A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

that spends a major portion of its lifespan in

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, known as an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose nu ...

state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely related to each other. Millions of years of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

have resulted in very similar morphology even in species that are not very closely related. Furthermore, tree frogs in seasonally arid environments have adapted an extra-epidermal layer of lipid and mucus as an evolutionary convergent response to accommodate the periodic dehydration stress.

Description

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 Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: A ...

, though some build foam nests on leaves and rarely leave the trees at all as adults. Tree frogs are usually tiny as their weight has to be carried by the branches and twigs in their

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s. 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 The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They ar ...

is most extreme in this respect: it can oppose two fingers to the other two, resulting in a

vise A vise or vice (British English) is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever. A vise grip is n ...

-like grip.

Family

Tree frogs are members of these families or genera: * Hylidae, or "true" treefrogs, occur in the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

to tropical parts of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

north of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. *

, or shrub frogs, are the treefrogs of

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

regions around the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

east to

Lydekker's line Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. Biography Richard Lydekker was born at Tavistock Square in London. His father was Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, ...

. A few also occur in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

. * 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 The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family of frogs. The 683 species are in 63 genera and 11 subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family. Evolution A molecular phyl ...

; these small frogs are native to sub-Saharan Africa. * ''

Boophis ''Boophis'' is the only genus in the mantellid frog subfamily Boophinae. They are commonly known as bright-eyed or skeleton frogs. They show typical 'tree frog' traits, and are a good example of convergent evolution with morphologically si ...

'' is a genus of highly arboreal frogs which evolved from the toxic terrestrial

Mantellidae The Mantellidae are a family of the order Anura. These frogs are endemic to the islands of Madagascar and Mayotte. Systematics The family Mantellidae is composed of three extremely ecologically diverse groups of frogs, divided into three ...

of Madagascar.

Gallery

File:Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) (8716723960).jpg,

Gray tree frog The gray treefrog (''Dryophytes versicolor'') is a species of small arboreal holarctic tree frog native to much of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the eastern gray treefrog, northern gray tree ...

, ''Hyla versicolor'', Hylidae, eastern North America File:Hyla cinerea (American Green Tree Frog).jpg, American green tree frog, ''Dryophytes cinereus'' or ''Hyla cinerea,'' Hylidae, central and southeastern United States File:Polyp leucom M 050408 041 ipb.jpg,

Common tree frog ''Polypedates leucomystax'' is a species in the shrub frog family Rhacophoridae. It is known under numerous common names, including common tree frog, four-lined tree frog, golden tree frog or striped tree frog. Many past authors have united it ...

, ''Polypedates leucomystax'', Rhacophoridae, southern to eastern Asia File:Cochranella pulverata 02.jpg, Powdered glass frog, ''Cochranella pulverata'', Centrolenidae, Honduras to Ecuador File:Vermicamaennlateral.jpg, Big-eyed tree frog, ''Leptopelis vermiculatus'', Hyperoliidae, Tanzania File:Boophis albilabris 01.jpg, White-lipped bright-eyed frog, ''Boophis albilabris'', Mantellidae, Madagascar File:PedostibesTuberculosus3.jpg,

Malabar tree toad The Malabar tree toad (''Pedostibes tuberculosus''), or warty Asian tree toad, is a species of toad found in forests along the Western Ghats of great Karnataka or Deccan. It is a small species and is found in wet tree hollows or leaf bases con ...

, ''Pedostibes tuberculosus'', Hyperoliidae, India File:Tree frogs and rain 75 sec.wav, Sound of treefrogs in south Georgia, US (78 seconds)

References

Bibliography

External links

{{amphibian-stub 01 Frogs Amphibian common names