Northern tinkerfrog
Taudactylus rheophilus Liem and Hosmer, 1973
Queensland Legislative Status:Endangered
Endemicity:Queensland Endemic
Description: Size (SVL) : males 23.8-32mm; females 24.1-30.5mm (Liem and Hosmer 1973).
A small frog, with robust body and truncated snout. The dorsal surface is smooth or finely granular, and may be grey-brown, reddish or dark brown in colour, with irregular darker markings. A narrow pale greyish streak runs from the eye to the groin, bordered below by a broad black band whose lower edge breaks up into a marbled or reticulate pattern on the flanks.
There is a faint, pale transverse bar between the eyes, and a pale glandular patch runs from the angle of the jaws to the base of the forearm. The loreal region is black with some irregular grey markings. The ventral surface is smooth, brown in colour, with conspicuous, irregular, creamy-white markings. The limbs have irregular blackish cross bands, and the digits are barred with dark brown and creamy grey. The tips of the digits have small but conspicuous discs, the toes fringed but without webbing. (Liem and Hosmer 1973, Cogger 2000).
Call: The call has been variously described as a soft metallic tapping sound, "tink tink tink" repeated 4-5 times in quick succession (Liem and Hosmer 1973, Ingram 1980), or a gentle rattling sound (McDonald 1992). Males form a chorus, calling from under rocks or roots, and may be partly in water (Ingram 1980, K.R. McDonald pers. obs.).
Tadpole: The tadpole has not been described.
Reproduction: Little is known of its developmental biology, but females carry 35-50 large (1.8-2.4mm diameter) eggs (Liem and Hosmer 1973). Juveniles have been collected in the months of December and May (Liem and Hosmer 1973).
Habitat: Taudactylus rheophilus is a cryptic species, being found under rocks, roots and logs in seepage and trickle areas beside fast-flowing rainforest streams (McDonald 1992). The adults are mainly nocturnal, though they may be active on overcast days.
Distribution: Historically restricted to four mountain tops at altitudes of 940-1500m within the Wet Tropics from Thornton Peak to Mt Bellenden Ker. This species has undergone a sudden range contraction and had apparently disappeared by October 1991, though it has been recently recorded from Mt Bellenden Ker and Mt Lewis (Marshall 1998, M. Hero pers. comm.).
Latitude: Between 16&186; 10' and 17&186; 16';
Longitude: Between 145&186; 12' and 145&186; 51'.
National Parks: Wooroonooran, 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 fungus may have caused the decline of the stream dwelling frogs of the Wet Tropics (Berger et. al. 1999). Information on disease investigations and management can be located at http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/frogs/ampdis.htm
Status: T. rheophilus 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). Surveys during 1991-1992, 1993 and 1994 failed to find any individuals (Richards et al. 1993, Trenerry et al. 1994, J.M. Hero pers. comm.). There have been recent records from Mt Bellenden Ker and Mt Lewis (Marshall 1998).
Management Recommendations: The Draft Recovery Plan 1995 (Martin and McDonald 1995) makes the following recommendations.
- Monitor historical localities to detect recovery.
- Investigate disease in related species.
- 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 T. rheophilus formerly occurred.
References:
Berger, L., Speare, R, and Hyatt, A. 1999. Chytrid fungi and Amphibian declines: Overview, Implications and Future Directions. Pp23-33. In Campbell, A (ed), 'Declines and Disappearances of Australian frogs'.(Environment Australia, Department of the Environment and Heritage: Canberra). 234 pp.
Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Reed New Holland, Sydney.
Hero, J.-M., and Fickling, S. 1994. A Guide to Stream-Dwelling Frogs of the Wet Tropics Rainforests. Department of Zoology, James Cook University, Townsville.
Ingram, G. 1980. A new frog of the genus Taudactylus (Myobatrachidae) from mid-eastern Queensland with notes on the other species of the genus. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 36(1): 111-19.
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.
Liem, D.S. and Hosmer, W. 1973. Frogs of the genus Taudactylus with description of two new species (Anura: Leptodactylidae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 16(3): 435-457.
Marshall, C.J. 1998. The reappearance of Taudactylus (Anura: Myobatrachidae) in north Queensland streams. Pacific Conservation Biology 4:39-41.
Martin, W.E. and McDonald, K.R. 1995. Draft Recovery Plan for the Threatened Stream-dwelling Frogs of the Wet Tropics. Queensland 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.
McDonald, K.R., and Alford, R.A. 1999. A Review of Declining Frogs in Northern Queensland. Pp14-22. In Campbell, A (ed), 'Declines and Disappearances of Australian frogs'.(Environment Australia, Department of the Environment and Heritage: Canberra). 234 pp.
Richards, S.J., McDonald, K.R., and Alford, R.A. 1993. Declines in populations of Australia's endemic tropical rainforest frogs. Pacific Conservation Biology 1:66-77.
Trenerry, M. P., Laurance, W. F., and McDonald, K. R. 1994. Further evidence for the precipitous decline of endemic rainforest frogs in tropical Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology 1: 150-153.
Last updated: 30 August 2005