The pouched frog (''Assa darlingtoni''), or hip pocket frog, is a small, 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 ...

found in rainforests in mountain areas of south-eastern

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 northern

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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is one of two species within the genus '' Assa'', the other being '' Assa wollumbin'' and is part of 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 ...

Description

It is a small frog about 2.5 cm long, red-brown in colour, with some individuals having reverse V-shaped patches and/or with light brown dots randomly on their backs. Most specimens have a darker brown stripe that runs from the nostril through the eye down the side of the body. A

skin fold Skin folds or skinfolds are areas of skin that are naturally folded. Many skin folds are distinct, heritable anatomical features, and may be used for identification of animal species, while others are non-specific and may be produced either by in ...

is present on either side of the frog running from its eye to its hip. Its hands and feet are completely free of webbing and discs, but the tips of the fingers and toes are swollen. The eye is gold with brown flecks and when the pupil is constricted it is horizontal. There is a 'pocket' on its hip where the frog's tadpoles travel to after hatching. The hip-pocket frog living in Australia has been affected by the forest fires of Australia. The fires are not suitable for the pocket frog and is now classified as endangered and vulnerable. The frog has a unique reproductive method, where the male carries the developing tadpoles in the pouch by its hips until metamorphosis. The male species has a greater parental care in the development of the new organisms.

Ecology and behaviour

This frog hides under logs, rocks, and leaf litter in

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

s and adjacent wet

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

forests. It may call through the day but calling is most intense during dawn and dusk. Its call is a very quiet eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh, usually six to ten notes. This frog crawls rather than hops. Females are believed to first start breeding between 2 and 3 years and a single female may produce 1–50 eggs a year. Eggs are laid on the land (under decomposing logs, rock or leaf litter) as the tadpoles do not need water for metamorphosis. Breeding takes place during spring and summer. Both male and female frogs guard the nest of eggs and the male carries 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 in the pouch once they have hatched. The tadpoles will reside in the pouch until they have morphed. In a article a study happened regarding frogs have a near-synchronous which could mean a sexual competition between the male frogs "In eight of nine pairs of semi-isolated males, there was sustained near-synchronous calling in bouts consisting of 16-20 calls and lasting 5-10min. There was extensive overlap of the pulsed calls, and calls of a lagging male began overlapping that of a leading male after 2-5 pulses of a leader's call note" (Clulow et.al, 2016). , ''Assa darlingtoni'' is classified as Vulnerable under the ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 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 ...

.''

Similar species

The second species in the genus, ''Assa wollumbin'', is smaller and reaches only 1.6 cm in leghth. ''Assa darlingtoni'' may be confused with some species of '' Philoria'' and '' Crinia'', which live in the same area. ''Philoria'' species show thicker arms than ''Assa darlingtoni'', ''Crinia'' species have a rougher belly texture.

References

* Database entry includes a range map and a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
Frogs Australia Network
– frog call sound clip available here. * New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (2014) 'Pouched Frog- profile', http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10070 accessed 7 August 2016. Includes recovery strategies. *Mahony MJ, Hines HB, Mahony SV, et al. A new hip-pocket frog from mid-eastern Australia (Anura: Myobatrachidae: Assa). Zootaxa. 2021 Oct;5057(4):451-486. *Simon Clulow, Michael Mahony, Lang Elliott, Sarah Humfeld & H. Carl Gerhardt (2017) Near-synchronous calling in the hip-pocket frog Assa darlingtoni, Bioacoustics, 26:3, 249-258, *Pickrell, John. “As Fires Rage across Australia, Fears Grow for Rare ...” As Fires Rage across Australia, Fears Grow for Rare Species, doi: 10.1126/science.aba6144 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1807635 Myobatrachidae Amphibians of Queensland Amphibians of New South Wales Amphibians described in 1933 Frogs of Australia