A scientist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences drove to Raleigh-Durham International Airport to pick up an unusual passenger in late April.
Research Curator of Herpetology Dr. Bryan Stuart said it seemed that a live tree frog jumped into the suitcase of a traveler from Honduras and took an unplanned trip to North Carolina.
He said, “My first reaction was I thought maybe somebody was trying to smuggle some sort of valuable frog from the pet trade.” But because it’s not a particularly colorful or valuable species of frog, he soon determined the passenger was being truthful.
“As soon as I saw it, I realized, okay, this is not one of those species that might be potentially in demand for the pet trade,” Stuart said, “And, as I told the officer, I agree with the passenger's story that this was an accidental stowaway.”
When Stuart met with the U.S. Customs & Border Protection agents who discovered the frog, they happily handed the amphibian over to the herpetologist — for “rehoming” but also hopeful for an accurate identification of the species.
“It wouldn't necessarily make for a display species because it's not a particularly colorful species, and it's not native to North Carolina. And so, for all those reasons, we've just decided just to sort of hold on to it,” he said, “We like the frog.”
But Stuart felt compelled to pursue a real ID. While his initial guess was that the frog belonged to the genus Smilisca, he needed a blood sample to sequence its DNA and make a solid species determination.
So, he and the frog jumped over to the lab of Chief Veterinarian and Director of Veterinary Sciences Dr. Dan Dombrowski.
After placing the frog under a routine quarantine and health screening, Dombrowski and Coordinator of Veterinary Sciences Shane Christian drew a small blood sample –and performed a DNA test.
“Because we weren't exactly sure where it came from, it's best not just to look at its morphology and its appearance, but to go ahead and get DNA from it to verify, to confirm, its identification.”
The test identified the stowaway as Smilisca baudinii – better known as the common Mexican tree frog.
It’s distributed throughout Central America and can be found in a limited area of the U.S. – in Texas near the Mexico border.
Stuart said, “We're just sort of holding on to it as a lab mascot for now.” But it’s more than a mascot. Stuart said the frog is also an amateur meteorologist of sorts.
“For a little frog, it makes a surprisingly loud call, and it seems to have to do with an approaching storm, (when) the barometric pressure drops,” he said.
