The Maracas heart-tongued frog (''Phyllodytes tuberculosus'') is a species of

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 ...

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

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, ...

s, dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, and moist savanna. People have seen this frog between 900 and 1350 meters above sea level. This frog has been found in terrestrial

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

plants that grow on the rocks. Its tadpoles develop in pools of water that collects in these plants. Scientists have given this species a tentative classification of "vulnerable to extinction." This frog has a large range, but that range is heavily fragmented, and still subject to change and degradation by humans. The large-scale conversion of this frog's habitat to sericulture, farmland, and grazing space has left this frog at greater risk of fire and the destruction of its bromeliads. This frog resembles ''

Phyllodytes luteolus The yellow heart-tongued frog (''Phyllodytes luteolus'') is a species of frog in the family Hylidae endemic to Brazil. It has been observed as high as 650 meters above sea level. This frog lives in the Atlantic forest and Caaatingas habitats, o ...

'' closely, such that they can be mistaken for one another.

References

Phyllodytes Endemic frogs of Brazil Amphibians described in 1966 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Hylinae-stub