Polypedates maculatus

Taxobox
name = Common Indian Tree Frog


image_width = 240px
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Amphibia
subclassis = Lissamphibia
ordo = Anura
subordo = Neobatrachia
familia = Rhacophoridae
subfamilia = Rhacophorinae
genus = "Polypedates"
species = "P. maculatus"
binomial = "Polypedates maculatus"
binomial_authority = (J.E.Gray, 1830)
synonyms = "Hyla maculata" J.E.Gray, 1930
"Rhacophorus maculatus" (J.E.Gray, 1830)
"Polypedates himalayensis" (Annandale, 1912)

The Common Indian Tree Frog or Chunam Tree Frog ("Polypedates maculatus") is a common species of tree frog found in South Asia. It was described by John Edward Gray in 1830. [harvnb|Grey|1830 Date is often given as "1833" but the volume in question was already out in 1830 harv|Wheeler|1998.]

The northwestern subspecies "Polypedates maculatus himalayensis" was formerly considered an independent species.harvnb|Dutta|Manamendra-Arachchi|Vasudevan|Srinivasulu|2004] "Polypedates leucomystax", a very similar species, was often included in "P. maculatus" in former times.

Description

These frogs measure about 7-8 cm in body length. They are mostly brownish, yellowish, greyish, or whitish above, with darker spots or markings, rarely with an hourglass-shaped figure on the back of the head and the front of the back. The loreal and temporal regions are dark; there is a light line on the upper lip. The hind side of the thighs has round yellow spots, which are usually separated by a dark brown or purplish network. The skin is smooth above, granulated on the belly and under the thighs; a fold extends from the eye to the shoulder. Males have internal vocal sacs.harvnb|Boulenger|1890]

The vomerine teeth are arranged in two more or less oblique series between the choanae or commencing close to the inner front edge of the latter. The skin of head is free; a more or less developed bony arch – sometimes slender and partly ligamentous, sometimes very thick and swollen – extends on each side from the posterior border of the frontoparietal bones to the squamosals. The snout is pointed with a rounded tip, about as long as the diameter of the orbit, the "canthus rostralis" is distinct, the loral region is concave. The nostril is located much nearer to the end of the snout than to the eye. The interorbital space is broader than the upper eyelid. The eardrum measures about three-fourths the diameter of the eye.

The fingers are nearly unwebbed, the toes are two-thirds webbed. The disks of fingers and toes are moderately developed, that of the third finger measuring two-fifths to one-half the diameter of the eye. The subarticular tubercles are of moderate size. The tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the eye, or between the eye and the tip of the snout.

Distribution and ecology

It is widespread throughout Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as western and southern Bangladesh to Chittagong District; its range might also extend into nearby China and Myanmar. This common and adaptable frog is listed as Species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

They have day roosts that they may use regularly. Their call is a sudden short and rapid series of rattling "rat-tat"s. [harvnb|Kanamadi|Schneider|Hiremath|Jirankali|1993]

They wipe themselves with skin secretions consisting of mucus and lipids that help in reducing moisture loss. When temperatures are higher they secrete from the skin ("sweat"), pant and adopt lighter skin colours. [harvnb|Lillywhite|Mittal|Garg|Agrawal|1997, harvnb|Lillywhite|Mittal|Garg|Das|1998]

Footnotes

References

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* IUCN2006 |assessors=Dutta, S; Manamendra-Arachchi, K.; Vasudevan, K.; Srinivasulu, C.; Vijayakumar, S.P.; Roy, D.; Sengupta, S.; Ohler, Annemarie |year=2004 |id=58956 |title=Polypedates maculatus|downloaded=2008-07-12
*, [http://images.nypl.org/?id=414855&t=w Plate 82 image] .
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External links

* [http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Polypedates&where-species=maculatus Amphibia web]