Taruga longinasus

The southern whipping frog, sharp-snout saddled tree frog, or long-snouted tree frog (Taruga longinasus) is a frog.  It lives in Sri Lanka.

Body
The adult male frog is about 41-47 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog 57-60 mm long.  The skin on the frog's back is dark brown or red brown in color with a red stripe from the nose to the middle of each side of the body.  The frog's mouth is white or yellow.  Its legs are brown with marks.

Home
These frogs live high in the trees.  They can jump very well. People have seen this frog on moss, small woody plants, and tree trunks. It lives in forests that have never been cut down that have water that does not flow in it.  People have seen this frog between 60 and 1300 meters above sea level.

Young
They come down from the trees to lay eggs in pools of water.  The pools are small and near streams.  They lay 28 to 42 eggs at a time.  The tadpoles grow into frogs in ten weeks.

Danger
This frog is in danger of dying out.  This is because human beings change the places where it lives. People come into the forest to take wood to burn for fuel and build homes and farms. They build small farms and also big farms for tea, cinnamon, rubber, and palm oil. The chemicals meant to kill pests and meant to make the plants grow can hurt this frog. Small dams to make electricity can also hurt this frog.

Scientists say climate change can also hurt this frog. The frog lives in the only part of South Asia that scientists call "perhumid": It has a short dry season and much rain. This makes the forests different from other forests. Climate change could make more forest fires and change the rain.

References

Category:Frogs of Asia