The blue-sided leaf frog (''Agalychnis annae''), also known as the orange-eyed leaf frog, is an endangered species of

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) 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 suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

in the subfamily

Phyllomedusinae Phyllomedusinae is a subfamily of hylid tree frogs found in the Neotropics commonly called leaf frogs. Formerly, they were often considered as their own family, Phyllomedusidae. The subfamily is considered to be the sister group to the Austral ...

native to the

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

s of Costa Rica and Panama. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''annae'' honors Ann S. Duellman, the collector of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

and the describer's wife.

Distribution and habitat

This tree frog is known only from the Central Valley of Costa Rica, on the slopes of the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

, the

Cordillera de Tilarán Costa Rica is located on the Central American Isthmus, surrounding the point 10° north of the equator and 84° west of the prime meridian. It has 212 km of Caribbean Sea coastline and 1,016 on the North Pacific Ocean. The area is 51,100& ...

and the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

ranges, at altitudes between about . The total extent of its range is estimated to be around . There may be a subpopulation in the Cerro Colorado range in western Panama, as suggested by a single female being found there (2012). Much of the forest in which the frog lives has been cleared, so there are a number of subpopulations separated by coffee plantations, cultivated areas and urban areas.

Status

''Agalychnis annae'' is fairly common in parts of the Central Valley, but in other undisturbed forests, like those in the

Tapantí National Park Tapantí - Cerro de la Muerte Massif National Park, (), is a national park in the Central Conservation Area of Costa Rica located on the edge of the Talamanca Range, near Cartago. It protects forests to the north of Chirripó National Park, and ...

and the Monteverde Biological Reserve, after it disappeared from pristine areas in 1980, it became uncommon except in some places. Also, this includes protected areas such as Parque Nacional Tapantí and the Reserva Biológica Monteverde. The remnant sub-populations of this animal in Central Valley are being fragmented by urban development. This local extinction may be associated with

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

or with the fungus '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' which causes

chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and '' Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinc ...

, a devastating disease among frog populations in Central America. Some individuals have tested positive for the fungus, yet the species persists in these localities. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has classified the frog as being a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2383076 Agalychnis Amphibians of Costa Rica Amphibians of Panama Amphibians described in 1963 Taxa named by William Edward Duellman