NL·0330Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni
- Family
- Centrolenidae
- Native to
- Southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela (some northern South American populations have been split as separate species)
- Habitat
- Tropical rainforest, Cloud forest, Streams
Fleischmann's glass frog
Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni
Also calledNorthern glass frog · Rana de vidrio (Spanish)
A small, lime-green frog of Central and South American streamsides whose belly is so transparent that its beating heart can be seen. Males guard egg clutches on the undersides of leaves hanging over the water.
Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni, also known as Fleischmann's glass frog or the northern glass frog, is a species of frog in the family Centrolenidae. It is found in the tropical Americas from southern Mexico to Ecuador. Specifically, these frogs occur in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. It has often been confused with related species, and the exact distribution depends on the source. This frog tends to have green skin, pale yellowish spots, yellow fingertips and translucent skin covering its stomach. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iWhen sleeping it hides almost 90% of its red blood cells in its liver, becoming two to three times more transparent
- iiIts translucent body helps it blend into leaves by softening its outline
- iiiMales guard eggs for weeks, protecting them from wasps and fungus
In the field
Field marks
- aSmall, flat frog, lime-green with tiny yellow spots
- bTranslucent belly through which the heart and organs can be seen
- cLarge eyes facing forward, with gold irises
- dOften found on the undersides of leaves over streams
- Voice
- A high-pitched, rising 'peep' or 'wheet', repeated at intervals
- Not to be confused with
- Many glass frogs look alike. The reticulated glass frog (H. valerioi) has a net of yellow lines on its back. Emerald glass frogs (Espadarana prosoblepon) have green bones and a white spine on the arm of males. A close view of the underside and the call help with identification.
- Where to see it
- Streams at La Selva, Monteverde and Arenal (Costa Rica), Panama's Chiriquí highlands; night walks in the rainy season
- When
- Breeds in the rainy season
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Small insects and spiders
- Habitat
- Vegetation along streams in lowland and montane rainforest
- Size
- ~2–3 cm
Males call from the underside of leaves over streams on rainy nights and guard the eggs. Hatching tadpoles drop into the stream below.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela (some northern South American populations have been split as separate species)
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Marginalia
Oskar Boettger described it in 1893 from Costa Rican specimens and named it after Carl Fleischmann, who collected them.
Curiosity
A 2022 study in Science showed that sleeping frogs of this species pack red blood cells into their liver without blood clots forming, which interests researchers studying clotting disorders.
Kinship
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 21324.