Leptodactylids

Leptodactylid Frogs
Leptodactylid frogs, sometimes refered to as Neotropical frogs, and rain frogs, are the frog family with the most representative species in Costa Rica. The 46 species listed account for a third of Costa Rica's anuran diversity.

Many of these species are very cryptically colored, blending masterfully into the forest litter layer. Quite a few of them are refered to as litter frogs. These are many a little brown job, hopping toad-like, and hiding under the fallen and decaying leaves. Others as the Smoky jungle frog to the left, complete with mosquito, are more formidable. In the rain forests of Costa Rica there is not a bigger frog (though there is a bigger toad). This frog is both a sit and wait predator, which will station itself patiently until it's prey gets just close enough, as well as an active predator, one that will approach a chorus of vocalizing frogs, and close in to make the kill. There was always something very cool about these frogs, I would sometimes think of them as the jaguar, of the frog world. The picture above is of a frog near it's burrow.

Leptodactylids include many small non-descript small sized species which often move sluggishly along the forest floor. Pictured above however is a frog the size of a mans fist. The Smoky Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus) is a predator of many things which crawl within it grasp and gape.