Animal Species:Spotted Marsh Frog
The Spotted Marsh Frog is usually the first frog to colonise new dams, ditches and water-covered areas on disturbed ground.
Spotted Marsh Frog on moss
GA Hoye
© Australian Museum
Alternative Name/s
Spotted Grass Frog
Identification
The Spotted Marsh Frog is quite small and usually a grey-green or brown colour with irregular dark patches. These colours vary and it sometimes has a light-coloured stripe running down its back.
Size range
4.5 cm
Distribution
The Spotted Marsh Frog is found throughout eastern Australia.
Habitat
The Spotted Marsh Frog lives in urban areas, forests and woodlands, and freshwater habitats in heath.
Other behaviours and adaptations
This frog is adaptable and well suited to urban environments. It is usually the first frog to colonise new dams, ditches and water-covered areas on disturbed ground.
Communication
The Spotted Marsh Frog can be heard throughout the year, calling with a distinctive machine-gun-like 'uk-uk-uk' repeated at regular intervals.
Life cycle
During spawning, the female Spotted Marsh Frogs make a floating foam or bubble raft in which the fertilised eggs are suspended. The tadpoles hatch after a few days and drop into the water as the nest-raft disintegrates.
Classification
- Species:
- tasmaniensis
- Genus:
- Limnodynastes
- Family:
- Myobatrachidae
- Order:
- Anura
- Subclass:
- Lissamphibia
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
Last Updated:
Tags frogs, amphibians, vertebrates, wildlife of sydney,
7 comments
Male frogs of many species do fight, particularly in species where good calling or breeding sites are more likely to result in success. Males also tend to fight more often when females are uncommon at breeding sites. Many species of marsh frogs (Limnodynastes) are known to engage in ‘male-combat’- and that might be the reason that male marsh frogs tend to be larger overall, and have much bigger, more muscle-bound arms compared to females. Larger individuals tend to be more successful in these wresting bouts, and the puffed up bodies many be an attempt to look as large as possible, and hence maybe scare off the competitor.
