Sticky ‘flying’ creature discovered in bushes along China road. It’s a new species
Along the roads of the island of Hainan, a small brownish-orange creature leaps from bush to bush.
A stream trickles nearby, and puddles form under the branches of the foliage after rainfall.
This time of year, the night air is filled with the creature’s song, calling out into the dark for a chance at love.
The sounds belong to a small frog — and it’s a newly discovered species.
Rhacophorus qiongica, or the Hainan flying frog, was collected during field surveys across southeast Asia and identified as a new species in a study published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution on May 21.
The name comes from the Chinese word qiong, meaning good and beautiful, the researchers said, and the new species was described as “very beautiful.”
The little frog is less than 2 inches long and has a blunt, pointed snout, according to the study.
The area between the fingers and toes is completely webbed, the researchers said, and scarlet in color. The flying frogs have stripes on their back legs, and some of them have small black spots or larger splotches.
The species differs from similar frogs in its “medium” body size for the genus, along with its “completely red” coloring between the toes, according to the study.
The males of the species are smaller than the females and have a vocal sac with a “pair of slit-like openings on the floor of the mouth at each corner,” to call out during breeding season.
“In Hainan, the species was found usually in shrubs and small arbors at elevations ranging from (about 2,000 feet) to (about 2,700 feet),” the researchers said, “and called from (7 p.m.) to (3 a.m.) every night during the breeding season (from May to July), with a peak at about (10 p.m.).”
While the species was first discovered in Hainan, the frogs have also been found in Gia Lai, Vietnam, south of Hainan in the South China Sea.
Since the Hainan flying frog looks similar to other known species, DNA was used to confirm the discovery.
Flying frogs are a group of amphibians that have wide webbing between their toes that allow them to glide through the air, similar to a human in a hang glider or a flying squirrel, when they jump from branch to branch, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
They have powerful back legs that propel them into the air, and some species can “fly” as far as 50 feet, according to the department.
Hainan is an island province of China, off the southern coast in the South China Sea.
This story was originally published May 22, 2024 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Sticky ‘flying’ creature discovered in bushes along China road. It’s a new species."
