Raorchestes travancoricus

species of amphibian

The Travancore bush frog, Travancore tree frog, or Travancore bubble-nest frog (Raorchestes travancoricus) is a frog. It lives in India. Scientists have seen it in the Western Ghat area.[2][3][1]

Raorchestes travancoricus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Genus: Raorchestes
Species:
R. travancoricus
Binomial name
Raorchestes travancoricus
(Boulenger, 1891)
Synonyms[2]
  • Ixalus travancoricus (Boulenger, 1891)
  • Rhacophorus (Philautus) travancoricus Ahl, 1931
  • Philautus travancoricus Gorham, 1974
  • Philautus (Philautus) travancoricus Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001
  • Pseudophilautus travancoricus Li, Che, Murphy, Zhao, Zhao, Rao, and Zhang, 2009
  • Raorchestes travancoricus Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010

People have seen this frog on small, woody plants near farms, for example tea farms. They have also seen this frog in some tropical forests. Sometimes this frog sits on dead leaves on the ground. It also lives in a special grassy place called a vayal. People have seen this frog between 350 and 1802 meters above sea level.[1]

Appearance

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This frog can be 31 mm long from nose to rear end. Scientists believe that young frogs hatch out of eggs. They believe this frog is never a tadpole.[3]

Dangers

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This frog is in danger of dying out. This is because it lives in a small place and because human beings change the places where the frogs live. Humans cut down forests to build farms and cities and to get wood to build with. Many humans take a religious trip to the Western Ghats and disturb this frog. Scientists think climate change could also hurt this frog: Because it lives high in the hills, it cannot move to a colder place if its home becomes too hot. One of the places this frog lives is a protected park: Periyar Tiger Reserve.[3][1]

Scientists think the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis can also make this frog sick. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causes the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.[1]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2023). "Travancore Bush Frog: Raorchestes travancoricus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 3.1. p. e.T58927A166108743. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T58927A166108743.en. 58927. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Frost, Darrel R. "Raorchestes travancoricus (Boulenger, 1881)". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Krystal Gong; Michelle S. Koo (April 13, 2009). Kellie Whittaker (ed.). "Raorchestes travancoricus (Boulenger, 1891)". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved August 5, 2023.