Darwin's frog (Rhinoderma darwinii)
Darwin's frogs are also known as Darwin's toads. The males play an important part in rearing the young, and have an unusual (and slightly alarming when first witnessed) brooding technique. They swallow their own tadpoles and then carry them around in their vocal sacs until they turn into froglets.
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Mouth brooding frog Featured in the following TV programmes
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Life on Earth: Episode 6:INVASION OF THE LAND
Evolution reached one of its most crucial stages, some 350 million years ago, when fishes crawled from water on to the land and became amphibians.
About the Darwin's frog
Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma darwinii) is a frog native to the forest streams of Argentina and Chile. It was first described by French Zoologist André Marie Constant Duméril and his assistant Gabriel Bibron, and is named after Charles Darwin who discovered it on his world voyage, "Voyage of the Beagle", on the HMS Beagle. The most striking feature is the way the tadpoles are raised—inside the vocal sac of the male. The female lays about 30 eggs and then the male guards them for about two weeks, until they hatch. Then the male takes all the survivors and carries around the developing young in his vocal pouch. The tadpoles develop in their baggy chin skin, feeding off their egg yolk. When the tiny tadpoles have developed (about half an inch) they hop out and swim away.
The frog is brown or green with a size of 2.5–3.5 cm. Its front feet are not webbed, but some of the toes on the back feet usually are. It eats insects and other arthropods. Darwin's frog not only has to hunt, but also must hide from predators wanting to eat it. Its most reliable technique to avoid its hunter is camouflage. It lies on the ground looking like a dead leaf until the predator passes by.
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Scientific Classification
Family: Rhinodermatidae
Genus: Rhinoderma
Species: Darwin's Frog (darwinii)
The Darwin's frog is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
They can be found in the following habitats:
Conservation Status
The Darwin's frog is Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2004
Elsewhere on the web
- Darwins frog - Rhinoderma darwinii (arkive.org)
- Rhinoderma darwinii (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Darwin's frog fact file (amphibiaweb.org)
- Darwin's frogs on the Tree of Life (tolweb.org)
- Darwin's Frog (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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