Hyloxalus vertebralis

Boulenger's rocket frog (Hyloxalus vertebralis) is a frog.  It lives in  Ecuador. Scientists think it could live in Peru too.

Body
The adult male frog is 14.1–17.5 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 17–20.2 long. This frog has dark marks on its belly. The male frogs have darker marks than the female frogs. The male frog's male organs are white in color.

Home
This frog lives in cloud forests in valleys high in the Andes mountains. It also lives in places where animals eat grass, in parks, and in people's gardens. People see this frog near puddles and streams. The frogs sit on plants .3 to 3 meters above the ground. People have seen this frog between 1770 to 3500 meters above sea level.

Many of the places this frog lives are protected parks, for example Parque Nacional Cajas, Parque Nacional Río Negro Sopladora, Páramo, Matorral Interandino, Bosque Montano Oriental, and Bosque Montano Occidental.

Young
The female frog lays eggs on  the ground. The male frog carries the tadpoles on his back. He carries them to streams where they swim and grow.

Danger
Scientists say this frog is in some danger of dying out because people change its habitat to make towns. During the 1990s, many of these frogs died. Scientists think it could be the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, but they are not sure.

References

Category:Frogs of South America