Phasmahyla cochranae

The chocolatefoot leaf frog (Phasmahyla cochranae) is a frog that lives in Brazil. People have seen it between 800 and 1600 meters above sea level.

The adult male frog is 28 to 37 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 41 to 46 mm long.  The pupils of its eyes go up and down and open side to side.  It does not have webbing on its front feet.  This frog can change color during the day: it can be green or brick brown.  It has orange, purple, or brown spots on its sides.

This frog lives by the plants near the edges of streams in forests.  They do not live in large groups.  Scientists usually find no more than three frogs singing together.  The female frog lays eggs in folded leaves hanging above the stream.  The eggs are cream-white.  She lays about 32 at a time.  When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles fall into the stream.  They stay tadpoles for about five months.  They look for food at the surface of the water.

Many of the places where this frog lives are protected parks, for example Parque Estadual Nova Baden and Parque Municipal do Itapetinga.  However, it still suffers from habitat loss and changes that human beings make to the places it lives.  Because of damage to the ozone layer, there is more ultraviolet radiation than is good for this frog.  Also, this frog suffers from habitat fragmentation: that means that even though many places the frog lives are protected, the frogs cannot move from one to another easily. Human beings cut down the forests where the frog lives to make farms, tree farms, places for animals to eat grass, and towns and cities.

References

Category:Frogs of South America