Rocket tree frog
| Rocket tree frog | ||||||||||||
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Rocket tree frog ( Litoria nasuta ) |
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| Litoria nasuta | ||||||||||||
| ( Gray , 1842) |
The rocket tree frog ( Litoria nasuta ) is an Australian tree frog from the genus Litoria . Its pointed snout and long legs, which allow it to jump out of the vegetation with wide jumps, have led to its common name rocket tree frog.
features
The rocket tree frog reaches a head-torso length of up to 55 millimeters. The frog's physique is streamlined, its legs are very long and allow it to jump up to two meters. The coloring and the drawing are extremely variable. The back shows different shades of brown from yellowish to reddish brown. Ridge-shaped skin folds extend along the body and their dark color, which sets them apart from the basic color, has led to the common name of Striped rocket frog ( Striped rocket frog ). A broad, dark brown stripe runs along the canthus rostralis on both sides from the tip of the snout to the eye and from here on over the lighter colored eardrum with short interruptions to the groin. The eyes and eardrums are outlined in light. The belly is white, the male's throat is yellow during the rutting season. The front and rear limbs are yellowish with black stripes on the underside and brown on the upper side. The fingers and toes have reduced webbing. Since the adhesive discs on the phalanges of the fingers and toes are small, the frog usually moves on the ground and is rarely found on trees for a tree frog.
distribution
The distribution area of the rocket tree frog extends in Australia along the coasts from the northeast of the state of Western Australia eastwards over the northern Northern Territory to north and east Queensland . In the south there is a disjoint distribution area to Gosford in eastern New South Wales and further south to Avalon , a suburb of Sydney . In addition, the frog has been detected in shallow coastal areas in both southern Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea.
habitat
The regions in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea are influenced by a warm, humid, subtropical to tropical climate. The region has a monsoon climate with strong seasonal winds and high rainfall. In the warm-temperate south-east of Australia, the rocket tree frog only occurs where it does not get too cold in the Australian winter, for example in the lowlands of the state of New South Wales.
Wooded areas and open forests near bodies of water, as well as the myrtle heather- covered edges of marshland, are suitable habitats for these frogs. This also includes temporary bodies of water that form in the rainy season, such as puddles and water holes. In the rainy season, even grasslands are flooded, on which the rocket tree frogs, as well as on the moist forest floors, forage.
Way of life
Reproduction and development
After heavy rains in spring and summer, the males call for the females. The mating takes place directly in the water. The females lay 50 to 100 eggs, which are surrounded by a gelatinous shell, on the surface of standing water. The males, who sit on the backs of the females and clasp them under the armpits so as not to miss the moment of oviposition, can then fertilize the clutch. The development time of the tadpoles takes one and a half to five months.
The tadpoles of the rocket tree frog benefit from their resemblance to the larvae of the cane toad ( Rhinella marina ), which was introduced to Australia in 1935 for pest control and has now spread across almost the entire continent. The toad is poisonous and even its larvae form poisons that prevent predators such as fish from devouring large numbers of tadpoles of the species. The larvae of the rocket tree frog are similar to those of the cane toad and thus operate a type of Batesian mimicry . They are also spurned by predators who have already made acquaintance with the larvae of the cane toad.
The adult rocket tree frogs also have advantages from the introduced cane toad. This is so poisonous that it decimates many animals that mainly feed on amphibians, such as monitor lizards and snakes , but also carnivorous marsupials . This also makes the frogs less likely to become prey for reptiles.
Bounce
The different families of amphibians have different adaptations to life on land and in water. The missile tree frog is one of the Australian tree frogs, the long time to the family of tree frogs were counted in a broad sense, which also includes the European tree frog belongs. These tree frogs are distinguished by the adhesive discs on their fingers and toes that allow them to climb trees. The rocket tree frog, on the other hand, only has small adhesive discs and does not like climbing.
In the rocket tree frog, morphological and physiological factors play together that enable it to jump with a range of two meters. Therefore, it serves as a model organism for science, on which reaction times and energy transfer of the locomotive system are researched. The acceleration and the maximum speed when jumping were measured as well as the jump distance achieved. The plantaris muscle , which also exists in humans as the sole of the foot, but has largely receded, and the muscles of the upper and lower legs play an important role .
attitude
The rocket tree frog is kept in some zoos and in Australia with permission also in private households. The owners must be at least 16 years old or have their parents' consent. The species must be kept in an aquaterrarium , keeping it in the backyard is not permitted because of the possible falsification of fauna by introducing non-native animal species into the environment.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Rob S. James, Robbie S. Wilson: Explosive Jumping: Extreme Morphological and Physiological Specializations of Australian Rocket Frogs Litoria nasuta. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, March 2008 doi : 10.1086 / 525290 .
- ↑ a b Litoria nasuta (Gray, 1842) . In: Atlas of Living Australia . Hosted by CSIRO. Retrieved January 9, 2021
- ↑ Litoria nasuta in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2004 Posted by: Jean-Marc Hero, Richard Retallick, Paul Horner, Ed Meyer, John Clarke, Dale Roberts, Stephen Richards, Fred Parker, 2004. Retrieved on January 9, 2021 .
- ^ David WM Nelson, Michael R. Crossland, Richard Shine: Indirect ecological impacts of an invasive toadon predator-prey interactions among native species. Biological Invasions, 12, 2010, pp. 3363-3369, doi : 10.1007 / s10530-010-9729-4 .
- ↑ Something different for dinner? Responses of a native Australian predator (the keelback snake) to an invasive preyspecies (the cane toad). Biological Invasions 12, 2010, pp. 1045-1051, doi : 10.1007 / s10530-009-9521-5 .
- ^ Native Animal Keeper Species List. In: New South Wales. Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney, Australia, January 1, 2019, accessed January 14, 2021 .
literature
- Marion Anstis: Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia. Reed New Holland, Sydney 2002
Web links
- Darrel R. Frost: Litoria nasuta (Gray, 1842) . In: Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference . Version 6.1. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1998–2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021