Unidentified frog photos taken in Peruvian Amazon

23/07/2008 17:25:53

I have recently returned from a research expedition as part of my degree from Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent. The expedition took us to the Lago Preto Conservation Concession in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, 5 days boating from Iquitos.

I was collecting data on the population ecology of the lowland tapir, which involved a lot of treking through the dense jungle. On one of our ventures into the rainforest i came across an unusual frog sitting on a game trail, my colleague was studying the diversity and body condition of the frogs of the area so I took the frog back to the research vessel for further analysis.

After much consultation of the locally produced picture guide to the frogs of the area and after no avail when looking in a more comprehensive book on frog species, we had no idea as to what species the individual belonged to? It was clearly a tree frog, with particularly long-slender legs. I was wondering if you could help with the identification of the individual in question!

Possible ID theories

Hypsiboas boans
Raul Diaz, of http://www.amphibiaweb.org/ replies:

This frog looks like a Gladiator Frog (Hyla boans (or now Hypsiboas boans) - really the only arboreal frog reaching that large of a size in the neotropics (based on the scale compared to the computer it is sitting on), also with other morphological features. It does have a unique color pattern, I have only seen solid to semi-solid with a few specklings but this blotched form is interesting. For more information on this frog (or any frog) please check out Amphibiaweb.org (see here for the account for the frog above http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?query_src=aw_maps_geo-soam&table=amphib&special=one_record&where-genus=Hypsiboas&where-species=boans).

Hyla Geographica

Jim Harding & Richard Bartlett of Michigan State University believe that the frog is most likely Hyla geographica. It is the most variable of the species with the calcar spur on the leg.