Scythrophrys

Scythrophrys is a group of frogs in the family Leptodactylidae. There is only one species in the group, Scythrophrys sawayae, which people call the Banhado frog in English. They call it this because scientists first found it in a place called Banhado. It lives in Serra do Mar in Paraná and Santa Catarina in Brazil. It lives in forests that are growing back and forests that were never cut down. It has young in pools of water that dry up after. Human beings change the places where the frog lives, so it is harder for the frog to live there, but it is not in danger of dying out. The first scientist to write a science paper about this frog was the American frog scientist Doris Mable Cochran. She learned about the amphibians and reptiles living in the West Indies and South America.

Body
The Banhado frog is a small, fat frog. It can be about  long from nose to rear end. The male frogs are smaller than the female frogs. The nose is pointed and there are bits of skin up above the eyes. The legs are thin and the toes of all four feet have small small disc-shaped pads. The frog can come in three different colors; about half the frogs are dark brown, and the others are either green or light brown. The legs are yellowish-brown, and there is a light colored fold of skin between the frog's back and the sides.

Ecology
The Banhado frog lives onle the dead leaves on the ground in forests. When it is sitting still, people cannot see it well. Scientists say this makes it hard for animals that want to eat the frog to find it. When the frog is frightened, it pushes its legs stiffly outwards, to make itself look bigger. When it does this, it looks like a dead leaf. Another frog in Brazil's rainforests, Proceratophrys boiei, also does this.

Danger
The Banhado frog lives in Serra do Mar, a group of mountains in southeastern Brazil, in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina. It lives in forests that were never cut down and in forests that are growing back between  above sea level. The whole size of the frog's home is about . Although it does not live in any protected parks, people are not changing the forests where it lives right now, so scientists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature say it is not in danger of dying out.

References

Category:Frogs of South America