Family: Rhacophoridae - Asian Tree Frogs
Order: Anura - Frogs
Class: Amphibia
Phylum: Chordata - Vertebrates
Kingdom: Animalia
Red List status: Least Concern
Male: 37-60 mm
Female: 57-75 mm
Common and widespread throughout southern Asia, from Nepal and possibly Bhutan to Yunnan Province in China, and throughout tropical South-east Asia. Introduced to Japan, the Philippines and Papua (Indonesian New Guinea).
Adult:
Moderately large tree frog with a slender, flattened body, sharply pointed
but blunt-edged snout, and long hind limbs. The head is longer than it is
broad.
The skin is smooth on the upper surface and coarse on the belly; body
colouration is beige or greenish to rich brown above and white below. Patterning
may take the form of irregularly-scattered pale spots
dorsally, or four dark
lines running down the back (the latter form characteristic of animals from
the island of Borneo), with dark cross-barring on the legs. The inner thighs
may be spotted with lighter colours, and the throat may be dark-spotted.
There is a curved fold over the top of the prominent
tympanum. The tympanum
itself is around 3/4 the diameter of the eye. The fingers and toes are long
and bear expanded, round pads, those on the toes being smaller than those on
the fingers. The fingers are unwebbed, the toes three-quarters webbed. The
skin between the eyes is fused to the skull.
Tadpole:
Large-bodied, brown, ovoid, with eyes set at the sides of the head and the
mouth below. The tail fin is relatively tall. The snout is tipped dorsally
with a silver-white spot. Tadpoles may reach 50 mm in total length.
Egg: Creamy-white, without surrounding jelly, and encased in a foam nest.
Common bush frog male calling. Kamping Speu Province, Cambodia
Call: A single-tone, low-pitched "kwaark"
Cosmopolitan throughout its range, including roadsides, urban areas (including human habitation), agricultural land and secondary forest, although apparently less common in undisturbed forest. Different species within the group now defined as P. leucomystax may have differing habitat requirements within this range. Any shallow standing water appears suitable as breeding habitat, including dam and garden ponds, roadside ditches and artificial pools.
Altitudinal range: 0 - 1,500 m
The
adult diet includes insects and small vertebrates. The species is arboreal
and can occur as high as the forest canopy, but is more commonly found on
the ground than other members of its genus.
Courtship behaviour: In common with other Polypedates species, common bush frog males call near shallow water, and may do so in groups.
Reproductive biology: While still in amplexus with one or more males, females secrete mucus and eggs which they agitate with their hindlimbs, creating a foam nest which may be affixed to vegetation or rocks overhanging water or to the substrate at water's edge. The eggs, which typically number 300-500 in a clutch but may be more or less numerous, develop into tadpoles within the nest and then break free, falling into the water where they complete their development.
Common bush frog producing a foam nest in an artificial pool. Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand
The status of different populations of Polypedates leucomystax is unclear and requires further research; however, researchers consider that more than one valid species is included under this name (Desmos et al, 2004). Additionally, populations towards the east of the species' range referred to as Polypedates megacephalus are also included by these authors as P. leucomsytax.
Berry, P. Y. (1975) The Amphibian Fauna of Peninsular Malaysia, Tropical Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Desmos, A. et
al (2004) Polypedates leucomystax.
In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>.
Downloaded on 9 September 2008
Inger, R. F. and Stuebing, R. B. (1997) A Field Guide to the Frogs of
Borneo, Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu,
Malaysia
