Flying frogs spotted in villagers’ homes in Karnataka's Kolar district

PANASAKAMAKANAHALLI (SRINIVASAPURA TALUK): A tiny village in Kolar district’s Srinivasapura taluk, known for its mango orchards, is home to rare guests for the past few days: flying frogs. They have been seen in nearly a dozen houses.
Rhacophoridae or flying frogs are mostly found in Sri Lanka. “Over the past couple of days, they have been spotted in many houses in the village,” said R Chowda Reddy, retired headmaster and writer.Reddy said he noticed one such frog in the toilet on Saturday and when he tried to chase it away, it jumped from one wall to another, covering a distance of over four feet. Soon, he noticed two more frogs in another room. His neighbours told him the amphibians had entered their houses as well.
The frogs have been seen in Kolar too. R Sreesha, a resident of PC Extension, said he found a brown one on a wet surface and when he tried to drive it out, it jumped.
Slightly greenish in colour, flying frogs are quite different from the common frog, said Reddy. They have a pipelike structure at the tip of their feet, which enables them to get a grip over smooth surfaces like walls.
Ho Ho Purushotham, a forest department staffer and environmentalist, said the species is different from the common frog, which may be a result of mutations due to slight variation in the DNA.
The amphibians are usually found on mango trees and live on small pests and the sap found on the trunk, said VSS Sastry, another environmentalist in Kolar.