Terrestrial Life Finalist: Embryology
Embryology by Jaime Culebras
A goopy egg mass dangles, suspended, from the tip of a fern frond in Ecuador. The developing eggs were laid by a female Wiley’s glass frog, a species first documented in 2006. Since it was discovered, the small, transparent-bellied frog has remained rather mysterious: The amphibian is categorized as “data deficient” by the IUCN, meaning there’s not enough information available to know how the frogs are doing.
“The species included in this Data Deficient category are ignored in conservation strategies,” photographer Jaime Culebras told bioGraphic. “However, many scientists consider that they should be treated as an urgent conservation priority and are pushing to develop studies that allow us to know their true status,” he added.
