Arcane Spikethumb Frog vs Cock-tailed Tyrant

Plectrohyla sagorum compared with Alectrurus tricolor

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Arcane Spikethumb Frog	Cock-tailed Tyrant
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Amphibia (Amphibians)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Anura (Frogs & Toads)	Passeriformes (Songbirds)
Family	Hylidae	Tyrannidae
Genus	Plectrohyla	Alectrurus
Species	Plectrohyla sagorum	Alectrurus tricolor

Evolutionary Relationship

Arcane Spikethumb Frog and Cock-tailed Tyrant share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Arcane Spikethumb Frog

VU — Vulnerable

Cock-tailed Tyrant

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Arcane Spikethumb Frog	Cock-tailed Tyrant
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Arcane Spikethumb Frog

Habitat

Typically found in freshwater habitats, moist forests, and wetlands.

Range

Found in Mexico. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Cock-tailed Tyrant

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Found in Norway. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Arcane Spikethumb Frog

The Arcane Spikethumb Frog (Plectrohyla sagorum) is a species in the genus Plectrohyla. It is currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in freshwater habitats, moist forests, and wetlands.

Cock-tailed Tyrant

The cock-tailed tyrant (Alectrurus tricolor) is a striking and unusual flycatcher in the family Tyrannidae, named for the remarkable elongated, spatula-shaped outer tail feathers of the male, which can exceed the body length and are displayed during aerial courtship flights over open grasslands. The species inhabits wet and seasonally flooded grasslands, cerrado savanna, and campos in the interior of South America, including central Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina — not Norway, as erroneous database entries suggest. Males combine conspicuous black, white, and rufous plumage with their extraordinary tail streamers in an elaborate display to attract females on leks; females are cryptically streaked brown. The cock-tailed tyrant is a ground- and low-vegetation forager, preying on insects and other small invertebrates gleaned from grass stems and caught in aerial sallies. The species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to extensive and continuing conversion and degradation of its native Neotropical grassland habitat through intensive soy and sugarcane agriculture, cattle ranching, fire management changes, and drainage of seasonally flooded grasslands. Populations have declined significantly across much of its range, particularly in Brazil and Paraguay. The species is a flagship for threatened grassland conservation in South America, where relatively little protection has historically been directed at open-country habitats compared to forest ecosystems.