Cochranella


Cochranella is a genus of glass frogs, family Centrolenidae. They are found in Central America from Honduras southward to the Amazonian and Andean cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Etymology

The generic name Cochranella honors Doris Mable Cochran, an American herpetologist. Accordingly, common name Cochran frogs has been coined for the genus.

Taxonomy and systematics

Cochranella was first described by Edward Harrison Taylor in 1951. The current delimitation of this genus follows from the work by Juan Manuel Guayasamin and his colleagues published in 2009. These authors remedied the polyphyly of the genus by partitioning it into several new genera.
The diagnostic characteristics of the genus are the following: humeral spines are absent ; digestive tract is white and the lobed liver is covered by a transparent hepatic peritoneum; ventral parietal peritoneum is white anteriorly and transparent posteriorly; webbing between the fingers III–IV is moderate to extensive; bones are green in life; dorsum is lavender in preserved speciments; dentigerous process of the vomer and vomerine teeth are present ; males call from the upper surfaces of leaves and females deposit eggs on the upper sides of leaves along streams; quadratojugal bone is articulating with maxilla.

Species

Currently 11 species are placed in this genus:
The AmphibiaWeb lists 18 Cochranella species, including ones that the Amphibian Species of the World considers as having uncertain placement within the subfamily Centroleninae.