''Cornufer guentheri'', commonly known as the Solomon Island leaf frog, Solomon Island eyelash frog and Gunther's triangle frog, is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Ceratobatrachidae The Ceratobatrachidae are a family of frogs found in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, Palau, Fiji, New Guinea, and the Admiralty, Bismarck, and Solomon Islands. Taxonomy Ceratobatrachidae was formerly treated as a subfamily (i.e ...

. This frog can be found throughout the

Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

(both in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

, an independent state), except for San Cristobal. Ceratobatrachus guentheri

''Cornufer guentheri'' is abundant throughout the Solomon Islands where it can be found on the forest floor in tropical rain forests; it can also live in secondary forests, rural gardens, and in other modified habitats. They average about in length, with females being larger than the males. Their cryptic coloration and dorsal patterns aid in their

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

—often mimicking decaying leaf matter—giving rise to the common name of "leaf frog". They are an interesting example of a species that undergoes direct development—there is no free-living tadpole stage; instead, the juvenile emerges from the egg as a fully developed froglet. Eggs are laid in small hollows at the base of trees. They grow rapidly from a long froglet on a diet of tiny insects until they can take the adult diet of insects,

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

, smaller

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

and small

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

. They are ambush predators, pouncing quickly on any prey animals that happen to wander within their reach – including their own species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28017708 guentheri Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Amphibians of the Solomon Islands Amphibians described in 1884 Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Taxonomy articles created by Polbot