A short history of how Australia’s green tree frog got its scientific name…
The green tree frog of Australia whose common name is ‘White’s Tree Frog’ was named, as is often the case, after a man who discovered one back in 1790. John White sent a specimen back home to England for scientific classification where it joined the throngs of stuffed fauna emigrating to live in cabinets of curious things in the western world. Anyway, in short, because of a preservative used to stop the dead frog going mouldy on the journey, its skin’s greenness was wiped away and the species ended up looking all blue.
Let me explain: The green frog’s colouring is as a result of green and blue pigments covered in a yellow layer. This yellow layer was stripped away from the skin of the frog by the preservative used and left the frog in question with a blue appearance. So, classification experts back in the UK gave the frog the scientific name ‘caerulea’ meaning blue in Latin- which is still the name used till this day. He might of been blue on the outside, ladies and gents, but just like The Laundry, our froggy friend was certainly green on the inside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Green_Tree_Frog for a very nice picture of the frog.