Hula painted frog

Appearance

This species has a dark belly with small white spots, with adults having more of these spots than juveniles. It is colored ochre above with a rusty colour grading into dark olive-grey to greyish-black on the sides. A band of lighter color stretching down the middle of the back is present near the hind part of the animal.

The Hula painted frog is sexually dimorphic in size. Females measure between 40.0–128.4 millimetres (1.57–5.06 in) and weigh 26 g (0.91 oz) on average, while males are slightly smaller and grow 66.6–121.3 millimetres (2.62–4.78 in) long and weigh about 13 g (0.45 oz).

Range and habitat

The Hula painted frog is endemic to Hula Valley of Israel and has an extremely limited range, known only from an area of less than 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi). It was formerly more widespread, as evidenced by fossil remains of this species found at the Ubeidiya prehistoric site in the Jordan Valley, dating back to the Calabrian stage of the Early Pleistocene epoch (around 1.5 million years ago). The Hula Valley had survived as an area containing major water bodies such as Lake Hula throughout the Pleistocene epoch, when geological activity and climatic changes led to a dramatic decline in suitable habitat for Latonia frogs, allowing the valley to serve as a refugium for the species while the genus became extinct elsewhere.

Environmental improvements in the Hula reserve have been cited as a possible reason for the frog's reemergence. Researchers have detected the presence of Hula painted frogs using eDNA sampling and physical searches at 22 of 52 sites surveyed in the Hula Nature Reserve, Agamon ha-Hula, and Ein Te'o Nature Reserve.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet and breeding

This is believed to be an adaptation to allow painted hula frogs to feed on hard-shelled prey. Unlike most other frogs, Hula painted frogs do not use their tongues when catching prey.

Although breeding has not been observed in Hula painted frogs, it has been theorized that the species has a prolonged breeding period that lasts at least from March to June, and possibly as long as from February to September since most adults are observed in water during this time.

In crisis

The Hula painted frog was thought to be extinct as a result of habitat destruction during the 1950s until the species was rediscovered in 2011. The draining of Lake Hula and its marshes in the 1950s was thought to have caused the extinction of this frog, along with the cyprinid fish Mirogrex hulensis and cichlid fish Tristramella intermedia. Only five individuals had been found prior to the draining of the lake.

In 2018, the population of potentially reproducing adults was estimated to be 234-235 individuals.

Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.

Hula painted frog is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Hula painted frog, Wikidata item Q842419. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.