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Description:
Males
50-62 mm., females 68-81 mm. The head is broadly triangular with
fleshy horns on the eyelids, a short proboscis and a large tympanum.
The limbs bear oblique rows of tubercles on the dorsal surfaces;
the heels lack calcars. The digital discs are slender, not evident
in dorsal view; the fingers are about one-fourth, and the toes
one-half webbed. The dorsum changes from brown by day to tan by
night; the venter is creamy tan and the throat is dusty tan with
oblique dark brown bars converging towards the midline.
Ecology
Habitat:
terre firme forest.
Niche:
carnivorous: prey includes other frogs and large arthropods.
Life History:
This terrestrial, nocturnal frog is found only in undisturbed
forests, where it feeds on frogs and large arthropods. Like
Hemiphractus proboscideus, it displays the gaping posture,
showing an orange tongue. Males call from beneath logs on the
ground. The call is a loud "cro-wahh." After mating,
the female remains at the male's calling site; she carries about
17 eggs on ther back for approximately 10 weeks, which bypass
the tadpole stage and hatch directly into froglets.
Status:
Very rare. Known from the Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo by
one specimen, by size guessed to be a female (pictured at left),
found in May 1997 in the Quebrada Palmichal area by G. Neise.
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