Wheatbelt Frog

Neobatrachus kunapalari

A moderate-sized robust frog (to 6 cm). Generally has a uniform back pattern ranging from pale straw to dark khaki with many irregular pale and dark brown blotches that usually have indistinct margins. The toes are moderately webbed. Breeding males have small black spines on the back.

Breeding

Breeding is in autumn and early winter or after summer rains. Mating occurs in milky pools in which tadpoles are usually hidden from view. Thousands of kunapalari frogs can be seen on warm summer nights after a thunderstorm. The rain brings them out of their burrows, and large choruses are a distinctive feature of warm rainy nights in the wheatbelt.

Call

The call is a distinctive long, low, high-pitched trill that can be heard from some distance away.

Eggs

Eggs are laid in a continuous string that settles to the bottom of a pool or creek. Up to 500 eggs may be laid at a time.

Tadpoles

Nothing known.

Other Notes

The Kunapalari frog is very similar in appearance to the shoemaker frog, and was only classified as a new species in 1986 on the basis of its call and genetic makeup. These two species are very difficult to separate on the basis of their appearance. The Kunapalari frog is one of the few frog species besides the quacking frog, in which multiple male matings have been observed. This derived breeding system involves several males attempting to breed with a single female and may benefit females by increasing the fitness of offspring.