According to researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), they have found that some frogs and toads have a strange reproductive habit. The researchers stated that endangered white spotted bush frog Raorchestes chalazodes breeds and lays eggs inside bamboo with narrow opening.
The frog was thought to be extinct for more than hundred years until it was rediscovered in the wet evergreen forests of the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats. The findings published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society have shown that Raorchestes chalazodes is among the two species of frog that have this new reproductive mode.
While studying the species, Mr. Seshadri K S, a PhD student, and David Bickford, Assistant Professor from the Department of Biological Sciences found that male frogs enter a bamboo and vocalize to attract female frogs.
The researchers observed that after male frog’s call, female frog was attracted and followed suit. It laid about five to eight eggs inside the bamboo. The male took care of the eggs and stayed in bamboo.
According to the researchers, Raorchestes chalazodes breeds in a bamboo that has openings at base. It usually ignores the internode that will have opening at the top as it could collect water during rains that would possibly flood eggs.
After entering a bamboo, a male leaves it for few moments in the evening to feed. The researchers had observed the species for more than six months between 2009 and 2012.
Bickford said that the discovery is important in two ways. First, it had proved that some history observations, which were ignored, are fundamental to know about evolutionary ecology. “Second, it sets a theoretical foundation to ask several interesting questions about the diversity of reproductive modes and the evolutionary pathways behind such amazing amphibian behaviors”, added Bickford.
