SEAVR 2020: 034‐035
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 26 October 2020
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

First record of the Greenhouse Frog Eleutherodactylus planirostris inBatanes island group, Philippines
Emerson Y. SY and Charls Lee IBAÑES
emersonsy@gmail.com (Sy)Observer: Charls Lee Ibañes.
Photograph by: Charls Lee Ibañes.
Subject identified by: Emerson Y. Sy.
Location: Batan Island, Barangay Ihubok I (Kaychanarianan), Municipality of Basco, Batanes Province, Philippines.
Elevation: 20 metres ASL.
Habitat: Moist ground in a residential area.
Date and time: 16 June 2020, 20:30 hrs.
Identity of subject: Greenhouse Frog, Eleutherodactylus planirostris (Amphibia: Anura: Eleutherodactylidae).
Description of record: A small frog was observed on the ground in a residential area (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

© Charls Lee Ibañes

34Remarks:
The frog was identified as Eleutherodactylus planirostris based on (i) its small size (ca. 25mm snout‐vent length),(ii) dorsal colour is brown with mottled tan, (iii) head as broad as body, and (iv) slender and long toes without
webbing (Olson et al., 2012). The Greenhouse Frog is native to Cuba and the Bahamas, an introduced species inthe Philippines, and has been documented on the following islands: Camiguin Sur (Venturina et al., 2020), Cebu
(Sy and Salgo, 2015), Leyte (Sy and Del Prado, 2019), Luzon (Sy, 2015a), Mactan (Sy, 2017a), Mindanao (Bukidnon,Davao del Sur) (Ducao et al., 2017), Negros (Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental) (Bucol and Bucol, 2019; Sy et al.,2015b), and Palawan (Sy, 2017b). The most likely introduction pathway is through contaminated ornamental
plants (Pili et al., 2019).
The Batanes island group is situated north of Luzon and is the northern‐most islands of the Philippines. Prior tothis record, the Common Tree Frog Polypedates leucomystax was the only frog documented in the island groupand this was hypothesized to be introduced recently on the islands of Batan and Sabtang (Oliveros et al., 2011).
This note provides the northern‐most record of the introduced Greenhouse Frog in the Philippines to date andthe first record on Batan Island and Batanes island group.
References:
Bucol, A.A. and Bucol, L.A. (2019). First records of the Greenhouse Frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) inSouthern Negros, Philippines. Southeast Asia Vertebrate Records 2019: 72‐73.
Ducao, L.A., Ducao, T.J., Peralta, S.A., and Sy, E.Y. (2017). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus planirostris(Greenhouse Frog): Philippines, Mindanao Island, Bukidnon Province. Herpetological Review 48(3): 583.
Oliveros, C.H., Ota, H., Crombie, R.I., and Brown, R.F. (2011). The herpetofauna of the Babuyan Islands, northern
Philippines. Scientific Papers of the Natural History Museum, University of Kansas 43: 1‐20.
Olson, C.A., Beard, K.H., and Pitt, W.C. (2012). Biology and impacts of Pacific Island invasive species. 8.
Eleutherodactylus planirostris, the Greenhouse Frog (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae). Pacific Science 66(3):255‐270.
Pili, A.N., Sy, E.Y., Diesmos, M.L.L., and Diesmos, A.C. (2019). Island hopping in a biodiversity hotspot archipelago:reconstructed invasion history and updated status and distribution of alien frogs in the Philippines. Pacific Science73(3): 321‐343.
Sy, E.Y. (2017a). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus planirostris (Greenhouse Frog): Philippines, Mactan
Island, Cebu Province. Herpetological Review 48(3): 583.
Sy, E.Y. (2017b). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus planirostris (Greenhouse Frog): Philippines, Palawan
Island. Herpetological Review 48(3): 583.
Sy, E.Y. and Del Prado, Y.L.C. (2019). New distributional records of introduced frogs on Leyte Island, Philippines.
Southeast Asia Vertebrate Records 2019: 65‐67.
Sy, E.Y., Eleazar, B., III, Achacoso, R., and Diesmos, A.C. (2015a). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus
planirostris (Greenhouse Frog): Philippines, Luzon Island. Herpetological Review 46(1): 56.
Sy, E.Y., Martyr, J.C., and Diesmos, A.C. (2015b). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus planirostris(Greenhouse Frog): Philippines, Negros Island. Herpetological Review 46(1): 56.
Sy, E.Y. and Salgo, J. (2015). Geographic distribution: Eleutherodactylus planirostris (Greenhouse Frog):
Philippines, Cebu Island. Herpetological Review 46(2): 212.
Venturina, R.E.L., Del Prado, Y.L.C., Kamir, R.A.C., Balmores, M.N., and Diesmos, A.C. (2020). A revised checklist ofamphibians and reptiles in Camiguin Sur, Misamis Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines. Asian Herpetological Research11(1): 28‐43.

35