Frogs of this species have an amazing black and yellow or greenish-yellow colouring on the upper side of their bodies. Their bellies are black and white, or black and pale yellow. They grow to a tiny 3 cm long.
When calling, they make a harsh 'ark' or 'squelch' sound. The males call from their burrows from November to January.
Corroboree Frogs are only found in a small area of south-eastern New South Wales. They live in grassy marshland, or under logs and vegetation beside creeks in sclerophyll forest. They prefer to breed in Sphagnum bogs.
There are two closely related species of Corroboree Frog, the Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) and the Northern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne pengilleyei).
The Southern Corroboree Frog only occurs in the Snowy Mountains region of Kosciuszko National Park between 1250 and 1750 m above sea level. The Northern Corroboree Frog occurs in two areas; the Fiery Range region of Kosciuszko National Park and nearby State Forests, and the Brindabella Ranges within Namadgi National Park, Bimberi Nature Reserve and Brindabella National Park. Northern Corroboree Frogs range from between 950 and 1800 m above sea level.
Corroboree Frogs mainly eat small ants and other invertebrates. During winter they eat much less and many individuals don’t appear to eat at all.
The population of Southern Corroboree Frogs is estimated to have declined by 95 per cent in the past two decades.
It takes Corroboree Frogs up to five years before they reach sexual maturity and can breed in the wild. Due to many threats and the long time it takes for this species to reproduce itself, Corroboree Frogs are a critically endangered species.
Currently, the Southern Corroboree Frog is listed as Australia’s most critically endangeredanuran amphibian, and is predicted to go extinct in the wild in the next two to three years.Due to alarming declines of amphibian species throughout Australia, management plans forpreserving threatened species are now focussing on captive breeding programmes.
To date, however, the success of such programmes has been limited, largely due to the fact that it is inherently difficult to simulate the combinations of environmental factorsthat trigger frogs to breed.
Foundation Projects
Captive Breeding & IVF Programs to Save the Endangered Corroboree Frog
From 2001 to 2009, the Foundation funded efforts to breed Corroboree Frogs in captivity and explore the possibility of using IVF to increase population numbers of this species.
