Rowing frogs

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Rowing frogs
Rhacophoridae

Rhacophoridae

Systematics
Superclass : Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata)
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Frog (anura)
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Family : Rowing frogs
Scientific name
Rhacophoridae
Hoffman , 1932
Buergeria japonica
Polypedates colletti
Different color forms of the whitebeard rowing frog ( Polypedates leucomystax )
Rhacophorus dennysi
Rhacophorus schlegelii
Theloderma corticale

Rowing frogs (Rhacophoridae) are a family of amphibians . It is a tree frog-like, smaller to medium-sized frog that occurs in tropical Africa as well as in Southeast and East Asia. In English they are also referred to as "Old World tree frogs" - in contrast to the family of tree frogs (Hylidae), which are mainly found in America . However, they are related to the real frogs (Ranidae).

features

Rowing frogs live on trees and have widened adhesive discs on the finger and toe ends as a climbing aid. Like the real frogs, they have diplasiocoel-shaped vertebrae, some also procoele (indented front). Similar to the tree frogs, they have an intermediate cartilage between the penultimate and last finger and toe phalanx, which allows the limbs to be pressed onto the surface in any position of the limbs. Most species have large eyes with horizontal pupils and green, brown, gray or black and white back colors. In addition, the inside of the thighs are often brightly colored, which are intended to confuse predators when the frogs jump away and the colors become visible.

The best known are various representatives of the genus actual rowing frogs ( Rhacophorus ), which can glide several meters through the air with their oversized, dark or colored skins between the fingers and toes. The colorful, black-footed flying frog species Rhacophorus nigropalmatus is religiously revered in some areas of Malaysia .

Reproduction

For reproduction, the female rowing frogs produce a liquid before laying their eggs, which they beat into a foam mass with the help of their rear legs (in some species the males help to beat the foam). The female lays the eggs in this foam nest, which is hung on leaves or twigs above water, and the male then fertilizes them. Later, in most species, the tadpoles fall into the water after rain or secretions from the larvae have liquefied the foam. They then complete their larval development with the metamorphosis to land animals in the water. The Ceylonese rowing frog ( Pseudophilautus microtympanum ) lays a few yolk- rich eggs on tree bark, where they are guarded by the female until finished young frogs hatch.

Occurrence

The family Rhacophoridae is distributed in sub- Saharan Africa and in eastern Asia from the Indian subcontinent (including Sri Lanka ) via Southeast Asia with the Indonesian archipelago (excluding New Guinea ) to the Philippines , Taiwan and Japan . Mostly tropical rainforests are inhabited; However, species of the genus Chiromantis are also adapted to life in drier savannas .

Taxonomy

In earlier systematics, some African species of reed frogs (Hyperoliidae) were assigned to the row frogs. Other authors counted the row frogs as a subfamily to the real frogs (Ranidae) or to the reed frogs. Today two subfamilies are usually separated within the family Rhacophoridae, whereby Buergeriinae consists of only one genus ( Buergeria ) with five species, while the subfamily Rhacophorinae comprises around 400 species. Individual species, including the Philautus , the largest genus with more than 50 species , are already considered extinct.

The genus Chirixalus Boulenger, 1893, has since been completely dissolved depending on the systematic overview and is considered a synonym for Chiromantis or consists of only one species ( Chirixalus senapatiensis ), the other species have been assigned to other genera. The genus Dendrobatorana with the only species Dendrobatorana dorsalis is mostly characterized as incertae sedis , i.e. systematically unclear taxon .

Subfamily Buergeriinae Channing, 1989

Subfamily Rhacophorinae Hoffman, 1932

incertae sedis : genus Dendrobatorana Ahl, 1927

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Robin Kurian Abraham, R. Alexander Pyron, BR Ansil, Arun Zachariah, Anil Zachariah: Two novel genera and one new species of treefrog (Anura: Rhacophoridae) highlight cryptic diversity in the Western Ghats of India. Zootaxa 3640, 2, pp. 177-199, 2013 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3640.2.3
  2. ^ Darrel R. Frost: Rhacophorinae Hoffman, 1932 . In: Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference . American Museum of Natural History. 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  3. ↑ Biju SD, Senevirathne G, Garg S, Mahony S, Kamei RG, Thomas A, et al. (2016) Frankixalus, a New Rhacophorid Genus of Tree Hole Breeding Frogs with Oophagous Tadpoles. PLoS ONE 11 (1): e0145727. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0145727
  4. ^ S. Biju, K. Roelants, F. Bossuyt: Phylogenetic position of the montane treefrog Polypedates variabilis Jerdon, 1853 (Anura: Rhacophoridae), and description of a related species . Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 8, 4, pp. 267-276, 2008 doi : 10.1016 / j.ode.2007.11.004
  5. ↑ Madhava Meegaskumbura, Suyama Meegaskumbura, Gayan Bowatte, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, Rohan Pethiyagoda, James Hanken & Christopher J. Schneider: Taruga (Anura: Rhacophoridae), a new genus of foam-nesting tree frogs endemic to Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences), 39, 2, pp. 75-94, 2010

Web links

Commons : Rowing Frogs (Rhacophoridae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files