Atlas species information

Habitat

• Bush, farmland and urban areas, including tussock grasslands, alpine herbfields, gardens and well vegetated sand dunes.
• Has been recorded above the tree line in the South Island.
• Largely nocturnal but commonly sun-basks, and commonly makes territorial or rain calls during the day.
• Breeds in almost any water system (excluding fast-moving water, and waters heavily populated by fish), from brackish coastal pools to frigid alpine tarns.
• Adults live among low dense vegetation (eg flax, ferns, tussocks, pohuehue, shrubs with dense foliage), seldom more than 2-3 metres above the ground, or among rocks or logs on the ground.
• Frogs may live around breeding pond or up to about one kilometre away, and can occur in great abundance.
• May begin breeding in winter (even in air temperatures below 0 degrees Celcius, provided the water has not frozen), but in some areas will breed year-round.
• Eggs laid in clumps attached to submerged stems.

Description

• Back cream or creamy-grey to chestnut- or dark brown, or dull olive-green.
• Sides similar but slightly paler than back.
• Individuals can lighten and darken dramatically over a period of minutes.
• A dark brown stripe runs from the nostril to the eye, and continues from the eye to just above the forearm; the area between this stripe and the mouth is pale, often forming a distinct whitish stripe that extends to the forearm.
• Sides sometimes with blackish spots, especially in the groin.
• Groin and armpits light yellow-green.
• Juveniles often with thin bright green stripes: one on the top of the head linking the eye bulges, and one on either edge of the back beginning above the shoulders; these stripes almost always disappear before adulthood is reached.
• The parts of the thighs that are hidden when the animal is at rest are coloured vivid orange, and sometimes have blackish spots.
• Undersurface creamy white, or throat dark grey-brown.
• Males measure about 30-37 mm from snout tip to vent, females about 40-49 mm snout-vent length.
• Tadpoles black to greenish above, black mingled with metallic bronze below, and reaching about 50 mm in total length.

Distribution

• South-east Australia, including Tasmania.
• In New Zealand (introduced), widespread in South and Stewart Islands.
• In North Island mainly in Manawatu area from Bulls to Otaki, but pockets occur elsewhere, eg Wanganui.

Notes

• Introduced from Tasmania to Greymouth in 1875, and from the South Island to the Manawatu in about 1948.
• Likely to spread throughout the country.
• Also known as the Whistling Frog.