Green paddy frog, Hylarana erythraea

It’s been raining hard along the southwestern coast of Thailand these past few days. Not great for travelling by motorbike, but the frogs love it. Each evening a cacophony croaks, chirps and whistles of love sick males build to a builds to a crescendo as they compete for the affections of coquettish females (okay, maybe I’m anthropomorphising a touch). last night I headed up into the forest to see what i could find. Despite there are large numbers calling all around you, tropical frogs can be very hard to spot. However, after getting very muddy, mosquito bitten and drenched in sweat, I did find this guy. He’s a green paddy frog, Hylarana erythraea, aka red-eared frog or common green frog, or even the Asian greenback frog. I say ‘he’ tentatively as he was quite small, maybe 35mm long. Full grown females are around twice this size.

Green pad frog, Rana erythraea, sitting in a forest rainwater pool, Phuket, Thailand @colinmunrophotography
Green paddy frog, Hylarana erythraea, sitting in a forest rainwater pool, Phuket, Thailand

Habitat

Green paddy frogs are frequently found in puddles and temporary ponds on the edge of forests, but they occur across a wide range of habitats include scrub, grasslands and urban gardens.

Distribution

Green paddy frogs are found throughout much of Southeast Asia; from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos down through the Malaysian Peninsula, through much of Indonesia and as far east as the Philippines.

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