Green-eyed tree frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Green-eyed tree frog |
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The green-eyed tree frog, brown-spotted tree frog, fringed tree frog or New Guinea tree frog (Ranoidea genimaculata) is a tree frog from New Guinea. It lives everywhere on the island except high in the mountains. It lives in both Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, no more than 1500 meters above sea level. It also lives in Queensland, Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef, but some scientists think these are really two different species. Scientists who think they are one species call the frogs in New Guinea and Australia Litoria genimaculata and scientists who think they are two different species call the New Guinea frogs genimaculata and the Australian frogs serrata. Some scientists think the group of frogs in Australia is really two different species, serrata and myola, for three altogether.
The adult male frog is 4.6 cm long and the adult female frog is 7.1 cm long. Each frog has a bright green ring around its eyes, which is why it is called "green-eyed tree frog" in English. It has a brown-green body with patches of color that look like lichen that grows on wet rocks. That way, the frog can hide from larger animals that want to eat it. The frog has very large discs on its toes for climbing. This frog has a bit of skin on its hind legs that looks like fringe. That is why it is also called "fringed tree frog" in English.
This frog lives near streams with rocks in them. The male frogs tend to stay near the water, and the female frogs climb high into the trees. The female frog lays eggs in pools, many hundreds at a time.
This frog has colors that look like an hourglass on its back. Scientists thought they could take photographs of this frog to identify individual frogs, but the hourglass changes shape as the frog grows older.
This frog is not endangered now, but scientists think the fungal disease chytridiomycosis or a virus may have killed many of them.
Images for kids
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Green-eyed tree frog resting on a leaf.
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Dunk Island rain forest in Queensland Australia.
See also
In Spanish: Litoria genimaculata para niños
