Frogs of Borneo.

Description
Small to medium in size, with males reaching 39-55 mm and females 55-71 mm. Snout is rounded. Fingers III, IV, V are fully webbed and bear expanded discs. The outer edge of the hand and forearm have a wide flap of skin. Toes are fully webbed. The heel has a rounded flap of skin. Dorsum is smooth, venter is coarsely granular (Inger and Stuebing 2005). Males have nuptial pads (Harvey et al. 2002).

Dorsum is tan to reddish brown, often with an X-shaped darker marking on the back. Several white spots are often present, with some individuals having yellow or blue spots on the dorsal surfaces. Flanks are yellowish with black spots. Venter is yellowish with orange reticulation. Webbing is orange-red (Inger and Stuebing 2005).

The tadpole has an oval, deep body, with total length reaching up to 45 mm. The tail has a narrow tip. Body is pale light brown. Black spots may be present on the body, or just a single spot on the side of the head. Spotting pattern can resemble that of Rana chalconota, but R. pardalis tadpoles lack white glandular patches on the venter (Inger and Stuebing 2005).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines

Malaysian region distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Peninsular Malaysia; Pulau Tiga Island (Malaysia), Sumatra (Indonesia), Kalimantan (Borneo: Indonesia), Sabah and Sarawak (Borneo: Malaysia), and the southern Philippines (Mindanao, Negros, Bohol and Luzon Islands). Occurs from sea level to 1,015 m asl. Found in both primary and secondary rainforest (Diesmos et al. 2004; Inger and Stuebing 2005).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
This frog uses its heavily webbed hands and feet to glide. It presumably forages in canopy. It gathers in breeding aggregations in swampy forest, at marshes, ponds and quiet pools, and is common along logging roads where streams are blocked and form pools. The call is a brief raspy chuckle. Eggs are laid and tadpoles develop in standing water.

Trends and Threats
The primary threat is loss of habitat through deforestation (due to logging) (Diesmos et al. 2004).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities

References

Diesmos, A., Alcala, A., Brown, R., Afuang, L., Gee, G., Sukumaran, J., Yaakob, N., Tzi Ming, L., Chuaynkern, Y., Thirakhupt, K., Das, I., Iskandar, D., Mumpuni, Inger, R., Stuebing, R., Yambun, P., and Makl 2004. Rhacophorus pardalis. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 27 April 2009.

Harvey, M. B., Pemberton, A. J., and Smith, E. N. (2002). ''New and poorly known parachuting frogs (Rhacophoridae: Rhacophorus) from Sumatra and Java.'' Herpetological Monographs, 16, 46-92.

Inger, R. F. and Stuebing, R. B. (2005). A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo, 2nd edition. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2014 Rhacophorus pardalis: Harlequin Tree Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4529> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jan 26, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 26 Jan 2025.

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