Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that some frogs carry their eggs on their back. Is there a word or term for this method of incubation?
Thank you.

what you are talking about is when dart frogs carry eggs and tadpoles on their back to another site to metomorphase. this is either called non-obligatory egg feeders or obligatory egg feeders, or live rereing frogs. many thumbnail darts do this.

There are a number of different anurans that transport the eggs but Dart frogs (Dendrobatidae) do not transport eggs on thier back or any other fashion (once they have laid the eggs that is...) although they do transport the tadpoles. This actually has nothing to do with obligatory, facultative, or non-obligatory egg feeding...

Off the top of my head, a couple of examples are the frogs of the genus Gastrotheca and the toads in the genus Pipi.

As each one has a slightly different method of transport I haven't seen a differnet term for how it occurs other than the lumped heading of parental care..

Ed

There definately is a scientific term for this, and I have heard it before, but it seems I cannot think of it.

The closest I can find to a "scientific" term is egg-transport (see Amphibian Biology, Social Behavior, 1995, eds Heatwole and Sullivan, Surrey Beatty & Sons)...

Ed