Many Amazon frogs and toads use camouflage as well as poison to avoid predators. A common theme is to look
like a dried leaf. In most cases, the only way they are seen is by their movement, as their coloration allows
them to blend perfectly with leaf litter or dead wood on the forest floor. When half-buried in the leaf litter
cryptically colored species such as this small toad are virtually invisible. This species is in the the large
genus Bufo, as part of the Bufo margaritifer complex—most species of Amazonian leaf toads
lack their own names. This one made the mistake of sitting on a log for a few seconds so it was easier to
spot. (Thanks to Dr. William Lamar for help with identification and nomenclature.)
|
|