---
title: "What the sources say about the Red-Eyed Tree Frog | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "49 claims from the Red-Eyed Tree Frog profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/red-eyed-tree-frog-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-eyed-tree-frog/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Red-Eyed Tree Frog (*Agalychnis callidryas*)

> 49 claims from the Red-Eyed Tree Frog profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Red-Eyed Tree Frog](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-eyed-tree-frog/)

## Manjunath (2022). Agalychnis callidryas. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Agalychnis_callidryas/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America are home to the red-eyed tree frog | Agalychnis callidryas is found in the neotropical regions of southern Mexico, across Central America, as well as the northern regions of South America. |
| It lives mostly in humid rainforest close to ponds and other small bodies of fresh water | Primarily found in humid environments with abundant access to water (i.e. rainforests), red-eyed tree frogs are found close to ponds and other small bodies of fresh water. |
| a permanent body of water is essential for it to breed | The presence of a permanent body of water is essential for the frog’s reproductive needs. |
| Grasshoppers are on the menu too | Insects that the A. callidryas likes to eat include flies ( Diptera ), grasshoppers ( Caelifera ), and mosquitoes ( Culicidae ). |
| Males croak to attract females, and rival males fight one another for a chance to mate | Males tend to fight one another to have a chance at mating with a female. The croaking noise produced by the male is what helps get the attention of the female frog. |
| Humid lowland rainforest near ponds and other small bodies of fresh water | Primarily found in humid environments with abundant access to water (i.e. rainforests), red-eyed tree frogs are found close to ponds and other small bodies of fresh water. (note: 'lowland': NatGeo, 'found in tropical lowlands'.) |
| Its predators change as it grows | Depending on the stage of life that an A. callidryas is in, the predators it faces will vary. |
| Wasps and snakes take the eggs | As an embryo, the frog faces predation from several types of polybid wasps and snakes. |
| shrimp and large fish take the tadpoles | As a tadpole, A. callidryas can be predated on by shrimp and large fish in their environments. |
| aquatic spiders, snakes, birds and bats can prey on froglets and adults | As a froglet and adult frog, A. callidryas can be predated on by aquatic spiders, snakes, birds, and bats. |
| skin peptides that Animal Diversity Web says help repel predators | The skin of these red-eyed tree frogs contains several different poisonous, biologically active peptides that serve to repel predators. |

## Red-Eye Leaf Frog. Henry Vilas Zoo.

https://www.henryvilaszoo.gov/animal/red-eye-leaf-frog/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| males measure about 5 centimeters and females 5 to 8 | Size: Male: 2 inches (5 cm) / female: 2 – 3 inches (5 – 8 cm) (note: Current institution page preferred over ADW's older 4 to 7 cm (fact-check.md, check the date); NatGeo gives 1.5 to 2.75 in.) |
| it weighs 5 to 14 grams | Weight: .2 – .5 ounces (5 – 14 g) (note: Current institution page preferred over ADW's older 6 to 15 g.) |
| Red-eyed tree frogs feed mainly at night | This species of the tree frog is carnivorous and feeds mainly at night. |
| and sometimes smaller frogs | Their diet consists mostly of crickets, moths, flies, and sometimes smaller frogs. |
| Females typically lay their eggs under leaves hanging over water | The eggs are typically laid under leaves hanging over bodies of water. |
| Crickets, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and sometimes smaller frogs | Their diet consists mostly of crickets, moths, flies, and sometimes smaller frogs. (note: Grasshoppers: ADW, claimed in the body.) |

## Red-Eyed Tree Frog. National Geographic.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/red-eyed-tree-frog

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In the wild it lives about five years on average | Average Life Span In The Wild : 5 years (note: Henry Vilas Zoo agrees: 'Life Span: 4 – 5 years'.) |
| By day the frog sleeps stuck to the underside of a leaf, eyes closed and its bright markings covered | These iconic rain-forest amphibians sleep by day stuck to leaf-bottoms with their eyes closed and body markings covered. |
| When disturbed, it flashes its bulging red eyes and reveals its huge, webbed orange feet and blue-and-yellow flanks | When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. |
| This is called startle coloration, and it may give a bird or snake pause, an instant in which the frog can spring to safety | This technique, called startle coloration, may give a bird or snake pause, offering a precious instant for the frog to spring to safety. |
| Many of the animals that eat these frogs are nocturnal hunters with keen eyesight | Many of the animals that eat red-eyed tree frogs are nocturnal hunters that use keen eyesight to find prey. |
| the shocking colors may overstimulate a predator's eyes, leaving a confusing ghost image behind as the frog jumps away | The shocking colors of this frog may over-stimulate a predator's eyes, creating a confusing ghost image that remains behind as the frog jumps away. |
| Despite its bright colors the frog carries no venom | Red-eyed tree frogs, despite their conspicuous coloration, are not venomous. |
| hiding in the rainforest canopy to ambush crickets, flies and moths with a long, sticky tongue | Nocturnal carnivores, they hide in the rain forest canopy and ambush crickets, flies, and moths with their long, sticky tongues. |
| A neon-green rainforest sleeper whose flash of scarlet eyes and bright flanks may give a predator pause long enough to escape | When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. This technique, called startle coloration, may give a bird or snake pause, offering a precious instant for the frog to spring to safety. (note: 'neon-green bodies' and 'vivid scarlet peepers' are on the same page.) |
| from southern Mexico through Central America into northern South America | They are found in tropical lowlands from southern Mexico, throughout Central America, and in northern South America. |
| Startle coloration: flashing bulging red eyes, huge orange feet, and blue-and-yellow flanks, which may give a bird or snake pause long enough for the frog to escape | When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. This technique, called startle coloration, may give a bird or snake pause, offering a precious instant for the frog to spring to safety. |
| Against them it has its startle display when disturbed | When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. |

## Agalychnis callidryas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T55290A3028059.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2020-1.rlts.t55290a3028059.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List rates the species Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: Category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List (2020 assessment), since iucnredlist.org refuses scripts. Henry Vilas Zoo also: 'classified as least concern'.) |

## Warkentin (2000). Wasp predation and wasp-induced hatching of red-eyed treefrog eggs. Animal Behaviour.

https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2000.1508

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The response fits the threat | Embryos of A. callidryas thus respond appropriately to graded variation in mortality risks. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| whole clutches hatch when a snake, which eats entire clutches, attacks, while a wasp, which takes single eggs, makes individual embryos hatch | Individual embryos hatch in response to wasps, which take single eggs, whereas whole clutches hatch in response to snakes, which consume entire clutches. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| Hatchlings fall into the water | Hatching tadpoles fall into the water, where they face aquatic predators. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| in a Panama study most embryos that hatched during wasp attacks escaped | Embryos attacked by wasps hatched as much as a third younger than the peak undisturbed hatching age, and most hatching embryos escaped. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract. Study site: 'at a natural breeding site in Panama', same abstract.) |

## Güell & Warkentin (2018). When and where to hatch? Red-eyed treefrog embryos use light cues in two contexts. PeerJ.

https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6018

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Left undisturbed, the embryos often stay in the egg for five to seven days | In contrast, undisturbed embryos often remain in the egg for 5–7 d (note: Full text read. Replaces ADW's 4 to 6 days: this is the newer, primary figure from the lab that studies the species' hatching.) |
| a predator attack or flooding can make them hatch rapidly, from as early as three or four days old | Embryos exposed to predator attack, flooding, fungal infection, or dehydration can hatch rapidly to escape, starting as early as 3 or 4 days of age |
| In an attack the cue is vibration; in a flood it is lack of oxygen | hatch rapidly and prematurely in response to vibrational cues in egg-predator attacks and hypoxia if flooded |

## Salica, Vonesh & Warkentin (2017). Egg clutch dehydration induces early hatching in red-eyed treefrogs, Agalychnis callidryas. PeerJ.

https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3549

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The eggs are laid on plants over water | Red-eyed treefrogs, Agalychnis callidryas, lay eggs on plants over water. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| Water supplied by the mother lets shaded eggs in humid spots develop to hatching without rain, but eggs in the sun or in drier spots can die of dehydration | Maternally provided water allows shaded eggs in humid sites to develop to hatching without rainfall, but unshaded eggs and those in less humid sites can die from dehydration. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| In a Panama study, clutches kept dry hatched about 11% earlier than clutches kept wet | Embryos hatched earlier from dry clutches than from wet clutches, accelerating hatching by ∼11%. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract. Site: 'a pond in Gamboa, Panama', same abstract.) |
| but their mortality was six times higher | mortality in dry clutches was six-fold higher than in control clutches (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |

## Mignogna et al. (1997). Tachykinins and Other Biologically Active Peptides From the Skin of the Costa Rican Phyllomedusid Frog Agalychnis callidryas.

https://doi.org/10.1016/s0196-9781(96)00342-7

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| a 1997 analysis of skin extract found members of five peptide families, among them tachykinins and opioid peptides | Peptides present in a methanol extract prepared from skin of the Costa Rican frog Agalychnis callidryas of the Phyllomedusinae subfamily were studied by sequence analysis and pharmacological tests. Members of five different peptide families-tachykinins, bradykinins, caerulein, opioid peptides and sauvagine-were found. (note: 1997 is the paper's publication year. 'chemistry set' is framing for the peptide list, not a claim of defence function; ADW's repel-predators line is kept only as an attributed statement in FAQ 1.) |

## Caldwell et al. (2010). Vibrational Signaling in the Agonistic Interactions of Red-Eyed Treefrogs. Current Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.069

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Males also have a shaking display called tremulation. Playback experiments with a robotic model frog and an electrodynamic shaker showed that the vibrations it sends through the plant are a signal, enough on their own to set off tremulation in reply | In playback experiments using a robotic model frog and an electrodynamic shaker, we demonstrate that plant-borne vibrations generated by the shaking (tremulation) display of male red-eyed treefrogs (Agalychnis callidryas) are a vibrational signal, necessary and sufficient to elicit tremulations in response. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| In contests between males, tremulation was the most frequent aggressive display | In male-male contests, tremulations were the most frequent aggressive display (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| A buoyant, bouncing rhythm for a frog whose males shake their plant in a tremulation display, sending vibrations that alone set a rival shaking back. | plant-borne vibrations generated by the shaking (tremulation) display of male red-eyed treefrogs (Agalychnis callidryas) are a vibrational signal, necessary and sufficient to elicit tremulations in response. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only, as the body claim on the same sentence.) |

## Clark et al. (2022). Genetic isolation by distance underlies colour pattern divergence in red‐eyed treefrogs (Agalychnis callidryas). Molecular Ecology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16350

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Along Costa Rica's Pacific coast, the frog's leg color shifts from orange in the north to purple in the south | Along the Pacific coast, red‐eyed treefrogs have conspicuous leg colour patterning that transitions from orange in the north to purple in the south. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract. Costa Rica: 'red‐eyed treefrogs ( Agalychnis callidryas ) in Costa Rica', same abstract.) |
| several color-pattern forms turn up together in the zone where it changes | At the transition zone, we discovered the co‐occurrence of multiple colour‐pattern morphs. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| A genetic study found no evidence that this mix came from recent interbreeding | We found no evidence that colour‐pattern polymorphism in the transition zone arose through recent hybridization. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |
| The frogs' genes instead showed a strong pattern of isolation by distance, and the authors concluded the color variation was either kept through older processes, such as ancestral color variety or ancient contact between populations, or produced by new mutations | Instead, a strong pattern of genetic isolation by distance indicates that colour‐pattern variation was either retained through other processes such as ancestral colour polymorphisms or ancient secondary contact, or else it was generated by novel mutations. (note: Hand check: source is abstract-only. Confirmed present verbatim in the abstract.) |