Raorchestes flaviventris

Raorchestes flaviventris is a species of arboreal, nocturnal, frog of the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats, South India. Its common names are yellow-bellied bush frog and Malabar bubble-nest frog.

This frog has been observed between 1382 and 1900 meters above sea level, in wet evergreen forests and on cardamom plantations near such forests.

This frog breeds through direct development, hatching from its egg as a froglet with no free-swimming tadpole stage.

Scientists classify this frog as vulnerable to extinction because of its limited range, which is still subject to deforestation in favor of agriculture, especially small-scale agriculture. Its range also includes two protected parks: Eravikulam National Park and Anamalai Tiger Reserve Scientists believe there to be five or six populations of this frog remaining.

References

Further reading

• Abraham, R. K., A. Zachariah, and V. P. Cyriac. 2015. A reappraisal of the rhacophorid bush frog Raorchestes flaviventris (Boulenger, 1882), with an evaluation of the taxonomic status of R. emeraldi Vijayakumar, Dinesh, Prabhu and Shankar, 2014. Zootaxa 4048: 90–100.
• Bossuyt, F., and A. Dubois. 2001. A review of the frog genus Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae, Rhacophorinae). Zeylanica. Colombo 6: 1–112.
• Vijayakumar, S. P., K. P. Dinesh, M. V. Prabhu, and K. Shanker. 2014. Lineage delimitation and description of nine new species of bush frogs (Anura: Raorchestes, Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats Escarpment . Zootaxa 3893: 451–488.