Egg Eating Spiny Backed Frog

Males 39-53 mm, females 49-57 mm. The dorsum is brown with light brown or dark brown spots. The ventral surface is light cream. Some individuals have many whitish spots on the sides and back. The legs have darker transverse bars on a brown background. The males have a single vocal sac in the throat region. The iris is golden with black radiating lines.Osteocephalus taurinus has separate vocal sacs on each side of the head, and adult O. taurinus are twice as long as adult O. oophagus.

Abundant throughout the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke in Brazil.

The species is arboreal and nocturnal, and occurs in continuous forest. Males mainly call at night from perches that vary from 0.5 - 4 m in height. Clutches contain about 33 eggs that are deposited in small bodies of water formed in epiphytes, terrestrial bromeliads, bases of Mauritia palm leaves, and holes in trees. Tadpoles develop to metamorphosis in the water bodies in which the eggs were deposited. Females return to the deposition sites at intervals of about five days and, usually in amplexus with the same male, produce eggs that serve as food for the tadpoles.

Osteocephalus oophagus is a species of frogs in the family Hylidae found in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, and possibly Suriname. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is also reported to produce bufotenin.

Females return to the egg deposition sites at intervals of about five days and, usually in amplexus with the same male, and produce eggs that serve as food for the tadpoles, hence the specific name meaning "egg eater".