Misfit Leaf Frog

Agalychnis saltator is a relatively small red-eyed frog, with adult males ranging from 34 to 54 mm and the larger females ranging from 57 to 66 mm. This frog can be identified by its red eyes with vertical pupils, and its orange hands and feet. They have extensive webbing between the fingers and toes and large suction disks at end of each digit (Leenders 2001). The adults are light or dark leaf green with some individuals having one to several raised yellow spots on their dorsal side. The sides of the body and anterior and posterior surface of the thighs are bluish purple. Their iris color can range from orange to tomato red. Their ventral side are cream anteriorly with a yellow or orange tint posteriorly. Other than the size difference between the males and females, males develop a dark or black patch on the inside of the base of the thumb during mating season (Guyer and Donnelly 2005). This species closely resembles Agalychnis callidryas (red-eyed leaf frog) but with some differences. It has a uniform dark blue or purple flanks instead of vertical white, yellow, or cream bars found in the red-eyed leaf frog. Another difference is that Agalychnis saltator changes its color from uniform leaf-green during the day to tan or brown during the night, while the red-eyed leaf frog just change their hue (Leenders 2001).A Spanish-language species account can be found at the website of Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) (http://darnis.inbio.ac.cr/FMPro?-DB=UBIpub.fp3&-lay=WebAll&-Format=/ubi/detail.html&-Op=bw&id=4183&-Find).

This red-eyed leaf frog occurs in the humid lowlands of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It is found in the same areas as Agalychnis callidryas (Leenders 2001). They inhabit swamps during the mating season (wet season) and canopy trees in primary forest during the dry season (Guyer and Donnelly 2005).

During the mating season, these tree frogs breed on vines that overhang temporary ponds in forested areas (Leenders 2001). Males give off a short,soft, high pitched "peep" or "chirp" at the breeding site. The call has a long interval which can last up to 30 seconds. Calls are made from the perch of the trees around the breeding sites (Guyer and Donnelly 2005). They only mate after periods of heavy precipitation. Eggs are laid on mosses that cover the vines. It is during this time that the frogs are most prone to predation. Ants have been observed preying on the frog eggs. Various species of snakes feed on both eggs and adults. They are known as the parachuting red-eyed leaf frog because in order to move rapidly to mating grounds, males leap from considerable height to leaves of a plant. While jumping, this frogs extends its limbs and spreads out the skin between its fingers and toes (Leenders 2001).

All five Agalychnis species (A. annae, A. callidryas, A. moreletii, A. saltator, and A. spurrelli) have just received CITES protection, under Appendix II (as of March 21, 2010). Within the past decade the U.S. alone has imported 221,960 Agalychnis frogs, according to the Species Survival Network (http://www.ssn.org/Meetings/cop/cop15/Factsheets/Tree_Frogs_EN.pdf) (SSN).

This taxon occurs in the Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests, an ecoregion covering the lowland Atlantic versant at chiefly below 500 metres elevation in southern Nicaragua, northern Costa Rica, and most of Panama; these moist forests represent the epitome of wet, tropical jungle. This forest ecoregion evolved from unique combinations of North American and South American flora and fauna, which came together with the joining of these continents around three million years before present.

The ecoregion is classified to be within the Tropical and Subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. Currently, much of this ecoregion has been converted to subsistence and commercial agriculture. The Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests exhibit a high level of species richness, with 1021 vertebrate taxa alone having been recorded here, with a particularly vast assortment of amphibians, many of which are endemic or near endemic; moreover, among the amphibians there are many representatives of anuran, salamander and caecilian taxa.

This ecoregion located at the juncture of Central and South America. Condensation over the warm land produced by moisture-laden air from the Caribbean Sea colliding with the mountains produces constant high humidity and precipitation. Annual rainfall ranges from about 2500 millimetres (mm) in central Panama to over 5000 mm in southern Nicaragua. Basalt bedrock is the parent material of the residual and often unconsolidated soils covering the hilly areas of this ecoregion. Old alluvial terraces form the base of the swamp forests and flat lands in the lowest elevations and near the Caribbean Sea coast. The northern section of this ecoregion is formed of a wide, relatively flat alluvial plain, with a gradual elevation change from sea level to 500 metres in elevation

This ecoregion is characterised by a lush, high canopy tropical evergreen forest of huge buttressed trees reaching 40 metres (m) in height, and an associated rich epiphytic flora. The palm component includes many sub-canopy and understory species. Abundant subcanopy palm species are Amargo Palm (Welfia regia), Walking Palm (Socratea exorrhiza), and in permanently flooded areas, Raphia taedigera. Seasonal swamp forests occur in the lowest and flattest areas in Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica, particularly along the coastal zone, where they grade into mangrove forests. In these swamp forests, Gavilán Tree (Pentaclethra macroloba) dominates the canopy, along with Caobilla (Carapa nicaraguensis). The Almendro (Dipteryx panamensis) and the Monkey-pot Tree (Lecythis ampla) are two notable canopy emergents.

While small in areal size, the 1500 hectare La Selva Biological Station in northeastern Costa Rica hosts permanent populations of large predators such as the Jaguar (Panthera onca) and herbivores like Baird's Tapir (Tapirus bairdii), probably because of its biological corridor connection to the upper montane forests of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The Atlantic lowlands and middle elevations contain some of the rarest butterfly species in Central America and some of the world's highest butterfly species richness.

A considerable number of amphibian taxa occur in the ecoregion. Endemic anurans to the Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests include the Misfit Leaf Frog (Agalychnis saltator), which breeds in swamps, but lives mostly in the tree canopy; the Tilaran Robber Frog (Craugastor mimus); Diasporus tigrillo and the Cross-banded Treefrog (Smilisca puma), found only on the Caribbean versant of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. A further endemic frog to the ecoregion is the Rio Changena Robber Frog (Craugastor jota), narrowly limited to Río Changena, Provincia Bocas del Toro, Panamá. Other anuran species found here are: Veragua Robber Frog (Craugastor rugosus), a nocturnal anuran whose ova are laid in leaf litter; Agua Buena Robber Frog (Diasporus vocator), whose breeding occurs in bromeliads.

An endemic reptile found in the Costa Rican part of the ecoregion is the Viquez's Tropical Ground Snake (Trimetopon viquezi). Four taxa of marine turtles are found in the ecoregion's coastal zones, including the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas EN), who may take almost six decades to reach sexual maturity; the Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata CR) is another marine species found here. In addition a number of freshwater turtles are found here such as the Brown Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys annulata LR/NT). Other reptiles found in the ecoregion include the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus LR/NT); and Cienega Colorado Worm Salamander (Oedipina uniformis NT), a limited range amphibian found only in Costa Rica along slopes surrounding the Meseta Central.

Agalychnis saltator, also known as the parachuting red-eyed leaf frog and misfit leaf frog, is a species of frog in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. It is found in the Caribbean lowlands from north-eastern Honduras to eastern-central Costa Rica at elevations of 15–1,300 m (49–4,265 ft) asl.