The Seychelles palm frog (''Sechellophryne pipilodryas'') 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 ...

that 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 ...

Silhouette Island Silhouette Island lies northwest of Mahé in the Seychelles. It is the third largest granitic island in the Seychelles. It has an area of 20.1 km2 and has a population of 200, mostly workers on the island. The main settlement is La Passe ...

in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

. It is closely related to

Gardiner's frog Gardiner's Seychelles frog (''Sechellophryne gardineri'') is a small frog of the family Sooglossidae and endemic to the Seychelles. It is named after John Stanley Gardiner, English zoologist and oceanographer. Description Gardiner's frog is one ...

, ''Sechellophryne gardineri''. The Seychelles palm frog inhabits forests higher than

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 ...

and is closely associated with the palm ''

Phoenicophorium borsigianum ''Phoenicophorium'', the thief palm, is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. The sole species is ''Phoenicophorium borsigianum''. It is endemism, endemic to the Seychelles, being is fairly widespread on the larger island ...

'' (another Seychelles endemic); most individuals are found in

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s of the palm. It is the most arboreal of the

Sooglossidae Sooglossidae, the Seychelles frogs or Seychelles Island frogs, are a family of frogs found on the Seychelles Islands. Until recently, this family was believed to include the genera ''Sechellophryne'', '' Nesomantis'' and '' Sooglossus'', but foll ...

. As a result, the palm frog is the most recent species of the family to have been discovered (in 2000). The reproductive biology of this species is unknown, but it is presumed to involve direct development, i.e. eggs that hatch directly into froglets.

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has reassessed the species in 2012 and concluded that Seychelles palm frog should be considered as " Critically Endangered" because of its small area of occupancy (about 7 km²), decline in population size, and threats to its habitat. Its earlier (2004) classification was only " Vulnerable".

References

External links

Monitoring and research into the amphibians and reptiles of Seychelles
Amphibians of Seychelles Endemic fauna of Seychelles Sechellophryne Amphibians described in 2002 {{Neobatrachia-stub