New Frog Species Found In NYC 66
interval1066 writes "Ars Technica reports that a paper by biologists Catherine E. Newmana, Jeremy A. Feinbergb, Leslie J. Risslerc, Joanna Burgerb, and H. Bradley Shaffer, in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (abstract of paywalled article), describes a new subspecies of leopard frog has been found living exclusively in New York City. The researchers describe in the paper that the new frog has a distinctive croak, quite different from the two existing species of leopard frogs on the East Coast. The new frog is also stand-offish and tends to impotently honk its horn when stuck in traffic."
Okay (Score:5, Funny)
Yes yes but how does it taste?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You write a summary like this. The toxin surely kicked in around the last sentence.
But wait a minute! (Score:2)
I thought that was an almond whirl!?
Re: (Score:3)
Like chicken. What else?
Bwastun frawg? (Score:3)
The researchers describe in the paper that the new frog has a distinctive croak, quite different from the two existing species of leopard frogs on the East Coast.
Does it say "cruak" instead of "croak?" Perhaps the species originated elsewhere in New York...
Re: (Score:2)
Yes yes but how does it taste?
No, does it have good taste?
Re: (Score:1)
Yes yes but how does it taste?
With its tongue and nose, of course.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes yes but how does it taste?
like Kermit
protect it quickly! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
TMNF? (Score:5, Funny)
So do they live in sewers and learn ninjitsu from rats?
Oh wait. Wrong amphibians...
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, it's a crossover. One of the TMNTs thought he could turn a frog into a princess by... well, the rest is history.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It does mean that. It also is a class of vertebrates. Both definitions are correct according to the dictionary. Further, the word amphibian can also refer to an amphibious vehicle. In other words, in a science context, the term is very narrow, but in general usage, it is not.
Re: (Score:2)
Believe it or not, in the original TV show, there were actually frog "cousins" [wikia.com] of the Turtles. Though I don't think they ever caught on...
Its hard to make a plot about a frog on a fencepost.
It's Croak (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds a bit like it's saying "It's not easy being green"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
And here I was thinking it sounded like "Fuggedaboudit" instead of "ribbit".
Big deal. (Score:1)
So they've rediscovered the French population and its descendants.
The ones in the cars (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Or Jersey.
The NYC frogs just tend to jaywalk at every available opportunity.
CHUDS!! (Score:1)
Wow! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It could be that 7 million of them did notice it but none of them knew enough about frogs to know it was an unknown species.
Re: (Score:3)
You obviously haven't been to New York or you would know a true New Yorker doesn't notice anything as they whip by at 40 mph. The only thing that slightly slows a New Yorker is the crowd of tourists waiting on the corner to cross.
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Informative)
The only whipping by a New Yorker can do at 40MPH is in a taxi - not too many with cars, you know. You are thinking of the bridge and tunnel crew.
Though it is true that only tourists wait on the corners - the rest of us jaywalk or cross as soon as it is "clear".
These frogs - I have no idea where they live. Wildlife is so scarce that we notice ants. The only things that you see on Manhattan are pigeons, rats, mice, and hawks. I don't think I was ever bitten by a mosquito, though we do have bedbugs now. And roaches - god are there roaches. You only need one nasty neighbor to harbor those things and the whole building gets infested. Yay for poison. Central park has a few songbirds, but mostly starlings and sparrows - Brooklyn has geese in Prospect Park. You see seagulls and stuff in the shore areas or wherever there is garbage (ahem, Staten Island, ahem). I see people fishing (!!!) occasionally, which is just nuts. This frog was found in the Bronx, Staten Island, and in New Jersey - with the population centered around Yankee Stadium (!!!) so Manhattan isn't really relevant anyway.
Actually, I should stop saying "we" since I don't live there anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
My first thought was "How did anyone manage to visit such a remote location to study it?"
Re: (Score:1)
It's not that surprising. How many of the 8+ million would recognize a slightly different frog if they saw it in the street? I'm sure plenty of people noticed it, just didn't realize what they were looking at.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
From the NYT:
Local amphibian fans can be forgiven for not noticing the new frog's unique nature. "I wouldn't know which one I was holding because they all look so similar," said Ms. Newman, who is now pursuing her Ph.D. at Louisiana State University. "But all of our results showed this one's lineage is very clearly genetically dist
Re: (Score:2)
The French are mutating?!
OMG! WTF!
What is it's croak? (Score:2)
"Hey, I am hopping here!"? Then it croaks as it is flattened under a taxi?
Swims in the river and sings "it ain't easy glowing green?"
New species... (Score:1)
Is it the Green Folium Signum? I need a Signum for my gems!
Aww, crap! (Score:2)
It's April already. I missed half of March again.
I hate that.
Upon further examination ... (Score:3)
A truly ribbeting story (Score:5, Funny)
Everyone should hop on over and read it.
Re: (Score:1)
*tumbleweed*
*crickets*
*honking*
All Hail Hypnotoad! (Score:2)
Will it get me high? (Score:2)
IANAB - I am not a biologist (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm no biologist, but isn't this almost statistically certain to be happening all over?
I recall that in the London subway, evolutionary variation into distinct species was observed in insects (?) in different tube lines.
Hell, my house is over 100 yrs old, and I suspect that we probably have at least 3 identifiable strains of otherwise-common animals:
- house spiders: the ones on the living levels of the house are much more spindly, with darker colors that match our woodwork more closely. They are much calmer, staying still when disturbed. Their webs tend to be very fine and delicate.
- basement spiders: our cellar hosts a healthy population of spiders, roughly similar in form to the house spiders, but much paler, more aggressive, weaving thicker webs.
- houseflies: in our attic (not finished until we moved in, in 1992) there is a particularly massive type of housefly. Not a bottlefly, it is as far as I can see simply a gigantic version of a typical housefly, roughly 2x the size in each dimension (ie about the size of a large bluebottle fly). It's our speculation that they are seriously inbred and stupid - they are very slow-reacting, flying slow in straight lines, our dog bites them out of the air....and he's not too quick either. In fact, last summer we noticed one of these flies was killed by a closing door.
It's more a matter of at what point a 'drift' in some subgroup is significant enough to say "this is a new species" than "OMG, look, totally new frog here!", no?
Re: (Score:1)
It's our speculation that they are seriously inbred and stupid.
The larger houseflies are the ones that hatched later in the season and are usually only around during the winter.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
This is why I think the current taxonomy system is outdated. Everything has already evolved, even if a little bit from their parents. It is altogether different.
Re: (Score:1)
IAAB, the point is when they can no longer mate and produce viable offspring.
Yes, but.. (Score:1)
In New York... (Score:2)
Frogs in New York (Score:2)
The French: they're everywhere.
The Wired Article (Score:2)
I pulled it out of a torn-down building... (Score:2)
And it started singing!
Michigan J. Frog [youtube.com]
They're from Quebec (Score:1)