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Rhacophorus

Rhacophorus is a genus of frogs in the shrub-frog family Rhacophoridae, which, with the related Hylidae, is one of the two genera of true tree frogs. They are found in China, India, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia, including the island of Borneo. Over 40 species are currently recognised.

These frogs have long toes with strong webbing between them, enabling the animals to jump from tree to tree, using the webbing to control a gliding descent, a form of arboreal locomotion known as parachuting. This behavioral adaptation is the source of their common name, "flying frogs".

The present genus is closely related to Polypedates, which (formerly) was included in Rhacophorus. Even today, it is not fully agreed upon which of these genera "P." feae and the Chinese flying frog ("R." dennysi) properly belong to; furthermore, a supposedly new species, "P. pingbianensis", has been found to be the same as R. duboisi.

Reproduction

These frogs lay their eggs in aerial foam nests; upon hatching, tadpoles drop to the water under the nest and complete their development there. Some species like Rhacophorus kio will wrap this and cover this foam nest with leaves.

Species

These species are recognised in the genus Rhacophorus:

Phylogeny

The following is a partial phylogeny of Rhacophorus from Pyron & Wiens (2011). Only nine species are included. Rhacophorus is a sister group of Polypedates.

References

External links