Common mist frog

species of amphibian

The common mist frog, Atherton Tableland tree frog, creek frog (Ranoidea rhecola) is a tree frog from Australia. Scientists saw it in northern Queensland. It lives as low as sea level and as high as 1120 metres up in the hills.[2][3][4]

Common mist frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Clade: Ranoidea
Species:
R. rheocola
Binomial name
Ranoidea rheocola
(Liem, 1974)
Synonyms[2]
  • Litoria rheocolus (Liem, 1974)
  • Litoria rheocola (Tyler and Davies, 1978)
  • Mosleyia rheocola (Wells and Wellington, 1985)
  • Dryopsophus rheocolus (Duellman, Marion, and Hedges, 2016)
  • Ranoidea rheocola (Dubois and Frétey, 2016)

This frog is in danger of dying out. It lives in rainforests and sclerophyll forests, in streams where the water flows quickly. The adult male frog spends time in rocky streams and the female frog and young frog sit on plants near streams. The tadpole lives where the water flows fast. They hold onto rocks with their mouths, which are on the undersides of their bodies.[3]

The female frog lays 46-63 eggs at a time. They are 2.4-2.6 mm in diameter. She lays them in groups under rocks in the water.[3]

Scientists are not sure why this frog is endangered, but they do not think it is droughts or that humans have changed too much of the wild places where they live. This is because Australia made laws protecting the frogs' home in 1988, but there are still fewer and fewer of them. Scientists say one reason this frog is endangered is because pigs that have run away from people run through their streams and kill adult frogs. This frog can catch the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.[3]

Scientists say this frog is related to Ranoidea nannotis.[2]

References

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  1. Jean-Marc Hero; Ross Alford; Michael Cunningham; Keith McDonald; Richard Retallick (2008). "Litoria rheocola". 2004. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T12153A3327812. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T12153A3327812.en. Retrieved October 1, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Ranoidea rheocola (Liem, 1974)". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 J-M. Hero; M. Cunningham; R. Retallick; L. Shoo; C. Morrison (March 15, 2002). "Litoria rheocola: Common Mist Frog". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  4. "Litoria rheocola: Creek Frog". Frogs of Australia. Retrieved October 1, 2020.