Uperodon nagaoi

The Nagao's pug-snout frog or Nagao's globular frog (Uperodon nagaoi) is a frog that lives in Sri Lanka. Scientists have seen it about 125 meters above sea level.  They sometimes live with tarantula spiders.

Appearance

The adult male frog is 26.4 to 28.8 mm long from nose to rear end.  The adult female frog is 27.4 to 31.5 mm long.

This frog is dark brown in color, both on its back and on its belly.  It has yellow spots on its face.  It has red-orange spots on its nose, back, belly and legs.  There are red-orange stripes on its back legs.  Young frogs are darker in color than older frogs.

Tarantulas

This frog lives in holes in trees.  It can live in those holes by itself or with tarantula spiders.  It can live with either of two species in the genus Poecilotheria: Poecilotheria ornata or Poecilotheria fusca. It is mutualistic symbiosis.  This means that the frogs help the tarantulas and the tarantulas help the frogs.  When frogs and tarantulas live together, animals that want to eat the frog see or smell the tarantula and stay away.  The frog eats insects that can be parasites on the tarantula or insects that eat the tarantula's eggs.

Name

This species is named after Mr. Eijiro Nagao.  Mr. Nagao was President of Japan's Marusan Securities Co. Ltd. The Nagao Environmental Foundation gave scientists the money to study amphibians in Sri Lanka.

References

Category:Frogs of Asia