Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

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numpty
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Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by numpty »

Just a few photographs of Taiwanese frogs taken this year, in no particular order. I hoped to see some salamanders, but that was not to be (see attached rant at the end). I apologise in advance for what I know is going to be a rambling post.

I'll get some questionable photos of the green pond frog out of the way first, as these were taken in an ornamental pond in a botanical garden. They do live elsewhere in Taiwan, in "wilder" conditions, but I haven't seen them at such locations and many photos of this frog within Taiwan are from this same pond. No doubt it's a sustainable population that lives in this pond, but still ...

Pelophylax fukienensis
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Another questionable one, the common field frog, for the reason that the Taiwan population could at some point be split into two or more species (e.g. F. multistriata, F. kawamurari). At that point I may make an effort to differentiate the species, or I may not ...

Fejervarya limnocharis
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Another species with a confusing classification, Polypedates braueri. This is the endemic member of the P. leucomystax complex, which until a few years ago in Taiwan was labelled P. megacephalus. Then in 2012 Taiwan's endemic species was reclassified as P. braueri. Confusingly, however, about a decade back the true P. megacephalus is believed to have arrived as an exotic from Hong Kong. Since then it has spread quite rapidly, apparently via the plant trade. So now there are two, at least, Polypedates species here. While I'm a bit iffy about the reclassifications, there's no doubting the difference in appearance and call, and this year I've noticed the exotic type in many locations where in previous years there was only the indigenous one. That's a rapid spread, if I'm correct.

Polypedates braueri
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Polypedates megacephalus?
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Next, Eiffinger's tree frog. This small frog practices parental care within the tree holes or caves in which its eggs are laid. Males guard the eggs until hatched, then females feed trophic eggs to the tadpoles. For whatever reason I had a difficult time this year finding these frogs at locations I'd seen them commonly before. (I should note that this species has now been split into three - K. eiffingeri, K. berylliniris in the southeast and K. wangi at the extreme southern tip of the island.) Anyway, the following is K. eiffingeri, for sure, though a terrible picture.

Kurixalus eiffingeri
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These next, I'm not quite so confident in. They might even be of the same individual, dozens of metres apart. It's the right colour for K. eiffingeri (the similar K. idiootocus is generally brown), but I hadn't previously seen or heard K. eiffingeri in this park (Yangmingshan, Taipei). Doesn't mean it's not there, maybe even in large numbers, but I hadn't seen it.

Kurixalus eiffingeri?
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Right, on more solid ground now: the straightforward (for now) endemic temple tree frog. The specific epithet refers to the unusual habit (for a tree frog) of laying eggs on the ground, adjacent to water.

Kurixalus idiootocus
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The common, grumbling, wheezing, Latouche's frog, widespread in East Asia, and probably overdue some splitting by Taiwanese taxonomists.

Hylarana latouchii
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The endemic long-legged frog, not looking all that long-legged here.

Rana longicrus
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Swinhoe's frog, the local torrent frog. Often very prettily mottled in bright green.

Odorrana swinhoana
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The honking, unimaginatively named (in English at least), olive frog.

Babina adenopleura
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The barking Gunther's frog, common even in the middle of cities, in ornamental pools and the like. A shy frog though, not always so easy to see.

Hylarana guentheri
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The Fujian big-headed frog, still sometimes listed as Rana kuhlii. A species in which males possess fangs and exceed females in size. I seem to find it difficult to take decent pictures of this species, the following snaps being no exception.

Limnonectes fujianensis
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The ornate narrow-mouth frog - is there really any difference between this and M. ornata? Its call sounds much like a loud snore.

Microhyla fissipes
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The endemic "Central Formosan" toad, though as far as I can tell it lives all over Taiwan (old name: Formosa). I don't honestly know if there's much difference between this and Bufo gargarizans. Anyway, about this picture, I'll say it ... that sucks ...

Bufo bankorensis
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The spectacles toad, another common one, though I haven't seen quite as much of it these last couple of years. The first pictures show a huge gathering of these on a warm, dry night ... hundreds of them everywhere; the next night I couldn't find a single one at the same spot.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus
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The only member of Hylidae in Taiwan, a pretty frog I never tire of.

Hyla chinensis
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The emerald tree frog, restricted to northern Taiwan. Probably the easiest to see of the green tree frogs in my experience; hence the surplus of pictures. One of the species that tends to choose farmers' buckets for breeding, leaving it a bit vulnerable when the farmer decides to use the buckets to water his plants.

Rhacophorus prasinatus
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Another pretty tree frog restricted to northern Taiwan, the Taipei green tree frog.

Rhacophorus taipeianus
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My favourite of the green tree frogs that I see on a semi-regular basis, Moltrecht's tree frog. I'm particularly drawn to the red thighs, an exotic touch to my eye. I had to travel a ways out of Taipei in the past to see these, but last year I found a small population in the nearby Yangmingshan National Park, in what to me looked like rather an artificial colony. The second and third pictures are from further south on the island though.

Rhacophorus moltrechti
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The small Japanese Buerger's frog, from a couple of different locations. I'd always doubted the climbing abilities of this "tree frog" until a recent hike when I saw one making short work of scrambling up a wall and over a bush. Apparently these sometimes breed in hot springs, tolerating water up to 40 degrees. Apparently.

Buergeria japonica
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And finally the robust Buerger's frog. I've seen this species in quite a few locations previously, but these, in Yangmingshan Park near Taipei, were the prettiest I'd seen. When I saw them further south they all had subdued patterns and fairly uniform colours, even if they could be a startling yellow colour (possibly related to breeding season). Again, this was at a spot I'd never previously seen them.

Buergeria robusta
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I'm going to go on a lengthy, rambling rant now. I really can't recommend reading it; feel free to skip to the pics at the end ... I won't blame you.

Last month I headed up to a spot high in the mountains of a national park where, on three previous visits, I'd seen Hynobius sonani close to a trail. This endangered salamander lives around this spot and maybe one or two others. This time, I was just starting on the little forest trail when four buses pulled up and well over a hundred students poured out. I had a sinking feeling about what was going to happen next, and sure enough, they all headed into the forest on the little trail. There were a couple of "leaders" at the front to lead the way, and a couple more adults hollering earsplitting directions through loudspeakers, but mostly the students were free to slip, stumble, shout and kick their way through the forest. I didn't see any salamanders, and if this kind of thing is a regular occurrence then I'd be surprised if there's even a viable population here anymore. I went to a nearby endemic species research center to speak to someone about this, and also to the director of the nearby park station, but the message seemed to be that this was an open area where people could go wherever they wanted. I was also told that the area is under control of a different department and park staff can't do anything. I later spoke to staff at the HQ; they thanked me for my concern and asked me for my suggestions. It's nice to be asked for opinions, but I hope there are better plans in place than taking advice from tourists.

The staff I've spoken to in various protected areas here are generally pleasant people who seem to like their jobs, but the challenge of safeguarding flora and fauna in the face of rampant development, pollution, poaching and tourism has to be fairly robust, and I worry that Taiwan is going to sleepwalk into losing endemic species. I've had similar experiences to the above mentioned several times in the past. Just the fact that a patch of land is called a protected area doesn't actually mean anything by itself unless someone actively protects it. Well, maybe stuff is going on behind the scenes that I'm unaware of ... I hope so.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of Hynobius sonani from Taroko Gorge last year.

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Thanks if you made it this far!
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Jeroen Speybroeck
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Re: Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

Very nice! Rhacophorus never bores.
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mfb
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Re: Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by mfb »

Great photos and descriptions. I would love to see Hynobius in the wild sometime. Also, that was interesting information about the Polypedates. I'm going to have to read up on that.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Thank you for the great post!
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numpty
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Re: Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by numpty »

Thanks Hans. Did you manage to see much in the way of Taiwanese herps towards the end of your visit?
mfb wrote:Great photos and descriptions. I would love to see Hynobius in the wild sometime. Also, that was interesting information about the Polypedates. I'm going to have to read up on that.
Thanks! I would love to have seen Hynobius this year too. By the way, I should probably amend the info I wrote about Polypedates in Taiwan: I said Polypedates braueri was endemic, but actually it's supposed to be found in more northerly parts of China as well. But not Hong Kong or the deep south. The way these things go, I would expect the Polypedates leucomystax complex to become even more split.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Taiwan frogs from the first half of 2016

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

numpty wrote:Thanks Hans. Did you manage to see much in the way of Taiwanese herps towards the end of your visit?
Apart from anurans, not a single tail end. But hey, the local food was world-class :-)
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