Leptodactylid Frogs: Leptodactylidae

Physical characteristics: Perez's snouted frog has a dark brown to black stripe running along each side and separating its gray or brown back and head from its bright white underside. Its head has a rounded snout and two tan or gray and copper eyes are outlined on top with thin, finger-like bumps that look almost like long eyelashes. Its white belly has black markings, and its back has ridges that stretch from the back of the head to the rump. The back also sometimes has reddish brown stripes. Females are slightly larger than the males and grow to 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) long from snout to rump. The males reach 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) in length.

During the daytime, Perez's snouted frog hops through the piles of leaves on the rainforest floor and looks for things to eat. It relies on the dead-leaf colors of its head and back to hide it from predators. (Illustration by Dan Erickson. Reproduced by permission)

Geographic range: It lives in the Amazon River basin from southern Colombia to northern Bolivia.

Habitat: Perez's snouted frog lives in valleys and other low-lying areas of the wet and warm tropical rainforests. They breed in small pools of water, usually those that dry up later in the year.

Diet: The adult diet includes flies, crickets, and other insects, as well as spiders and other arthropods.

Behavior and reproduction: During the daytime, this frog hops through the piles of leaves on the rainforest floor and looks for things to eat. It relies on the dead-leaf colors of its head and back to hide it from the scanning eyes of predators. In the breeding season, each of the males begins to call from his spot in the leaves. When a female approaches, the male climbs on her back and hangs on near her front legs as they scuttle off to a pool of water. There, the female lays 78 to 98 eggs. The male and female together beat the water, eggs, and fluid from their bodies into foam, which floats on top of the water. In four to six days, the eggs hatch into tadpoles, which swim out of the foam nest into the water. The tadpoles have tan backs and greenish yellow bellies and can grow to about 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) before turning into froglets.

Perez's snouted frogs and people: People rarely see this species. It is not common in the pet trade.

Conservation status: The IUCN does not consider this common species to be at risk. While some of its habitat is disappearing as people move into the area or turn the forests into farmland, these frogs seem to be doing very well in the wild. ∎