The ornate burrowing frog (''Platyplectrum ornatum'') is a species of ground

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

native to Australia. It was moved to the genus ''Opisthodon'' in 2006, following a major revision of amphibians, and is now classified in the genus ''Platyplectrum''.

Description

This frog is a relatively small and stubby species, growing no larger than 50 mm. It ranges in colour from grey to brown to yellow, and the dorsal surface patterns vary greatly between specimens. There is usually a butterfly-shaped patch behind the eyes. The dorsum is generally covered with red-tipped warts, and skin folds are present towards the head. The legs and arms are barred or spotted with darker markings. Toes have a slight webbing, while fingers have none.

Ecology and behaviour

This species distribution ranges from western

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to Cape York in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, running along either side of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

across to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It occurs in both wet

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...

forest in coastal areas and in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

in more arid regions. As its name suggest, this species of frog burrows. It burrows feet first, enlarged tubercles on the frogs feet help them in scraping out soil. This species is usually only seen after heavy rain during spring or summer. Males call while floating in still water bodies such as dams, puddles and flooded grassland. The call is a short, nasal "unk" repeated slowly.

Breeding

Breeding occurs only after heavy rain. Up to 1600 eggs are deposited in a small, dome shaped foam mass that soon collapses into a single floating film layer of eggs and jelly. Tadpoles reach 50mm but commonly only reach 36 mm in length. The dorsum is a dusky grey or brown. The side of the body has silver and/or gold flecking and the tail has grey-silver flecks.

Similar species

This species looks very similar to

Spencer's burrowing frog Spencer's burrowing frog (''Platyplectrum spenceri'') is a species of frog native to western and central Australia. Description Spencer's burrowing frog is very similar in appearance to the ornate burrowing frog (''Platyplectrum ornatus''). Both ...

, ''Platyplectrum spenceri'' and some ''

Neobatrachus ''Neobatrachus'' is a genus of burrowing ground frogs native to Australia. They occur in every state except Tasmania, however this genus is absent from the far north of Australia and most of Queensland. Most of the species in this genus occur in ...

'' species. It is distinguished from all of these species by the reduced webbing and mating call.

References

*Anstis, M. 2002. ''Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia.'' Reed New Holland: Sydney. *Barker, J.; Grigg, G.C.; Tyler, M.J. (1995). ''A Field Guide to Australian Frogs.'' Surrey Beatty & Sons.

Footnotes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2275519 Platyplectrum Amphibians of Queensland Amphibians of New South Wales Amphibians of the Northern Territory Amphibians of Western Australia Amphibians described in 1842 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Frogs of Australia