Great Barred Frog

Scientific name: Mixophyes fasciolatus

Updated

04/02/21
Read time

2 minutes

Great-barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) — Mixophyes fasciolatus Image: Mark Semeniuk
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

Classification

Genus

Mixophyes

Species

fasciolatus

Family

Myobatrachidae

Order

Anura

Subclass

Lissamphibia

Subphylum

Vertebrata

Phylum

Chordata

Kingdom

Animalia
Size Range

11.5 cm

Description

A large species of frog reaching up to 10 cm in body length. It has a copper-brown, yellow-brown, or brown back, with several darker patches along the middle that sometimes form a continuous stripe that starts as a Y-shape between the eyes. There is a black stripe from the nostril to past the eye, and a black triangular patch on the tip of the snout. The sides are light brown or cream coloured, with black spots. The belly is white. The pupil is vertical and the iris is dark brown. The legs and arms have dark horizontal bars. Fingers are unwebbed and toes are three-quarters webbed, both without discs.

Breeding Biology

Eggs are kicked out of the water by the female and stick onto muddy banks and rock faces next to stream pools. The tadpoles then drop into the water after hatching. Tadpoles can reach a total length of up to 8.5 cm, and are gold-brown or grey-brown in colour. They often remain on the bottom of water bodies and take around 12 months to develop into frogs. Breeds during spring to autumn after rain.

Similar Species

Looks similar to Mixophyes balbus, Mixophyes fleayi and Mixophyes iteratus in its distribution, but has a different eye colour to all of these species.