Mossy frog

Amazing fact

The mossy frog can curl its body into a ball when danger approaches.

Aquarium of the Pacific

Mossy frog in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The mossy frog can curl its body into a ball when danger approaches.

SourceAquarium of the Pacific — Mossy Frog

THE REAL WORLD

The real Mossy frog

Scientific name: Theloderma corticale
Japanese name: コケガエル
Group: Amphibians and reptiles

Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Genus: Theloderma

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in Vietnam.

鳥羽水族館 — コケガエル

As its name says, its body is colored like moss.

鳥羽水族館 — コケガエル

It hides in trees or in water, blending in with its surroundings.

鳥羽水族館 — コケガエル

How the Mossy frog lives

It is active at night. It hunts large insects such as crickets and cockroaches. Sticky pads on its toes let it cling to rocks. The eggs hatch above the water, and the tadpoles drop into the water below.

Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Aquarium of the Pacific

Basic data

Range: Vietnam

鳥羽水族館

Where the Mossy frog has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesAsia Forests Rivers and wetlands

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: コケガエル
简体中文: 北部湾棱皮树蛙
繁體中文: 北部灣稜皮樹蛙
Deutsch: Vietnamesischer Moosfrosch
Português (Brasil): Perereca-musgo
Italiano: Rana muschiata
Tiếng Việt: Ếch cây sần Bắc Bộ
Русский: Лишаистый веслоног

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — コケガエルChecked: 2026-11-04
Aquarium of the Pacific — Mossy FrogChecked: 2026-11-07
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute — Vietnamese mossy frogChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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