Kermit the Frog Species Found: Photos of Newly Discovered Frogs Look Like Sesame Street Character

By Staff Writer | Apr 21, 2015 | 06:27 AM EDT

A new type of glassfrog, which looks like the Muppet character, Kermit, has been found by a group of scientists in Costa Rica.

The team found six specimens of the semi-translucent and delicate amphibian, named Hyalinobatrachium dianae. The newly discovered species has lime green skin and large white eyes with a dark pupil that looks similar to the Muppet's character, called Kermit the Frog. It was discovered in the Talamanca Mountains in Costa Rica by Brian Kubicki, founder of the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center and his team, according to Time.com.

According to USA Today, the frog is named in honor of Kubicki's mother, Janet Diane Kubicki.

The discovery penned by Kubicki and his co-authors, Stanley Salazar and Robert Puschendorf, was published in the journal Zootaxa.

The H. dianae frog species took so long to discover because it is difficult to spot. It is unique to other glassfrogs because of its distinctive sound, skin texture, and color.

"The advertisement call that the males of this species produce are very unique, no other known species of frog has a similar call, and this was indeed one of the traits that we used for the justification of it being a completely new species," he said. Since the call is so different - a long metallic whistle that sounds more like an insect than most other frogs - it "could have played a role in its going undetected prior," Kubicki said in an article by CBS News.

With regard the comparison of the discovery with a beloved childhood icon, "I think it is great that this species is getting so much attention around the world. Hopefully this will help increase the awareness of the incredible amphibians found in Costa Rica and the need to continue studying them and conserve their vital habitats," Kubicki and his team told the CBS News. "Costa Rica stands alone with its density of amphibian species; within a mere 51,000 square kilometers of national territory, 201 species of amphibians have been documented."

The photos of the newly discovered glassfrog species were placed beside those of Kermit the Frog, and the set has gone viral due to the similarity in their looks.

"With the addition of this newly described species, Costa Rica is known to have 14 glassfrogs inhabiting its tiny national territory," the research center announced in a statement on their Facebook page. Glassfrogs are only found in Central and South America and are distinctly characterized by their translucent skin which makes their internal organs almost visible.

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