Imagine yourself walking through the forest at dusk after a rainy day. As you explore the jungle, you hear a choir of chirps around you. It may seem at first that those sounds come from birds or crickets. But upon closer inspection on the leaves and ground, you see several one inch beings with long legs jumping and singing in chorus. You may even see some of them laying on what seem to be a like a clump of sago balls. Upon seeing these cute creatures around you, you may have just encountered one of the most diverse frogs in the country, Platymantis.
   
Platymantis is a highly diverse genus of forest frogs, member of the family Ceratobatrachidae. These frogs are all located in several islands of the Philippines except Batanes, Palawan, and Sulu archipelagos.

These frogs are incredibly small, with many of them minuscule enough to perch on your fingers. They are known for having no tadpoles in their life cycle. Instead, the eggs hatch into cute adorable froglets. They live in many forest habitats and some species are known to thrive in seemingly barren landscapes like limestone caves! Like many other forest frogs, they are great bioindicators. In other words, their presence in their surroundings means that their habitat is lush, pristine, and thriving. 

There are currently 32 recognized species of Platymantis in the Philippines, with the latest one described as recent as August 2020. This group of frogs is so diverse that they comprise about a third of all the known endemic amphibians in the country. The known diversity of Platymantis is just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, it is estimated that thirty more species still remain undescribed by scientists. 

With such huge diversity, Platymantis is grouped into 5 subgenera based on phylogenetics. These subgenera include Platymantis (Tagomukhus), Lahatnanguri, Tirahanulap, Tahananpuno, and Lupacolus. Tap on each artwork to learn more.

Like many other endemic animals, these frogs are threatened due to habitat destruction. Have you seen them all? What can you do to save this adorable little creatures?

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References:

Brown, R. M., Layola, L. A., Lorenzo, A. I., Diesmos, M. L., & Diesmos, A. C. (2015). A new species of limestone karst inhabiting forest frog, genus Platymantis (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratobatrachidae: Subgenus Lupacolus) from southern Luzon island, Philippines. Zootaxa, 4048(2), 191. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4048.2.3

Brown, R. M., Siler, C. D., Richards, S. J., Diesmos, A. C., & Cannatella, D. C. (2015). Multilocus phylogeny and a new classification for Southeast Asian and Melanesian forest frogs (family Ceratobatrachidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 174(1), 130-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12232

Diesmos, A. C., Scheffers, B. R., Mallari, N. A., Siler, C. D., & Brown, R. M. (2020). A new forest frog of the genus: Platymantis (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratobatrachidae: Subgenus (Tirahanulap) from Leyte and Samar islands, eastern Philippines. Zootaxa, 4830(3), 573-591. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4830.3.6

Part IV amphibians class: amphibia. (2020). In Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines (Ed.), Philippine red list of threatened wild fauna part I - vertebrates (pp. 105-109). Department of Environment and Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau. http://www.biodiversity.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PRLC-Book-vertebrates.pdf

Pitogo, K. M., Saavedra, A. L., & Afuang, L. E. (2021). Amphibians and reptiles of Mount Busa, Sarangani province: A glimpse of the herpetological community of southern Mindanao, Philippines. Philippine Journal of Science, 150(5), 1279-1306.

https://www.iucnredlist.org