Australian Frog Database

Australian Frogs

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Crinia georgiana

Family: Myobatrachidae
Common name: Tschudi's Froglet

Description: This frog is brown to orange to almost black on its back, with dark brown marbling or sometimes with a dark brown stripe running down either side of the back. These stripes often enclose a lighter brown region down the spine. A dark stripe runs from the nostril, through the eye to the groin. The arms and legs have dark cross-bars. The armpits, groin and backs of the thighs are sometimes red. The belly is dirty grey in males but brilliant white in females. There is a white spot at the base of each arm. The skin on the back is smooth with warts and skin folds depending on back pattern. The belly is granular. The toes are not webbed. Distinctive gold bar across the top of the iris.

Size: Up to 46 mm but adults of both sexes are very variable in size with the smallest calling males being as short as 20 mm

Habitat: This frog lives in coastal plains and forests with marshy areas, seeps and shallow bogs, often found in shallow water around granite outcrops.

Call: Sounds like a duck with anywhere from 1 - 12 quacks in a sequence but normally 1 - 4. Males often react to calls of other males and match note number. Call available in Windows Media or Quicktime audio. Recording Copyright © Dale Roberts.

Breeding: Occurs from June to October. Half of all matings involve two or more males resulting in offspring fathered by more than one male in many clutches.

Eggs: Are large and laid together in a discrete clutch in shallow water unlike most other Crinia species.

Tadpoles: Are golden with a transparent tail.

Similar species: This frog can be distinguished from other species of Crinia by gold on the eye, its red groin, armpits and thighs.

Conservation Information

Suspected threatening processes

• Salinisation
• Habitat modification (e.g. vegetation clearing, invasive weeds)

Population size: An estimate of the total number of adults present in the species entire range is >50000 individuals. Some factors affecting population size and distribution are known, but 1 or more major factors are unknown.

Population trend in Australia over the past 50 years: Population size stable or suspected to be stable or increasing.

Knowledge of population trend in Australia: Not currently monitored.

Population concentration: Not known to concentrate or exist in discrete locations. (e.g. the number of sites in which individuals group together either seasonally, such as breeding sites, or they may occupy discrete habitat patches within the broader landscape, such as discrete water bodies or drainage units.)

Ongoing management activities in Australia: None directed primarily at the taxon.

Reproductive potential for recovery: The average number of eggs deposited per adult female per year is 51-200 eggs/female/year. Minimum age at which females are known or suspected to first reproduce is <2 years.

Range size in Australia: The size of the geographic area over which the taxon is distributed: 1001-80000 km² (up to 1% area of Australia or about the area of Tasmania).

Distribution trend: Area occupied is stable or has increased. (This is an estimate of change in the portion of the total range that is occupied or utilised; it may not equal the change in total range.)

Knowledge of distribution in Australia: Distribution is well known and occurrence can be accurately predicted throughout the range.

References

Barker, J., G.C. Grigg and M.J. Tyler. 1995. A Field Guide to Australian Frogs. Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton.

Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and amphibians of Australia. Reed Books: Sydney.