Ghost Glass Frog (Sachatamia ilex)

Hardly would I picture myself walking through the dense forest, looking for frogs, but the time did come, and how rewarding it can be! For in my two trips to Yatama, I searched for the Ghost Glass Frog many times, even going uphill in a small rocky stream (which meant leaving the trail behind) looking for any evidence of its presence with the guides. Then in an almost bizarre twist, one night we found one and disregarded it as a Dwarf Glass Frog, given its small size. It was not until we found another Dwarf, that we understood our mistake. We came back all the way almost to the start of the trail, and sure the Ghost Glass Frog was there right where we found it earlier. To top if off, we heard another individual calling, and it actually descended to the same tree where the first individual was. Both were juveniles, but who cared now! Two of frogs of this species in a single night at the same place can only mean that I hit the jackpot.

The fact that we misidentified this frog initially is not necessarilly surprising. The Dwarf is a lot more common, and an adult Dwarf is a similar size as a juvenile Ghost. Also the eye pattern of the Dwarf is simillar, with blue reticulations on a white-yellowish background, but once inspected closely, the eyes in the pictures below don’t lie: They belong to the Ghost.