VOL.212 FEBRUARY 2026
CYCLING JAPAN [Native Creatures of Japan] Schlegel’s Green Tree Frog

A small native frog of Japan measuring about 3 to 5 cm in body length, Schlegel’s green tree frog is found across Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and surrounding islands. Preferring waterside environments such as rice paddies, wetlands, and forests, its diet consists largely of insects that it catches. Its back is a vivid green, sometimes featuring yellow markings or taking on a brownish hue for camouflage, and its belly is whitish. Its eyes have a jet-black pupil and a bright yellow iris.¹ Another distinctive feature is its suction cup-like fingertips, an adaptation allowing it to climb and live in trees. During the breeding season from spring to summer, it lays foamy egg masses in the soil or grass near the water’s edge and the hatched tadpoles are washed into the water by rain. The name Schlegel’s green tree frog originates from Hermann Schlegel,² a zoologist who served as director of the Leiden National Museum of Natural History.

• 1. A membrane covering the lens of the eye that determines eye color.
• 2. A figure who contributed to the writing of Fauna Japonica, a systematic work on Japanese animals based on specimens that Philipp Franz von Siebold — a physician who came to Japan in the late Edo period (late 18th to 19th century) — collected during his stay in Japan. A reference work describing Japanese animals in a European language, Fauna Japonica documented numerous new species.

Photo: PIXTA