White-lipped Tree Frog (Taipei)

English Name: White-lipped Tree Frog, "Brown Tree Frog"*, Brauer's Tree Frog**
Scientific Name: Polypedates braueri (Polypedates megacephalus)**
Chinese Name: 白頷樹蛙 (bai2han4 shu4wa1)
Chinese Meaning: "White-Chinned Tree Frog"

White-lipped Tree Frog (Polypedates megacephalus)

Date: May 24, 2010
Location: Shiyuan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City
Coordinates: 24° 59' 24" N, 121° 32' 58" E

One day about a year and a half ago I ran into this tree frog while returning home to our old apartment. It was just sitting there on the sheet-metal wall that separated our driveway from the empty lot next door. I was a bit surprised by its size - it was easy three inches or more from nose to tail. This was my first and only time encountering an adult of this species, though it is reported to be fairly common in Taiwan and China.** A closely related species, Polypedates leucomystax (also sometimes known as the White-lipped Tree Frog), is found throughout most of South and Southeast Asia. Tree frogs in the genus Polypedates are sometimes known as "whipping frogs," apparently due to the masses of foam that they "whip up" to protect their eggs, laid just above areas of standing water. This method of reproduction, which relies on the tadpoles falling or getting washed into the water below, is actually also typical of many other kinds of frogs in the Old World tree frog family Rhacophoridae.

Tadpole of White-Lipped Tree Frog (Polypedates megacephalus)

Date: June 5, 2011
Location: Hemeishan Nature Trail, Xindian District, New Taipei City
Coordinates: 24° 57' 11.6" N, 121° 31' 59.3" E

One year later, I got the chance to see the species in its larval stage while on a walk in the hills a few kilometers away. I discovered one or two tree frog tadpoles swimming in a small pool of water along with a big crowd of the smaller, hexagon-headed young of the Ornate Narrow-Mouthed Frog (Microhyla fissipes (ornata)). Like the adult frog, White-lipped Tree Frog tadpoles are relatively large - this one must have been about two inches long - and they are also recognizable by their dark body color and characteristic white patch at the tip of the snout.

More photos:

  

*The term "Brown Tree Frog" is often used for both this frog and another species found in Taiwan, Buergeria robusta, not to mention at least one species from elsewhere in the world. To avoid confusion, I have chosen to use another of the common names of Polypedates megacephalus here.

**The native Taiwan variety of this frog has been renamed Polypedates braueri ("Brauer's Tree Frog"). The name Polypedates megacephalus, used until very recently for these frogs in Taiwan, is still in use for the similar frogs found in Hong Kong and southern China. Confusingly, that variety was also introduced to Taiwan in 2006, becoming an invasive species on the island, so now Taiwan has both P. megacephalus and P. braueri. Based on descriptions and distribution maps, I believe the frogs in these photos are the native variety, P. braueri.