Other Puerto Rican Coqui speciesGenus Eleutherodactylus

Eleutherodactlys cf. cochranae
Naguabo, Puerto Rico

There area a variety of endemic species of the genus found on the island of Puerto Rico.  They are mostly small frogs and are very similar looking.  However, they have different calls which makes them somewhat easier to distinguish.

While recording frogs on the south side of the El Yunque National Forest, I recorded several of these other species although I did not seen the frogs themselves as they called from long grass or densely wooded areas.

The Grass Coqui (Eleutherodactylus brittoni) is restricted to the main island of Puerto Rico.  Its call is best described as a high-pitched "ti-dik" or "ti-dik-dik".  The call can include more than three syllables producing  a cricket-like trill.

Here are a couple of recordings of the Grass Coqui from El Yunque -

In this second recording, you can hear the frogs chain together more syllables creating an almost cricket-like trill.  The lower pitched "ta-deek" is the Red-eyed Coqui (Eleutherodactylus antillensis).

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Another small species of Coqui found only on Puerto Rico is the Whistling Coqui (Eleutherodactylus cochranae).  As the name implies, the call of this species is a high-pitched (~4KHz) nasal whistling sound.  Here are a couple of recordings of Whistling Coquis from the same area.

The small coqui in the photo above was found on the road near where these E. cochranae were recorded and appears to be a young individual of that species.    

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© Chris Harrison 2013