The Bransford’s Litter Frog (Craugastor bransfordii) with the green eyes was found in September 2012 and the copper eyed one in August 2014 here in San Miguel de Matina, Costa Rica. Our area is wet, humid and has a low elevation which is a natural habitat of both of these frogs.

Bransford’s Litter Frog

This frog gets its name from the tree litter that it lives in. It is not endangered but its habitat is depleted when trees are cut down to make room for livestock which means very few leaves fall to the ground. I think this lovely model is a female because of the small sized eardrum located behind the eye, see the circle. The females have smaller eardrums than the males. I haven’t seen any male litter frogs that helped me to make that determination it just looks dainty to me. This particular group of frogs has many different variations in skin texture, stripes and colors. One distinguishing factor is on the bottom of their hands and feet but we didn’t know that while we had her so we didn’t look or get a picture. These frogs are fairly common in our area and active during the day so we should be able to see her or part of her family another time. Notice the lovely green eyes.

Copper eyed

A bigger ear drum and copper eyes. This is the normal eye color for a Bransford’s Litter Frog. The green eyes of the one above are an anomaly.

You can find all of our Snakes Reptiles and Amphibians here