Isthmohyla pseudopuma

The meadow tree frog or Gunther's Costa Rican tree frog (Isthmohyla pseudopuma) is a frog that lives in Costa Rica and Panama. In Panama and parts of Costa Rica, it lives between 1000 and 2400 meters above sea level.  On the Pacific side (west) of the mountains in Costa Rica, it lives no more than 864 meters above sea level.

Appearance
The adult male frog is 37.6 to 42.9 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 41.1 and 45.6 mm long.

This frog is brown and light brown on the back and yellow on its belly.  It has a white stripe on both back legs.  Some of them have blue color on their middles.

Actions

This frog hides during the day in bromeliad plants and other plants with large leaves.  At night, it goes to trees and bushes to look for food.

These frogs lay eggs after heavy rains.  The males go to water, deep water if they can, and sing for the females.  The females choose the largest male frogs.  The female lays 500 eggs at a time, 1800 to 2500 eggs per female per year.

The tadpoles eat plants and dead things.  They will also eat frog eggs and smaller tadpoles.  They will eat eggs and tadpoles from other species or other Gunther's Costa Rican tree frogs.  If the pond starts to dry up, the tadpoles become frogs quicker than if it did not dry up.

Threats

This frog is not in danger of dying out but there are fewer of them than there were. This is because human beings change the places where the frog lives, because of climate change, and because there is more ultraviolet B light than there was.  This light can hurt this frog.

References

Category:Frogs of North America