Crossodactylodes itambe

Itambe's bromeliad frog (Crossodactylodes itambe) is a frog.  It lives in Brazil.

Body
The adult male frog is about 14.0 - 17.6 mm long in from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is 13.5 - 18.0 mm long. It has a flat body and bumpy skin. There is no webbed skin on any of the feet. The skin is brown in color, and it can change from dark brown during the day to light brown with darker marks at night. Some frogs have white spots or rectangles on the back and legs.

Home
This frog lives in bromeliad plants that grow on rocks. Scientists have only seen the frog in the Vriesea medusa bromeliad plant. Scientists saw the frog between 1713 and 2062 meters above sea level. Scientists saw adult frogs in plants lower down on the hills, but they only saw tadpoles very high in the hills.

Scientists saw the frog in a protected park: Parque Estadual do Pico do Itambé.

Young

The Vriesea medusa bromeliad plant can hold a large amount of water. The male frog sits in the water and calls to the female frogs. The female frog lays her eggs on the leaves of the Vriesea medusa bromeliad plant. The tadpoles swim in the water. There are one to eight tadpoles per plant.

Danger
Scientists from the IUCN say this frog is in very big danger of dying out. It lives in a protected park, so human beings do not change its home by cutting down trees any more.  But hikers, campers, and other visitors to the frog's home can step on too many plants. Human beings also set fires and take bromeliad plants to use. Another big danger for this frog is climate change because it could change the rain and other water in the air, which the frog needs.  Animals that live high in mountains usually climb higher when the climate becomes too warm, and these frogs may not find good places to live there.

First paper

References

Category:Frogs of South America