Japanese Brown Frog
| Japanese Brown Frog | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Ranidae |
| Genus: | Rana |
| Species: | R. japonica |
| Binomial name | |
| Rana japonica Boulenger, 1879 |
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The Japanese Brown Frog, Rana japonica, is a species of frog in the Ranidae family. It is endemic to Japan.
Its natural habitats are temperate grassland, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
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[edit] Characteristics
Defining characteristics include a slender, reddish-brown body with a long narrow head. The average snout-vent length is 48 mm for males. Females are usually much larger than males, with lengths of about 54 mm. Neither gender has a vocal sac, but males develop yellowish-brown nuptial pads and sing during mating season (which lasts from January to March). Songs consist of ten to twenty notes.
[edit] Habitat
Rana Japonica occurs in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan and southern region of China. Within Japan, Rana Japonica inhabits mostly in hillsides and plains, and is rarely seen in mountain ranges. More specifically, the brown frog resides in temperate grasslands, hillsides, plains, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. It is rarely seen in mountainous terrain.
[edit] Translucent breed
By combining two types of recessive genes that cause frogs to become translucent, a breed of Rana japonica, popularly called See-through frogs, were produced by Japanese scientists in 2007 to see the frog's organs, blood cells, and eggs without dissection. The skin is not clear, but translucent. Cancer growths can be seen more easily.[2][3][4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ Kaneko, Y. & Matsui, M. (2004). Rana japonica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 July 2007.
- ^ National Geographic article
- ^ Discovery Channel article
- ^ http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2007/09/japanese_create_seethrough_fro.php
- ^ http://pinktentacle.com/2007/09/hiroshima-scientists-create-transparent-frogs/
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