What kinds of tree frogs are there, and are they poisonous?

Tree frogs have a body that is mostly slender and flat, with long hind legs, large suckers, and well-developed webbing between the fingers and toes, which they can use to glide through the air. Their main skeletal features are the same as those of the family Ranidae. They are mostly arboreal, and their appearance and living habits are quite similar to those of the genus Hyla, though their genetic relationship is very distant. So, what kinds of tree frogs are there? Are they poisonous?

1. Common types of tree frogs

1. Red-eyed tree frog

The red-eyed tree frog, like the vast majority of tree frogs, is a completely nocturnal animal. It is also a large tree frog in body size, and it will eat any animal or insect that can fit into its mouth, including juveniles of its own species. However, the prey must be alive; they cannot detect food that does not move.

2. Spot-legged tree frog

Family Rhacophoridae. The female frog has a body length of about 61 mm, and the male about 45 mm. The body is flat. The length and width of the head are equal or the length is greater than the width; the mouth is wide, the snout is slightly pointed and rounded, and the snout ridge is obvious; the nostrils are near the tip of the snout, the eyes are large and protruding. The eye diameter is equal to the snout length, and the interorbital space is greater than the internasal space: the tympanum is distinct. The skin is smooth, with extremely fine warts on the back; the ventral surface is covered with granular flat warts, and the temporal fold is straight and rather long, reaching behind the shoulder.

3. Red-webbed tree frog

It inhabits tropical areas below 2100 m in elevation, and often moves about in shrubs and grassland near still ponds or ditches. The male frog has a body length of 34 mm, and the female about 48 mm; the tadpole is moderate in stoutness, and when its total length is 47 mm, the head-body length is 18 mm and the tail length is 29 mm. The body is flat, and the hip region is very slender; the head length is greater than the head width; the snout tip protrudes beyond the lower jaw, the snout ridge is rather obvious, and the internasal space is smaller than the interorbital space; the tympanum is distinct, and the vomerine teeth are slightly arcuate and oblique, not meeting on the left and right. Its outer side reaches the anterior inner corner of the internal nostril; the tongue is narrow and long, with a deep notch at the posterior end. The pupil is horizontal and can become a narrow slit.

2. Are tree frogs poisonous?

Tree frogs have a strong self-healing ability and a trace amount of poison on the body surface. The more wild the frog, the more toxic it is, but none are very toxic, and at most they have a slight effect on people with very sensitive skin. Tree frogs especially like humid, dark environments. There is also the Sarayacu tree frog; what we often call the “white’s tree frog” likes a dry and hotter environment, for reasons related to their wild habitat.

3. The value of tree frogs

1. Medicinal use

The dried whole body with the internal organs removed. It has the effects of stopping bleeding and relieving pain, and reconnecting tendons and bones, and is mainly used to treat traumatic injuries, bleeding, fractures and other conditions. It can also treat malnutrition in children.

2. Ornamental

In zoos, they cling to the glass of display cases, plants or stream stones, and have a good ornamental effect.