''Odorrana morafkai'' is a species of frogs in the family Ranidae. It is found in eastern Cambodia, southern

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, and central Vietnam. This frog is highly unusual because it turns from its daytime green color to brown at night.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''morafkai'' honors David Joseph Morafka, an American herpetologist. Accordingly, common names Morafka's frog and Morafkai frog has been proposed for this species.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

. The body is dorso-ventrally compressed. The head is broad. The eye is large and prominent. The tympanum is round, relatively large, and distinct; the supratympanic fold is weak. The digits bear large discs, and the toes are fully webbed in females and almost so in males. The dorsal coloration is usually bright green in daylight, but turns brown at night, sometimes with black spots. The flanks are yellow and grey, and the ventrum is creamy white. The limbs have black transverse bars. The upper lip has yellow-white stripe that reaches a glandule above the arm insertion. The iris is golden.

Habitat and conservation

''Odorrana morafkai'' is known over an altitudinal range of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, from lowland forests to montane cloud forests dominated by evergreen or bamboo and evergreen vegetation. It is typically observed near streams on rocks, leaf litter, herbaceous vegetation, or trees as high as 4 m above the ground. The tadpoles likely develop in streams, as in other ''Odorrana''. Although not considered threatened, this species is likely to be suffering from habitat loss. It may also be impacted by harvesting for food, with the preferential harvest of large females. It is present in several protected areas, although the aforementioned threats apply also to some protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3006029 morafkai Frogs of Asia Amphibians of Cambodia Amphibians of Laos Amphibians of Vietnam Amphibians described in 2003 Taxa named by Amy Lathrop Taxa named by Robert W. Murphy Taxa named by Nikolai Loutseranovitch Orlov Taxonomy articles created by Polbot