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© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Brent Ward

Tomato Frog

Dyscophus antongilii

Physical Characteristics

  • These frogs have an orange to red back, a yellowish underside and sometimes have black spots on the throat.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: males = 2 - 2.5 inches, females = 3 - 4 inches

Diet

  • Wild: invertebrates

Behavior

  • Nocturnal
  • Sit and wait predator: keys on movement of prey
  • Can inflate body when disturbed
  • Breeds during rainy season in stagnant or very slow-moving water
  • Reproduction
    • 1,000 - 1,500 small black and white eggs deposited on water surface, tadpoles hatch 36 hours after egg laying
    • metamorphosis is complete after about 45 days, juveniles are yellow on the back and dark on the flanks and extremities

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: swamps and shallow pools
  • Distribution: lowlands of Madagascar
  • No estimates on numbers
  • Status: CITIES Appendix I
    • habitat destruction

Conservation Efforts

  • Covered by a Taxon Advisory Group (TAG)
  • Studbook being prepared
  • Have been captive bred only rarely, usually with the aide of hormone injection

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