Izecksohn's Brazilian Treefrog

Fascinating facts about the Izecksohn's Brazilian Treefrog

• Less than 20,000 km² of Brazil’s coastal restinga holds the world’s only frugivorous frog, Xenohyla truncata. Its range stretches from the southern edge of Espírito Santo down to Ilha da Marambaia, and it shelters in bromeliads during the day.
• When a predator approaches, this treefrog tilts its head down, stretches its legs and puffs up, turning its silhouette into a fuzzy blob. The sudden shape break-up tricks predators into seeing a larger, less recognizable target. This simple stunt buys the frog precious seconds to escape.
• Juvenile frogs have white stripes along their sides, which disappear as they mature, leaving adults a uniform brown or orange.
• The frog excretes viable seeds, and seeds of Anthurium harrisii, Erythroxylum ovalifolium and Maytenus obtusifolia have been found associated with it.
• Xenohyla truncata is the first amphibian recorded pollinating the plants Cordia taguahyensis and Iris × germanica.

At a glance

About the Izecksohn's Brazilian Treefrog

In the coastal restinga forests of Rio de Janeiro, the Izecksohn's Brazilian treefrog, Xenohyla truncata, clings to life among the tangled leaves of bromeliads such as Neoregelia cruenta. By day the frog tucks itself into the water-filled leaf tanks, its uniform brown or orange skin blending with the dappled light, while juveniles flash white stripes along their flanks that fade as they mature. When startled, it adopts a dramatic pose, head tilted down, legs outstretched, body puffed, to break its outline and appear larger, a clever visual trick against predators. This arboreal amphibian breeds in fleeting rain pools, but its most astonishing habit lies in its diet: it is the only known frugivorous frog on Earth, snapping whole fruits of plants like Anthurium harrisii, Erythroxylum ovalifolium, and Maytenus obtusifolia, swallowing them whole, and later excreting viable seeds that help disperse these tropical flora. When fruit is scarce, the frog switches to arthropods, cockroach larvae, dragonfly larvae, and crab spiders, many of which share its bromeliad refuge, and even ingests sand, indicating ground foraging.

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