Leptodactylus fallax

Appearance

It can reach 1 kg (2.2 lb) in weight and up to 22 cm (8.7 in) in snout–to–vent length, although a more typical adult size is 17–18 cm (6.7–7.1 in). It is highly variable in color, with the upperparts varying from a uniform chestnut-brown to being barred or spotted. The color becomes more orange-yellow on the sides of the body, and pale yellow on the underparts.

Range and habitat

The mountain chicken was once found on many of the Lesser Antillean islands in the eastern Caribbean, but is now restricted to just Dominica and Montserrat. It once occurred in certain places, among them Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, but is now extirpated there and may also have inhabited Saint Lucia and Antigua. There was an unsuccessful attempt to introduce it to Jamaica and Puerto Rico (where it is not native).

Leptodactylus fallax is a critically endangered species of frog that is native to the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat. It is believed that tens of thousands originally lived on each of the islands inhabited by the species.

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

Diet and breeding

The mountain chicken is terrestrial and nocturnal. It is well camouflaged in its habitat and remains still for long periods before ambushing its prey, usually at night.

Its diet is varied, but it is strictly carnivorous, largely consuming crickets and other insects, although millipedes, crustaceans, spiders (among them tarantulas) and even small vertebrates, such as other frogs, snakes and small mammals such as bats, are all eaten. Despite its willingness to eat other frogs, except for consuming unfertilized eggs, cannibalism is not known from the mountain chicken. The mountain chicken has a highly unusual method of reproduction, as unlike most other amphibians that breed in water, this frog breeds in burrows around 50 cm (20 in) deep.

In crisis

The population declined by at least 80% from 1995 to 2004, with further significant declines later. A tiny wild population remains on Dominica where there are efforts to preserve it, but few or none survive in the wild on Montserrat and its survival now relies on a captive breeding project involving several zoos. The initial decline was linked to hunting for human consumption, along with habitat loss and natural disasters, but the most serious threat now appears to be the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, that was the primary cause of the most recent rapid decline.

The initial decline in the species was caused by hunting for human consumption, along with natural disasters and habitat loss. It was estimated that the population had fallen by more than 80 percent from 1995 to 2004.

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

Leptodactylus fallax 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 Leptodactylus fallax, Wikidata item Q2704588. 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.