A Malabar gliding frog (Rhacophorus malabaricus) was spotted in the orchard of a house at Pullad, near Kozhencherry in Kerala.
It is a rare amphibian that can glide in the air up to 10-12 m. It was spotted by Jithesh Krishnan, assistant professor of botany at NSS College, Pandalam
The newly spotted is a green frog with a slender body, webbed feet, unusual body positions, very well camouflaged and gliding in the air.
The frog is endemic to the rain forests of the Western Ghats.
The frog has got a body length of 10 cm, making it one of the largest mossy frogs.
Rhacophoridae is a family of the frog species, which can be seen in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. They are commonly known as ‘bush frogs’ or ‘moss frogs’. Some members are arboreal and are called ‘tree frogs’ and reproduce on trees. Among the most spectacular members of this family are the ‘gliding frogs’.
The Malabar gliding frog is found in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. When predators like a tree snake approach them, these frogs spread their limbs with their webbed feet and plummet down from the tree’s canopy, only to glide smoothly like a parachute for around 10 metres in the air.
Source: The Hindu and New Indian Express (Representative image: Malabar Glider Frog by Wikimedia commons)
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