Family Myobatrachidae
-- the southern frogs
About sixty percent of Australia's
200 or so frog species belong to this family, which is restricted
to that continent. Closely related to the leptodactylid frogs
of the Americas, this is Australia's most diverse frog family.
About the only external feature shared by all of its members
is that of cylindrical, unwebbed fingers. The 21 myobatrachid
genera include forms resembling bullfrogs, spadefoot toads and
a bizarre, fossorial desert form with no tadpole stage. Most
species lay their eggs in water, some on land, others in foam
nests.
Corroboree
Toadlet (Pseudophryne corroboree)
In the extensive
sphagnum bogs that occur high in Australia's Southern Alps lives
the brilliant, three-quarter-inch-long corroboree toadlet, which
was not formally described until 1953, when John Moore named
it after the Aboriginee festivals evoked by its gaily colored
skin. At the onset of the short austral summer, the male corroboree
toadlets begin calling for mates. Exactly how the females are
able to respond to their harsh croaks is a mystery, since they
lack functional ears. They mate and deposit 10 to 38 eggs in
deep burrows where they are guarded by the male. Just prior to
hatching, the tadpoles enter a state of dormancy until a heavy
rain floods the burrow.
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