Cope's Brown Treefrog

Distinguished from all other Costa Rican hylids, with the exception of Hyla fimbrimembra, by the presence of dermal fringes along the posteroventral margins of the limbs (Savage and Heyer 1968). It differs from H. fimbrimembra in lacking true integumentary-cranial co-ossification, although the presence of osteoderms belays a false impression of this character (Duellman 1970). Other distinguishing features include fully webbed hands and feet, and tuberculate skin that is present in both juveniles and adults. Adults have keratinized granules on their venter, and breeding males have protruding prepollical spines. The head is flat on top and rounded in dorsal outline, and the snout appears truncate in both dorsal and lateral outline. The tympanum is about half the size of the eye, and above it a bony ridge followed by a dermal fold extends posteriorly to just above the arm's insertion. The canthus is rounded and the internarial area is depressed. Arms are short and robust, and the immense hand bears large discs. The legs are long and moderately robust, and the feet also bear large discs. Recorded snout-vent length measurements ranged from 57.2 to 106.0 mm for male adults, and 69.7 mm for the single collected female (all above descriptions from Duellman 1970). The dorsal coloration is mottled with dark brown, metallic green, and orange-tan, while ventral surfaces range from pink-tan to light-brown, except for the anal region which is creamy white. The chin has white tubercles and dark brown spots, the tympanum, webbing, and discs are dark brown, and the iris is bronze with reddish-brown reticulations (all color descriptions from Duellman 1970). No call has been attributed to thisspecies, although a "loud growl-like" sound has been noted (Duellman 1970).Older nomenclature refers to Hyla miliaria as H. immensa. For a summary of name history, refer to Duellman (1970).A Spanish-language species account can be found at the website of Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) (http://darnis.inbio.ac.cr/FMPro?-DB=UBIpub.fp3&-lay=WebAll&-Format=/ubi/detail.html&-Op=bw&id=4198&-Find).

Collections of H. miliaria have been extremely rare, thus a collecting bias limits the known distribution. This species has been collected between 600 and 1200 m on both the Caribbean and Pacific highland slopes of western Panama and Costa Rica, and from an unknown locality in Nicaragua and central Colombia (Duellman 1970). The habitat is humid rainforest, categorized in the Subtropical Rainforest Lifezone using the designations of Holdridge (1967).

Very little information is available for H. miliaria. The thick, rugose skin and presence of osteoderms may provide some protection against desiccation, perhaps enabling the frogs to live in a more arid microhabitat (Duellman 1970). An arboreal lifestyle is indicated by the large discs and dermal fringes, the latter seeming to confer the ability of gliding although only two observations have provided evidence for this behavior. The arboreal lifestyle and resilience to desiccation has been suggested as evidence for the Fringe-limbed treefrog's home in the forest canopy (Duellman 1970). There is not enough data available to estimate species abundance.

Due to the extreme rarity of sightings and lack of demographic data for H. miliaria, it's conservation status remains unknown.

Cope's brown treefrog or fringe-limbed treefrog (Ecnomiohyla miliaria) is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.