Can you spot the toad in the leaf litter below?
Skin protection is very important to frogs. Now, when I say protection I’d bet you were thinking toxins, huh? Yes and no. The skin in many species has many granular glands, also referred to as parotoid glands and poison glands, that secrete toxins. Whether the toxin just tastes nasty, or makes an animal or human sick, paralyzed or dead, depends on the species. In South America the poison frogs make batrachotoxin (batrach- meaning frog & -toxin meaning, well, toxin) and B. marinus makes bufotoxin, for example. The “warts” of toads, as they are so affectionately called, are clusters of these poison glands.
Okay, so other forms of skin protection include moisturizer and camouflage. Frogs need to keep their skin moist in order to breathe from it. They do this by mucus glands all over the skin. These glands, as you can guess from the name, secrete a mucus fluid which coats the skin. Did I mention all these glands, mucus and poison glands, are all located on the epidermis? No? Well now you know. There is even one species, P. sauvagii, which secretes a waxy substance moisturizer and then rubs it all over its body.
Camouflage, is mostly obtained by the skin’s color, pattern, and shape. These characteristics of the skin help the frog blend into its surroundings. Such as darker top colors and lighter belly/bottom colors. This adaptation of some species helps them be hidden from aerial threats and underwater threats. The skin color can resemble the frog’s surroundings. The skin may even have pointy protrusions that resemble leaves or other objects, like in B. typhonius complex and in M. nasuta. Probably the one the most well known forms of protection is the skin color of poison frogs and imitators. These species have bright, bold colors that say to potential predators, “hey, don’t even try it! I’m poisonous.”
Works Cited:
Behler, J. L., & Behler, D. A. (2005). Frogs: A chorus of colors. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Beltz, E. (2005). Frogs: inside their remarkable world. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books Ltd.
Forsyth, A. (2008). Nature of the rainforest: Costa Rica and beyond. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Gamlin, L., & Rohan, A. (1998). Mysteries of the rain forest. New York: The Reader’s Digest Association Limited.
Mongabay.com
Rhett A. Butler - San Francisco, CA.
1999-2008.
Mongabay.com
Rhett A. Butler - San Francisco, CA.
1999-2008.
In the picture above is a waxy monkey frog, also known as Phyllomedusa sauvagii.