NEWS106
34
Frogs
The special toeconfiguration in thegenus
Phyllomedusa
permits these frogs toclimbeven the thinnest twigs.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
hegenus
Phyllomedusa
currently in-
cludes 30generallyaccepted species
that are distributed in South and Central
America. Oneof them,
Phyllomedusahypo-
chondrialis
,will bediscussed in somedetail.
ItsdistributionencompasseseasternColom-
bia, northern and eastern Venezuela, the
Guianas,and thewholeofBrazilianAmazo-
nia.Within this vast distribution region this
adaptablespecies iswidelyfound inassocia-
tionwithhuman settlements and conside-
rednot tobeendangered.
T
The red-eyed tree frogs of thegenus
Agalychnis
are among themost po-
pularof all terrarium frogs. Inorder to satisfy theconstantdemand,practi-
callyall red-eyed tree frogsarecaptive-brednowadays.The leaf frogsof the
genus
Phyllomedusa
areclosely related to the red-eyed tree frogs,butmuch
lesswell known.Apity, as they too includewonderful frogs for the terra-
rium!
Phyllomedusa
frogs -wonderful
byVolker Ennenbach
Nota rainforest-dweller
Of all the speciesof thegenus
Phyllomedusa
,
those leastadapted to the rainforestare the
up to around 5 cm long
Phyllomedusahy-
pochondrialis
(femalesgrowsomewhat lar-
ger thanmales) and itsclose relativeP.azu-
rea,whichhas an adjacent distribution to
thesouth.(The twoof themaresometimes
regarded as subspecies of one and the
same species,
P.hypochondrialis
.)
This also explains their success in themo-
dernworld.Theirhabitat isbushand scrub
vegetation inseasonally floodedgrassland,
aswell asdrywoodland.
These frogs have a special adaptation to
thiscomparativelydry (byday)habitat -du-
ring the day they coat themselves with a
