Balebreviceps hillmani

The Bale Mountains tree frog, Bale rain frog, or Ethiopian short-headed frog (Balebreviceps hillmani) is a frog.  It lives in Ethiopia. Scientists have seen it 3200 meters above sea level in Harenna Forest in the Bale Mountains.

The adult male frog is about 36-39 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog 45-53 mm. It has a small head and eyes for a frog. Its eardrums are hard to see.  The skin of the frog's back is thick and bumpy but the skin of the belly is thin and smooth. The skin of the frog's back is dark in color, purple or brown, with light yellow stripes on each side.  There are also light marks on the sides of the head all the way to the nose.  The back legs are also light in color, with some orange. The bottoms of the feet are light gray or peach in color. The belly is yellow in color, but it can be gray.

When scientists first wrote about this frog in 1986, there were many, but people built a highway into the place where they live in 1983. Since then, humans had built towns and farms and places for animals to eat grass.  Humans have cut down trees in the forests to get wood to build with.  All this change has been bad for the frog. It is now very close to dying out. Scientists are not sure, but they think the chytrid fungus might be making this frog sick.

References

Category:Frogs of Asia