Leith's leaping frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leith's leaping frogIndirana leithii |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Female Indirana leithii from Matheran | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Ranixalidae |
| Genus: | Indirana |
| Species: |
I. leithii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Indirana leithii (Boulenger, 1888)
|
|
 |
|
| Script error: The function "autoWithCaption" does not exist. | |
| Synonyms | |
|
|
Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
The Leith's leaping frog (Indirana leithii) is a small frog found only in a special part of India. It lives in the northern Western Ghats mountains. You can find this frog in the states of Maharashtra and southern Gujarat. Scientists used to think it lived in more places, but now they know those were other types of frogs.
Contents
About Leith's Leaping Frog
What's in a Name?
This frog's scientific name, leithii, was given to honor Andrew Henderson Leith. He was a doctor who worked in Bombay (now Mumbai) a long time ago.
How to Spot This Frog
Leith's leaping frogs are not very big. Adult males are about 19 to 29 millimeters (0.7 to 1.1 inches) long. Females are a bit bigger, measuring 24 to 36 millimeters (0.9 to 1.4 inches) from snout to vent.
This frog has an eardrum (called a tympanum) that is about two-thirds the size of its eye. There's a strong fold of skin that runs from its eye to its shoulder. Its fingers and toes have large, flat tips, like little sticky pads. Its toes are about two-thirds webbed, which means there's skin between them, but not all the way to the end.
The frog's skin on its back is rough and has many folds. It is brownish with lots of small, dark spots close together. Its legs have dark stripes across them. The belly is white, but its throat has fine brown speckles.
Interestingly, this frog does not make any sounds that humans can hear.
Where Leith's Frog Lives
This frog makes its home in the northern part of the Western Ghats. It prefers to live on the ground in forests that stay green all year, or forests that are partly evergreen. You can often find it near basalt cliffs, which are a type of rock formation.
These frogs like to hang out on the ground near streams. They also hide in cracks in rocks or among the fallen leaves on the forest floor. They have been seen at different heights, from 25 meters (82 feet) to 1329 meters (4,360 feet) above sea level.
Breeding and Tadpoles
When it's time to lay eggs, many Leith's leaping frogs gather in caves. The female frogs lay their eggs on wet rocks or inside cracks in the rocks.
The baby frogs, called tadpoles, have a special way to stay safe. They use their mouths to stick to the rocks. This helps them stay in place while they eat algae (a type of plant-like organism) that grows on the rocks. These tadpoles are only partly aquatic, meaning they don't spend all their time in the water. Their back legs grow in earlier than tadpoles of many other frog species.
Protected Homes
The areas where this frog lives include several protected parks. These include Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalsubai Harishchandragad Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamhini-Sudhagad Wildlife Sanctuary, Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, and Vansda National Park. These parks help protect the frog's home.
What Leith's Frog Eats
Adult Leith's leaping frogs eat small creatures like ants, grubs (which are insect larvae), and other small insects called hemipterans. As mentioned before, the tadpoles eat algae that they scrape off rocks.
Threats to Leith's Leaping Frog
Scientists believe this frog is not in immediate danger of disappearing completely. However, it faces some challenges.
One big problem is habitat loss. This happens when forests where the frogs live are cut down to make farms or build roads and buildings. Also, sometimes people use a type of concrete called shortcrete to prevent landslides. This concrete can fill up the rock cracks where the frogs like to lay their eggs, which harms them. Cutting down wood for personal use is also a minor threat.
Climate change is another worry for these frogs. Changes in weather patterns can make their environment too dry, and some frogs have died because of this.
Scientists have also found a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on these frogs. This fungus causes a disease called chytridiomycosis. While the fungus has been seen on the frogs, scientists are still studying how much it harms or kills them.
 | Precious Adams |
 | Lauren Anderson |
 | Janet Collins |
