Walkerana leptodactyla facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Walkerana leptodactyla |
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Indirana leptodactyla (Boulenger, 1882) |
Walkerana leptodactyla is a special kind of frog. It lives only in a specific part of southern India. You can find it in the Western Ghats mountains, in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This frog has been spotted in places like the Anaimalai hills, Palni hills, and Agasthyamalai.
What Does It Look Like?
This frog has a moderate-sized head. Its snout is a bit blunt. The eyes are distinct, and the eardrum (called the tympanum) is about half the size of its eye.
Its fingers are moderate in length. The toes are partly webbed, about one-third or one-fourth of the way. The tips of its fingers and toes have small, round pads. These pads help the frog grip surfaces.
The skin on its back has short, raised lines. It also has a fold of skin that runs from its eye to its shoulder. The frog's color can be olive green or brownish. It often has darker spots. Sometimes, there's a dark, triangle-shaped spot between its eyes. It might even have a light stripe down its back. Its legs usually have dark stripes. The underside of the frog can be plain or have brown spots. This frog is quite small, measuring about 1.3 inches from its snout to its rear end.
Where Does It Live?
This frog lives only in forests. Sometimes, it can be found where forests meet certain types of farms, like tea plantations. It spends its time on the ground, often hiding among fallen leaf litter. Scientists have seen this frog at different heights, from 1000 meters (about 3,280 feet) up to 2310 meters (about 7,578 feet) above sea level.
Life Cycle
The Walkerana leptodactyla frog lays its eggs on wet rocks. What's cool about this frog is how its tadpoles grow up. Unlike many other frog tadpoles, they don't swim freely in water. Instead, they live on the surface of wet rocks and on moss. They move around using their strong tails. Their back legs also grow in much earlier than those of other frog species' tadpoles.
Threats to the Frog
Scientists say this frog is vulnerable to extinction. This means it could disappear if we don't protect it. One reason is that it lives in a very small area. Luckily, some of the places where it lives are protected parks. These include the Periyar Tiger Reserve and Eravikulam National Park.
However, many forests where these frogs used to live have been cut down. This makes it hard for frogs in one forest patch to move to another. Turning forest land into farms also harms them. Also, when roadsides are shored up with concrete (called shortcrete) to prevent landslides, it can fill in the cracks in rocks. These cracks are important places where the frogs need to breed.
Scientists have also found a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on this frog. This fungus causes a disease called chytridiomycosis. We don't yet know how much this fungus harms or kills these specific frogs.
