Parental Care in Chiromantis hansenae (Anura: Rhacophoridae)

We report a new case of parental care in a Chiromantis species from Northeast Thailand. This is the first report of parental care in this genus. Our observations indicate that C. hansenae adults sit on the clutches approximately 72% of the time, both day and night. This clutch attendance may protect eggs from desiccation, parasitic flies, or fungal infection, but we were unable to conduct removal experiments to test these hypotheses. In no cases did we observe adults actively guarding against known predators such as skinks. This species is unusual among arboreal breeders with parental care in having a high rate of egg attendance, relatively large clutch sizes (235.75 ± 19.78, n = 4), and a short period before hatching (4–6 d).