''Pseudophilautus viridis'', or the dull-green shrub 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 ...

s in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and occurs in the central hills of south-central Sri Lanka.

Description

Adult males measure and females in snout–vent length. Males usually have horn-like spinules in the dorsum; females are shagreened. The tympanum is not prominent whereas the supratympanic fold is distinct. The canthal edges are indistinct. The fingers are without webbing whereas the toes are medially webbed. The upper parts are light green, except for the upper edge of supratympanic fold and outer edge of upper eyelid that are yellow; some individuals are brown. The flanks are light yellow with light-blue patches. The upper lip is light yellowish-green and the lower one is white. Underparts are flesh coloured.

Habitat and conservation

''Pseudophilautus viridis'' is a habitat generalist that occurs in both open and closed-canopy vegetation, including cloud forests and adjacent man-made habitats, at elevations 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 ...

. They are arboreal, found some above the ground, or in closed-canopy habitats, in the top stratum. The eggs are deposited in a deep hole in the forest floor that the female excavates. It is an uncommon species whose habitat is declining because of encroachment by tea cultivation and human settlements.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28062137 viridis Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Frogs of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda Amphibians described in 2005 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot