Japanese brown frog

Japanese brown frog
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Ranidae
Genus: Rana
Species: R. japonica
Binomial name
Rana japonica
Boulenger, 1879

The Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) is a species of frog in the Ranidae family, endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate grassland, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.

Characteristics

Defining characteristics include a slender, reddish-brown body with a long, narrow head. The average snout-vent length is 48 mm for males. Females are usually much larger than males, with lengths of about 54 mm. Neither gender has a vocal sac, but males develop yellowish-brown nuptial pads and sing during mating season (which lasts from January to March). Songs consist of 10 to 20 notes.

Habitat

R. japonica occurs in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan to the southern region of China. Within Japan, it inhabits mostly hillsides and plains, and is rarely seen in mountain ranges. More specifically, the brown frog resides in temperate grasslands, hillsides, plains, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.

Translucent breed

By combining two types of recessive genes that cause frogs to become translucent, a breed of Rana japonica, popularly called "see-through frogs", were produced by Japanese scientists in 2007 to see the frog's organs, blood cells, and eggs without dissection. The skin is not clear, but translucent. Cancer growths can be seen more easily.[2][3][4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Yoshio Kaneko, Masafumi Matsui (2004). Rana japonica. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.
  2. ↑ Photo in the News: See-Through Frog Bred in Japan. News.nationalgeographic.com (2010-10-28). Retrieved on 2013-01-02.
  3. ↑ Miwa Suzuki (2007-09-27) See-Through Frog: No Dissection Necessary. Discovery Channel. Retrieved on 2013-01-02.
  4. ↑ Japanese Create “See-Through” Frogs – Zooillogix. Scienceblogs.com (2007-09-27). Retrieved on 2013-01-02.
  5. ↑ Hiroshima scientists create transparent frogs. Pinktentacle.com (2007-09-21). Retrieved on 2013-01-02.
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