Litoria chloris

Litoria chloris occupies coastal eastern Australian rainforests, from Queensland to New South Wales and as far north as Prosperine (Barker 1995).

Australian red-eyed tree frogs occupy coastal wet sclerophyll and rainforests. They can also be encountered in flooded grasslands, near rivers, and in regrowth areas (Hicks 1999).

Male Australian red-eyed tree frogs range from 5.4 to 6.2 cm, snout to vent length, while females are larger at 5.8 to 6.8 cm, snout to vent length. They have a smooth brilliant green dorsum and a lemon yellow granular ventral surface. There is little green coloring on the limbs, except for the upper forearms and the tibia; the rest of the limb is yellow. The thighs are deep purple, and L. chloris' irises are bright red-orange with a horizontal pupil. This tree frog has a typical Hylidae build with long, slender limbs and webbed hands and feet with large toe discs. A distinct tympanum is noticable (Hicks 1999).

Males call from October to February, during and after very heavy rain (Baker 1999). Theie advertisement call is a series of long "aaa-rk's" ending with a soft trill or chirp (Cogger 1992). Calling and amplexus takes place in shallow pools. The eggs can be laid in clumps or laid singly, entwined in the vegetation (Barker 1995). In captivity, Australian red-eyed tree frogs have been known to lay 5 clutches in a season with up to 500 eggs per clutch. The larvae can reach a maximum length of 7.4 cm and are light brown. In approximately 41 days, at 27 degrees Celsius, the tadpoles will reach metamorphosis (Hicks 1999).

Litoria chloris spends most of its time high in the rainforest canopy so not much is known about its behavior. Generally, this species is encountered only after heavy rain when breeding behavior has been observed (Cogger 1992).

This frog lives in an inaccessible habitat for most of the year. Therefore, not much is known about their feeding habits. However, they are assumed to be insectivorous like other tree frogs that have been studied more intensively (Hicks 1999).

Litoria chloris has been used for research in areas such as antibiotic peptides and evaporative water loss (Steinborner 1998; Buttemer 1990). Also, this species is available in the pet trade (Vosjoli 1996).

Litoria chloris closely resembles L. xanthomera. In fact, the two species are so similiar that they were thought to be the same species until recently. These two species do not coexist since their ranges do not overlap. The simplest way to distinguish the two species is visually: L. Choris has purple thighs while L. xanthomera has orange thighs (Hicks 1999).