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Distribution and Habitat
Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Latvia, Moldova, Republic of, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine
The range of Hyla orientalis almost completely circumnavigates the Black Sea (and possibly does) throughout Turkey, northwest through Bulgaria and eastern Romania and north through Ukraine, Poland and as far as Lithuania; to the east, it ranges across the Caucasus Range to the Caspian Sea and northern Iran (Stoeck et al 2008). Comments
This species was featured in news of the week October 10, 2022.
In 1986, the Chernobyl (or alternatively spelled ‘Chornobyl’) nuclear accident in northern Ukraine released unprecedented amounts of radioactive material into the environment. Within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Burrac and Orizaola (2022) surveyed the Eastern Tree Frog (Hyla orientalis) and found increased melanism compared with frogs just outside the Exclusion Zone. It is known that the dark melanin-based pigments could protect fungi against ionizing radiation but a protective role in melanism for vertebrates remains debated because of potentially high physiological costs associated with melanism. Burrac and Orizaola found no physiological costs associated with the maintenance of dark skin coloration in terms of frog body condition or oxidative status. Furthermore no short-term changes in coloration were detected, indicating that high levels of ionizing radiation, likely at the time of the accident, may have been selected for darker coloration in Chernobyl tree frogs. (Written by Molly Womack)
References
Stoeck M, Dubey S, Kluetsch C, Litvinchuk SN, Scheidt U, Perrin N. (2008). "Mitochondrial and nuclear phylogeny of circum-Mediterranean tree frogs from the Hyla arborea group." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 49, 1019-1024. [link]
Originally submitted by: Michelle S. Koo (2022-10-09)
Edited by: Michelle S. Koo (2022-10-09)Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2022 Hyla orientalis: Eastern Tree Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7317> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jun 5, 2023.
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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2023. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 5 Jun 2023.
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