''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur 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 com ...

, subfamily

Rhacophorinae The Rhacophorinae are a subfamily of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. They range from tropical Africa and Asia to temperate China and Japan. Genera The following genera are recognised in the subfamily Rhacophorinae, representing 422 species: * ...

. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the

Greater Sunda Islands The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian and Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, are internationally recognise ...

; the highest

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative ab ...

is in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

. Some species, especially '' T. corticale'', are sometimes kept in captivity. They are medium to small-sized frogs with maximum

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the mos ...

s that range from depending on species, and their skin can be smooth, warty or tuberculated. The genus includes species that are contrastingly marked, but most are very well-camouflaged, resembling plant material (typically bark or moss) or bird droppings. Little is known about their behavior, but they feed on small

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s. In species where known, breeding takes place in a small water pool in a cavity of a tree,

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

or karst. The female places 4–20 eggs just above the water. After about one to two weeks they hatch into

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

s that drop into the water; they

metamorphose Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

into froglets after a few months to a year.

Species and taxonomy

The

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of ''Theloderma'' is ''

Nyctixalus ''Nyctixalus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. The common name is Indonesian tree frogs. They can be found in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines, and southern Vietnam. ''Nyctixalus'' is the sister taxon ...

''. The

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of this genus and ''Nyctixalus'' as well as ''

Theloderma moloch ''Theloderma moloch'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh and Assam) and adjacent Tibet, China, possibly wider. Taxonomic placement of this taxon has been a source of much debate ...

'' has been in flux; today both AmphibiaWeb and

Amphibian Species of the World ''Amphibian Species of the World 6.1: An Online Reference'' (ASW) is a herpetology database. It lists the names of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians, which scientists first described each species and what year, and the animal's known range ...

recognize the two genera as valid. Following the Amphibian Species of the World, there are 26 recognized species in the genus ''Theloderma'': * ''

Theloderma albopunctatum ''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, subfamily Rhacophorinae. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the Greater Sunda Isla ...

'' (Liu and Hu, 1962) * ''

Theloderma annae ''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, subfamily Rhacophorinae. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the Greater Sunda Isla ...

'' Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Ngo, and Ziegler, 2016 * ''

Theloderma asperum ''Theloderma asperum'' is a frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is also known as the pied warty frog, hill garden bug-eyed frog, or somewhat informally, bird poop frog. The frog can be found in the northeastern India, Burma, China (Tibet, possi ...

'' (Boulenger, 1886) * ''

Theloderma auratum ''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, subfamily Rhacophorinae. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the Greater Sunda Isla ...

'' Poyarkov, Kropachev, Gogoleva, and Orlov, 2018 * ''

Theloderma baibengense ''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, subfamily Rhacophorinae. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the Greater Sunda Isla ...

'' (Jiang, Fei, and Huang, 2009) * ''

Theloderma bicolor ''Theloderma bicolor'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae, sometimes known with common name Chapa bug-eyed frog. It is found in northwestern Vietnam from the Quang Tri Province northwards and in central and southeastern Yunnan (Ch ...

'' (Bourret, 1937) * ''

Theloderma corticale ''Theloderma corticale'' (common names: mossy frog, Vietnamese mossy frog, Tonkin bug-eyed frog, moss bug-eyed frog, and or the formerly recognized ''Theloderma kwangsiense''Kwangsi warty treefrog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophorida ...

'' (Boulenger, 1903) * ''

Theloderma gordoni ''Theloderma gordoni'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is known from northern Thailand, northern Laos, and central to northern Vietnam. Common names Gordon's bug-eyed frog, Gordon's warted frog, and large warted treefrog hav ...

'' Taylor, 1962 * ''

Theloderma horridum ''Theloderma horridum'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Ha ...

'' (Boulenger, 1903) * ''

Theloderma lacustrinum ''Theloderma'', the bug-eyed frogs, mossy frogs or warty frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, subfamily Rhacophorinae. They are found from northeastern India and southern China, through Southeast Asia, to the Greater Sunda Isla ...

'' Sivongxay, Davankham, Phimmachak, Phoumixay, and Stuart, 2016 * ''

Theloderma laeve ''Theloderma laeve'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. As currently known, it is endemic to central and southern Vietnam, although its true range could well extend into adjacent eastern Cambodia and perhaps Laos. It occurs in trop ...

'' (Smith, 1924) * '' Theloderma lateriticum'' Bain, Nguyen, and Doan, 2009 * ''

Theloderma leporosum ''Theloderma leporosum'' (Malaya bug-eyed frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (Indonesia). ''Theloderma leporosum'' inhabits evergreen lowland and montane rainforests. In Malaysi ...

'' Tschudi, 1838 * ''

Theloderma licin ''Theloderma licin'', also known as the smooth frog and the white-backed bug-eyed frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae found in peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, and Indonesia's Sumatra island. It inhabits lowland to mont ...

'' McLeod and Norhayati, 2007 * ''

'' (Annandale, 1912) * ''

Theloderma nagalandense ''Theloderma nagalandense'', the Nagaland tree frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest count ...

'' Orlov, Dutta, Ghate, and Kent, 2006 * ''

Theloderma nebulosum ''Theloderma nebulosum'', the misty moss frog, is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to central Vietnam and currently only known from Ngọc Linh Nature Reserve in the Kon Tum Province. Only one female and a series ...

'' Rowley, Le, Hoang, Dau, and Cao, 2011 * ''

Theloderma palliatum ''Theloderma palliatum'' (common name: cloaked moss frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Vietnam and so far only known from the Bidoup Núi Bà and Chư Yang Sin National Parks. This species, together with ...

'' Rowley, Le, Hoang, Dau, and Cao, 2011 * ''

Theloderma petilum ''Theloderma petilus'', the slender warted tree frog or slender bug-eyed frog, is a frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is occurs in Vietnam, where it has been observed in the Muong Nhe Nature Reserve. It is also native to Laos and Thailand ...

'' (Stuart and Heatwole, 2004) * ''

Theloderma phrynoderma ''Theloderma phrynoderma'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Myanmar and known from two widely separated localities: Thao, its type locality in the Karen Hills in south-central Myanmar where it was collected ...

'' (Ahl, 1927) * ''

Theloderma pyaukkya ''Theloderma pyaukkya'', the Burmese camouflaged tree frog, Burmese warty tree frog or Burmese bug-eyed frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is native to China and western Myanmar. Appearance The adult male frog measures a ...

'' Dever, 2017 * ''

Theloderma rhododiscus ''Theloderma rhododiscus'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in China and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast As ...

'' (Liu and Hu, 1962) * ''

Theloderma ryabovi ''Theloderma ryabovi'', or Ryabov's bug-eyed frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Vietnam. Scientists know it from the type locality. This frog lives in montane primary forests, where it has been observed ...

'' Orlov, Dutta, Ghate, and Kent, 2006 * ''

Theloderma stellatum ''Theloderma stellatum'', the Taylor's bug-eyed frog, purple-spotted warted frog, spotty warted tree frog, stellar bug-eyed frog, or Chantaburi bug-eyed tree frog is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in Thailand, Cambodia ...

'' Taylor, 1962 * ''

Theloderma truongsonense ''Theloderma truongsonense'', the Truong Son bug-eyed frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Vietnam and Laos. It has been observed between 300 and 1300 meters above sea level. This frog lives in forests on mo ...

'' (Orlov and Ho, 2005) * ''

Theloderma vietnamense ''Theloderma vietnamense'', the South Vietnamese bug-eyed frog or South Vietnamese bug eye frog, is a frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. It has been observed no higher than 1400 meters above sea level ...

'' Poyarkov, Orlov, Moiseeva, Pawangkhanant, Ruangsuwan, Vassilieva, Galoyan, Nguyen, and Gogoleva, 2015 * ''

Theloderma khoii ''Theloderma khoii'', or Khoi's mossy frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to northern Vietnam and southern China's Yunnan Province. It has been observed between 1320 and 1750 meters above sea level in Vietnam an ...

'' Ninh, Nguyen, Nguyen, Hoang, Siliyavong, Nguyen, Le, Le & Ziegler, 2022

References

Rhacophoridae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi {{Rhacophoridae-stub