Amphibian | GVI Kenya

The Frog Blog Part 2

Category: Amphibians, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: May 03 2009 | By: gvikenya

Matt wrote earlier in the week about an exciting frog find in the forest and as Saturday night came round his rainy season wish came true. At our forest base and office in Shimoni we were decidedly ‘off-duty’, kicking back and watching a film… Just before hitting the sack, I noticed a little visitor perched on the bars of the kitchen window and so our mini research team kicked in to action. Recognising the small amphibian from an individual we had caught a few years before, it didn’t take long to identify. We are fairly confident we have our second Tinker Reed Frog, or Hyperolius tuberilinguis.

This beautiful yellow-green reed frog reveals striking red-orange backs of the thighs when jumping. It has been suggested that this trait may serve to startle predators as it makes its escape, but the colour is the result of a concentrated supply of blood vessels under a thinner layer of skin, enabling an area of rapid water uptake, important for amphibians living in tropical East Africa! The body length of the frog suggested it may be a male, males often being smaller than females in the amphibian world, however the lack of a bright yellow throat indicates the reverse. If it was a female, the she may well have been out looking for a pool of water above which she can lay up to 400 eggs above the surface, attached to vegetation.

With the Hyperolius being a somewhat tricky genus within which to determine species, we’re pleased to have had an easy job with this one and look forward to seeing what else the rains will bring us. Would be nice if they gave us Saturday nights off though…

Corti

Tags: amphibian, coastal forest biodiversity, coastal forest research, reed frog

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The Frog Blog – Another Amphibian Species in Shimoni’s Coastal Forest

Category: Amphibians, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Apr 28 2009 | By: gvikenya

Last week saw the rainy season begin to creep in. The first few days were fairly tame, with only a few light showers. But towards the end of the week, the dark clouds rolled in off the sea and the true African rains started. This can make some elements of our forest research slightly more challenging, and some – like our primate community surveys – impossible. Either way, its sodden clothes and wet boots all round.

There are however, some advantages to the rains. Not only does the vegetation, fruits and flowers all spring back into life, but the forest sees an explosion in diversity and abundance of amphibians!

We’ve seen several very cool frogs this week, but the highlight has been what we believe to be a Fornasini’s spiny reed frog (Afrixalus fornasini). It is a beautifully patterned reed frog that is usually associated with ponds where reeds and sedges are growing. It has been found in Kenya southward through eastern and southern Tanzania, including the low slopes of the Usambara, Uluguru and Udzungwa mountains, south to Malawi, Mozambique, and north eastern South Africa. Another common name for this frog is the greater leaf folding frog, due to a rather clever way the female protects its eggs. About 80 eggs are laid on a reed leaf, starting at the tip, the edges of which are then folded toward one another and glued together, to defend against predators. This species also has skin that contains small amounts of substances called tachykinins, which are responsible for upsetting the heartbeat and serve to detract mammal predators.