Morelet's tree frog

The popeye hyla, Morelet's leaf frog, Morelet's tree frog, Morelet's frog, or black-eyed leaf frog (Agalychnis moreletii) is a frog that lives in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.  The frog has two ranges: one on the Pacific side of the mountains and one on the Atlantic side of the mountains.  Scientists have seen it between 200 and 2130 meters above sea level.

The adult male frog is 60.5 to 64.2 mm long from nose to rear end, and one female was found to be 58.6 mm long.  The skin on the frog's back is dark green to light green.  It has orange on its sides, inside its legs, and on some of its toes.  Its belly is yellow to white.  The irises of its eyes are red or purple.

This frog lays eggs after heavy rain.  The female lays the eggs on rocks or plants that hang over the water.  The eggs are green in color.  When the tadpoles hatch, they fall into the water.  The eggs do not start to hatch for 9-12 days, and they take 2-3 days to hatch completely.  Most tadpoles hatch at night.  However, scientists have seen these eggs do something strange: If something shakes or disturbs the group of eggs—for example, a tree snake trying to eating some of them—the other eggs will hatch early.  This will also happen if the eggs fall into the water.

This frog is endangered in Mexico because of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.  The fungus has killed almost all of these frogs there.  As of 2007, the disease had spread to El Salvador too.  This frog is also in danger because of habitat loss (people changing its forests into farms) and because humans capture them to sell as pets.

References

Category:Frogs of South America