Southern corroboree frog

Southern corroboree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Myobatrachidae
Genus: Pseudophryne
Species:
P. corroboree
Binomial name
Pseudophryne corroboree
Moore, 1953

The southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) is a species of Australian ground frog native to southeastern Australia.[2][3]

The species was described in 1953 by Fulbright research scholar John A. Moore from a specimen collected at Towong Hill Station at Corryong, Victoria, and sent to the Australian Museum. The curator, Roy Kinghorn, recognised it as a new species and allowed Moore to describe it.[4]

Description

Adult female southern corroboree frogs are 26–31 mm (1.0–1.2 in) long, while males measure 22–29 mm (0.87–1.14 in);[5] both bear vivid yellow and black stripes across the head, back, and limbs. The body and head are short and wide, the snout has a slight point, and the fingers and toes lack webbing. The iris is black.[6] The northern corroboree frog has narrower and more greenish-yellow striping.[5]

Habitat and conservation

The southern corroboree frog is native to Kosciuszko National Park in the northern Snowy Mountains, where it found at locales between the Maragle Range and Smiggin Holes.[7] Reported as abundant during the 1970s,[6] it declined drastically during the 1980s from chytridiomycosis.[8] The species are critically endangered,[1] with the wild population thought to number around 30 individuals.[9] The natural habitat is sphagnum bog at elevations greater than 1,200 m (3,900 ft).[6]

Efforts to conserve the species have included establishing captive breeding programs across four institutions: the Amphibian Research Centre in 1997, Melbourne Zoo in 2001, Taronga Zoo in 2006, and Healesville Sanctuary in 2007.[8] By 2018, there were over 400 southern corroboree frogs in zoos.[10]

Five breeding enclosures have established in Kosciuszko National Park. Two-thirds of the frogs in these perished in the 2019–20 Australian bushfires. In 2022, a further 100 frogs were released from captive breeding programs.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Jean-Marc Hero; Frank Lemckert; Peter Robertson; Harold Cogger & Murray Littlejohn (2004). "Pseudophryne corroboree". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T18582A8484537. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  2. ^ Australian Biological Resources Study (20 March 2013). "Species Pseudophryne corroboree Moore, 1953". Australian Faunal Directory. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2022). "Pseudophryne corroboree Moore, 1953". Amphibian Species of the World: An Online Reference. Version 6.1. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  4. ^ Moore, J. A. (1953). "A new species of Pseudophryne from Victoria". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 78 (3–4): 179–180.
  5. ^ a b Tyler, Michael (2020). Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia. CSIRO Publishing. p. 144. ISBN 9781486312474.
  6. ^ a b c Swan, Michael (2020). Frogs and Reptiles of the Murray-Darling Basin A Guide to Their Identification, Ecology and Conservation. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 41, 67. ISBN 9781486311330.
  7. ^ Office of the Environment & Heritage (7 June 2021). "Southern Corroboree Frog - profile". Threatened Species. Australian Government. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b Mcfadden, Michael; Hobbs, Raelene; Marantelli, Gerry; Harlow, Peter; Banks, Chris; Hunter, David (2011). "Captive management and breeding of the Critically Endangered Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) (Moore 1953) at Taronga and Melbourne Zoos". Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. 5 (3): 70–87.
  9. ^ a b Proust, Keira (30 March 2022). "Critically endangered southern corroboree frog conservation efforts ramp up". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  10. ^ Garnett, Stephen; Woinarski, John; Lindenmayer, David; Latch, Peter (2018). Recovering Australian Threatened Species: A Book of Hope. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 281–284. ISBN 9781486307425.