Xenohyla truncata

Xenohyla truncata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Xenohyla
Species:
X. truncata
Binomial name
Xenohyla truncata
(Izecksohn, 1959)
Synonyms[3]
  • Xenohyla truncata (Izecksohn, 1959)
  • Hyla truncata (Izecksohn, 1959)
  • Hyla depressa (Izecksohn, 1959)
  • Xenohyla truncata (Izecksohn, 1998)

Izecksohn's Brazilian tree frog (Xenohyla truncata) is a frog that lives in Brazil. It is the only frog that eats fruit. Scientists have seen it no higher than 50 meters above sea level.[3][1][2]

Some of these frogs live near sand dunes where there are cacti, shrubs, and bromeliad plants.[4] The frogs can also live in trees where the adults hide in bromeliad plants. When it is time to lay eggs, they climb down to the forest floor. They lay eggs in pools of water that dry up for part of the year.[2]

Xenohyla truncata is the only known amphibian that eats fruit. It finds the fruit and swallows it whole with no chewing. The seeds from the fruit come out of its body in its waste, which helps the plant spread. This frog only eats very small fruits and seeds, from 3 to 10 mm in size.[4] Scientists think this frog could be a pollinator. It moves the tree's pollen, or seed-making material, from plant to plant as it looks for food. This is important because most of the pollinators we know of are insects and other animals without bones.[5] This frog also eats insects and other animals with no bones and hard, jointed outsides.[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Xenohyla truncata (Izecksohn, 1959)". AmphibiaWeb. Amphibiaweb. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group; Instituto Boitatá de Etnobiologia e Conservação da Fauna (2023). "Xenohyla truncata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 3.1. 2023: e.T56053A172215995. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T56053A172215995.en. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Frost, Darrel R. "Xenohyla truncata Caramaschi, 1998". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Helio Ricardo da Silva; Monica C. de Britto-Pereira; Ulisses Caramaschi (August 8, 1989). "Frugivory and Seed Dispersal by Hyla truncata, a Neotropical Treefrog". Copeia. Retrieved April 9, 2022 – via ResearchGrade.
  5. Annie Roth (May 1, 2023). "This Brazilian frog might be the first pollinating amphibian known to science". Science. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  6. H. Ricardo da Silva (April 19, 2005). "How much fruit do fruit-eating frogs eat? An investigationon the diet of Xenohyla truncata (Lissamphibia: Anura:Hylidae)". Journal of Zoology. 270 (4): 692–698. Retrieved April 9, 2022 – via ACADEMIA.