Atlas species information

Habitat

• Farmed and settled areas and along bush edges, usually in or near swamps, lakes, large ponds and sluggish streams.
• Diurno-nocturnal; by day often basks in vegetation or on banks of water ways, or active in ponds among floating or emergent vegetation.
• Diurnal behaviour varies depending on nature of water system – frogs in a pond with no surrounding cover may become fully aquatic and fully active during the day; those in a situation with good cover may rest beneath cover, or bask at entrance to retreat, by day.
• Forages more widely at night, especially on warm damp evenings.
• Animals in cold areas may hibernate beneath cover on land during the winter months.

Description

• Bright to dark green, or golden to dark brown, or coloured with both.
• Back with varying amounts of brown-coloured warts arranged in longitudinal rows.
• A cream stripe runs from eye to groin but is often fragmented.
• Individuals can lighten and darken dramatically over a period of minutes, and can considerably change their markings and the extent of their warts over a period of several weeks (usually in response to a change of habitat).
• Rarely, animals living a fully terrestrial existence may turn entirely green, loosing the cream and brown markings, while those living a highly aquatic existence may turn entirely brown.
• The parts of thighs hidden when animal at rest are coloured bright to dark blue.
• Undersurface creamy white, or throat dark olive.
• Males usually grow to 55-65 mm from snout tip to vent, females to 75-95 mm (occasionally, individuals of both sexes may grow up to 10-15 mm larger than this).
• Tadpoles black to greenish above, whitish below, typically growing to 70-100 mm in total length.

Distribution

• South-east Australia, including Tasmania.
• Widespread in New Zealand (introduced).

Notes

• Spawns in spring or early summer.
• Egg mass initially floats, then sinks, usually not attached to anything.
• Introduced from Tasmania in 1867.
• The scientific name means 'rana-like' (Rana being the genus to which the typical frogs of Europe belong).
• Notes about NZ threat classification (Hitchmough 2002): Not threatened in New Zealand - population fluctuations due to chytrid fungus impact.