Rhacophorus nigropalmatus

__NOTOC__Taxobox
name = Wallace's Flying Frog

---

image_width = 220px
image_caption = Illustration from Wallace's, "The Malay Archipelago"
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 = "Rhacophorus"
species = "R. nigropalmatus"
binomial = "Rhacophorus nigropalmatus"
binomial_authority = Boulenger, 1895

The species "Rhacophorus nigropalmatus", commonly known as Wallace's Flying Frog, is a moss frog found at least from to Malay Peninsula into western Indonesia. It is named for the biologist, Alfred R. Wallace, who collected the first specimen to be formally identified.

"R. dennysii", "R. maximus" and "Polypedates feae" were once contained within Wallace's Fyling Frog as subspecies. Similar frogs also occur in Laos, Vietnam and southern China; these may be "R. nigropalmatus" or an undescribed closely related species.van Dijk "et al." (2004)]

Description [Tunstall (2003), Bordoloi "et al." (2007)]

This frog is quite photogenic, due to its large size, brilliant colors, and interesting behavior [Sukumaran (2005)] . With a body length of 80-100 mm (males are smaller than females), it is one of the largest species of "Rhacophorus". Its eyes and eardrum are large, its limbs are very long, and its fingers and toes are webbed right to the tips. Together with a fringe of skin stretching between the limbs, this flying frog can parachute to the forest floor from high up in the trees where it is normally found.

Its back is bright shiny green and the underside is white to pale yellow. The upperside of the inside toes as well as the outer part of the toe and finger webbing is brilliant yellow. The base of the webs as well as one flank spot per side are jet black. Overall, this frog looks much like the Green Flying Frog ("R. reinwardtii") or "R. kio", which even if full grown do not reach the size of Wallace's Flying Frog however, and have the fringe of the webs more orange.

=Distribution and ecology=

This species' verified range extends from Ranong south to Endau and Rompin on the Malay Peninsula; in the Indonesian archipelago it is found on Borneo and Sumatra. It is a lowland species, occurrring up to 600 meters ASL.

It is most frequently found in tropical and perhaps (to the north of its known range) subtropical primary rainforest, but will also inhabit old secondary forest and overgrown fields. It avoids open areas and low growth, depending on a mixed growth containing trees of several meters height. Usually it is not often encountered, preferring a life up in the treetops. In breeding season hovever, these frogs descend to pools on the forest floor, often in considerable numbers. As usual for moss frogs, its eggs are attached to shrubs overhanging such pools and puddles, from where the tadpoles drop down into the water after hatching.

Due to its wide range, Wallace's Flying Frog is not considered threatened by the IUCN.

Footnotes

References

* (2007): Systematics of the genus "Rhacophorus" (Amphibia, Anura): identity of red-webbed forms and description of a new species from Assam. "Zootaxa" 1653: 1–20. [http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/z01653p020f.pdf PDF abstract and first page]
* (2005): [http://frogweb.org/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=10 Encounter with Wallace's Flying Frog, The Frog of the Monsoons] . Version of 2005-JUN-29. Retrieved 2007-JUN-22.
* (2003): AmphibiaWeb - [http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?query_src=aw_search_index&max=200&where-genus=Rhacophorus&where-species=nigropalmatus "Rhacophorus nigropalmatus", Wallace's Flying Frog] . Version of 2003-APR-12. Retrieved 2007-JUN-22.
*|year=2004|id= 59008|title=Rhacophorus nigropalmatus|downloaded=22 June 2007

ee also

*Flying frog