The spotted grass frog or spotted marsh frog (''Limnodynastes tasmaniensis'') is a terrestrial

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 ...

native to Australia. It is distributed throughout all of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, eastern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, the majority of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and eastern

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. It is also naturalised in Western Australia, having been unintentionally introduced at Kununurra in the 1970s, apparently during the relocation of several hundred transportable homes from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The spotted grass frog was also formerly known as the "Marbled frog" in South Australia,Waite, Edgar R. (1929): ''The reptiles and amphibians of South Australia.'' Facsimile Edition, issued to commemorate the Second World Congress of Herpetology, Adelaide,South Australia, by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 1993. although this common name is also used for '' Limnodynastes convexiusculus'', a species of ground-dwelling frog native to northern and north-eastern Australia, and southern New Guinea.

Description

This frog reaches 45 mm in length. Its colour ranges from light brown to olive-green, with large, irregular shaped, green or brown spots on its back. Occasionally it will have a thin, pale cream, yellow or bright orange stripe running from snout to vent. There is a raised pale stripe running from below the eye to the base of the arm. The arms and legs are spotted like the back, and the belly is white.

Ecology and behaviour

This frog is common throughout Australia and is one of the first species to inhabit new dams and ditches. This species is associated with most habitats, including permanent or temporary dams, roadside ditches, ponds, flooded grassland and slow moving creeks, in urban areas, farmland, woodland, coastal areas and arid areas. The frog is usually found in grass or under other cover, near a still water source.

Breeding

The males calling and the breeding will occur pretty much all year round, finishing during summer. The call of this frog varies from a staccato machine gun sounding burst to a single 'Tok' sound, depending on the call race, which varies geographically. The machine gun call is the northern call race, throughout

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

and QLD. The 'tok' call is the southern call race, which occurs in southern

VIC Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

and TAS. The male and female frogs can be sexed by the presence of a flap of skin around the thumbs of the females. This is used to froth the water during

amplexus Amplexus (Latin "embrace") is a type of Mating, mating behavior exhibited by some External fertilization, externally fertilizing species (chiefly amphibians, Amphipoda, amphipods, and horseshoe crabs) in which a male grasps a female with his fro ...

to create the floating foamy nest that it lays eggs in, which is roughly the size of a human palm. The

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, ...

s of this frog are comparatively large (up to 6 cm). This frog spends a minimum of 3 months in the tadpole stage.

Similar species

This species is commonly confused with the Long-thumbed Frog (''Limnodynastes fletcheri''), with which there is a regional overlap. The two frogs can be distinguished by a disproportionately long second digit of the inner front toes in the case of ''L. fletcheri''. The long-thumbed frog also has larger irregular shaped spots on the back and a red/purple eyelid, which is uncommon in ''L. tasmaniensis''.

As a pet

Spotted grass frogs are known to be kept as pets; in Australia this animal may be kept in captivity with the appropriate permit

Notes

References

* Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is of least concern *Anstis, M. 2002. ''Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia.'' Reed New Holland, Sydney. *Robinson, M. 2002. ''A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia.'' Australian Museum/Reed New Holland, Sydney.

External links

Frogs of AustraliaFrogs Australia Network
frog call available here.
Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, New South Wales: Amphibian Keeper's Licence: Species Lists
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2274770 Limnodynastes Amphibians of Queensland Amphibians of New South Wales Amphibians of the Australian Capital Territory Amphibians of Victoria (state) Amphibians of South Australia Amphibians of Tasmania Amphibians described in 1858 Taxa named by Albert Günther Frogs of Australia