Sulawesi toad
| Sulawesi toad | ||||||||||||
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Sulawesi toad ( Ingerophrynus celebensis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ingerophrynus celebensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Günther , 1859) |
The Sulawesi toad ( Ingerophrynus celebensis , Syn .: Bufo celebensis ) is a tropical frog from the toad genus or clade Ingerophrynus .
features
Female Sulawesi toads reach a head-torso length of 67 to 80 millimeters and a weight of 30 to 42 grams. Males are significantly smaller at 48–59 millimeters and accordingly much lighter at 10–19 grams. As with many other terrestrial species of this family, the webbed feet are only moderately developed, that is, the last link of the longest toe is free. There are no adhesive discs at the ends of the fingers.
distribution and habitat
The Sulawesi toad is endemic to Indonesia . In detail, the large island of Sulawesi (Celebes) and some smaller offshore islands called Muna, Buton and Banggai are settled. Their habitats are moist lowlands in forests, rivers, freshwater lakes, the freshwater marshland , cultivated soil , pastures, plantations and also the urban environment.
Way of life
The Sulawesi toad is primarily land-dwelling. The spawn is laid in bodies of water, wrapped around trees or roots in the form of cords under the surface of the water.
If the Sulawesi toad finds the yellow spinner ant ( Anoplolepis gracilipes ) while foraging, it mainly feeds on it. This is remarkable because the yellow spinner ant was introduced into the tropics as a neozoon at the end of the 1970s and can even defend itself against significantly larger animals with the help of its formic acid . It is normally the case that introduced species, especially on islands, have no natural enemies and instead pose a threat to the ecological balance . Through their feeding behavior, the toads have a positive influence on the population of the native ant species and thus indirectly also on the control of diseases among the cocoa plants .
literature
- Iskandar, D. & Mumpuni 2004. Bufo celebensis . 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on July 21, 2007.
- Thomas C. Wanger et al .: Endemic predators, invasive prey and native diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2010.1512 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Darrel R. Frost: Ingerophrynus celebensis (Günther, 1859) . In: Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference . Version 5.4. American Museum of Natural History, New York April 2010 ( amnh.org ).
- ^ A b Graeme R. Gillespie, David Lockie, Michael P. Scroggie, Djoko T. Iskandar: Habitat Use by Stream-Breeding Frogs in South-East Sulawesi, with Some Preliminary Observations on Community Organization . In: Journal of Tropical Ecology . tape 20 , no. 4 . Cambridge University Press, July 2004, ISSN 0266-4674 , pp. 439-448 , JSTOR : 4091856 .
- ↑ Distribution map for Ingerophrynus celebensis at the IUCN
- ↑ Bernd Ebeling, press office of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen: Surprising discovery: Toads could secure cocoa harvests in Indonesia , in: Informationsdienst Wissenschaft from September 16, 2010, accessed on September 20, 2010
Web link
- Ingerophrynus celebensis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Djoko Iskandar, Mumpuni, 2004. Retrieved March 17, 2014.