14 DAY TRIAL // Two frog species native to Brazil are now hailed by wildlife researchers as the world's first venomous amphibians of the kind.
The creatures, shown in the photos accompanying this article, have bony spikes growing atop their heads. These spikes, a first for frogs, serve to deliver toxins into whoever makes the mistake of touching them.
True, several species of frogs that produce potent and quite often deadly toxins have been documented over the years. Still, these other species do not have a delivery mechanism and so are only considered poisonous.
What with their head spikes especially designed to inject toxins into their enemies, Aparasphenodon brunoi and Corythomantis greeningi count as venomous species, Science Daily explains.
In a report published in yesterday's issue of the journal Current Biology, researchers detail that the venom produced by Aparasphenodon brunoi is so potent that just 1 gram (0.03 ounces) can kill over 300,000 mice or about 80 humans.
As for Corythomantis greeningi, the venom it produces is somewhat milder and yet strong enough that the same quantity can kill more than 24,000 mice or 6 humans. This makes the amphibians deadlier than some vipers.
“Discovering a truly venomous frog is nothing any of us expected, and finding frogs with skin secretions more venomous than those of the deadly pit vipers of the genus Bothrops was astounding,” says researcher Edmund Brodie, Jr. of Utah State University.
