On the trail of a canopy frog

When I began my search for the beautiful Amazonian fringed leaf frog, it was nestled in the genus Agalychnis (pronounced Ag-ah-lick-ness) along with the more familiar red-eyed and blue-sided leaf frogs of Central America. By the time I had actually found it -- or it had found me -- the Amazonian fringed leaf frog and a more northerly relative lacking fringes had been reassigned to the bitypic genus Cruziohyla. It's full name was (and is) Cruziohyla craspedopus.

For years on every trip to Madre Selva Biological Preserve (on Peru's Rio Orosa, a tributary of the mighty Amazon) on night walks I had heard in one locale, from high in the canopy, the "burping" calls that I thought were those of the Amazon fringed leaf frog. But winter or summer, rain or clear, the frog was never seen.

And then one summer afternoon while I was photographing a few herps that had been found earlier, Rick (an entomologist) returned from a walk handed me a bag and said, "Devon said you'd want to see this." And he was so right. The bag contained one of the eagerly-sought leaf frogs.

After the whys and wherefores had been asked and answered, I learned that the frog had been found resting on a broad-leafed understory plant at the point in the trail where I had so often heard the calls that had so interested me.

And why had it so interested me? One look at the accompanying photos should answer that question.

More photos under the jump...

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.