FT261

A new species of tree frog discovered by herpetologist Dr Frederick Kraus from Hawaii’s Bishop Museum is unique even among this famously diverse group of amphibians. Found by Dr Kraus and colleagues on Sudest Island, just off the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea, it undergoes a dramatic change of colour as it transforms from juvenile froglet to adult frog, which is something that no other Oreophryne tree frog does. As a froglet, this very novel species, which has been formally christened Oreophryne ezra, is shiny black with bright lemon-yellow spots and black eyes, but by adulthood its colour has changed to a pale rosy peach shade, and its eyes have become blue. As yet, the reason for such a profound age-related change of hue remains undetermined. As its froglet colour scheme resembles that of certain species of arrow-poison frog, perhaps this serves to warn would-be predators that it too is poisonous and not to be eaten. Yet if that were true, why would it then abandon such a readily discernable mode of protection when it matured? Copeia, no.4 (Winter 2009/10), pp690–7.