Luisa Fernanda Arcila-Pérez in the field with a glass frog.
After years of diligent work in the forests of Colombia and museums overseas, there is officially a new member in the family of frogs called the Centrolenidae, more commonly known as Glass Frogs.
Colombia has dozens of species of Glass Frog and they even feature on the latest 500 Colombian peso coin, but there is still more study to be done to identify the many knowledge gaps, for example, determining which physical characteristics are important for identifying different species.
Luisa Fernanda Arcila-Pérez, a biologist from Colombia's Universidad del Quindío, currently associated working with the Evolution Ecology and Conservation (EECO) research group and one of co-authors of the paper about the new frog says that although the frog was first identified in 2016, it was a five year process to collect physical data of both adults and tadpoles, the distinctiveness of their calls and genetic sequences.
"These data describe a new species of glass frog (Nymphargus pijao sp. nov.) endemic to Colombia that had been previously missasigned to Nymphargus griffithsi," she says.
In the paper "A multidisciplinary approach reveals a new species of glassfrog from Colombia (Anura: Centrolenidae: Nymphargus)" published in the journal Zootaxa in April of 2023, the researchers showed a low-cost method implemented in the field to rear tadpoles of the new species, which was crucial to the project.
"This research allows species to be classified for their correct identification and monitoring of their populations, which in turn can contribute to the management and conservation of biodiversity," Arcila-Pérez says, adding that the description of a new species can increase the understanding and appreciation of biodiversity by the local communities.
Luisa Fernanda Arcila-Pérez
From Hearing Frogs to Researching Frogs
Arcila-Pérez grew up in Armenia, a city at the heart of Colombia's coffee region and says her connection with frogs started when she was very young, visiting her grandparents in the countryside .
"I heard very loud sounds, but I did not know at the time by whom these sounds were emitted... today, I cherish those moments and spend my life researching the call of the frogs, which are animals that have been rejected by people for years," she says.
Later on, in first year university, an assignment about frog reproduction cemented her interest.
"In one species, some adult frogs ingest the eggs in a special sac in their stomach and later vomit them as small and developed frogs," Arcila-Pérez says, "This was fascinating to me and from that moment I decided to focus all my work on learning about frogs."
Arcila-Pérez says her experiences in the US, French Guiana, Panama and other parts of the world have developed her as a professional, but she believes that Global South scientists have many special qualities that they bring to their work.
"As a Latin American researcher, I believe that scientists from the Global South are passionate about research," Arcila-Pérez says, adding that they have many skills that make them much stronger in science, such as tenacity, passion, and a resourcefulness born of the economic limitations in science that several countries have.
"I think that these qualities have allowed us to carry out high level research and to be published in national and international journals of higher impact."
Another species of Colombian Glass frog (Centrolene, Centrolenidae) in Biogeographic Choco, ... [+]
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