Itapotihyla

species of amphibian

Itapotihyla is a genus of frogs. It is in the family Hylidae. It is monotypic. This means there is only one species in Itapotihyla: Itapotihyla langsdorffii. It is called the ocellated treefrog in English.[2] Most of these frogs live in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, but a few more live in eastern Paraguay, other parts of Brazil, and northeastern Argentina.[3]

Itapotihyla
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Subfamily: Hylinae
Genus: Itapotihyla
Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005
Species:
I. langsdorffii
Binomial name
Itapotihyla langsdorffii
(Duméril & Bibron, 1841)
Synonyms
  • Hyla langsdorffii Duméril and Bibron, 1841

Itapotihyla langsdorffii is large for a tree frog. The male frogs and female frogs look different. The adult female frog is larger. Most are 103 mm (4.1 in) from nose to rear end and the male frogs are 81 mm (3.2 in) long.[4]

These frogs lay eggs in bodies of water in the rainforest. Sometimes they lay eggs in bodies of water that dry up. Sometimes they lay eggs in bodies of water that are there all year.[1] This frog is an explosive breeder. That means it has many, many young at the same time. The female frogs lay 6000 eggs at a time, on average. The males sing very loud for the females.[4] Sometimes the male frogs grab and push and fight each other.[4] This is strange for frogs. In most frogs, the males fight each other in species where males are bigger than females.[5]

Food and threats

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This frog eats animals with bones on the outside, for example grasshoppers and crickets. It sometimes eats animals with spines, for example other frogs like Physalaemus crombiei and Scinax argyreornatus, or even birds. Scientists know because they found bones and feathers in the frogs' stomachs.[4] Snakes, for example Chironius bicarinatus, a colubrid, eat this frog.[6]

Itapotihyla langsdorffii lives in trees in rainforests. It only lives in places that human beings have not changed. The Itapotihyla langsdorffii that live in Paraguay are dying because of habitat loss but the ones in Brazil are not.

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Lucy Aquino, Magno Vicente Segalla, Julian Faivovich, Diego Baldo (2004). "Itapotihyla langsdorffii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T55796A11358140. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55796A11358140.en. Retrieved 17 November 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Itapotihyla Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  3. Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Itapotihyla langsdorffii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Vrcibradic, D.; Teixeira, R. R. L.; Borges-Júnior, V. N. T. (2009). "Sexual dimorphism, reproduction and diet of the casque-headed treefrog Itapotihyla langsdorffii (Hylidae: Lophiohylini)". Journal of Natural History. 43 (35–36): 2245–2256. doi:10.1080/00222930903015824. S2CID 84823586.
  5. Maffei, Fábio; Ubaid, Flávio Kulaif & Jim, Jorge (2011). "Itapotihyla langsdorffii (casque-headed treefrog): Male combat" (PDF). Herpetological Bulletin. 116: 35–37.
  6. Bovo, Rafael Parelli; Sueiro, Letícia Ruiz (2012). "Records of predation on Itapotihyla langsdorffii (Anura: Hylidae) by Chironius bicarinatus (Serpentes: Colubridae) with notes on foraging substrate" (PDF). Herpetology Notes. 5: 291–292. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2022-09-25.