he… his name is Hyloscirtus hillisi! He’s from the Andes!
According to a study published in the journal ZooKeys, the amphibian has dark brown skin dotted with orange flecks and features a large and unusual claw-like structure protruding from the base of its thumb, known as a prepollex.
At present, it’s not clear what the purpose of this prepollex—which is essentially an undeveloped digit—could be. However, the team of researchers who discovered the frog—led by biologist Santiago Ron from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador—suggest it could be used to defend against predators, or wielded as a weapon to fight other individuals of the same species (for example, when males compete for mates).
![jareckiworld:
“Kaneko Tomiyuki - 妖怪 (Yōkai) [mineral pigments, Japanese ink, transparent watercolor, acrylic, pen foil on Japanese paper, 2017]
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