''Hyalinobatrachium nouns'', also known as Nouns' glassfrog, is a species of

glass frog The glass frogs belong to the amphibian family Centrolenidae ( order Anura). While the general background coloration of most glass frogs is primarily lime green, the abdominal skin of some members of this family is transparent and translucent, ...

in the family Centrolenidae, distributed in western

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Discovery

''Hyalinobatrachium nouns'' was discovered (along with ''H. mashpi'') in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

of Western Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse hotspots in the world. The discovery was published by a team of scientists, namely Guayasamin, Brunner, Valencia-Aguilar, Franco-Mena, Ringler, Medina Armijos, Morochz, Bustamante, Maynard and Culebras in early 2022.

Naming controversy

The species was named after Nouns DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, following a donation from the group to the environmental nonprofit

Rainforest Trust Rainforest Trust is a US-based nonprofit environmental organization focused on the purchase and protection of tropical lands to strategically conserve threatened species. Founded in 1988, Rainforest Trust was formerly known as World Parks Endowm ...

, which runs conservation efforts in the amphibian's native habitat. This raised concerns amongst conservationists about associating the charity with a

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

project.

References

Amphibians of South America Amphibians described in 2022 nouns {{Centrolenidae-stub