Chiromantis xerampelina, Peters, 1854

It's about time we had a vertebrate.

And what a vertebrate.

- Eukaryota
  - Animalia
    - Eumetazoa
      - Bilateralia
        - Nephrozoa - see also Hyllus argyrotoxus, Argiope bruennichi, Enoplognatha ovata, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Ligia oceanica, Anthia fornasiini, Demetrias atricapillus, Malachius bipustulatus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Melolontha melolontha, Astata tropicalis, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Hagenomyia tristis, Acada biseriata, Anthocharis cardamines, Laelia robusta, Zebronia phenice, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Diasemopsis meigenii, Megistocera filipes, Panorpa germanica, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Pephricus, Cyathosternum prehensile,  Stictogryllacris punctata, Sibylla, Enallagma cyathigerum and Pseudagrion hageni.
          - Deuterostomia
            - Chordata
              - Craniata
                - Vertebrata
                  - Gnathostomata
                    - Teleostomi
                      - Osteichthys
                        - Sarcopterygii
                          - Tetrapoda - see also Hipposideros vittatus, Sterna hirundo, Ardea goliath, Lygodactylus capensis, Chalcophaps indica, Trachylepis varia and Thelotornis capensis.
                            - Amphibia
                              - Lissamphibia
                                - Batrachia
                                  - Salienta
                                    - Anura
                                      - Bombinanura
                                        - Pipanura
                                          - Acosmanura
                                            - Neobatrachia
                                              - Ranoidea
                                                - Rhacophoridae
                                                  - Rhacophorinae

Chiromantis xerampelina

Peters, 1854

Also known as the Grey Tree Frog, the African Foam-Nest Frog, the African Grey Foam-Nest Tree Frog... they go on and on.

This small, unimposing frog may look unremarkable, but believe you me, it isn't. Its nesting habits are well covered elsewhere, and so we won't discuss arboreal orgies, but instead talk of its extraordinary physiology.

In many areas in central and eastern Africa, this frog is the only frog you will find away from water in the dry seasons. Toads, themselves very tolerant of dehydration, will still usually remain close to some permanent body of water, even if it's only a dripping faucet half a mile away, but this frog will endure months without anything to drink, or anything to eat; it can tolerate direct tropical sunlight for fourteen hours without drying out of getting a raised temperature, it barely urinates - I would be more specific, and this paragraph will eventually be edited to be so, but my books are in storage, so for now, you're only getting the bits I can remember. Sorry, and all that.

Anyway, it is most readily identified by its unusual digital arrangement among local frogs - having two toes pointing in each direction. Its colouring is not reliable, as it can vary from a very pale grey to a brown so dark it's almost black, with or without marbling.

That's all, folks.... at least until I get my books back...