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Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:20 am
by Ilias Strachinis
Just have a look at this stunning Rana graeca from Greece!
Have you seen anything like this before? :)

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Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:35 pm
by Bobby Bok
Stunning froggo!

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:54 pm
by Ilian Velikov
Beautiful! Which part of Greece is it from?

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:39 am
by Mario Schweiger
I have seen an italica like this in central Calabria (San Nicola area) - some decades before

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:12 pm
by Ilias Strachinis
Ilian Velikov wrote:Beautiful! Which part of Greece is it from?


It's from OIympos mt Ilian! 1st time I see one like this. I've seen reddish ones a few times but never as red as this one! :) You can also see it in the TV show I present in this episode: http://webtv.ert.gr/ert3/agria-ellada/1 ... da-olybos/


Mario, is there a photo? I'd love to see it!

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:12 pm
by Tomas Klacek
Really nice! Sometimes, even temporaria can be very red.

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Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:16 pm
by Michal Szkudlarek
Red Discoglossus sardus found by me :mrgreen:
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Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:30 am
by Will Atkins
What interests me is why the female 'brown frogs' (especially temporaria) are the bright colours - often red, sometimes yellow etc and the males are more uniform and grey (in general, there are always exceptions). I suspect it's because the males hang around the grey muddy ponds for longer (overwintering, and at breeding time) and the females are based more on land, the background colours of which are more variable. I don't know if anyone has researched this, but it's unusual to find female animals being more varied and brighter in colour than males. The photo from my pond this spring makes the point:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100121190 ... en-public/

BTW great TV programmes, Ilias! I wish I spoke Greek (apart from how to say 'sorry' and 'snake' which is always good when looking for reptiles in Greece on potentially private land ;) ) - but I can enjoy the animals at least!

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:49 am
by Ruggero M.
Will Atkins wrote:What interests me is why the female 'brown frogs' (especially temporaria) are the bright colours - often red, sometimes yellow etc and the males are more uniform and grey (in general, there are always exceptions). I suspect it's because the males hang around the grey muddy ponds for longer (overwintering, and at breeding time) and the females are based more on land, the background colours of which are more variable. I don't know if anyone has researched this, but it's unusual to find female animals being more varied and brighter in colour than males. The photo from my pond this spring makes the point:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100121190 ... en-public/

BTW great TV programmes, Ilias! I wish I spoke Greek (apart from how to say 'sorry' and 'snake' which is always good when looking for reptiles in Greece on potentially private land ;) ) - but I can enjoy the animals at least!


Maybe it's related to the mating behaviour of the species.
In many birds males are more colorful than females because the male must attract at least one female with a courtship ritual.
With frogs there are no rituals: the males jump over a female and mate. In this sense it's probably more "useful" for the species that the females should be more colorful and more readily visible to the males...

Re: Red Rana graeca

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:53 pm
by Ilias Strachinis
this is indeed a nice observation. Quite recently I was in Rhodope mts in Greece, where the southernmost edge of R.temporaria's range lies, and I finally saw its breeding colors in this area. I was surprised by the colors of the females! Take a look (male: blueish, female: a rainbow! :D )
Female's belly had very intense colors too!
(sorry about the bad quality of female's photo, its a photo of my camera's screen with my cellphone)

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