Rhacophorus edentulus Müller, 1894

Putri, Auni Ade, Fahri, Fahri, Annawaty, Annawaty & Hamidy, Amir, 2019, Ecological investigations and diversity of amphibians in Lake Kalimpa’aı Lore Lindu National Parkı Central Sulawesi, Journal of Natural History 53 (41), pp. 2503-2516 : 2511-2512

Rhacophorus edentulus Müller, 1894

( Figure 2 (e))

Description

Slim body, SVL = 29.04 – 34.65 mm; vomerine teeth reduced to very small, near the edge of choanae; snout rounded, slightly shorter than internarial distance (snout/IN = 0.0705 – 0.889); loreal region slightly concave; nostril closer to the tip of the snout than to the eyes; tympanum is less clear, 1 / to 1 / of the eye diameter (TY/EY = 0.279 – 0.437). The disk of 4 2 the fingers is slightly smaller than the tympanum; outer fingers half webbed; toes webbed to the disk of the third and fourth; penultimate phalanx of fourth toe is free; inner metatarsal small; the heel reaches the tip of the snout or farther (TL/SVL = 0.522 – 0.594). Dorsum is light green to dark green, with black or yellow dots; large brownish-red spots on the head up to the posterior part of the body; a yellowish-white thigh with a narrow green line; the ventral portion is yellowish-white, granularious; there is a fold from eyes to shoulders.

Habitat

Specimens of R. edentulus were collected from the leaves of Pandanus sp. and Curculigo sp., and on the limbs of Diplazium sp. at 0.5 – 2 m above the water surface and 0.1 – 2 m away from the water flow. The species was found to be active at 19 – 23°C and 73 – 94% humidity. Like many other tree frogs ( Rhacophoridae ), this species lays eggs in trees. Putri et al. (2018) found an individual of R. edentulus from the Lake Kalimpa ’ a region that spawned on Araceae leaves.

Remarks

This species is distributed in northern, central, southwestern and southeastern Sulawesi ( Iskandar and Tjan 1996). Van Kampen (1923) also reported the presence of this species in the Loka area, Bone Mountains at an elevation of ~ 500 m asl, and the Bulawa Mountains at ~ 1200 m asl, Totoiya Valley at ~ 500 m asl, Tomohon, Rurukan and Bua Praeng. The species was also reported in Nantu Gorontalo Wildlife Reserve at 600 – 800 m asl ( Khairunnisa 2014), Mekongga Mountains 900 – 1500 m asl ( Kurniati 2015), and in the Lore Lindu National Park area at an elevation of> 1000 m asl ( Wanger et al. 2011).

In our study, this species was found distributed throughout primary forest (plots 1 and 3 – 5) and in minimally disturbed primary forest (plot 9) at an elevation of 1650 – 1700 m asl. This species has been considered a ‘ voiceless species ’, because their call is rarely heard. It is assumed that their call is obscured by the sound of insects that is of a higher frequency than the low non-harmonic average frequency of R. edentulus males ( Kurniati 2015).

Figures

Figure 2. (a) Limnonectes modestus; (b) Ingerophrynus celebensis; (c) Hylarana celebensis; (d) Polypedates iskandari; (e) Rhacophorus edentulus; (f) Rhacophorus monticola.