Lysapsus limellum

The Uruguay harlequin frog (Lysapsus limellum) is a frog. It lives in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina. Scientists have seen it as high as 800 meters above sea level.[2][1][3]

Lysapsus limellum
Lysapsus limellum.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Lysapsus
Species:
L. limellum
Binomial name
Lysapsus limellum
(Cope, 1862)
Synonyms[2]
  • Lysapsus limellum Cope, 1862
  • Hyla quadrilineata Steindachner, 1864
  • Podonectes palmatus Steindachner, 1864
  • Lisapsus limellum Steindachner, 1867
  • Pseudis limellum Boulenger, 1882
  • Lysapsus limellus Savage and Carvalho, 1953
  • Lysapsus limellus limellus Gallardo, 1961
  • Pseudis limellum Aguiar, Bacci, Lima, Rossa-Feres, Haddad, and Recco-Pimentel, 2007

The adult male frog is 16.2–24.8 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 15.3-21.0 mm long. This frog can be light green, dark green-brown, or any color in between. Many of the frogs have stripes, but they do not all have the same kinds of stripes. The iris of the eye is gold in color.[1]

This frog is much larger when it is a tadpole than when it is a frog. The tadpole can be 40 mm long with the tail (11 mm long not counting the tail). The tip of the tadpole's tail is black in color. Scientists think this may make animals that want to eat the tadpole attack its tail instead of its head.[1]

Scientists found these frogs in places with much water and few trees. For example, river basins on savanna grasslands. This animal goes to places where plants float on top of the water instead of growing up from the bottom. The tadpoles swim in the middle of the water. They stay near plants that grow up from the bottom of the pond.[1]

This frog lays eggs all year. The male frog sits on floating plants and sings for the female. The female lays 10-182 eggs at a time.[1]

Fish and animals without bones eat the adult frog. Insects eat the tadpole.[1]

First paper

  • Edward Drinker Cope (1862). ""On some new and little known American Anura."". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 14: 151–159.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Emily Payne (February 24, 2018). Ann T. Chang (ed.). "Lysapsus limellum Cope, 1982: Uruguay harlequin frog". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Frost, Darrel R. "Lysapsus limellum Cope, 1862". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  3. Esteban Lavilla; Steffen Reichle; Rafael Lajmanovich; Julian Faivovich (2004). "Oaxaca Yellow Treefrog: Lysapsus limellum". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 3.1: e.T55764A11362085. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55764A11362085.en. 55764. Retrieved September 21, 2022.