Gliding Tree Frog

Fascinating facts about the Gliding Tree Frog

• A snout-to-vent length of just 48–56 mm for males and 60–72 mm for females makes this frog fit on the tip of your finger, yet its webbed hands and feet turn it into a living parachute. The extensive webbing spreads like a sail, letting it glide down at angles up to 45° while hopping between branches.
• When night falls, its dorsal skin flips from pale green to a dark green hue, a rapid camouflage switch that helps it vanish in the shadowed canopy. This color flip shows how a tiny amphibian can instantly adapt its appearance to stay hidden from predators.
• During the rainy season, females deposit tiny egg clusters on the upperside of leaves that overhang temporary pools; the embryos hatch in about six days and the tadpoles plunge straight into the water below.
• Its range stretches across humid lowland forests of southeastern and southwestern Costa Rica, Panama, the Pacific lowlands of Colombia, and north-western Ecuador.
• The specific epithet honors British zoologist Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell, turning a scientific name into a tribute. Knowing the human story behind the name reminds us that our knowledge of biodiversity is built on the work of curious explorers.

At a glance

About the Gliding Tree Frog

The gliding tree frog, Agalychnis spurrelli, is a sleek, nocturnal amphibian that drifts through the humid canopies of southeastern and southwestern Costa Rica, Panama, the Pacific lowlands of Colombia, and north-western Ecuador. Males measure 48–56 mm and females 60–72 mm from snout to vent, with broad heads, large reticulated eyes, and smooth, green dorsal skin that shifts from pale to dark at night. Its slender limbs end in adhesive discs; the fingers are three-quarters webbed while the toes are fully webbed, creating a parachute-like surface that lets the frog glide at angles up to 45° when it leaps. Beneath the vibrant green, the belly displays a cream-orange palette. When rain swells the forest floor, these frogs launch an explosive breeding frenzy. Females deposit small clusters of eggs on the upperside of leaves that overhang temporary pools or water-filled log cavities. After about six days the embryos hatch, and the tadpoles plunge into the waiting water to continue their development.

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