''Philautus bunitus'' 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

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs 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 are commonly known as ...

. It is

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 ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and inhabits subtropical or tropical moist lowland

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 and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s and is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Description

Relatively large sized adults (SVL of male: up to 41 mm; female up to 46 mm). Stocky in habit. Finger tips with rounded discs. Webbing in the base of fingers rudimentary. Supratympanic fold distinct. Hind feet with moderate webbing. Toe tips with dilated discs. Skin sparsely granular on dorsum. Small spinular projections on upper eyelids. Ventral side granular. Coloration variable. Generally green with black spots or stripes. Venter uniformly lemon yellow turning bright orange towards the vent. Iris brownish with black vermiculations. Inner and outer sides of thigh and tarsus bright orange.Inger, Robert F and Stuebing, Robert B. A field guide to the frogs of Borneo. 2005. Natural History Publications, Borneo, Malaysia

Distribution, natural history and ecology

It occurs in

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

in western

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

. It is restricted to elevations of 1000 to 1900 m amsl. It tends to perch 2-5 meters above ground level, so people tend to hear this frog rather that see it. In some areas, this frog is part of

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

. Scientists believe this frog undergoes

direct development Direct development is a concept in biology. It refers to forms of growth to adulthood that do not involve metamorphosis. An animal undergoes direct development if the immature organism resembles a small adult rather than having a distinct larval ...

with no free-swimming tadpole stage.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q952312 Amphibians of Malaysia Endemic fauna of Malaysia bunitus Amphibians described in 1995 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot