Taxonomy

Species ID	020320
Name	Bromeliad treefrog
Other Common Names
Category	02 Amphibians
Phylum
Subphylum
Class	Amphibia
Subclass
Suborder
Family	Hylidae
Genus	Hyla
Species	bromeliaca
Subspecies
References	2

Distribution

DISTRICT	References
Toledo, Belize	1

Administrative Unit	Occurrence	Abundance	Temporal	References
Columbia River Forest Reserve				1

QUAD Distribution	References
16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15'	1

Comments on Distribution

3*  Known only from about 2,000 ft (667 m) in the Maya Mountains in the
    Toledo District.
2*  This species occurs at moderate and intermediate elevations on the
    Atlantic slope in Guatemala, the Maya Mountains of southern Belize, and
    in northern Honduras. In the Yucat n Peninsula it is known only from
    southern Toledo District.

Graphics

Pictures

Habitat Associations

Food Habits

References/Lifestage	Reference Numbers

Environmental Associations

References/Lifestage	Reference Numbers

Life History

Life History Narrative

2* Hyla bromeliacia is a nocturnal, arboreal inhabitant of wet montane and premontane forests. Individuals have been found in bromeliads and beneath the leaf-sheaths of bananas as well as on understory vegetation at night. The breeding season is apparently protracted, for Stuart (1943b:14) found gravid females, egg masses, tadpoles in all stages of development, and a fully transformed individual in Alta Verapaz on 29 July, and he found eggs and tadpoles in various stages of development in Alta Verapaz in April (1948:31). Amplexus is presumably axillary. The only known specimen from the Yucat n Peninsula, a gravid female from southern Toledo District, was collected on 11 April. This species is eaten by the jumping viper, Atropoides nummifer, according to Stuart (1948:29), who removed a specimen of H. bromeliacia from the stomach of a snake in Alta Verapaz. 3* This small arboreal frog is restricted to the Subtropical Evergreen Forest formation in Belize, where it presumably inhabits the epiphytic bromeliads on the forest trees. The single specimen known from Belize was found on a shrub about 5 ft (1.67 m) above the ground at night at Gloria Spring in the Columbia River Forest Reserve. The call is a soft insectlike chirp of five or six notes, repeated at infrequent intervals. Its recent discovery in Belize indicates that the wet forests of the southern Maya Mountains share their biological history with the nearby mountains of Guatemala and Honduras.

Life History References

2, 3

Management Practices

References/Result	Reference Numbers

References

1  Meerman, J., 1994. Summary of Herpetofauna Distributions in Belize.
   Report to National Protected Areas Management Project.

2  Lee, Julian C. 1996. The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Yucatan
   Peninsula. Comstock Publishing Associates. Ithaca, New York.

3  Meyer, J.R. and C.F. Foster. 1996.  A Guide to the Frogs and Toads of
   Belize. pp. 48-49.