''Leptopelis vermiculatus'', also known as the peacock tree frog, Amani forest treefrog, or vermiculated tree frog, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

found in

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

areas in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Sometimes the common name big-eyed tree frog is used, but this may also refer to another species, ''

Leptopelis macrotis ''Leptopelis macrotis'', sometimes called the big-eyed forest tree frog, is a species of frog in the family Arthroleptidae. It is found in the rainforests of Sierra Leone, southern Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and southern Ghana. Notice that sim ...

''.

Description

This species is a medium to large frog ranging from 40–85 mm in length. It has two very different colour phases. In one phase, they are a bright

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

with scattered

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

specks all over 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 The fus ...

surface and the sides are marble with black and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

. With some specimens, the end of the

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

to the toes, forearms and upper lip have white blotching outlined with dark green or black. In the other phase, they are

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

with an irregular-shaped, darker brown triangular patch on the dorsum. Randomly placed darker or lighter brown spots and patches may appear over the dorsal surface, legs and forearms and a dark brown streak often runs from behind the tympanum ending halfway between the

armpit The axilla (: axillae or axillas; also known as the armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm an ...

and

groin In human anatomy, the groin, also known as the inguinal region or iliac region, is the junctional area between the torso and the thigh. The groin is at the front of the body on either side of the pubic tubercle, where the lower part of the abdom ...

. In both phases, the ventral surface is cream-white. Some specimens show a transition between both phases and change from the green phase to the brown phase as they mature. The

eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

s are very big compared with body size and are golden with brown lines and flecks. Its large toe pads are used for climbing. The tympanum is distinct. They are sometimes kept as pets.

Ecology and behaviour

This species inhabits the closed-canopy wet tropical

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

s of Tanzania between the altitudes of 900 and 1800 m. Males call while in the water, and are very territorial. They have two different calls: one is a “ga…ga…ga”, used for attracting females, and the other is a “rrrrrrrr-ga” used for deterring other males of the same species. They are

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

Similar species

This species is very similar to the yellow-spotted tree frog ('' Leptopelis flavomaculatus''), a species that also varies greatly in dorsal patterning and colouration. The yellow-spotted tree frog, in its green phase, lacks the fine black specks present over the dorsum in the big-eyed tree frog's green phase. The brown phase of the yellow-spotted tree frog has a white blotch on the elbow, which brown-phase big-eyed tree frogs lack.

References

AmphibiaWeb - ''Leptopelis vermiculatus''Global Amphibiam Assessment - ''Leptopelis vermiculatus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1525786 vermiculatus Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Tanzania Endemic fauna of Tanzania Amphibians described in 1909 Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger