Troschel's treefrog (''Boana calcarata''), also known as the blue-flanked treefrog or the convict treefrog, is a 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 ...

in the family

Hylidae Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as "tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic. Taxonomy and ...

. It is found in most parts of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

, except in the southeast and

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France ...

. Colombian, Venezuelan, and Surinamese records need confirmation.

Taxonomy

This species was originally described by Franz Hermann Troschel as ''Hyla calcarata'' in 1848. After

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interes ...

transferred it to the genus ''Hypsiboas'' as ''Hypsiboas calcaratus'' in 1867, it was variously recognized with either name until Faivovich and colleagues validated ''Hypsiboas'' in 2005. However, in 2017 showed that ''Hypsiboas'' was a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

of ''Boana'', the latter then being the valid name. Many sources, however, still use the old name.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The fingers have only basal webbing while the toes are webbed. Males have pre-

pollical The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

spines. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

coloration varies from light brown to reddish brown or brown. There is a dark brown middorsal line, and some specimens have brown diffuse transversal bands. The limbs bear pale brown transversal bars dorsally. Scattered minute white and black dots, or large dark brown blotches, might be present on the dorsum. The flanks are white, light blue or blue and have dark brown vertical bars. The venter is creamy white and the belly is yellowish white.

Habitat and conservation

This species occurs in tropical rainforest at elevations up to

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, but mostly below . It is 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 ...

frog. During the rainy season, adults can be seen perched on stems and small branches above slow-moving streams. The eggs are deposited in water where the larvae will then develop.

Habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

associated with forest conversion, logging, clear cutting, and fire is a threat to this species. However, it is abundant in parts of its range, is present in protected areas, and is not threatened overall. Hypsiboas calcaratus

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2213363 Boana Amphibians of Bolivia Amphibians of Brazil Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Ecuador Amphibians of French Guiana Amphibians of Guyana Amphibians of Peru Amphibians of Suriname Amphibians of Venezuela Taxa named by Franz Hermann Troschel Amphibians described in 1848 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot