Even at full size, this critter is only two centimetres long. “Although we recognised that the male mating call of this species differs from all what we had heard before and therefore suspected it to be new, much effort was involved to finally spot it in the dense vegetation," said Andreas Hertz of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt and the lead author of the study. Speaking about the colour left behind on their hands, he adds, “We cannot say whether the dye is any good as a predatory defense, as we could not find any poisonous components. May be the colour is just easily washed out and has no particular function. However, for now, this peculiarity of the new species remains enigmatic." Indeed, the frog's name “citrinobapheus" is the Greek word for “yellow dye" and researchers believe that its colour may be unpalatable to predators, making it some sort of defense mechanism.
Published in Sanctuary Asia, Vol XXXII No. 3, June 2012
