Kuhl's creek frog facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kuhl's creek frog
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Dicroglossidae
Genus:	Limnonectes
Species:	L. kuhlii
Binomial name
Limnonectes kuhlii (Tschudi, 1838)
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Synonyms
Rana kuhlii Tschudi, 1838

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The Kuhl's creek frog, also known as the large-headed frog, is a type of frog. Its scientific name is Limnonectes kuhlii. It belongs to the Dicroglossidae family of frogs.

Many Frogs, One Name?

For a long time, scientists thought that the Kuhl's creek frog lived in many places. They believed it was found across Northeast India and Southeast Asia. However, in 2010, scientists looked closely at the frogs' DNA. They found out that what they thought was one species was actually at least 16 different kinds of frogs!

These different frogs looked very similar to each other. But their DNA was different, meaning they were separate species. Scientists call this a "species complex." It means a group of species that are very hard to tell apart just by looking at them.

Since then, many of these "look-alike" frogs have been given their own names. For example, new species like L. fujianensis and L. bannaensis were found in China. Others like L. nguyenorum and L. quangninhensis were found in Vietnam.

Frogs from Thailand, such as L. jarujini and L. taylori, also turned out to be new species. The same happened with L. isanensis and L. megastomias. A new species called L. sisikdagu was found in Indonesia.

So, where does the "true" Kuhl's creek frog live? The very first Kuhl's creek frog specimen was found on the island of Java. This means that the real Limnonectes kuhlii is only definitely found in Java.