Epirus water frog | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Anura |
Family: | Ranidae |
Genus: | Pelophylax |
Species: | P. epeiroticus |
Binomial name | |
Pelophylax epeiroticus (Schneider, Sofianidou & Kyriakopoulou-Sklavounou, 1984) | |
Synonyms | |
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The Epirus water frog (Pelophylax epeiroticus) is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is found in western Greece, including Kerkyra, [2] [3] [4] and the southern areas of Albania. [5] The species is collected from the wild for human consumption.
Like most frogs, Epirus water frogs show sexual dimorphism. Males can grow to 2.9 inches (74 mm) in length, with females growing larger to 3.3 inches (84 mm). The dorsal side is typically green with irregular black spots. The underside is pale. Male vocal sacs are olive aside from mating season, when they can turn a dark gray.
The species occurs in Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes and marshes, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss, and is classified as vulnerable as populations within its relatively small range are fragmented. [1]
The spawning period extends from the end of April to the beginning of May and can change by a few days depending on the latitude and altitude of a population and the local weather. In the case of high reproductive activity, calling begins in the morning at around 9 a.m. and lasts until midnight or longer with a longer break at dusk, during which the frogs are catching insects. Calling Epirus water frogs have been observed at water temperatures between 13 and 24.5 °Celsius. [2]
The calls consist of very short pulses with intervals in between, which is why the calls sound creaky. According to the calculated equations, the calls last for 616 milliseconds at a water temperature of 15 °Celsius and consist of 32 pulses. As the temperature rises, the duration of the calls decreases, while the number of pulses per call increases. The frequency spectrum has a strong component between 1400 and 2400 Hertz. The males mostly give the calls in series. [2]
True frogs is the common name for the frog family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are present in North America, northern South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Asian range extends across the East Indies to New Guinea and a single species, the Australian wood frog, has spread into the far north of Australia.
The marsh frog is a species of water frog native to Europe and parts of western Asia.
Rana is a genus of frogs commonly known as the Holarctic true frogs, pond frogs or brown frogs. Members of this genus are found through much of Eurasia and western North America. Many other genera were formerly included here. These true frogs are usually largish species characterized by their slim waists and wrinkled skin; many have thin ridges running along their backs, but they generally lack "warts" as in typical toads. They are excellent jumpers due to their long, slender legs. The typical webbing found on their hind feet allows for easy movement through water. Coloration is mostly greens and browns above, with darker and yellowish spots.
The pool frog is a European frog in the family Ranidae. Its specific name was chosen by the Italian herpetologist Lorenzo Camerano in 1882, in order to honour his master Michele Lessona.
Lithobates sphenocephalus or Rana sphenocephala, commonly known as the southern leopard frog, is a medium-sized anuran in the family Ranidae. It is native to eastern North America from Kansas to New York to Florida. It is also an introduced species in some areas. This species lives in cool, clear water in the north, whereas in the south it occurs in warmer turbid and murky waters of coastal and floodplain swamps, twilight zones of caves, and abandoned mines.
Hoplobatrachus crassus, also called Jerdon's bullfrog, Jerdon's bull frog, and South Indian bullfrog, is a species of frog found widely distributed on the plains of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Its range may extend to the adjacent Bhutan and Myanmar.
Sclerophrys vittata, also known as Degen's toad, banded toad, or Lake Victoria toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Uganda, where it is only known from Lira south to Entebbe and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This species may possibly be found in Kenya and its range may even extend into Egypt, but the records from northern Egypt are generally regarded as belonging to S. kassasii.
Amolops mengyangensis is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is known with certainty only from its type locality, the eponymous Mengyang in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southern Yunnan province of China. However, if Amolops daorum is its junior synonym, distribution of Amolops mengyangensis would be considerably wider, including the vicinity of Sa Pa in northern Vietnam near the Chinese border, Hong Kong, and Houaphanh Province in eastern Laos, and presumably also including the intervening areas.
The common green frog is a frog species of in the true frog family Ranidae; some sources still use the old name Rana erythraea. It lives in Southeast Asia and is also known as green paddy frog, red-eared frog or leaf frog. The last name, however, commonly refers to the Neotropical tree frogs which make up the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. These are not closely related to H. erythraea, belonging to family Hylidae instead.
The Greek stream frog, or simply Greek frog, is a species of frog in the family Ranidae found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater springs, and pastureland. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
Humerana lateralis is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is found in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is commonly known as Kokarit frog, yellow frog or (ambiguously) wood frog.
The Sahara frog is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is native to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Spanish North Africa, and Western Sahara; it has also been introduced to Gran Canaria. In French it is called grenouille verte d'Afrique du Nord, and in Spanish it is known as rana verde norteafricana.
The Albanian water frog is a species of true frog and is native to Albania and Montenegro. As its common name suggests, it prefers aquatic environments. The Albanian water frog is an endangered species and known populations are currently in decline. Significant threats to its habitat are presented by pollution and by drainage of wetlands, and a more direct threat is the aggressive collection of the species for commercial purposes.
Pelophylax is a genus of true frogs widespread in Eurasia, with a few species ranging into northern Africa. This genus was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1843 to accommodate the green frogs of the Old World, which he considered distinct from the brown pond frogs of Carl Linnaeus' genus Rana.
The Korean brown frog is a species of frog in the genus Rana. It is native to the Korean Peninsula and Shandong, China.
Chalcorana eschatia is a species of "true frog" in the family Ranidae. It is known from southern Thailand, but is likely to be more widespread. It was split off from Chalcorana chalconota by Robert Inger and colleagues in 2009, along with a number of other species in so-called "Rana chalconota group". The specific name eschatia, derived from the Greek word for "outskirt", refers to distribution of this species being at the edge of the geographical range of the group.
Hylarana taipehensis is a species of "true frog", family Ranidae. It has several common names, including Taipei frog, Taipei grass frog, two-striped grass frog, or striped slender frog. Following its redelimitation in 2019, its range is now believed to extend from Taiwan and southern China to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and eastern Thailand.
Chalcorana raniceps, also known as the copper-cheeked frog, white-lipped frog, or Peters' Malaysian frog, is a species of "true frog" in the family Ranidae. It is endemic to Borneo, including Brunei Darussalam, Kalimantan (Indonesia), and Sarawak (Malaysia), although it is likely to occur more widely. Previously mixed with Chalcorana chalconota and believed to have much wider distribution, its range was delimited to Borneo in the revision of "Rana chalconota" complex by Robert Inger and colleagues in 2009.