Kenneth L. Krysko photo.
Greenhouse Frog, Eleutherodactylus planirostris
The greenhouse frog is native to Cuba and the Bahamas. It was first reported in south Florida in the 1870's, presumably having made the trip from Cuba to Key West on shipments of produce some years earlier. Since then it has spread throughout the Florida peninsula and west into the panhandle. In Fort Matanzas National Monument, the greenhouse frog hides during the day in the leaf litter, under fallen palm fronds, and among the ferns in the live oak hammock and in the slash pine and red bay woodlands. Males give a faint musical chirp to attract females. Unlike most frogs and toads, the greenhouse frog does not have a tadpole stage. It lays its eggs in the moist leaf litter. The tadpole-like embryo develops inside the egg and hatches as a miniature adult with a tiny tail that is quickly adsorbed.
