Monday, November 7, 2016

First Venomous Frog Discovered




 Corythomantis greening


When one thinks about venomous creatures, frogs are not the first animals to come to mind. It is true that some frogs produce very toxic skin secretions. However, frogs that inject a venom have been described only recently. Greening's frog (Corythomantis greening) and Bruno's casque-headed frog (Aparasphenodon brunoi) both have bony spines on their skulls that pierce the skin and deliver their toxic skin secretions. Note that a toxic substance is a venom if it is injected into the target species.

Jared, C., Mailho-Fontana, P. L., Antoniazzi, M. M., Mendes, V. A., Barbaro, K. C., Rodrigues, M. T., & Brodie, E. D. (2015). Venomous frogs use heads as weapons. Current Biology, 25(16), 2166-2170.


http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150806-first-venomous-frogs-discovered


Image attribution: G.A. Boulenger

By Boulenger, G.A. - Boulenger, G. A. 1896. Descriptions of new batrachians in the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 6, 17: 401–406, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34513543

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