Rhacophorus nigropalmatus has webbing that extends to the tips of all twenty digits and additional flaps of skin along the forearms and ankles. Leaping from a branch, it spreads all four feet and holds the limbs outstretched, presenting a surface area large enough to slow the fall and flatten the trajectory. Recorded glides cover fifteen metres or more from a single launch.
The animal is a glider, not a flapper. There is no stroke, no thrust, and the frog always ends lower than it began. Control comes from asymmetric limb positioning, which allows banking and turning during the descent, and the enlarged toe pads cushion and grip the landing.
Gliding among frogs evolved repeatedly. Rhacophorid tree frogs in Asia and hylids in the American tropics developed comparable webbing independently, and there are intermediate forms with only partial webbing that parachute at steeper angles rather than gliding. The behaviour appears to serve both escape and efficient movement between trees without descending to the forest floor.