Green-eyed tree frog

species of amphibian
(Redirected from Ranoidea genimaculata)

The green-eyed tree frog, brown-spotted tree frog, fringed tree frog[3] or New Guinea tree frog (Ranoidea genimaculata) is a tree frog from New Guinea. It lives everywhere on the island except high in the mountains. It lives in both Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, no more than 1500 meters above sea level.[2] It also lives in Queensland, Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef,[4] but some scientists think these are really two different species. Scientists who think they are one species call the frogs in New Guinea and Australia Litoria genimaculata and scientists who think they are two different species call the New Guinea frogs genimaculata and the Australian frogs serrata.[3] Some scientists think the group of frogs in Australia is really two different species, serrata and myola, for three altogether.[5][6]

Green-eyed tree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Clade: Ranoidea
Species:
R. genimaculata
Binomial name
Ranoidea genimaculata
(Horst, 1883)[2]
Synonyms
  • Hyla genimaculata (Horst, 1883)
  • Litoria genimaculata (Tyler, 1971)
  • Dryopsophos genimaculata (Duellman, Marion, and Hedges, 2016)
  • Ranoidea genimaculata (Dubois and Frétey, 2016) [2]

The adult male frog is 4.6 cm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 7.1 cm long. Each frog has a bright green ring around its eyes, which is why it is called "green-eyed tree frog" in English. It has a brown-green body with patches of color that look like lichen that grows on wet rocks. That way, the frog can hide from larger animals that want to eat it.[4] The frog has very large discs on its toes for climbing. This frog has a bit of skin on its hind legs that looks like fringe. That is why it is also called "fringed tree frog" in English.[3]

This frog lives near streams with rocks in them. The male frogs tend to stay near the water, and the female frogs climb high into the trees.[3] The female frog lays eggs in pools, many hundreds at a time.[6]

This frog has colors that look like an hourglass on its back. Scientists thought they could take photographs of this frog to identify individual frogs, but the hourglass changes shape as the frog grows older.[7]

The female frogs are strong climbers.

This frog is not endangered now, but scientists think the fungal disease chytridiomycosis or a virus may have killed many of them.[4][6]

References

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  1. Ross Alford; Michael Cunningham; Keith McDonald; Stephen Richards; David Price (2004). "Litoria genimaculata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T41034A10391650. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T41034A10391650.en. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Ranoidea genimaculata (Horst, 1883)". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Green-eyed Tree Frog". Online Field Guide. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Green-Eyed Tree Frog". National Geographic. 10 March 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  5. Conrad J. Hoskin (August 7, 2007). "Description, biology and conservation of a new species of Australian tree frog (Amphibia: Anura: Hylidae: Litoria) and an assessment of the remaining populations of Litoria genimaculata Horst, 1883: systematic and conservation implications of an unusual speciation event (Abstract)". Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society. 91: 549–563. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00805.x. hdl:1885/37997. S2CID 208511577. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 J.M. Hero; R. A. Alford; M. Cunningham; K. R. McDonald (April 5, 2002). "Litoria genimaculata: Green-eyed Tree Frog". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  7. Joanna Smith; Adam Bland; Eleanor Gourevitch; Paul Hoskisson; Roger Downie (January 6, 2019). "Stable individual variation in ventral spotting patterns in Phyllomedusatrinitatis (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) and other Phyllomedusa species: a minimally invasive method for recognizing individuals" (PDF). Phyllomedusa. 18 (1): 13–26. doi:10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v18i1p13-26. S2CID 203411170. Retrieved September 7, 2020.