Description A large frog (males 44-49 mm, females 51-60 mm) from western and central forests with full webbing and a tarsal fold. Dorsal surfaces grey or greyish green, sometimes with indistinct darker marbling. Throat and ventrum white. Underside of limbs and inside of mouth and tongue bright bluish green. The males have no visible gular pouch but have white nuptial pads on 1st and 2nd finger.
The tadpoles are uniform grey and have a round body and a rather short tail. The tooth formula is 1,4+4/1+1,2 or 1,3+3/1+1,2.
Distribution and Habitat
Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda
A forest species found throughout West Africa as far as Uganda.
Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Males call from branches in dense forest. The voice is very quiet and inconspicuous and consists of two motifs: a series of clicks, varying greatly in number but with a rate of about 5 per second, and a buzzing. The voices of specimens from Uganda were noted as being similar to those from West Africa.
The eggs are placed in a foam nest above water, often above very small, temporary water bodies such as elephant footprints. After 5 to 8 days the tadpoles wriggle their way through the hardened shell of the nest and drop into the water.
Comments This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main.
References
Schiøtz, A. (1999). Treefrogs of Africa. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.
Originally submitted by: Arne Schiøtz (first posted 2000-12-25)
Edited by: Kellie Whittaker (2011-06-06)Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2011 Chiromantis rufescens <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4376> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed May 23, 2022.
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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2022. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 23 May 2022.
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