Red-backed Toadlet

Fascinating facts about the Red-backed Toadlet

• A 35 mm frog can fit on the tip of your thumb – that’s the adult length of the red-backed toadlet, a ground dweller that stretches from just north of Sydney up into south-eastern Queensland.
• Spotting a bright red back split by a black line down its side is like seeing a living warning flag; the line runs from the nostril all the way along the flank, separating the dorsal red from a marbled black-and-white belly.
• While most think of rainforests alone, this toadlet also hangs out in dry sclerophyll forest, woodlands and even cleared roadside ditches, as long as the ground floods regularly.
• Males announce their presence with an "ark" call that stretches longer than the notes of their close relatives P. australis and P. bibronii, echoing from under moist leaf litter and rotting logs after a rainstorm.
• After heavy rain, the hidden eggs hatch and tadpoles race through temporary pools that disappear quickly, so their whole larval stage is compressed into a brief, frantic sprint before the water vanishes.

At a glance

About the Red-backed Toadlet

The red-backed toadlet (Pseudophryne coriacea) is a diminutive ground frog, barely 35 mm long, cloaked in a vivid red-orange or red-brown dorsal coat that can occasionally shift to a muted grey-red. A striking black line runs the length of each side, beginning at the nostril and dividing the bright back from a dramatically marbled black-and-white belly, while tiny white spots punctuate the skin’s pits. This bold coloration contrasts sharply with the damp, leaf-laden world it inhabits along the eastern Australian coast, from just north of Sydney to southeastern Queensland, where rain-soaked ditches, creeks, and temporary pools become its stage. The toadlet thrives not only in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest but also in drier sclerophyll, woodland, and even cleared patches, provided moisture is abundant. Males announce their presence with an "ark" call, longer and more elongated than the notes of its cousins P. australis and P. bibronii, while hidden beneath moist leaf litter and rotting logs during spring, summer, and autumn. After rain, they guard eggs laid in these hidden nests, often mating with multiple females. When heavy rains flood the nests, the tadpoles emerge, racing through fleeting pools where rapid development is essential. Their diet mirrors that of P. bibronii, snatching tiny invertebrates from the leaf litter, and perhaps the most surprising trait is their ability to complete metamorphosis in such transient waters, a testament to their evolutionary agility.

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