New Guinea giant tree frog
| New Guinea giant tree frog | ||||||||||||
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New Guinea Giant Tree Frog ( Nyctimystes infrafrenatus ), Julatten, Queensland . |
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| Nyctimystes infrafrenatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Günther , 1876) |
The New Guinea giant tree frog , ( Nyctimystes infrafrenatus , synonym : Litoria infrafrenata ) also called the Australian giant tree frog , belongs to the Australian tree frogs (genus Litoria ). It is common in New Guinea , East Indonesia , Australia and the Solomon Islands .
features
Measured against the European tree frog ( Hyla arborea ) with a head-to-trunk length of 3 to 4.5 centimeters , the New Guinea giant tree frog is more than twice as large. The females reach a head-torso length of up to 12 centimeters, the males of up to 9 centimeters. The top is light green or brown. A noticeable white stripe runs down the lower lip to the base of the forelegs, and another white stripe runs along the back of the hind legs to over the fifth toe. In some specimens, these stripes are more pink in color. The hind legs are almost completely webbed , the forelimbs only up to half the length of the fingers. The belly is whitish.
The skin of the New Guinea giant tree frog appears fine-grained on the back, becomes coarse on the flanks and is very rough on the belly. The skin of the throat, on the other hand, is almost smooth. The fingers and the adhesive pads on the toes are large, and webbed feet are stretched between the toes. The tympanum is clearly visible.
distribution and habitat
In Australia, the New Guinea giant tree frog lives in the coastal areas of northern Queensland . On the east coast, its range begins as a coastal strip near Townsville and then extends north to Cape York . Its distribution also includes the coastal areas of the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria .
In New Guinea it mainly inhabits the lowlands up to 600 m above sea level. It can also be found in New Ireland as well as in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the Solomon Islands.
In eastern Indonesia, the New Guinea giant tree frog is known from the Moluccas and Timor (here probably only in the Indonesian part of the island).
The Guinea-lipped tree frog inhabits a wide variety of habitats, including rainforests and also high in Australia open forests ( wet sclerophyll forest ) and open forests ( open forests ). The species is also found in agricultural areas and often lives in barns and houses.
Way of life
The New Guinea giant tree frog is a tree dweller and is nocturnal. The breeding season is in spring and summer, when the females lay clumps of around 200 to 1000 eggs in still, slow-flowing waters such as rainforest pools or deep, slow-flowing rivers. The tadpoles hatch after eight weeks.
Systematics
The genus Nyctimystes , to which the New Guinea giant tree frog is counted, comprised 42 species as of August 2019. The New Guinea giant tree frog may be a species complex that consists of several species that cannot be distinguished from the outside. molecular genetic studies could answer this question.
Danger
Even if habitat destruction and pet trafficking put some pressure on the populations, the New Guinea giant tree frog is not considered endangered.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d SE Williams, JM Hero: Rainforest frogs of the Australian Wet Tropics: guild classification and the ecological similarity of declining species. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B 265, 1998, pp. 597-602.
- ↑ a b c d e Harold G. Cogger: Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia. 7th edition. CSIRO Publishing, 2014, ISBN 978-0-643-10035-0 , p. 168.
- ↑ a b c d e f Nyctimystes infrafrenatus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Djoko Iskandar, Mumpuni, Jean-Marc Hero, Richard Retallick, Stephen Richards, 2004. Accessed June 14, 2011th
Web links
- Litoria infrafrenata in Frogs of Australia , accessed August 7, 2019