FrogWorld
Est. 2009 · Portland, OR
EST. 2009 · PORTLAND, OR
For seventeen years, FrogWorld has paired peer-reviewed species data with forty thousand verified community sightings — so the first-time frog-spotter in Costa Rica and the chytrid-fungus researcher in Brussels read the same trustworthy page.
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Folio No. 142 · Curated Editorial
Three long-form profiles from the working desk — peer-reviewed taxonomy, field-call audio, and the back-of-the-notebook notes that never make it into a paper.
Lead Profile · 22 min read
Order Anura · Family Dendrobatidae
Two decades after its original description, the Amazonian poison frog Ameerega hahneli is finally yielding the secret of its call repertoire — and surprising herpetologists with a previously undescribed chorus structure. Dr. Halverson takes us into the field at Reserva Mamirauá.
Family Bufonidae · Eurasia
Once extirpated from half its historical range, the natterjack toad is reclaiming coastal dunes in Wales and the Netherlands — quietly, and against the grain of most amphibian headlines.
ReadFamily Hylidae · North America
The barking treefrog's resonant call is one of the easiest to learn — and one of the hardest to find a population for. A short essay on triangulation, patience, and the etiquette of night recording.
ReadFree Weekday Briefing · No Spam, Ever
One short, well-edited email every weekday morning — a single species, a fresh sighting from somewhere on Earth, and one thing worth reading. Read by 86,400 subscribers, with a 41% open rate that has stayed flat for three years running.
Plate II · Editorial Pick
Species of the Week
Lepidobatrachus laevis · Budgett's Frog · Family Ceratophryidae
Why this frog, why now: Budgett's frogs surface in the Chaco wetlands right after the December rains, and our regional contributors have just logged four confirmed choruses across western Paraguay — the highest count since 2019.
Few frogs wear their nickname with such dignity. The Budgett's frog is wide-mouthed, almost cartoonishly round, and capable of a defensive squeak that genuinely startles the uninitiated. It spends nine months of the year buried in the dry mud of the Gran Chaco, emerging only when seasonal rains flood the seasonal ponds that define its breeding cycle.
Larvae develop unusually fast — full metamorphosis in under three weeks — and emerge as miniature replicas of the adults. The call is a short, low-pitched snore, delivered from beneath the surface, often without any visible movement of the throat.
Live · Streaming from 138 countries
42,617 geo-tagged sightings logged by the community · 92% reviewed by a regional herpetologist within seven days · the latest six below, refreshed every few minutes.
From the swamp notebook
First-person dispatches from contributors in the field — the day after, the bad photos included, and the species list that goes back to the editorial desk.
Western Ghats · December 2025
By Anand Subramanian
The Western Ghats in late monsoon is not a forgiving place for boots. Anand recounts a six-night survey with the Frog Watchers of Karnataka — twenty-three species, three lifers, and the night a Malabar pit viper took the same perch as Raorchestes honnametti.
Patagonia · November 2025
By Daniela R. Fuentes
Spotted frogs of the genus Alsodes are Patagonia's quiet specialists. Daniela drove 1,800 km of gravel to find four of the seven described species — and to confirm a population that hasn't been vouchered since 2007.
Borneo · October 2025
By Hadi Iskandar
The Danum Valley at dawn is its own instrument. A short audio-illustrated report on the dawn chorus of three Polypedates treefrogs, with annotated spectrograms and field-identification notes for visiting naturalists.
Editorial Standards
Every long-form species profile on FrogWorld is reviewed by a member of the 14-person editorial staff before publication. Range data is cross-referenced nightly with the AmphibiaWeb and IUCN Red List APIs. Taxonomy follows Amphibian Species of the World. Community field sightings are reviewed by one of our 380 active regional contributors, with a target turnaround of seven days.
We do not give veterinary advice for captive amphibians, do not publish real-time population counts, and do not promote the capture, trade, or sale of wild frogs as pets. The Daily Tadpole is funded by memberships, grants, and a small number of ethical wildlife-tourism affiliate partnerships — never by advertising.