Stefania ginesi, Tepui Treefrog, female - stock photo

Photographed in habitat, Abacapa tepui, Canaima National Park, Venezuela.Frogs of the genera Stefania and Hemiphractus have an interesting reproductive strategy. the females carry the fertilized eggs on their back. the developing eggs go through 'direct development' in which there is no free-swimming tadpole stage. The young frogs are carried by the mother until they disperse. In some species of these genera, there is anatomic evidence of an umbilical cord-like structure that may serve to nourish the developing larvae and neonatal frogs.