Dendropsophus ebraccatus
Silhouette: Dmitry Bogdanov (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Dendropsophus ebraccatus, also known as the hourglass treefrog, referring to the golden-brown hourglass shape seen surrounded by skin yellow on its back. Their underbellies are yellow. Their arms and lower legs usually display bold patterns while their upper legs or thighs are light yellow giving them the appearance of wearing no pants. The species name "ebraccata" translates to "without trousers" in Latin.
The hourglass treefrog is throughout Mexico from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, slightly more southern in Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula. The hourglass treefrog also presides south of Mexico in the northern Guatemala and Belize areas. The range of the hourglass treefrog becomes more scarce in Honduras and a few more known locations in Nicaragua, but then has been commonly reported again in Central America spanning from Costa Rica to Panama even venturing into Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.
Dendropsophus ebraccatus is a member of the wide-ranging tree frog family Hylidae and the genus Dendropsophus. Dendropsophus is a group of small, primarily yellow tree frogs found throughout Central and South America. A unique feature of the genus is that... Wikipedia →
Recording1:23
Colombia · 2025
© Fabrice Schmitt · XC1005829 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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Costa Rica · 2023
© Chris Harrison · XC893967 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Recording0:13
Panama · 2021
© Emily Hjalmarson · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 12 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Calakmul Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monteverde Theme Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Harlequin Treefrog sighting in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 14 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, May–June and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Harlequin Treefrog in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August–September and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Harlequin Treefrog sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
13th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Harlequin Treefrog sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%), Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%) and Carara National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%).
Same family: Hylidae
The closest relatives of the Harlequin Treefrog that you can see in Tortuguero National Park (family Hylidae, Hylid Tree Frogs) are Red-webbed Tree Frog (about 40%), Sipurio Snouted Treefrog (about 30%) and Eastern Masked Tree Frog (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Harlequin Treefrog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Tortuguero National Park (9 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
