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.[1]
The generic name Cochranella honors Doris Mable Cochran, an American herpetologist.[2][3] Accordingly, common name Cochran frogs has been coined for the genus.[1]
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[1][2] (with some later adjustments[4]). These authors remedied the polyphyly of the genus by partitioning it into several new genera.[1][2]
The diagnostic characteristics of the genus are the following: (1) humeral spines are absent (small spine present in C. litoralis); (2) digestive tract is white (translucent in Cochranella nola) and the lobed liver is covered by a transparent hepatic peritoneum; (3) ventral parietal peritoneum is white anteriorly and transparent posteriorly; (4) webbing between the fingers III–IV is moderate to extensive; (5) bones are green in life; (6) dorsum is lavender in preserved specimens; (7) dentigerous process of the vomer and vomerine teeth are present (absent in C. litoralis); (8) males call from the upper surfaces of leaves and females deposit eggs on the upper sides of leaves along streams; (9) quadratojugal bone is articulating with maxilla.[2]
Currently eight species are placed in this genus:[1]
The AmphibiaWeb lists 16 Cochranella species,[5] including ones that the Amphibian Species of the World considers as having uncertain placement within the subfamily Centroleninae (Incertae Sedis).[6]
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.