Scientists have discovered a new species of extremely poisonous toad in Brazil

Despite that unquestionable beauty and its striking green fluorescent glow, the named frog Brachycephalus rotenbergae it’s highly toxic and although it is a little over 2.5 centimeters long, it contains enough venom transmitted by the glands in its skin to poison a human being.

The species was recently identified in Brazil and scientists have revealed that they have bony plaques on their skulls and backs that glow green through their skin under ultraviolet (UV) light, but cannot yet explain why.

This type of frog was discovered south of the Mantiqueira mountain range in the state of San Pablo, in a forest along the Atlantic coast of eastern Brazil.

Brachycephalus ephippium is a type of pumpkin toad, from the group of related species of brightly colored fluorescent frogs, in these shades.

As detailed by the researchers, the newly identified species is toxic and life threatening to small mammals and birds, but its threat to humans is minimal, as specified by the author of the study, Ivan Nunes, from the Paulista State University of Brazil.

Humans can touch them with bare hands, but they should not touch their eyes or mouth afterwards because of the risk of contracting diseases.

The discovery was documented in the scientific journal Plos ONE.

“The species is very poisonous, but only to animals that try to eat itNunes said. Its predators (birds, mammals, larger frogs) can be killed if they eat Brachycephalus.

According to the scientist, “we can handle them with bare hands, without gloves, there is no problem with that, we just can’t touch the eyes or the mouth after that. If we do this we may feel a little bad, but washing our hands may solve the problem.“.

Other frogs of the same genus carry an extremely dangerous poison called tetrodotoxins on their skin, and this specimen probably does too.

the tetrodotoxins They interfere with the signals transmitted between the nerves and the muscles, causing paralysis of the muscles.

This compound is also found in deadly pufferfish Fugu, which is famous for being specially prepared in Japanese restaurants for consumption, despite its deadly fame.

B. rotenbergae spends most of its time on the forest floor and has been photographed by researchers crouching between the branches.

The ultra-bright appearance may serve as a warning to predators that they are carrying venom, but it could also have evolved so that potential mates could be found in low light conditions.

Or their appearance could simply be used as an effective cover-up, the study authors suggested.

“There are a lot of tiny yellow and orange leaves, fungi and seeds in the soil, especially during the active season,” they noted.

Researchers believe that Brachycephalus rotenbergae is distinguished from other pumpkin toads by its morphological characters (especially bone structure and head shape), called vowels, and genetic DNA sequences.

However still they don’t really know why it gives off such an awesome fluorescent glow under UV light.

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