I was curious to find out what frog I had captured with my camera when I was on Tambuyukon. I posted the image on my photo blog, forums and wrote to AmphibiaWeb.org asking if anyone can help ID the frog. I’ve had a few responses from herpetologists around the world. This, I believe, is where the Internet is most useful, and I’m most thankful for the many people who took the time to look and help identify a little frog.

As for the frog, identifying it from images is not an easy task. But, most think it’s a Pelophryne misera.

Here’s part of a response I received. The author quotes Robert Inger, who has been working on Southeast Asian herpetology for many many years:

“I am always frustrated by frog photos. They almost never show diagnostic features of species. Of course, my photos are exceptions to that rule–but only because I know which frog I photographed. But to return to the one you sent. It is certainly a bufonid and it looks like the genus Pelophryne. I’d be a lot more confident if I could have seen the hand clearly. But if we assume I’ve got the genus right…The mountain on which it was found is part of the Kinabalu massif. That makes it likely that it is Pelophryne misera Mocquard. It seems to have yellow and dark pigment on the venter, which fits P. misera. The snout shape, eye size, tympanum size fit P. misera. The leg is rather short. Everything I can see fits. It’s what I can’t see clearly is what bothers me–the shapes of the fingers and toes, the projection of the fingers from the palm, etc. Still, I have about 75% confidence in my identification.”

I still don’t have a 100% confirmation, but it has led me to reading up a little bit about frogs, toads and other amphibians.

———————
Related Links:
• AmphibiaWeb.org
• FrogWeb.org
• Amphibian Species of the World
• About Pelophryne misera in Amphibians & Reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo) by Rudolf Malkmus, pages 85-87; retrieved from Google Book Search