Cuban Treefrog
Osteopilus septentrionalis
- Class
- Amphibian
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 18,637
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The Cuban tree frog is a large species of tree frog that is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands; but has become invasive in several other places around the Americas. Its wide diet and ability to thrive in urban areas has made it a highly invasive species with established colonies in places such as Florida, the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and the Caribbean Islands. These tree frogs can vary in size from 2 to 5.5 inches in length. Due to their large size, Cuban tree frogs can eat a wide variety of things, particularly native tree frogs, and their removal has shown to result in an increase in the amount of native tree frogs in an area. The tadpoles of Cuban tree frogs also heavily compete with native frog tadpoles, which can cause negative effects in body mass, size at metamorphosis, and growth rates for the native tadpoles.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Cuban tree frog”.