Taipei tree frog

species of amphibian

The Taipei tree frog, Taipei green tree frog, or Taipei flying frog (Zhangixalus taipeianus) is a frog. It lives in Taiwan in Taipei County. People have seen it no higher than 1500 meters above sea level.[2][3][1]

Taipei tree frog
VU (IUCN3.1Q)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Genus: Zhangixalus
Species:
Z. taipeianus
Binomial name
Zhangixalus taipeianus
(Liang and Wang, 1978)
Synonyms[2]
  • Rhacophorus yaoshanensis Liang and Wang, 1978
  • Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) taipeianus Dubois, 1987
  • Zhangixalus taipeianus Jiang, Jiang, Ren, Wu, and Li, 2019

Appearance

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The adult male frog is about 35-45 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 45-55 mm long. They have green skin. They have webbed skin on all four feet. They have large disks for climbing on all their front and back toes. This frog can change color. It can change from dark brown to light green. These frogs can have yellow, blue, or white spots or other marks. There is yellow color on the belly and legs. The iris of the eye is yellow in color.[3]

Adult frogs live in trees. When it is time to lay eggs, they move to rice paddies or ponds.[3]

Frogs go back to the same place to lay eggs. The male frog digs a hole in the mud near a rice paddy or pond, sometimes underneath straw or leaves. The male frog sits in the hole and sings for the female frogs. Sometimes the male frogs fight each other. The female frog then lays her eggs in the hole. She covers them in foam. She lays 300-400 eggs at a time. The tadpole is gray-white in color with spots. The tadpoles swim in the water at the bottom of the hole for about 40 days. Then it rains, and the rain pushes the tadpoles into the rice paddy or pond.[3]

Danger

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This frog is not in danger of dying out, but there are fewer of them than there were. This is because it lays eggs in rice paddy fields where human beings grow rice, but people in Taiwan decided to grow different foods instead. So there are fewer places for the frogs to lay eggs where tadpoles can grow.[3]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2021). "Taipei Flying Frog: Zhangixalus taipeiensis". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 3.1. p. e.T59022A63868030. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T59022A63868030.en. 59022. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Frost, Darrel R. "Zhangixalus taipeianus (Liang and Wang, 1978)". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 David Chen (May 1, 2008). Kellie Whittaker; Michelle S. Koo (eds.). "Zhangixalus taipeianus (Liang and Wang, 1978)". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved April 26, 2023.