
Photo: Pierre Fidenci · CC BY-SA 2.5
Eleutherodactylus planirostris
Diet
Small invertebrates, particularly ants, beetles, mites, spiders, harvestmen, and cockroaches
Habitat
Tropical lowland forest floors, stream banks, grasslands, scrub, coastal areas, gardens, and greenhouses
Range
Native to Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas; introduced to parts of the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, and Guam
Clutch size
3–26 eggs; about 20 on average
Incubation period
13–20 days to hatching
Size
12–30 mm long
The greenhouse frog is a very small, granular-skinned frog measuring only 12 to 30 millimetres long. It is native to several Caribbean islands but has become established in numerous introduced locations. The species occupies tropical lowlands, hiding beneath logs, stones, boards, mulch, leaf litter, and other moist cover. It also occurs in gardens, greenhouses, scrublands, grasslands, coastal habitats, and crevices beside streams, tolerating somewhat drier environments better than many comparable frogs. (Animal Diversity Web)
Greenhouse frogs are primarily nocturnal and become especially active during warm, rainy, or overcast conditions. They hunt small invertebrates such as ants, beetles, mites, spiders, harvestmen, and cockroaches. Females place clutches of three to twenty-six eggs beneath moist ground cover, commonly in vegetation, leaf litter, debris, or potted soil. Development occurs entirely inside the terrestrial egg, without a free-living tadpole stage, and miniature froglets hatch after approximately thirteen to twenty days. No parental care follows hatching. (Animal Diversity Web)