Agalychnis saltator

species of amphibian

The parachuting red-eyed leaf frog or misfit leaf frog (Agalychnis saltator) is a frog that lives in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Scientists have seen it between 15 and 1300 meters above sea level.[3][1]

Agalychnis saltator
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Phyllomedusidae
Genus: Agalychnis
Species:
A. saltator
Binomial name
Agalychnis saltator
(Taylor, 1955)
Synonyms[3]
  • Agalychnis saltator (Taylor, 1955)
  • Phyllomedusa saltator (Funkhouser, 1957)

The adult male frog is 34 to 54 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 57 to 66 mm long. It has red eyes with pupils that go up and down and open side to side. There is webbing on its back and front feet and disks on its toes for climbing.[1]

The frog's skin is green and it sometimes has yellow spots. Its sides can be blue or purple. It has a yellow-white or orange-white belly.[1]

For most of the year, this frog lives in the canopy, the tops of trees in primary forest. When it is time to lay eggs, these frogs go to swamps.[1]

This frog is called a parachuting frog because male frogs in mating season will jump from high plants onto low plants. It spreads the webbing on its toes as it falls.[1]


References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Peera Chantasirivisal (October 28, 2005). "Agalychnis saltator". AmphibiaWeb. Amphibiaweb. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  2. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2020). "Misfit Leaf Frog: Agalychnis saltator". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T55294A54360125. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T55294A54360125.en. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Frost, Darrel R. "Agalychnis saltator Taylor, 1955". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 16, 2021.