Northern Sandhill Frog

Arenophryne rotunda

A small burrowing frog most closely related to the turtle frog. The body is squat with a small head and short limbs. The skin has a loose appearance, especially around the back legs. The colour ranges from a light creamy grey to brown, with small scattered spots of green, dark brown or red. Up to 3-4 cm.

Breeding

Clutches of up to 10 eggs are laid in March and April about 1 m below ground.

Call

A short "squelch" from males in burrows or on the surface.

Eggs

The eggs are large (5 mm diameter) and there is no tadpole stage: miniatures of the adults hatch out after about 2 months.

Tadpoles

There is no tadpole stage - the eggs hatch out in to miniature adults.

Other Notes

This species was described after Mike Tyler discovered specimens among Crawling Toadlets specimens at the WA Museum.

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Distribution

Shark Bay area and Dirk Hartog Island.

Habitat

This species occurs on coastal sand dunes and spends its days burrowed in the sand and emerges at night in winter to feed on the surface.