The Agile Frog is a frog in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Rana

Rana (genus)

Rana is a genus of frogs. Species include such archetypal pond frogs as the common frog of Europe, brown frogs, and the New and Old World true frogs, including the various species of leopard frogs and the American bullfrog. Members of this genus are found through much of Eurasia, North America,...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of the true frog

True frog

The true frogs, family Ranidae, have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on most continents except Antarctica...

s.

Physical description

This species are skinny and have long limbs and a pointy snout. Adult males are rarely larger than 6.5 centimeters, while females can get up to 8 centimeters. Its ventral surface is light brown, reddish-brown, or light greyish-brown with very little contrast

Contrast (vision)

Contrast is the difference in visual properties that makes an object distinguishable from other objects and the background. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view...

. There are triangles reaching from the temple

Temple (anatomy)

Temple indicates the side of the head behind the eyes. The bone beneath is the temporal bone as well as part of the sphenoid bone.-Anatomy:Cladists classify land vertebrates based on the presence of an upper hole, a lower hole, both, or neither in the cover of dermal bone which formerly covered the...

 to the eardrum

Eardrum

The eardrum, or tympanic membrane, is a thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear in humans and other tetrapods. Its function is to transmit sound from the air to the ossicles inside the middle ear. The malleus bone bridges the gap between the eardrum and the other ossicles...

, which are dark brown. The underside of the Agile Frog is white without any spots. During mating season, the males often become dark brown. The hind legs are unusually long, which allow this species to jump further than other similar frogs - they have been known to jump up to two meters in distance. The pupil

Pupil

The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...

s are horizontal. The color of the upper third of the iris

Iris (anatomy)

The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...

 (above the pupil) is lighter and gold

Gold (color)

Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....

 in coloration. The tympanum

Tympanum (zoology)

The tympanum is an external hearing structure in animals such as frogs, toads, insects, and mammals, to name a few.-Anurans:In frogs and toads, it is located just behind the eye. It does not actually process sound waves; it simply transmits them to the amphibian's inner ear, which is protected...

 is about the size of the diameter of the eye

Eye

Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...

. The gland

Gland

A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...

 stripes on the frogs back are not very developed and partially interrupted.

Reproduction

The call is a fairly quiet "rog ... rog ... rog", and can go on for up to 12 seconds. They often also call underwater, so that the calls can only be heard from a very short distance by observers. Spawning

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

 only lasts a few days and during this period the males sometimes gather in large calling groups on the water surface to attracts females. In Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

, spawing usually occurs in the first 20 days of March, but can also be delayed, depending on the weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

.

The spawn clumps consist of 450 to 1800 eggs and are usually attached to tree branches, root

Root

In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...

s, or plant stem

Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...

s at depths of 5 to 40 centimeters. Therefore, they rarely sink to the bottom. Unlike the Moor Frog

Moor Frog

The Moor Frog is a slim, reddish-brown, semi-aquatic amphibian native to Europe and Asia. It is a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs".-Taxonomy:...

 (Rana arvalis) and Common Frog

Common Frog

The Common Frog, Rana temporaria also known as the European Common Frog or European Common Brown Frog is found throughout much of Europe as far north as well north of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and as far east as the Urals, except for most of Iberia, southern Italy, and the southern Balkans...

 (Rana temporaria), the Agile Frog does not lay its spawn all in the one clump. The diameter of a single egg is - not counting - the gelatinous shell, is 1.5 to 2.1 millimeters.

Habitat

The agile frog prefers light deciduous mixed forests with a lot of water. The open land around a forest is often also populated, as long as it is connected to the forest by shrubs. In dry, warm forests, this species often also lives far away from the water. Of the three Middle European Rana, it is the frog which likes warmth and dryness the most.

The Agile Frog can be found in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, parts of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, on the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

, even in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and by the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

.