The Amphibians of Belize

Two Worlds

An amphbian is a creature than can exist in two different worlds. This is a handy feature for anything living in the tropical environment found in Belize, with its extreme rainy season, its abundance of water, and miles and miles of tropical rainforest. There are about four thousand five hundred species of amphibians in the world, and at times it seemas as though half of them live in the forests of Belize! The amphibians are divided into three main categories, with all three in Belize spending most of their time in or near water, but at least part of their lives on land. They all have lungs plus thin, moist skin that is able to exchange gas through its surface. This exchange is called breathing! As adults, they are all predatory carnivores, as far as we know. Scientists have yet to study in depth all of the amphibians of the world, however. Most seem defenseless at first, but what you can't see is the toxins they produce in their skins. Most amphibians are also colored in a way that makes them difficult to detect in the wild.

Three Groups

1. Frogs & Toads. There are about thirty three species in the Belize area.
2. Salamanders. These are the amphibians with tails.
3. Caecilians. These are found only in tropical forests of the world, with most in Central and South America.

Caecilians

More work needs to be done studying the caecilians, because relatively little is known about these mysterious creatures. Characteristics include: they are legless, they have slim bodies that grow up to just over two feet long and up to 1 inch in diameter, and they have rings down the tube of the body, kind of like an earthworm. They don't lay eggs because they have live births. They have scales and tiny eyes which are mastly useless, since most adults are blind. For lack of eyes, they use tentacles on the head which can be withdrawn into the body. They eat termites, beetles, earthworms, and other invertebrates they find on the moist ground in the tropical forest. Since lots of time is spent foraging for food, and they have to burrow underground to do this (remember, they eat earthworms, termites, and beetles), people don't see them very often. If you really want to spot a caecilian, then go out at night after it rains (similar to catching earthworms, if you've ever done that). Sometimes if you overturn a log or a rock you'll see a caecilian, or if a predator such as a bird drops one on the ground and you're nearby to happen to see it, well, it's your lucky day!

Frogs & Toads

Frogs and toads are the noisy amphibians...well the males are anyway. During the breeding periods for these very vocal males, they scream and scream for a mate a the edges of lakes and ponds throughout the forest. Each species has its own distinct scream, so the total effect is a symphony of mating calls than can leave your ears ringing! Thousands and thousands of frogs screech at the same time in competition for the females for an explosive effect. The bullfrogs might even fight for the best seat near the water before embarking on the vocal portion of his evening's seduction. How do frogs fight? Well, they don't have claws or sharp teeth, so bulk is everything here. For some of the smaller frogs, or shall we say sneakier frogs, fighting and singing takes just too much effort. These frogs devise plans to lurk in the outskirts of the main singing areas around the pond. Lurking, waiting, they wait until a seranading bullfrog brother is successful in drawing a female closer to him. Then, without warning, the frog on the outside edge rushes in to intercept the meeting between singer and female. These sneaky frogs are called satellite males and they have satellite strategies.

Salamanders

Salamanders don't prosper in the hot moist tropical environment, and stick mainly to temperate zones where it's cooler. They like the moist conditions, but not the high temperatures so look for them in clammy environments...moist but cool. Moist cool areas in Belize would be found at higher elevations in the cloud forests. Most salamanders are land-dwelling, but one type, newts, is aquatic, meaning here that it lays its eggs in the water. Unlike the terrestrial salamanders, the aquatic salamaners, or newts, do not protect their eggs once they've laid them.

What Lives in Belize

Here are some of the amphibian species that make their home in Belize.

• Mexican Salamander, Bolitoglossa mexicana
• Rufescent Salamander, Bolitoglossa rufescens
• Marine Toad, Bufo marinus
• Gulf Coast Toad, Bufo vallicpes
• Broad-headed Rainfrog, Eleutherodactylus laticeps
• Tungara Frog, physalaemus pustulosus
• Black-backed Frog, Leptodactylus melanonotus
• Central American Rainfrog, Eleutherodactylus rugulosus
• Maya Rainfrog, Eleutherodactylus chac
• Red-eyed Leaf Frog, Agalychnis callidryas
• Variegated Frog, Hyla ebraccata
• Morelet's Leaf Frog, Agalychnis moreletti
• Bromeliad Treefrog, Hyla bromeliacia
• Red-footed Treefrog, Hyla loquax
• Yellow Treefrog, Hyla microcephala
• Cricket Treefrog, Hyla picta
• Pepper treefrog, Phrynohyas venulosa
• Stauffer's Treefrog, Scinax staufferi
• Casque-headed Treefrog, Triprion petasatus
• Rainforest Frog, Rana vaillanti
• Julian's Frog, Rana juliani
• Fleishcmann's Glass Frog, Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni
• Rio Grande Leopard Frog, Rana berlandieri