Leptodactylus insularum is known by a variety of common names, including Spotted Foam-nest Frog, Caribbean Ditch Frog, and San Miguel Island Frog. I will stick with the first name since it is the one iNaturalist uses and it makes as much sense as any.
Those other names don't work in this case because they are based on location and I recorded and photographed this species neither in the Caribbean nor on San Miguel Island. So Spotted Foam-nest Frog seems a better common name (even if a bit boring). The species epithet insularum means "off the island" and derived from the first specimens documented from Saboga Island just off the coast of Panama. They are also found on a couple of Caribbean Islands (off Nicaragua) and Trinidad and Tobago, but the bulk of this species range is on mainland Central and South America.
 |
| map from iNaturalis.org |
This species used to be included in the much wider ranging species, Leptodactylus bolivianus. This species group is confusing, but at the moment Leptodactylus insularum is recognized as its own species and the northern member of the L. bolivianus group.
Although they are similar in general body morph to the northern Ranid frogs, Leptodactylid frogs don't have the typical ranid snore or chuckle to their call. Instead their calls are more often like whistled popping or bubbling sounds.
The call of this species reminds me of a child "popping" their finger out of the corner of their mouth or maybe a cork popping out of a bottle. It is a bit hard to hear in this recording because there is a background of the the upward whistled calls of the Mexican White-lipped Frogs (Leptodactylus fragilis) and the constant dry trilling of the Panamanian Granular Frog (Rhinella centralis). You also hear the faint "ray gun peow" of the Tungara Frog (Engystomops pustulosus). The Spotted Foam-nest Frog calls are the lower pitched "cork out of bottle" popping that occurs every 1 to 1.5 seconds throughout this recording.
Frog chorus with Leptodactylus insularum
In truth, I
could barely make these calls out when I was out in this flooded marshy area
in Central Panama. The sounds of the other species were so loud I
honestly pressed record and pointed my microphone in the general
direction, hoping that sound was a different species I could hear in there.
Only when I got home was I able to remove some of the distracting noise
and hear the Foam-nest Frogs for sure.
_____________________
© Chris Harrison 2024
iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed August 18, 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment