Page "Amphibian" Paragraph 89

The male Colostethus subpunctatus, a tiny frog, protects his egg cluster which is hidden under a stone or log.

When the eggs hatch, he transports the tadpoles on his back, stuck there by a mucous secretion, to a temporary pool where he dips himself into the water and the tadpoles drop off.

The male midwife toad ( Alytes obstetricans ) winds egg strings round his thighs and carries the eggs around for up to eight weeks.

He keeps them moist and when they are ready to hatch, visits a pond or ditch and releases the tadpoles.

The female gastric-brooding frog ( Rheobatrachus sp.

), believed to be extinct, swallows her eggs and rears the larvae in her stomach.

She stops feeding while they are there and they consume their egg yolks.

When they are fully developed, she regurgitates them and they hop away from her mouth as miniature adults.

The pouched frog ( Assa darlingtoni ) lays eggs on the ground.

When they hatch, the male carries the tadpoles around in brood pouches on his hind legs.

The aquatic Surinam toad ( Pipa pipa ) raises its young in pores on its back where they remain until metamorphosis.

The granular poison frog ( Oophaga granulifera ) is typical of a number of tree frogs in the poison dart frog family Dendrobatidae.

Its eggs are laid on the forest floor and when they hatch, the tadpoles are carried one by one on the back of an adult to a suitable water-filled crevice such as the axil of a leaf or the rosette of a bromeliad.

The female visits the nursery sites regularly and deposits unfertilised eggs in the water which are consumed by the tadpoles.