Category: Amphibians
This frogs are endemic to a very small area in Southwestern Australia. Though drably colored on their dorsal surfaces, the front of their underparts is bright orange. A unique adaptation is that they lay their eggs in a jelly mass in a shallow, terrestrial depression instead of in water – here they develop, without swimming or food, into the adult stage. Destruction and disturbance of their very restricted habitat is threatening the survival of this species and their relative, the white-bellied frog (Geocrinia alba).
An Ample Amphibian
Before reptiles and mammals appeared to challenge amphibian supremacy on the land, amphibians were much larger. But while they have shrunk in size over the last 315 million years, the Chinese Giant Salamander never got the memo: at up to 5.9 feet in length and 66lbs, this amphibian is longer than your dog, and probably weighs at least as much! Compare that to Paedophryne amanuensis, the world’s smallest frog (and smallest vertebrate) who is the size of a house fly! Due to habitat loss, environmental changes, and over-hunting/collecting, the Chinese giant Salamander is critically endangered, though conservation efforts to save it are underway today.
Learn more >>
Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
