''Proceratophrys boiei'', commonly known as Boie's frog, 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

Odontophrynidae The Odontophrynidae are a family of frogs from southern and eastern South America. This family was first established in 1969 as the tribe Odontophrynini within the (then) very large family Leptodactylidae. Molecular phylogenetics analyses prompte ...

. 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 ...

to eastern and southeastern

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 ...

. This common frog is found in

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary forest, on the

forest edge A woodland edge or forest edge is the transition zone (ecotone) from an area of woodland or forest to fields or other open spaces. Certain species of plants and animals are adapted to the forest edge, and these species are often more familiar to h ...

, and in degraded areas near forest. This species is present in the illegal pet trade. Its habitat is subject to loss caused by agriculture, wood plantations, livestock grazing, clear-cutting, human settlement and tourism. 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 ...

''boiei'' was given in honour of German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Heinrich Boie Heinrich Boie (4 May 1794, Meldorf, Holstein – 4 September 1827, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of Friedrich Boie. In the field of herpetology they described 49 new species of reptiles and several ne ...

or his brother

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...

Description

''Proceratophrys boiei'' is a moderate-sized, robust frog, growing to a length of between , with males tending to be slightly smaller than females. Both head and body are relatively broad, the snout is rounded, and long, tapering peaks of skin project from above the eyes. The surface of the skin on both back and flanks is covered with warts. The colouring is an irregular geometric pattern of brown, black, yellow, orange and red, such that the frog becomes nearly invisible against the background of leaf litter among which it lives. There is also a broad brown or grey dorsal stripe.

Ecology

Diet

''Proceratophrys boiei'' feeds largely on insects and their larvae. An examination of the stomach contents showed that

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s constitute about 40% of the diet, with

orthopterans Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshopp ...

(grasshoppers and crickets) constituting another 25%.

Defensive behaviour

When disturbed, ''Proceratophrys boiei'' makes a leap and then flattens itself on the leaf litter with its limbs stiff and splayed; with its skin protuberances and cryptic colouring it then closely resembles dead leaves and is likely to be overlooked by predators that hunt by sight. This stiff-legged defensive posture has now been recorded in at least seven frog species in four different families; one of these is '' Scythrophrys sawayae'', which is also found in the forests of southeastern Brazil.

Status

This frog has a wide range and a presumed large total population. The threats it faces are likely to be as a result of such human activities as forest clearance for agriculture, plantation crops and grazing, and it is also collected for the pet trade. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 stat ...

has rated its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" as any decrease in population sizes is likely to be at too slow a rate to be sufficient to classify it in a more threatened category.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q533599 boiei Endemic frogs of Brazil Amphibians described in 1824 Taxa named by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied Taxonomy articles created by Polbot