#neotropics

Osbert Salvin – Scientist of the Day

Osbert Salvin, an English naturalist with a special interest in birds, was born in Elmshurst, Middlesex, on Feb. 25, 1835.

#TwoFingeredSlothWeek! Today, let's talk about Hoffmann's sloths!

There are two separate populations of C. hoffmanni on either side of the Andes mountain range, as seen on the distribution map. These two populations are thought to have diverged up to 7 million years ago. There are 5 suggested subspecies. This species is named for Karl Hoffmann, a German naturalist who was the first person to give its taxonomic classification.

Just like human hair, sloth hair comes in lots of different colors. Two-fingered sloths living in the hot lowland forests tend to have blonde hair, while those sloths living at higher altitudes typically have darker and thicker fur to cope with the colder climate. You can sometimes even see ginger sloths!

Visit our website to learn more about sloths!

Photos: @suzieszterhas

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#SlothFact#Cute#TwoFingeredSloth

“must.. reach.. tiny.. purple... food..”

New species of frog from the Neotropics carries its heart on its skin

In the Neotropics, there is a whole group of so-called glassfrogs that amaze with their transparent skin covering their bellies and showing their organs underneath. A recently discovered new species from Amazonian Ecuador, however, goes a step further to fully expose its heart thanks to the transparent skin stretching all over its chest as well as tummy.

The new amphibian is described by a team of scientists led by Dr. Juan M. Guayasamin, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, in the open access journal ZooKeys.

It can also be distinguished by the relatively large dark green spots at the back of its head and the foremost part of the body. Additionally, the species has a characteristic long call.

The new frog is named Hyalinobatrachium yaku, where the species name (yaku) translates to 'water' in the local language Kichwa. Water and, more specifically, slow-flowing streams are crucial for the reproduction of all known glassfrogs.

Juan M. Guayasamin, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, Ross J. Maynard, Ryan L. Lynch, Jaime Culebras, Paul S. Hamilton. A marvelous new glassfrog (Centrolenidae, Hyalinobatrachium) from Amazonian Ecuador. ZooKeys, 2017; 673: 1 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.673.12108

Blue-diademed Motmot. Motmots live in neotropics, they nest in tunnels in the banks and have sometimes been observed to eat poisonous dart frogs. The two distinct feathers on their tails are thought to often be used to discourage predatory attacks. By swinging their tails the motmots inform the predators that they know a predator is around and it can quickly fly away- this prevents the motmot from spending energy every time for flying away, as well as the predator from wasting its energy on an attack that’s unlikely to be successful.