Lowland burrowing tree frog

Lowland burrowing tree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Smilisca
Species:
S. fodiens
Binomial name
Smilisca fodiens
(Boulenger, 1882)
Synonyms
  • Pternohyla fodiens (Boulenger, 1882)
  • Hyla rudis (Mocquard, 1899)
  • Smilisca fodiens (Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005)
  • Hyla fodiens (Wiens, Fetzner, Parkinson, and Reeder, 2005)

The burrowing tree frog, lowland burrowing tree frog, northern casque-headed frog, or northern casquehead frog (Smilisca fodiens) is a frog that lives in northern Mexico and southern Arizona.

The adult frog is 54 to 63 mm long from nose to rear end. The male frogs and female frogs are about the same size. Its hind legs are short and strong. It has more bone in its head than most frogs do. Its toes have discs for climbing. Its front toes are not webbed. It is gray-brown, green-prown, or pink-brown in color.

Scientists say this frog is related to Smilisca dentata.

This frog burrows into the ground in grasslands or scrub forests. It can also form a cocoon to stop water from leaving its body. It makes the cocoon by shedding its skin.

These frogs lay eggs after it rains, in bodies of water than dry up.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 John H. Malone. "Smilisca foliens: Northern Casquehead Frog, Northern Burrowing Treefrog, Lowland Burrowing Treefrog". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ Georgina Santos-Barrera; Geoffrey Hammerson; Paulino Ponce-Campos (2010). "Lowland Burrowing Treefrog: Smilisca fodiens". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T55907A11387024. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-2.RLTS.T55907A11387024.en. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Smilisca fodiens (Boulenger, 1882)". Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  4. ↑ Rodolfo Ruibal; Stanley Hillman (October 31, 1981). "Cocoon Structure and Function in the Burrowing Hylid Frog, Pternohyla fodiens". Journal of Herpetology. 15 (4). Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles: 403–407. doi:10.2307/1563529. JSTOR 1563529. Retrieved February 9, 2021.