A sample of the mating call can be heard at this site.
Rain frogs develop as fully grown frogs in the egg and have no tadpole stage in their development. The number of rain frogs in Central America is considered species rich and new discoveries occur frequently.
The researchers cannot as yet determine what the function of the yellow dye produced by the yellow dyer rain frog is. Toxic chemicals usually denote a protection from predation but there is no chemical evidence to support that conclusion in Diasporus citrinobapheus.
