Accounts of Species and Subspecies
Hyla boulengeri (Cope)
Scytopis boulengeri Cope, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 32:12, December 1, 1887 [Holotype.—USNM 13974, from "Nicaragua"; J. A. McNiel, collector].
Hyla boulengeri: Günther, Biologia Centrali-Americana, Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 267, June 1901. Noble, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, 38:339, June 1918. Taylor, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35:856, July 1, 1952.
Diagnosis.—Size large (♂ to 49 mm., ♀ to 53 mm.); skull as long as wide; frontoparietal fontanelle present; snout subacuminate; canthus not pronounced; choanae large; tongue cordiform, slightly longer than broad; interorbital triangle tubercular; skin on dorsum tuberculate; tarsal fold reduced or absent; thighs, shanks, and tarsi boldly barred with dark brown and pale yellow-green in life.
Description.—Head flattened, longer than wide; snout projecting beyond lower lip; loreal region oblique; canthus not pronounced; length of eye less than interorbital distance; tympanum large, about 70 per cent of diameter of eye; interorbital triangle distinct; arms short; fingers lacking web; palmar tubercle tripartite; subarticular tubercles distinct; long tubercle on base of first finger; discs truncate; legs long; tarsal fold reduced or absent; inner metatarsal tubercle rounded, larger than outer, both elevated; subarticular tubercles distinct; one phalanx free of web on second, third, and fifth toes, three free on fourth toe (Fig. 1A and B); skin tuberculate on dorsum, less so on flanks; skin of belly granular, that on chest and throat weakly granular; tongue cordiform, longer than wide, free and notched behind; vocal slits large, lateral to tongue.
Fig. 1. A and B.—Hand and foot of Hyla boulengeri (KU 102173), × 3. C and D.—Hand and foot of Hyla s. staufferi× (KU 57790), × 6
In life, dorsum tan or brown with dark spots on snout, head, and scapular region; interorbital triangle and blotch posteriorly on dorsum dark brown; flanks pale green; groin pale green or orange, mottled with dark brown; thighs tan or brown above with dark transverse bars on anterior and posterior surfaces; spaces between bars green or orange; inner surfaces of shanks and outer surfaces of tarsi brown and orange; foot brown above; forelimbs brown and pale green above, weakly barred; belly creamy white with scattered brown spots; vocal sac creamy white flecked with brown; lower jaw brown with white spots on lips (Pl. 1A).