Wallace's flying frog
| Wallace's flying frog | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration from Wallace's, The Malay Archipelago | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Subclass: | Lissamphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Suborder: | Neobatrachia |
| Family: | Rhacophoridae |
| Subfamily: | Rhacophorinae |
| Genus: | Rhacophorus |
| Species: | R. nigropalmatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Rhacophorus nigropalmatus Boulenger, 1895 | |
Wallace's flying frog or the Abah River flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus) is a moss frog found at least from the Malay Peninsula into western Indonesia. It is named for the biologist, Alfred R. Wallace, who collected the first specimen to be formally identified.
R. dennysii, R. maximus and Polypedates feae were once contained within Wallace's flying frog as subspecies. Similar frogs also occur in Laos, Vietnam, and southern China; these may be R. nigropalmatus or an undescribed, closely related species.[1]
Description[2]
This frog is quite photogenic, due to its large size, brilliant colors, and interesting behavior.[3] With a body length of 80-100 mm (males are smaller than females), it is one of the largest species of Rhacophorus. Its eyes and eardrums are large, its limbs are very long, and its fingers and toes are webbed right to the tips. Together with a fringe of skin stretching between the limbs, this flying frog can parachute to the forest floor from high in the trees where it is normally found.
Its back is bright shiny green and the underside is white to pale yellow. The upper sides of the inside toes, as well as the outer parts of the toe and finger webbing, are brilliant yellow. The base of the webs and one flank spot per side are jet black. Overall, this frog looks much like the green flying frog (R. reinwardtii) and R. kio, which even if full grown do not reach the size of Wallace's flying frog, though, and have more orange web fringes.
See also
Footnotes
References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Rhacophorus nigropalmatus |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhacophorus nigropalmatus. |
- Bordoloi, Sabitry; Bortamuli, Tutul & Ohler, Annemarie (2007): Systematics of the genus Rhacophorus (Amphibia, Anura): identity of red-webbed forms and description of a new species from Assam. Zootaxa 1653: 1–20. PDF abstract and first page
- Sukumaran, Jeet (2005): Encounter with Wallace's Flying Frog, The Frog of the Monsoons. Version of 2005-JUN-29. Retrieved 2007-JUN-22.
- Tunstall, Tate (ed.) (2003): AmphibiaWeb - Rhacophorus nigropalmatus, Wallace's Flying Frog. Version of 2003-APR-12. Retrieved 2007-JUN-22.
- van Dijk, P.P.; Iskandar, D. & Inger, R. (2004). Rhacophorus nigropalmatus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 22 June 2007.