Agalychnis moreleti
Adult Male, 4,500′, Oaxaca, Mexico
Adult Male, 4,500′, Oaxaca, Mexico
Inactive Adult Male, 4,500′, Oaxaca, Mexico
MORELET’S LEAF FROG
Agalychnis moreletii - Dumeril 1853
IDENTIFICATION:
DISTRIBUTION:
Historically, Agalychnis moreletii is found in several widely-disjunct regions of southern Mexico; In Puebla it is known from the Sierra Norte, in Veracruz from Cuautlapan and the Los Tuxtlas region, in Oaxaca from the Sierra Juarez and Sierra Miahuatlan, from Chiapas in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Tapilula/Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan, and in the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero. Elevational distribution from 300-1500 m.
HABITAT:
Tropical Montane Habitat, 4,500′, Oaxaca, Mexico
Man-Made Oviposition Site, 4,500′, Oaxaca, Mexico
NATURAL HISTORY:
TAXONOMY:
TYPE:
Described as Hyla moreletii by Dumeril (1853). Syntypes: MNHNP 428. Type locality: “Vera-Paz”, Guatemala; corrected to “Coban in [Departamento Alta] Vera Paz, Guatemala” by Kellogg (1932).
PERSONAL NOTES:
On the night of July 8, 2005 I had the good fortune to discover this species calling from around an old well near Vista Hermosa, Sierra Juarez, Oaxaca. Three males were giving half-hearted vocalizations while perched on cattails about 3-4′ above the water. One Smilisca cyanosticta was also calling from a floating position in the well. On a forested slope nearby, what I believe to be Anotheca spinosa called sporadically. There was no rain on this evening.
Also of note was the fact that the well was full of nearly transformed, as well as 50% grown Agalychnis tadpoles. This indicates that A. moreleti has a lengthy breeding season.
CONSERVATION STATUS:
IUCN Red List status for this species is “Critically Endangered” due to a projected population decline of 80% over the next ten years due to habitat loss and infection with the Chytrid fungus; surveyors in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico reported this species extirpated from all sites they visited. (In July, 2005 I found an extant breeding population in the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca - photographed above).
REFERENCES:
Faivovich, J., C. F. B. Haddad, P. C. A. Garcia, D. R. Frost, J. A. Campbell, and W. C. Wheeler. 2005. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 294:1-240.
Lips, K. R., J. R. Mendelson 3rd, A. Muñoz-Alonso, L. Canseco-Márquez and D. G. Mulcahy. 2004. Amphibian population declines in montane southern Mexico: resurveys of historical localities. Biological Conservation 119(2004):555-564.