Lesser Swimming Fro

Fascinating facts about the Lesser Swimming Fro

• Males measure 24–39 mm and females 39–51 mm in snout–vent length.
• At night the males turn the pond surface into a stage, floating and clinging to vegetation while broadcasting a chorus of advertisement and two aggressive calls, and they’ll even hop onto water-hyacinth leaves with their whole body out of the water to be heard.
• Living below 500 m elevation, this species thrives in still waters of slow-moving creeks and even in man-made rice paddies, showing an unusual tolerance for habitats that often contain heavy pesticide loads.
• Its dorsal skin is light green or brownish with small dark blotches and a faint stripe along the flank; the thighs typically have three distinct stripes.

At a glance

About the Lesser Swimming Fro

The lesser swimming frog, Pseudis minuta, is a diminutive aquatic hylid that slips through the shallow waters of northeastern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, with a probable foothold in southern Paraguay. Males range from 24 to 39 mm and females from 39 to 51 mm in snout-vent length, their bodies cloaked in a light green or brownish dorsal hue punctuated by tiny dark blotches. A faint light middorsal band may appear, while a longitudinal stripe traces most of each flank and three bold stripes adorn the thighs. Their truncate snouts and slender fingers give way to unusually long, slender hind limbs that propel them effortlessly across pond surfaces. At night, males rise to the water’s skin, anchoring themselves to floating vegetation or the leaves of water hyacinths, their bodies entirely out of the water as they emit a repertoire of calls, an advertisement chant and two aggressive notes, that orchestrate both courtship and territorial wrestling. Pseudis minuta thrives in still-water pools and the languid stretches of creeks below 500 m, even colonising rice paddies where pesticide runoff is heavy. Its presence in multiple protected reserves hints at a resilience that keeps this green-spotted swimmer humming beneath the night sky.

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