Plectrohyla matudai

Matuda's spikethumb frog (Plectrohyla matudai) is a frog that lives in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Scientists have seen it in cloud forests in Mexico between 700 and 2300 meters above sea level, in pine-oak forests in Guatemala, and in pine-oak forests in Honduras at 1370 meters above sea level.

Appearance

The adult male frog is 31.5 to 46.0 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 36.0 to 49.0 cm long.  Frogs that live in the west are larger than frogs that live in the east.  For a frog, this animal has short back legs.  This frog is light brown in color with dark brown or black spots.  Most of these frogs have dark stripes under their eyes and above their mouths.

Tadpoles

Tadpoles live in streams where the water moves fast.  They grab onto large rocks.

Threats

This frog is not in danger of dying out, but it is still in some danger.  This is because human beings change the places it lives into farms or towns.  Human beings also cut down the forests for lumber.  The fungal disease chytridiomycosis can also make this frog sick. However, adult P. madudai frogs do not die from chytrid disease as much as other frogs do.

Name
This frog is named after Dr. Eizi Matuda.  He was born in Japan in 1894.  He moved to Mexico in 1922 and became head of botany at Mexico's National Institute of Forestry.

References

Category:Frogs of North America