The Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) is a small amphibian in the Rhacophoridae family of shrub frogs. 

The Common Tree Frog is a light-green, slender frog, with a slightly flattened, smooth body. It can also be greyish, yellowish, or dark brown. It has lightly mottled markings, often with four faint lines or distinctive white spots. It has bulging eyes at the side of its head. Its hind feet are webbed with cushioned pads. 

It grows to about 5 centimetres (2 inches) in length. 

It is found in Asia, in countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and southern China.

It prefers tropical habitats, such as forests, moist shrublands, marshes, and flooded grasslands.

The Common Tree Frog is insectivorous, eating insects such as flies, beetles, and butterflies. 

The female places 100-400 eggs in a foam nest that the male has made in vegetation or on the surface of a pond or stream. The eggs hatch into tadpoles after about 90 days. The tadpoles have gills to breathe under water. They have a tail, but they do not have legs. A tadpole takes about 49 days to change into an adult frog, losing its tail, gaining legs, and developing lungs to breathe air. This is called metamorphosis. 

Location of photographs: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM