An Australian biologist has described the discovery of a large green “flying” frog in Vietnam that uses its big webbed feet to glide through forests.

Writing in the Journal of Herpetology, Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney, told how she and other researchers “came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log,” not far from the capital, Ho Chi Minh City.

She later determined the 3.5-inch creature is a relatively large new type of flying frog, a group known for its ability to “parachute” from tree to tree thanks to special aerodynamic adaptations such as webbed feet, National Geographic News reported Monday.

The new species is “one of the most flying frogs of the flying frogs,” she said, “in that it‘s got huge hands and feet that are webbed all the way to the toe pad.”

“At first it may seem strange that such a fantastic and obvious frog could escape discovery until now -- less than 100 kilometers [60 miles] from an urban center with over nine million people.”

Yet because they spend most of their time high up in the forest canopy they can easily escape notice.

Rowley has named the new species Helen’s flying frog to honor her mother “who has steadfastly supported her only child trekking through the forests of Southeast Asia in search of frogs.” (UPI)


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‘날아다니는 개구리’ 발견!

물갈퀴발을 이용해 숲속을 ‘날아다니는’ 개구리가 베트남에서 발견되었다.

시드니 호주박물관의 양서류생물학자 조디 롤리는 양서파충류학회지 (Journal of Herpeology)를 통해 호치민시 인근 지역에서 “통나무에 앉아있는 거대한 녹색 개구리를” 발견했다고 전했다.

내셔널지오그래픽 뉴스는 롤리가 발견한 개구리는 3.5인치의 거대한 날개구리로, 물갈퀴발을 이용해 나무에서 나무로 자유롭게 낙하할 수 있으며 거대한 손발에 깊게 파인 물갈퀴가 붙어있어 날개구리 중 ‘갑’ 이라고 한다.

이 날개구리는 몸집이 크지만 대부분의 시간을 높은 나무 위에서 보내기 때문에 최근에서야 발견된 것으로 전해졌다.

롤리는 발견된 날개구리의 이름으로 자신의 어린 시절부터 지속적으로 꿈을 응원해준 모친 헬렌의 이름을 따 “헬렌 날개구리”라고 지었다. (코리아헤럴드)