The Kroombit tinker frog (''Taudactylus pleione''), also sometimes referred to as Pleione's torrent frog, is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family

Myobatrachidae Myobatrachidae, commonly known as Australian ground frogs or Australian water frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second-largest frog in ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...

in Australia. It lives among rocks and

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

near small flowing streams.

Conservation

As most other members of the genus ''

Taudactylus ''Taudactylus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Myobatrachidae. These frogs are endemic to rainforest areas of coastal eastern Australia, most of this genus inhabit fast flowing streams in highland area. Most members of this genus have suffered ...

'', this species has declined drastically and is consequently considered

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. The reason for this decline is unclear, but likely linked to the disease

Chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and '' Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinc ...

(chytrid fungus). It may also be threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. It is listed as ''Critically Endangered'' on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

, and as ''Endangered'' under Queensland's ''

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

'' and critically endangered under the national ''

EPBC Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

''. , it was estimated fewer than 200 remained in the wild, in areas of

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

Kroombit Tops National Park Kroombit Tops is a national park in Central Queensland, Australia. It is between Monto, Queensland, Monto and Calliope, Queensland, Calliope. It is two parts. The largest part is within the Suburbs and localities (Australia), localities of Table ...

, approximately south-west of

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

. The major threat to its existence, apart from

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, less habitat and certain pests, remains chytrid fungus. In 2020, Australian scientists at

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a heritage-listed zoological garden at 28 Tomewin Street, Currumbin, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1947 onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 September 2009. The sanctuary is ...

Currumbin Currumbin ( ) is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Currumbin had a population of 3,278 people. Geography The suburb extends from Currumbin Creek in the north to Wyberba Street in the south. The Pa ...

on the Gold Coast bred the Kroombit tinker frog in captivity for the first time, raising hopes of preventing extinction. They had been trying since around 2000, but it was only when the

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

came offered a frog-breeding facility in 2008 that the work could properly begin. They eventually managed to bring about a

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

by their captive frogs, and the first

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

metamorphosed into a frog in November 2020.

References

Taudactylus Frogs of Australia Amphibians of Queensland Endemic fauna of Australia Amphibians described in 1986 Nature Conservation Act endangered biota Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Greg V. Czechura {{Myobatrachidae-stub