Cornufer vitianus

The Viti wrinkled ground frog, Fiji land frog or Fiji ground frog (Cornufer vitianus) is a frog. It lives in some of the Fiji Islands.  Scientists have seen it between 0 and 830 meters above sea level.

The adult female frog is about 48.8-110 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult male frog is 25-59.7 mm long.  It has disks on its toes for climbing.  It has teeth in both its upper and lower jaw.  This frog can be different colors.  Some are brown.  Some are red-brown.  Some are green-brown.  Some are dark brown.  Most of them have a mark in the shape of an X and a white spot on their backs.  Some have a white stripe in the middle of the back.  The belly is lighter in color.

The female frog lays eggs on the ground.  She hides them in rotten dead tree trunks.  She lays about 40 eggs at a time.

This frog can swim and jump very well.  When the frog thinks it is in danger, it puffs itself full of air to look bigger.  It stores water in its bladder and lets it outs before jumping.

There are fewer of this frog than there were.  This is because human beings change the places where the frog lives and because of other animals that want to eat it.  Some of these animals have lived in the Fiji islands for a long time.  Others came there because humans brought them.  The most important predators are the mongoose, rat, cat, and cane toad.  Now, this frog only lives on islands where there are no mongoose.

References

Category:Frogs of Oceania