The Phenotypic Plasticity of Pristimantis mutabilis

This illustration was created as part of the research in exploring the best methods to teach high school or college-level biology students about phenotypic plasticity. This newly-discovered mutable rainfrog found in Ecuador has the ability to change its skin texture from tubercular to smooth within milliseconds depending on its environment. The frogs depicted in this image are modeling three different levels of smoothness in an accordance with their surroundings to demonstrate the adaptation of skin texture as part of the survival mechanism.