''Cornufer vitianus'', commonly known as Fiji ground frog or Viti wrinkled ground frog, is a species of
frog 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 ...
.
It is
endemic to
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
.
[
Presumed to be originally a forest species, it is nowadays also found in a range of man-made habitats, including degraded forest, rural gardens, plantations, and even close to the beach.]Gau
Gau or GAU may refer to:
People
* Gaugericus (–626), Bishop of Cambrai
* Gau Ming-Ho (born 1949), Chinese mountaineer
* Franz Christian Gau (1790–1854), German architect and archaeologist
* James Gau (born 1957), Papua New Guinean politi ...
) and a small island, Viwa, (0.6 ha) off the eastern coast of the main island (Viti Levu) of the Fiji archipelago. The species maintains populations throughout the forested (primary, secondary and coastal/littoral) parts of these islands (Osborne, unpublished data).
A largish frog, it can grow up to 100 g and to body lengths (SUL) of 110 mm. The larger individuals tend to be a very dull dark brown (sometimes with yellow spots on either side of the head near the tympanum). However, smaller adults and juvenile frogs can be highly polymorphic in coloration, with banding and stippling in darker or lighter hues of red, brown, green and curry-yellow. It is distinguished from the ''Cornufer vitiensis
''Platymantis vitiensis'' (common names: Fiji tree frog, Levuka wrinkled ground frog) is a species of frog in the family Ceratobatrachidae.
It is one of two endemic frogs in Fiji, the other being the closely related ''Platymantis vitianus'' (Viti ...
'' by its larger size and smaller toe pads.
The Fiji ground is a nocturnal ground dweller, however, individuals have been encountered on low branches and leaves of riparian forest vegetation. It is thought to be a sit and wait predator, waiting for nocturnal insects to venture nearby.
Reproduction
The breeding cycle of these frogs is affected by extrinsic environmental conditions and intrinsic reproductive hormonal mechanisms. During the active breeding phase mature gravid females clearly show the presence of large creamy eggs. Nesting occurs terrestrially, mostly underneath rotting logs, and crevices within coconut tree bark and within bamboo. This species lays around 50-60 eggs inside prepared nests and covered with leaf litter. Embryonic development takes place over 29–30 days and froglets hatch directly from eggs forgoing the tadpole stage. The age at maturity of ''C. vitianus'' is still not known.
References
* Kuruyawa, J., Osborne, T., Thomas, N., Rounds, I., Morrison, C. and Morley, C. 2004. Distribution, abundance and conservation status of the Fijian Ground Frog (''Platymantis vitianus''). Unpublished report for the BP Conservation Programme.
*Narayan, E., Christi, K., and Morley, C. (2008). ''Ecology and reproduction of the endangered Fijian Ground Frog ''Platymantis vitianus'' - Fiji Islands.'' South Pacific Journal of Natural Science, 26, 28–32.
* Ryan, P. 2000. Fiji's Natural Heritage. Exisle Publishing Limited, Auckland.
vitianus
Amphibians of Oceania
Frogs of Fiji
Endemic fauna of Fiji
Amphibians described in 1853
Taxa named by Auguste Duméril
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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