Beck's tree frog

Beck's tree frog (Ranoidea becki) is a large tree frog from Papua New Guinea.[2][3][4]

Beck's tree frog
Conservation status
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Pelodryadidae
Genus: Ranoidea
Species:
R. becki
Binomial name
Ranoidea becki
(Loveridge, 1945)
Synonyms
  • Hyla becki (Loveridge, 1945)
  • Litoria becki (Loveridge, 1945)
  • Dryopsophus becki (Duellman, Marion, and Hedges, 2016)

Adult frogs are about 3.4 to 4.4 cm long. They are dark green or dark brown in color with darker spots and stripes. When dead frogs are saved for study, they have a white spot on their lip, but living frogs do not have this spot.[3]

These frogs live high in the mountains and people have found them 3200 meters above sea level. They live in or near bogs in grassy places. They lay eggs underneath rocks. Scientists do not know what the tadpoles look like.[3]

As of the 2010s, scientists had only found this frog in five places. They were places where human beings do not often go, so human activity does not bother these frogs. They are dying because a sickness that affects frogs and other amphibians, chytridiomycosis, has spread to their mountains.[3]

References

  1. Stephen Richards; Fred Parker (2004). "Litoria becki". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2004: e.T55710A11353980. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55710A11353980.en.
  2. "Ranoidea becki (Loveridge, 1945)". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tania Pollak (June 24, 2010). "Litoria becki: Beck's Tree Frog". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  4. Stephen Richards; Fred Parker (2004). "Litoria becki". 2004. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T55710A11353980. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55710A11353980.en. Retrieved June 14, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)