Green Tree Frog

Description:

Length to 100mm. This very large tree frog has a blunt snout; above the eye is a thick glandular ridge; pupil is horizontal and iris is golden. On the tips of the fingers and toes are large pads. On the inside and outside edges of the feet are large, hard pads. About one-third of the fingers are webbed and roughly three-quarters of the toes. The second finger is longer than the first (note second photo). Skin is smooth above and is coarsely granular on the belly and sides. Colouring above is a bright, pale green, to a dark olive-green, usually spotted with white on the sides or back. To blend into their background, these frogs can have a colour-change in less than an hour. Sometimes there is a stripe from the corner of the mouth, to the shoulder. A whitish to cream belly. Juveniles have a faint pale stripe above the eye.

Habitat:

Rainwater tank in my backyard.

Notes:

Family Hylidae:- Majority of this frog family lives in trees. They have a range of adaptations, which has made them extremely efficient insect-eating tree-dwellers. On the feet is where one will find the most important modifications. To aid climbing, each digit is tipped with a sticky adhesive pad. Inside the digit is a disc-shaped area of cartilage, before the end bone. This allows the digit greater mobility, whilst keeping the adhesive pad flat on the surface, when climbing. The second name in the Latin - caerulea - means blue. It appears that when England received the first specimens, for identification, the preserving liquid had turned the skin blue. Bet that would have been just as nice as our green. This ground-dwelling climbing species use the large gripping digit pads to climb glass or other smooth, vertical surfaces. When a source of its diet is nigh, the Green Tree Frog will pounce on it. 'Tis a powerful jumper. Diet may include mice, spiders and small animals. When it is raining, or when the humidity is high and breeding season has arrived, males will call from small boulders and rocks that are along watercourses. Often hear them calling from hollow tree limbs and drainpipes as well. Really amplifies the rasping 'wark', or the deep 'crawk' calls. Great listening! The Green Tree Frog is a ground-dwelling climbing species and found in many different places, from the coast to the dry interior, wherever they can find water. Waterways and houses (especially the loos), they call home. I have heard it said that if your home has frogs, lizards & etc., then your home environment is healthy. That should keep the grin on the face of the Green Tree Frog. References:- The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Animals...Consultant Editor Dr. Philip Whitfield; Discovery Centre Queensland Museum; Cronin's Key Guide Australian Reptiles & Frogs...Leonard Cronin.