Wallace flying frog
| Wallace flying frog | ||||||||||||
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Drawing of the flying frog from Alfred Wallace's book The Malay Archipelago |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Rhacophorus nigropalmatus | ||||||||||||
| Boulenger , 1895 |
The Wallace flying frog ( Rhacophorus nigropalmatus ) is a species from the genus of the real rowing frogs . With the help of the membranes between his toes he can sail up to 20 meters. It is named after the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace , who explored the Malay Archipelago in the mid-19th century and sent the first specimens of this flying frog to Europe.
features
This frog grows to 9 to 10 cm long and has very large, protruding eyes. The tympanum is also clearly visible . Like all rowing frogs , the Wallace flying frog lives on trees and has widened adhesive discs on the finger and toe ends as a climbing aid. The adhesive discs on the fingertips of this frog are larger than those on the toe ends, and on the third finger they are particularly large. The large webs between the fingers and toes are yellow, but black at the base. The Wallace flying frog owes its scientific nickname nigropalmatus to this feature . In the closely related Rhacophorus reinwardtii , the dark webbing changes to bluish at the base. However, the skins are rarely used for swimming, but can be stretched like small parachutes when jumping . They enable the frog to glide from tree to tree and between the levels of tropical jungle vegetation. The back of the frog is light green, mostly with white spots, the underside is white to pale yellow.
distribution
The distribution area of this species extends in Southeast Asia from southern Thailand over the Malay Peninsula to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo . There it typically lives in the evergreen tropical rainforest . It is not uncommon there, although it can usually only be seen when it leaves the higher layers of the treetops. This is done for the purpose of mating and oviposition.
Alleged sightings of the Wallace flying frog in Vietnam , northern Thailand, Laos or southern China probably refer to the species Rhacophorus kio .
nutrition
The food consists of insects . There are reports that the frogs also eat young small mammals.
Reproduction
After heavy rainfall, the frogs leave the treetops and migrate into deeper vegetation layers. The frogs attach foam nests to leaves above stagnant water or rainwater pools (e.g. wallowing of bearded pigs ). The females produce a secretion which they beat into a foam with their legs. A nest is formed from this foam, in which the eggs are laid and fertilized by the male. The tadpoles hatch inside the nest and, at a certain age, drop into the water below. After the metamorphosis , the young frogs leave the water.
Systematics
Rhacophorus maximus , Rhacophorus dennysii, and Rhacophorus feae were originally considered subspecies of Rhacophorus nigropalmatus . More detailed genetic and morphological studies are still in progress and, on a case-by-case basis, additional new species are being separated out within the genus Rhacophorus .
literature
- Robert Frederick Inger, Robert Butler Stuebing: A field guide to the frogs of Borneo. 3. Edition. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, 2017, ISBN 978-983-812-176-7 .
- Fritz Jürgen Obst , Klaus Richter, Udo Jacob: Lexicon of Terraristics and Herpetology. With 156 color and 149 black and white photos, 480 drawings. Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1984, ISBN 3-7842-0279-9 .
- PY Berry: The amphibian fauna of peninsular Malaysia. Tropical Press, Kuala Lumpur 1975
- Alfred Russel Wallace: The Malay Archipelago . Braunschweig 1869.
- Alfred Russel Wallace: The geographical distribution of the animals. Dresden 1876.
Web links
- Rhacophorus nigropalmatus
- Jeet Sukumaran: Encounter with Wallace's Flying Frog. The Frog of the Monsoons. (engl.)
- Rhacophorus nigropalmatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Peter Paul van Dijk, Djoko Iskandar, Robert Inger, 2004. Retrieved September 8, 2013.