Eastern Stony-creek Frog

Fascinating facts about the Eastern Stony-creek Frog

• Between Ingham, Queensland and Sydney, New South Wales, with its western limit reaching Atherton, this frog makes its home across eastern Australia.
• Females grow up to 70 mm (2.8 in) while males top out at 45 mm (1.8 in), a size gap that lets researchers spot the gender at a glance in the field.
• When the breeding season arrives, males turn a bright yellow to orange hue, and they call with a very soft purring from debris such as rocks, vegetation or the ground next to the water.
• A clever snout sticks just above the water while the frog swims, acting like a built-in snorkel that lets it breathe without surfacing fully.
• In some populations, up to 28 % of individuals test positive for chytridiomycosis, the fungal disease that has devastated many Australian amphibians. That infection rate highlights how fragile their riverine habitats have become.

At a glance

About the Eastern Stony-creek Frog

Rhyaconastes wilcoxii, the stony-creek frog, is a smooth-brown amphibian that inhabits subtropical dry and moist lowland forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, and pastureland along Australia’s eastern coast from Ingham, QLD, to Sydney, NSW, and westward to Atherton, QLD. Females grow to up to 70 mm and males to up to 45 mm, and both sexes have a black stripe running from the nostril, across the eye and tympanum, to the forearm. Their groin and underside range from light yellow to olive-green, with brighter thigh coloration. During the breeding season males turn yellow-orange, while females remain brown year-round. Like other Pelodryadinae, they have adhesive climbing discs on their fingers and toes. Their snout functions as a ventilation snorkel, allowing the head to remain just above water while the body stays submerged. Males emit a soft, purring call from rocks, vegetation, or the ground near water, and females lay a single submerged egg cluster attached to sediment.

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