About Rhacophorus nigropalmatus Boulenger, 1895
This species of flying frog, Rhacophorus nigropalmatus Boulenger, 1895, commonly known as Wallace's flying frog, is very photogenic thanks to its large size, bright colors, and unique behavior. It reaches a body length of approximately 80–100 mm, with males being smaller than females, making it one of the largest species in the Rhacophorus genus. It has large eardrums and large eyes with horizontal pupils. Its limbs are very long, and both its fingers and toes are fully webbed all the way to their tips. Combined with a fringe of skin stretching between its limbs, this frog is able to parachute down to the forest floor from the high tree canopies where it normally lives. The frog's back is bright shiny green, and its underside ranges from white to pale yellow. The upper inner sides of its toes, as well as the outer sections of its finger and toe webbing, are bright yellow. The base of the webbing and a single spot on each flank are solid jet black. This species closely resembles the green flying frog Rhacophorus reinwardtii and Rhacophorus kio. However, even fully grown individuals of those two species do not reach the size of Wallace's flying frog, and they have more orange-colored web fringes. Wallace's flying frogs live almost entirely in trees, and only descend to mate and lay eggs. They can leap and glide, often referred to as flying, between trees or to bushes. When threatened or searching for prey, they leap from a branch and spread their four webbed feet. They use their patagia (the membranes between their toes and loose skin flaps on their sides) to catch air during their fall, which allows them to glide. They can glide 15 meters (50 feet) or more to a neighboring tree branch or even all the way to the ground. They also have large, oversized toe pads that help them land softly and cling to tree trunks. Their diet consists mainly of insects, but they have been recorded eating toads and small birds as well. Known predators of this species include tree-climbing snakes. Females create a bubble nest by lashing fluids that they produce, placing the nest on a branch or foliage above water. They lay their eggs inside the nest, and the male fertilizes the eggs externally. After hatching, tadpoles remain in the nest until it breaks apart, at which point they fall into the water below. They continue their development in the water and eventually undergo metamorphosis into juvenile frogs. Young frogs are reddish brown with white spots for roughly one year, before maturing into their green adult coloration. This juvenile patterning is thought to discourage predation by mimicking feces. This frog is distributed across Thailand, Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and Borneo (which spans Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia). It inhabits trees, palm trees, bushes, and similar plants. It can be found in both undisturbed primary forest and areas that have previously been logged, at elevations ranging from 700 to 1800 feet above sea level.
