A New Treefrog From Vietnam

The Vampire Flying Frog Rhacophorus vampyrus.
Jodi J L Rowley/Australian Museum
Rhacophorids are tropical Afro-Asian frogs, many are arboreal and adapted for parachuting but some are terrestrial and many deposit their eggs in foam nests. Perhaps the best known is Wallace's Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus). The family contains more than 320 species. Now, Jody Rowley and colleagues (2010) have described Rhacophorus vampyrus (the Vampire Treefrog) from montane evergreen forest between 1470–2004 m elevation in Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park, Vietnam. R. vampyrus is a phytotelm breeder, depositing eggs in foam nests in small tree-holes.The name vampyrus is the result of the tadpole's unusual morphology that includes a pair of keratinized hooks on the edge of the lower labium that face away from the mouth.

Rowley J. J. L., L. T. T. Duong, T. T. A. Dao, B L. Stuart, and H. D. Huy. 2010. A new tree frog of the genus Rhacophorus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa 2727:45–55