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Brown tree frog

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brown tree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Pelodryadidae
Genus: Litoria
Species:
L. ewingii
Binomial name
Litoria ewingii
Synonyms[1]
  • Hyla Ewingii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841)
  • Hyla parvidens (Peters, 1874)
  • Hyla calliscelis (Peters, 1874)
  • Hyla ewingii var. ewingi (Boulenger, 1882)
  • Hyla ewingii var. calliscelis (Boulenger, 1882)
  • Hyla ewingi ewingi (Fletcher, 1898)
  • Hyla inguinalis (Ahl, 1935)
  • Hyla ewingii iuxtaewingii (Copland, 1957)
  • Hyla ewingii calliscelis (Copland, 1957)
  • Litoria ewingii (Tyler, 1971)
  • Rawlinsonia calliscelis (Wells and Wellington, 1985)
  • Rawlinsonia ewingi (Wells and Wellington, 1985)
  • Rawlinsonia parvidens (Wells and Wellington, 1985)

The brown tree frog, whistling tree frog, Ewing's tree frog, or southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) is a frog from Australia. It lives in southeastern Australia and Tasmania, but it also lives in New Zealand.[2] [3][4]

The adult male frog is 22 to 40 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 32 to 46 mm.[5][4] It is light brown in colour with a lighter belly and some patterns. Its feet are usually not webbed. The ends of their toes have suckers for climbing.[3][6]

This frog can live in marshes, grasslands or on mountains. It lays eggs 500-600 at a time on underwater plants in ponds, streams, dams, and ditches. It takes months for them to grow into frogs.[3] Unlike most frogs, the brown tree frog can lay eggs at any time during the year.[4]

The tadpoles grow into frogs slowly.

In New Zealand, brown frog tadpoles often given to schoolchildren so they can watch the tadpoles become frogs. This frog is now an invasive specie in New Zealand because people set the young frogs free outside after the project is done.[3] Once they are released, brown tree frogs can kill New Zealand frogs by eating all their food or by giving them diseases from other places.[4]

References

[change | change source]
  1. "Litoria ewingi (Duméril and Bibron, 1841)". Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 15, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  2. "Litoria ewingii: Brown Tree Frog". Australian Museum. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 J-M Hero; Phil Bishop; et al. (August 6, 2002). "Litoria ewingii: Whistling Tree Frog, Ewing's Tree Frog, Brown Tree Frog, Southern Brown Tree Frog". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Litoria ewingii". New Zealand Herpetological Society. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  5. Michael J. Taylor; Frank Knight (2020). Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia. Csiro Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9781486312467. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  6. Jean-Marc Hero; Ben Bell; Frank Lemckert; Peter Robertson; Peter Brown (2004). "Litoria ewingii". 2004. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T41090A10387445. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T41090A10387445.en. Retrieved June 20, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)