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Blog Archives
Crypsis Challenge #12 Reveal: Frog
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Three commenters successfully identified the frog from the last crypsis challenge.
Here’s a closer look.
Frog closeup
That wraps up all my posts from my January trip to Costa Rica.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
The botanical garden is home to many of these colorful little strawberry poison dart frogs, Oophaga pumilio. Unfortunately, they seem to prefer hanging about in the plastic planters. Above, you can see some of the little fertilizer beads. Below, one was just inside the container.
Inside a plastic plant containerI would have been preferred a more natural setting.
Although they were easy to spot amongst the plantings, I would have preferred a more natural setting.
One more
As you might expect, the bright coloration is a warning to not touch these little frogs.
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Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I spotted another of these relatively large frogs, Dendrobates auratus, in the botanical gardens. Unlike the one I spotted a few days before, this one wasn’t carrying a tadpole.
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Litter Frog
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I thought this was perhaps an Eleutherodactylus species in the family Leptodactylidae. That determination was based mainly on the pads visible on the undersides of the hands and feet.
I asked Brian Kubicki for his opinion, and he said this is Craugastor polyptychus. That last link notes that this species was recently split from Eleutherodactylus bransfordii, so I guess was on the right track.
Looking around on the internet, it looks like the two species are separated by elevation, with this species occurring at lower elevations.
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Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
20mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Unlike the drab poison dart frog I posted recently, this one lives up to my expectations of having bright warning colors.
Do you notice anything strange about this frog’s back? Take a closer look.
Hitchhiking tadpole
All Costa Rican dendrobatids lay their eggs on the forest floor. Parenting behaviors beyond that vary by species. One or both of the parents care for the eggs, keeping them moist until they hatch (sometimes by the male urinating on them). After hatching the tadpoles are carried by one or both of the parents, sometimes singly, sometimes en masse, to suitable sites to complete their development.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Rocket Frog: An Atypical Dendrobatid
20mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
If like me you associate poison dart frogs with bright colors, then you might be as surprised as I was to learn that this rather drab frog is also a member of that family, Dendrobatidae.
Not surprisingly, this frog and other members of the genus Colostethus lack the skin toxins that some other members of the family have. No wonder they try to blend in, especially given their diurnal lifestyle.
Colostethus species also differ from other dendrobatids in their association with moving water instead of standing water. Their common name, rocket frogs, refers to their habit of quickly leaping into streams and then drifting away. This one was in fact next to a small stream, but obligingly stayed put.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Juvenile Tree Frogs
20mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I thought the tree frogs shown here were both young Mexican tree frogs, Smilisca baudinii. I asked Brian Kubicki though, and he replied that based on just these images it could be that or possibly Smilisca puma.
15mm
Reference:
[book:0970567804]
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Hypsiboas rufitelus
18mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I photographed quite a few frogs in Costa Rica, but I’m having a hard time identifying them.
My first thought for this attractive little one was that it might be a glass frog of some type (family Centrolenidae), because it appears to be somewhat transparent. Brian Kubicki of the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center was nice enough to respond to an email and identify it instead as an immature tree frog (family Hylidae), Hypsiboas rufitelus.
Looking around for online photos (here’s one of Brian’s), it looks like they must lose that bold red dorsal coloring as they mature.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Crypsis Challenge #8 Reveal
January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Well, this challenge was certainly more difficult than I anticipated. Nonetheless, several people did find the frog in the image above. Below, I’ve outlined it.
Frog Revealed
Now that you know it’s there, I bet you can’t look at the image without it standing out.
Andrea J. went on to suggest it might be a Leptodactylid. I agree. Here’s a close crop from the photo above.
Overhead crop
I picked up this book while in Costa Rica:
[book:0970567804]
According to that book, all Costa Rican leptodactylids lack webbing between their fingers. In the crop above, I don’t see any webbing. There are only three genera in Costa Rica. One genus has only large species, and this one is small. Another has only a single species, easily dismissed because it has extremely warty skin. So by deduction this must be an Eleutherodactylus species. There are 40 highly variable species in that genus that the book calls a “taxonomic nightmare”, so I won’t speculate further on the species. I might even be wrong about the family :). See comments below… I was fooled by the size. Turns out it’s the first genus I dismissed based on size, and it’s just a baby.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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Some Frogs and Toads from Caraça
These are the frogs and toads I encountered in Caraça Natural Park.
Treefrog | January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Toad | January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Treefrog | January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I didn’t see any snakes, and I only caught fleeting glimpses of a few large lizards.
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