Hylidae
Hylidae includes the treefrogs and related species. There are records of 93 species in
Peru, 51 in the Madre de Dios department and 48 in the Manu area of which we include
42 species in this guide. They are very variable in sizes and colors, ranging from a couple
of centimeter to more than 10, and from dull brown patterns to bright green and yellow.
One of their distinctive features as a family is the rounded toe and finger pads. They
usually have smooth skin and some webbing between the toes and fingers. As with
many other groups of frogs, the flash marks on the groin and hidden surfaces of the
thighs are one of the things to look at when identifying them. Also, the iris, especially
with Osteocephalus and Phyllomedusa species is a good identification feature.
Hylidae
Treefrogs are, as the name states, arboreal and usually active at night. They usually
feed on invertebrates, although the big species of the family can eat small vertebrates,
including other treefrogs. Their tadpoles develop in bodies of water therefore the best
habitats to find these frogs are the aquatic ones. Many treefrog species congregate to
breed in ponds, often in an explosive way after heavy rain episodes. But some species
are highly arboreal and even breed in bromeliads and other epiphytes, and therefore
are encountered seldom. Treefrogs are generally very vocal, making their calls a good
method to find and identify them.
Hypsiboas punctatus