Two Frogs and a Yabby

It's not their fault they don't have feathers! Doesn't make them any less interesting. And just like the birds, it's good to know what species are about locally at any given time.

There's expertise within the club and beyond on most aspects of our local fauna. Let's tap into it.
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Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

Two Frogs and a Yabby

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

On the night of 26th June I was spotlighting at Rocky Dip near Crows Nest for Yellow-bellied Gliders with friends Barry Kenway, Mark Sanders, Pat McConnell and Kath O'Donnell. We had a good night recording Koala, Sugar Glider, Squirrel Glider and no less than six Greater Gliders but, unfortunately, no Yellow-bellies. It was a wet, dank night but quite mild for this time of year. The conditions had set the local frogs to calling in the small creek there. The highlight of the froggy chorus was from an all-male revue of Verreaux's Tree Frogs (Litoria verreauxii) being conducted, at one stage, by a lone Red-fingered Yabby (Cherax depressus). Brown Froglets (Crinia signifera) were also adding to the chorus.

This was the closest to Toowoomba that I'd found Verreaux's Tree Frog, and I was very happy with this record. There are old, but reliable records of verreauxii from Gowrie Creek at Cranley by Dr. Glen Ingram, a very respected authority on Australian frogs. This frog, however, seems to have disappeared from the Cranley reaches of Gowrie Creek since Glen's record. Craig Eddie and I have had several looks since to no avail including a prolonged search by me recently; on the night of 02 nd July. The conditions on this night were ideal for calling males and I visited one site at Cranley, two sites at Wetalla and another at Gowrie Juction for a nil return.

Another frog that we heard calling at Rocky Dip was the Large Toadlet (Pseudophryne major); a small bumpy-backed and isignificant burrower with a lovely marbled belly. This little frog is a solitary living under deep and damp leaf-litter, under rocks or in deep, wet fissures in banks in eucalypt woodland and forest. It has a single 'aaark' call sometimes described as a 'squelch' repeated at irregular and often protracted intervals. Our find of this little frog at Rocky Dip raised the discussion between Barry, Pat and myself of the total lack of records of this frog from the immediate area of Toowoomba proper. This despite the fact that it is a widespread species in south-east Queensland and that there is plenty of suitable habitat close to the city.

The nearest to Toowoomba that we had personal records of major was from the Perseverence Creek Section of Ravensbourne N.P. near Geham, and from Lockyer State Forest near Gatton. This was until last Thursday, 29th. July when I was walking the mutt along the fire break below Picnic Point. Not far from its junction with Table Top Drive at GDA94 - S 27.58343 deg., E 151.99391 deg. I heard the unmistakable 'squelch' of a male Pseudophryne major. It issued from deep in a cleft within the trackside bank - a sodden, dreary but ideal retreat for this clammy little trodlodyte. The time was just before 5.00pm. It was also very dark and gloomy due the heavy, overcast and wet conditions. The area that the frog was in is normally part of a quite damp and shelted hillside despite what may be the general condition of the surrounding countryside.

I was very happy to find that this little amphibian does indeed exist so close to my home. If only Verreaux's Tree Frog can pop up again in Gowrie Creek!

If any reader has other records of these two frogs from the Toowoomba area I'd love to hear of them.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
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