Wallace's Flying Frog

About the Wallace's Flying Frog

Wallace's flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus), also known as the gliding frog or the Abah River flying frog, is a moss frog found at least from the Malay Peninsula into western Indonesia and southern Thailand, and is present in Borneo and Sumatra. It is named for the biologist, Alfred R. Wallace, who collected the first known specimen.

R. dennysii, R. maximus and Polypedates feae were once contained within Wallace's flying frog as subspecies. Similar frogs also occur in Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and southern China; these may be R. nigropalmatus or an undescribed, closely related species.

This frog is quite photogenic, due to its large size, brilliant colors, and interesting behavior. With a body length of about 80–100 mm (males are smaller than females), it is one of the largest species of Rhacophorus. Its eardrums are large, as well as its eyes, which feature horizontal pupils. Its limbs are very long, and its fingers and toes are webbed right to the tips. Together with a fringe of skin stretching between the limbs, this flying frog can parachute to the forest floor from high in the trees where it is normally found.

Its back is bright shiny... Wikipedia →