Polypedates cruciger
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Polypedates cruciger (commonly known as the Sri Lanka whipping frog or common hour-glass tree-frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to Sri Lanka. It has been osbserved as high as 1600 meters above sea level.
This frog can tolerate different habitats, including secondary forest, banana farms, gardens, and buildings. Scientists have not seen this frog in primary forest. Scientists say this frog is not in danger of dying out because of its large range and tolerance to altered habitat.
Scientists used to think frog was conspecific with Polypedates pseudocruciger, which lives in India's Western Ghat mountains. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Hourglass Tree Frog sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 6 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Common Hourglass Tree Frog in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, June–July and November–January, the lowest months. That is one of Wilpattu National Park's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain against 320 mm in November.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Hourglass Tree Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Common Hourglass Tree Frog sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 40%) and Minneriya National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Hourglass Tree Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Wilpattu National Park (7 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.
