Tree frog

European tree frog (Hyla arborea)

A tree frog is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia have given rise to tree frogs, although they are not closely related to each other.

Millions of years of convergent evolution have resulted in very similar morphology even in species that aren't very closely related.

Description

Red-eyed tree frog, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Gladiator tree frog (Hypsiboas rosenbergi), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

As the name implies, these frogs are typically found in trees or other high-growing vegetation. They do not normally descend to the ground, except to mate and spawn, though some build foam nests on leaves and rarely leave the trees at all as adults.

Many tree frogs can change their color for better camouflage. For instance, the grey tree frog (Hyla versicolor) can change its color from green to grey to yellow.

Tree frogs are usually tiny as their weight has to be carried by the branches and twigs in their habitats. While some reach 10 cm (4 in) or more, they are typically smaller and more slender than terrestrial frogs. Tree frogs typically have well-developed discs at the finger and toe tips; the fingers and toes themselves, as well as the limbs, tend to be rather small, resulting in a superior grasping ability. The genus Chiromantis of the Rhacophoridae is most extreme in this respect: it can oppose two fingers to the other two, resulting in a vise-like grip.

Family

Tree frogs are members of these families or genera:

• Hylidae, or "true" tree frogs, occur in the temperate to tropical parts of Eurasia north of the Himalayas, Australia and the Americas.
• Rhacophoridae, or shrub frogs, are the tree frogs of tropical regions around the Indian Ocean: Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia east to Lydekker's line. A few also occur in East Asia.
• Centrolenidae, or glass frogs, are potentially closely related to hylids; these translucent frogs are native to Central and South America.
• Hyperoliidae, or reed frogs, are closely related to the burrowing Microhylidae; these small frogs are native to sub-Saharan Africa.
• Boophis is a genus of highly arboreal frogs which evolved from the toxic terrestrial Mantellidae of Madagascar.
• Pedostibes, or tree toad, is a genus of highly arboreal members of the typically terrestrial Bufonidae.

Gallery

• 
  Gray tree frog, Hyla versicolor, Hylidae, eastern North America
• 
  Common tree frog, Polypedates leucomystax, Rhacophoridae, southern to eastern Asia
• 
  Powdered glass frog, Cochranella pulverata, Centrolenidae, Honduras to Ecuador
• 
  Big-eyed tree frog, Leptopelis vermiculatus, Hyperoliidae, Tanzania
• 
  White-lipped bright-eyed frog, Boophis albilabris, Mantellidae, Madagascar
• 
  Malabar tree toad, Pedostibes tuberculosus, Hyperoliidae, India

Bibliography

• Richardson, C.; Lengagne, T. (2009). "Multiple signals and male spacing affect female preference at cocktail parties in treefrogs". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 277 (1685): 1247–1252. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1836. PMC 2842810. PMID 20018785.