Armoured mistfrog
Litoria lorica Davies and McDonald, 1979
Queensland Legislative Status: Endangered
Endemicity: Queensland Endemic
Description: Size (SVL): males 29.6-33.1mm, females 32.9-37.3mm (Davies & McDonald 1979).
A medium sized frog. The dorsal surface is uniform grey or grey-brown. The ventral surfaces are white, variably peppered with dark brown on the throat. The skin is finely tubercular dorsally, prominently so on the upper eyelids and in the tympanic region. The lower surfaces are granular on the thorax, abdomen and backs of the thighs, but smooth elsewhere. The finger and toe discs are well developed. The fingers have basal webbing and the toes are fully webbed. The hands have an enlarged prepollex. Males have black spiny nuptial pads and accessory spines on the chest. The head is evenly rounded, with snout truncate and nostrils terminal. The tympanum is small and indistinct. The vocal sac is absent. (Davies and McDonald 1979).
Call: The call is unknown.
Tadpole: The tadpole has not been described.
Reproduction: Females carry large unpigmented eggs (2.3 mm in a female paratype) (Davies and McDonald 1979). The tadpoles, though undescribed, are probably similar to those of L. nannotis - with large suctorial mouths for feeding in fast-flowing streams (Davies and McDonald 1979).
Habitat: Litoria lorica is found on boulders in the splash zone near turbulent, fast-flowing water in upland rainforest (Davies and McDonald 1979).
Distribution: Historically only known from the type locality - Alexandra Creek near Thornton Peak and Hilda Creek, Daintree National Park, north-east Queensland (McDonald 1992). The species has not been found at these sites since 1991, despite recent efforts to relocate it.
Latitude: Between 16&186; 7' and 16&186; 10';
Longitude: Between 145&186; 20' and 145&186; 22'.
National Parks: Daintree.
Threatening Processes: Suspected Threats: The causes of the decline remain unknown, Richards et al (1993) found no obvious evidence that drought, floods, habitat destruction or pollution by pesticides, inorganic ions or heavy metals were responsible for the population declines. Current research is examining the possibility that a disease may have caused the decline of the stream dwelling frogs of the Wet Tropics. Information on disease investigations and management can be located at http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/frogs/ampdis.htm.
Status: Litoria lorica is one of seven species of frogs occurring in the upland rainforest streams of north-eastern Queensland which have undergone rapid and substantial population declines in the last decade (Richards et al 1993).L. lorica has not been sighted since 1991, despite recent attempts to relocate it (Ingram and McDonald 1993).
Management Recommendations: Draft Recovery Plan 1995 (Martin and McDonald 1995) recommends the following management actions.
- Monitor historical localities to detect recovery.
- Investigate disease in preserved animals and species occupying similar habitat.
- Develop and refine husbandry techniques for rainforest stream dwelling frogs.
- Train park staff and community volunteers in identification of this species.
- Implement monitoring by park staff of select locations within the national park estate where L. lorica formerly occurred.
References:
Davies, M. and McDonald, K.R. 1979. A new species of stream-dwelling hylid frog from northern Queensland. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 103(7): 169-176.
Ingram, G.J. and McDonald, K.R. 1993. An update on the decline of Queensland's frogs. Pp 297-303 In Lunney, D. and Ayers, D. (eds), 'Herpetology in Australia. A diverse discipline'. (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Mosman). 414pp.
Martin, W.E. and McDonald, K.R. 1995. Draft Recovery Plan for the Threatened Stream-dwelling Frogs of the Wet Tropics. Qld Department of Environment and Heritage, Brisbane.
McDonald, K.R. 1992. Distribution patterns and conservation status of north Queensland rainforest frogs. Conservation Technical Report 1., Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage, Brisbane.
Richards, S.J., McDonald, K.R., Alford, R.A. 1993. Declines in populations of Australia's endemic tropical rainforest frogs. Pacific Conservation Biology 1:66-77.
Last updated: 30 August 2005