Skip to main content

Common tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax)

Gudindang or common tree frog or golden tree frog or four-lined tree frog or striped tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax) is a species of frog in Rhacophoridae that usually lives on trees, is medium-sized, rather slim, about 50 mm long in males and 80 mm in female. Dorsal has smooth skin, no creases, bumps or pimples.

P. leucomystax has variable colors including yellowish brown, grayish to pale whitish. Some are plain, while others have large dark spots and small or elongated stripes. This frog also changes color from a rather dark and contrasting pattern at night to pale and faint at noon.

Dlium Common tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax)

Gudindang has a dark to black ribbon between the nose and eyes, then back over the top of the ear to the shoulder. This black ribbon is bordered by thin golden yellow lines on the top, especially from the eyes to the shoulders.

A similar golden line also appears at the narrow sides of the hand from the elbow to the lateral side of the fingers and on the side of the foot to the lateral side of the toes. Ventral finely polished and golden white. Hands and thighs have blackish slashes.

Half of the fingers have a membrane to swim or almost nothing. The swimming membrane on the foot is blackish, reaching the tip of the finger at the end, except for the fourth finger which is the longest where only the second segment of the tip.

The common tree frog has large, protruding eyes, golden yellow iris, golden upper lip and blackish lower lip. They are often found in secondary forests or near villages. Active especially at night and often loudly shouting since dusk. This frog preys on various types of insects.





Many male individuals, sometimes up to 10 individuals, gather near ponds, ditches or puddles during the mating season. Males climb low bushes or small trees near puddles to a height of 1 m or more above the ground and shout calls to lure females.

If they meet, the couple moves to look for leaves or twigs that hang on the water to attach eggs to a foam nest attached to a pool that hangs on leaves, twigs, grass stems or sometimes on the walls of waterways.

Foam bubbles to protect the eggs from drought until it's time to hatch and the tadpoles come out falling into the water. In the mating season, several male frogs are aggressive towards the presence of light by approaching and perching and sounding: pro-ek...! wrok... krot... krot... krot, like people rubbing teeth.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Subfamily: Rhacophorinae
Genus: Polypedates
Species: Polypedates leucomystax

Popular Posts

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations, ...

Six new species forming the Sumbana species group in genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 from Indonesia

NEWS - Sumbawa longhorn ( Nemophora sumbana Kozlov, sp. nov.), Timor longhorn ( Nemophora timorella Kozlov, sp. nov.), shining shade longhorn ( Nemophora umbronitidella Kozlov, sp. nov.), Wegner longhorn ( Nemophora wegneri Kozlov, sp. nov.), long brush longhorn ( Nemophora longipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.), and short brush longhorn ( Nemophora brevipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.) from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two parallel, linear oceanic island chains, including Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Sawu, Timor, Alor, and Tanimbar. The oldest of these islands have been continuously occurring for 10–12 million years. This long period of isolation has allowed significant in situ diversification, making the Lesser Sundas home to many endemic species. This island chain may act as a two-way filter for organisms migrating between the world's two great biogeographic regions, Asia and Australia-Papua. The recognition of a striking cli...

Perlis fairy lantern (Thismia perlisensis) resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm.

NEWS - Perlis fairy lantern ( Thismia perlisensis Besi & Rusea sp. nov.) was discovered during a scientific expedition in a wetland forest at the foot of a limestone hill, Perlis State Park, resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley (1905) and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm. (1910), but has a prominent reddish dome-shaped annulus. Thismia perlisensis can be easily distinguished from T. arachnites and T. javanica by its blood-red dome-shaped annulus (vs. ring-like with a rim, orange annulus), prominent trilobed stigma with bifid and subulate lobes 1.8 mm long (vs. oblong, truncated stigma), and claviform apex of inner tepal appendage (vs. subulate apex of inner tepal appendage). Stenoendemic to northern Peninsular Malaysia, Perlis State and possibly Langkawi Island. Although there have been sightings of the plant on Langkawi Island, this location is based solely on photos posted on social media. There are currently no specimens or additional information to confirm. The new species grows in...