Endangered
Romer's Tree Frog
Liuixalus romeri
Romer's Tree Frog is a frog in the family Rhacophoridae (order Anura) — Liuixalus romeri, recorded as Endangered and tied to China.
Appearance
The body is tan brown, with the underside white. Romer's tree frog has a triangular but blunt snout with brown-spotted lips. The hind legs are long, slender, and barred with irregular brown-to-black cross-bands.
With an average snout-vent length of 1.5 – 2.5 cm, it is the smallest amphibian recorded in the territory.
Range and habitat
Romer's tree frog is a frog native to Hong Kong and a small portion of Guangxi, China.
Romer's tree frog was named after John Dudley Romer, who first discovered it in a cave on Lamma Island in 1952. Once thought to be extinct, the frog was rediscovered on the island in 1984.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The frog usually lives in well-wooded areas near small streams or other water sources suitable for breeding. Its tadpoles and eggs are susceptible to predation by the introduced mosquitofish, and it is only able to breed in places where the fish has yet to colonise.
The frog breeds in shallow water from early March to September. Adults feed on termites, and such small insects as crickets and arachnids such as spiders.
In crisis
That population disappeared in 1953 due to the collapse of the cave. Over 200 individuals of the species were rescued from Chek Lap Kok in 1992, before the construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport. As an endangered species, Romer's tree frog is protected under the law of Hong Kong (Wild Animals Protection Ordinance, Cap. 170).
Part of Ngong Ping in Lantau, a site that supports the largest population of the frog has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in May 1999.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Romer's Tree Frog is 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 Romer's Tree Frog, Wikidata item Q2220819. 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.
