ID request

[Remon]

Hi guys,

I just came back from a 5 week holiday in Australia. Saw lots of amphibians and reptiles, but am struggling to put a definite ID on some of them.
Can anyone tell me which species this is? Seen at Cape Tribulation, QLD.

Regards, Rémon

[tropicbreeze]

I'd say it's Litoria rheocola, Common Mist Frog.

[Remon]

Thanks! That was my first impression too, but the greenish color got me confused. My books say they are dull drey of brown. What defines this one as rheocola?

[tropicbreeze]

I'm certainly not an expert on frogs but I have seen some incredibly different colouring in frogs of the same species, even in the same geographic location. So I tend not to be too hung up on colour. But I google up as many images as I can and do an overall comparison. There's also the Frogs of Australia site - http://frogs.org.au/frogs/ which is quite helpful. My own book on frogs (and reptiles) is too old now and out of date to be much use. If Aaron comes along he could give you the definitive answer and tell you what characteristics would lead you to a positive identification.

This site gives quite a bit of information, although perhaps some of it is in your book already:
www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/pu ... on_id=1802

[Aaron]

Hi Remon,

Tropicbreeze is right it is a Litoria rheocola. They are a variable species so colour can sometimes be a bit misleading. This species is confined to flowing streams in my experience so there are only a few 'tree frogs' (frogs with expanded discs on the finger) that it could be confused with. L. rheocola in many respects is perhaps easily identified by what morphological features it doesn't have rather than what it has:

The absence of scalloped fringes to the sides of the lower leg rules out L. serrata/L. myola.

The slender body and small finger discs helps distinguish it from L. nannotis.

L. jungguy/L. wilcoxi has yellow and black markings in the groin which are absent in L. rheocola.

In some parts of the Atherton Tableland it could co-occur with Litoria revelata which has a similar body shape but is a uniform brown above (yellow-orange in males) with red on the back of the thigh and spots in the groin.

Hopefully some of the features that distinguish this from other frogs helps!

Aaron

[Remon]

Thanks a lot guys, great description Aaron!
I've ID-ed about 17 species of Litoria so far from my trip, but still have to sift through a bunch of other pictures.

The pictured frog was indeed found alongside a flowing stream. Seen quite a lot of jungguy/wilcoxii as well, also close to where I found the rheocola.

[tropicbreeze]

Thanks for chipping in Aaron. Any chance we're going to see some photos from your recent trip to the Top End/Kimberley?

[Aaron]

Thanks a lot guys, great description Aaron!
I've ID-ed about 17 species of Litoria so far from my trip, but still have to sift through a bunch of other pictures.

17 Litoria is a pretty good effort! I'm hoping to revisit FNQ this coming summer ... money and weather permitting

Thanks for chipping in Aaron. Any chance we're going to see some photos from your recent trip to the Top End/Kimberley?

I always have trouble with the coding required to upload my photos onto the forum! I have been slowly uploading the photos to my Flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/23031163@N03/

[Remon]

17 Litoria is a pretty good effort! I'm hoping to revisit FNQ this coming summer ... money and weather permitting

Thanks! In total I'm approaching 85 different species of herps, so I'm quite content, and still have a load of pictures to sort. Can I ask your opinion about a few more? Neobatrachus / Platyplectrum? All found in Kings Canyon. Found Cyclorana maini and Notaden nichollsi at the same waters.

[Remon]

Two more; 4 and 6 also around Kings Canyon. 5 at West McDonnall Ranges.

Thanks!!

[Aaron]

Great finds as usual! Frogs 1-3 and 4 and 6 are all Neobatrachus species. They used to be N. centralis in that area but recently they were merged with the eastern species N. sudellae (which used to be N. sudelli!).

Frog 5 looks like a young Platyplectrum spenceri.

Aaron

[Remon]

Thanks again Aaron! Happy with the confirmation. I read that centralis was merged with sudelli/sudellae indeed.
The difference in dorsal pattern (for example the 2 in picture 6) with one animal with many small spots and the other with lesser large spots are all within sudelli variation?