New species of frog discovered that can Color-Change

[Savwafair2012 Profile]

The Papua New Guinea frog, newly discovered, changes color during its life cycle, from the lively colors of a young frog (left), to the dull colors of an older member (right) of the same species.

Researchers from the Bishop Museum in Hawaii discovered the new frog on Sudest Island off of Papua New Guinea. The newly found species changes its appearance from juvenile to adulthood, a transformation that has never been seen in another frog. The new species, named Oreophryne ezra, is shiny black with bright yellow spots. The frog becomes a duller rose-color and the eyes change from black to blue.

“No other such instance is known in frogs,” Dr. Fred Kraus, one of the frog’s discoverers and herpetologist with the museum in Hawaii, told the media.

The discovery, published in Copeia, by Kraus and co-author Allen Allison also of the Bishop Museum, has them speculating that in its juvenile-stage the frog may be advertising that it is poisonous, since it resembles a poison-dart frog.

Yet why the frog changes color is a mystery.