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Have you ever heard of the vorecas de-vidro? Also known as transparent perecas, they are small and almost invisible amphibians with a very peculiar feature: as its name implies, the skin is so thin that it enables the visualization of the internal organs, including the heart.
See curiosities about the amphibian. Photo: Reproduction
They live in forests in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, with confirmed records in Rondônia. The species recorded in the state are:
- Hyalinobatrachium Munozorum (Lynch and Duellman, 1973) – found in Porto Velho
- Teratohyla Midas (Lynch & Duellman, 1973) – Found in Porto Velho
- Vitreoorana Ritae (Lutz, 1952) – Found in Porto Velho
- Teratohyla Adenocheira (Harvey & Noonan, 2005) – Found in Campo Novo de Rondônia
Vorecids are not a single species, but several of the family Centrolenidae. Transparent skin is the result of the lack of pigments and very thin epidermis.
Transparency as a defense
The characteristic of transparency is not only aesthetic, it also serves as defense mechanisms. They can hide on the leaves, being almost “invisible”, especially considering that most species are just the size of a nail.
Although small, their sounds are potent. The vocalization of males is so acute that it can be confused with bat sounds.
How do they reproduce?
Video-vorecas are arborolas (live in trees) and depend on riparian forests-vegetation that grows on the banks of rivers and lakes-to reproduce.
Tourines live in the aquatic environment to metamorphosis. In adulthood, they become terrestrial and feed on insects and small invertebrates.
In some species, males protect eggs, avoiding predators and dryness. These species face the same risks as other amphibians, especially habitat destruction, especially of riparian forests; Contamination of soils and rivers by pesticides and high skin permeability, which facilitates the absorption of pollutants.
Even with the wide variety of Centrallenidae family species in the Amazon, in Rondônia there are still few records. They hardly appear in herpetofauna’s surveys – a set of reptiles and amphibians of a region.
