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Litoria microbelos

Javelin Frog

Conservation Status

EPBC:

Unlisted

IUCN:

Least Concern

Calling Period

Possible
Yes
Peak
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Description

A small species of frog reaching up to 2 cm in body length. It has a brown back, with a wide, lighter brown longitudinal stripe along the middle. There is often indistinct dark brown mottling on the head. There is a dark brown stripe from the tip of the snout to the side and a white stripe underneath the eye. The belly is white. The pupil is horizontal and the iris is gold. Fingers are unwebbed and toes are one-third webbed, both without discs.

Breeding Biology

Eggs are laid as small clusters attached to vegetation under the surface of the water in swamps, lagoons, billabongs, and ditches. Tadpoles can reach a total length of nearly 2.5 cm and are brown and gold in colour, with a dark longitudinal stripe from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. They often remain at the bottom and shallow edges of water bodies, and it is unknown how long they take to develop into frogs. Breeds during spring to summer in the wet season.

Similar Species

Looks similar to Litoria bicolor, Litoria fallax, and Litoria longirostris in its distribution, but has a different back colour to Litoria bicolor and Litoria fallax, and lacks the long and very pointed snout of Litoria longirostris.

Images

Photo: Stephen Mahony

Photo: Adam Parsons

Photo: Adam Parsons

Calls

By: Dane Trembath

By: Paul Doughty

Distribution

Found in northern-most WA, the Top End of the NT, and the mid-north coast to Cape York region in QLD.

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