Leptodactylus pentadactylus, the smoky jungle frog, is a heavily built, ground-dwelling frog of the family Leptodactylidae. It ranges across lowlands below 1,200 m, from Costa Rica through the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador and across the Guianas and the northern two-thirds of the Amazon Basin in South America. Exact size figures sit in the facts box above.
Identification
The species is heavily built, with males reaching up to 180 mm snout-vent length and females up to 176 mm, figures also carried in the facts box above. Its bulk and robust limbs set it apart from the smaller frogs that share its forest floor habitat, and its common name reflects the smoky-brown mottling typical of the species in the field.
Habitat and range
Leptodactylus pentadactylus is principally a rainforest species, occupying tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and swamps, though it also turns up in drier and montane forest areas at the edges of its range. Its distribution runs from Central America into South America, covering lowlands below 1,200 m from Costa Rica through the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador, the Guianas and the northern two-thirds of the Amazon Basin.
Behaviour and breeding
As a member of the genus Leptodactylus, the species is a ground-dwelling frog of the forest floor and swamp margins rather than a climber or an aquatic specialist, consistent with the forest and swamp habitat documented for it. Its large body size suggests a correspondingly broad diet of forest-floor invertebrates and smaller vertebrates, though the sources checked for this page document habitat and size rather than specific prey records or breeding behaviour, so no further detail is claimed here.
Conservation
The IUCN category is in the facts box above, drawn from the species’ Wikidata item. No specific threat is documented in the sources checked for this page, consistent with a wide range spanning Central and South America.
Similar species
Within the genus Leptodactylus, several species share the same ground-dwelling forest habit, but the smoky jungle frog is set apart by its size, reaching up to 180 mm snout-vent length.