Ornate Burrowing Frog

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iOrnate Burrowing Frog

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Myobatrachidae
Subfamily:	Limnodynastinae
Genus:	Opisthodon
Species:	O. ornatus

Binomial name

Opisthodon ornatus
Gray, 1842

Range of the Ornate Burrowing Frog (Opisthodon ornatus).

Synonyms

Limnodynastes ornatus
Günther, 1859

The Ornate Burrowing Frog (Opisthodon ornatus formerly Limnodynastes ornatus) is a species of ground frog native to Australia. It was moved to the genus Opisthodon in 2006 following a major revision of amphibians [1].

1 Physical description
2 Ecology and behaviour
3 Breeding
4 Similar species
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Physical description

This frog is a relatively small and stubby species, getting no larger than 50 mm. It ranges from grey to brown to yellow in colour and the dorsal surface patterning has great variation between specimens. There is usually a butterfly-shaped patch behind the eyes. The dorsum is warty and skin folds are present towards the head. These warts are often tipped with red. The legs and arms are barred or spotted with darker markings. Toes have a slight webbing and fingers are free from webbing. The tympanum is indistinct.

[edit] Ecology and behaviour

This species distribution ranges from western Sydney to Cape York in Queensland, running along either side of the Great Dividing Range across to Western Australia. It occurs in both wet sclerophyll forest in coastal areas and in woodland in more arid regions. As its name suggest, this species of frog burrows. It burrows feet first, enlarged tubecles on the frogs feet help them in scraping out soil. This species is usually only seen after heavy rain during spring or summer. Males call while floating in still water bodies such as dams, puddles and flooded grassland. The call is a short, nasal "unk" repeated slowly.

[edit] Breeding

Breeding occurs only after heavy rain. Up to 1600 eggs are deposited in a small, dome shaped foam mass that soon collapses into a single floating film layer of eggs and jelly. Tadpoles reach 50mm but commonly only reach 36 mm in length. The dorsum is a dusky grey or brown. The side of the body has silver and/or gold flecking and the tail has grey-silver flecks.

[edit] Similar species

This species looks very similar to Spencer's Burrowing Frog, Opisthodon spenceri and some Neobatrachus species. It is distinguished from all of these species by the reduced webbing and mating call.

[edit] References

Anstis, M. 2002. Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia. Reed New Holland: Sydney.
Barker, J.; Grigg, G.C.; Tyler, M.J. (1995). A Field Guide to Australian Frogs. Surrey Beatty & Sons.