Turtle frog

Turtle frog
	Turtle frog ( Myobatrachus gouldii )
Systematics
Order :	Frog (anura)
Subordination :	Neobatrachia
Superfamily :	Myobatrachoid
Family :	Australian southern frogs (Myobatrachidae)
Genre :	Myobatrachus
Type :	Turtle frog
Scientific name of the genus
	Myobatrachus
	Schlegel in JE Gray , 1850
Scientific name of the species
	Myobatrachus gouldii
	(Gray, 1841)

The turtle frog ( Myobatrachus gouldii ) is a species of frog from the family of the Australian southern frogs (Myobatrachidae). It represents the only species in the genus Myobatrachus . The art epithet honors the British ornithologist and animal painter John Gould .

features

The males reach a size of 34 to 42 mm, the females are slightly larger with 44 to 55 mm. The top is dull gray or brown, occasionally with faint dark and light markings and sometimes with small pink dots and / or a fine swirling stripe. The underside is white, sometimes speckled with dark brown. The skin is pitted on the top and smooth to slightly granulated on the underside. The spherical body, the small head and the small, squat limbs are vaguely reminiscent of a turtle without a shell, hence the common name . Palatine teeth and teeth on the ploughshare are absent. The adult frogs have a large opening (foramen) in the frontoparietal (fused frontal and parietal). The turtle frog has no webbed toes. The tongue is small. The pupil is horizontal to circular. The tympanic cavity is hidden. The adjacent hind limbs do not reach the base of the front limbs.

Systematics

The turtle frog was first described by John Edward Gray as Breviceps gouldii in 1841 . In 1850 Hermann Schlegel placed this species under the name Myobatrachus paradoxus in the new genus Myobatrachus and declared it a type of the family Myobatrachidae. In 1858 the turtle frog was placed in the genus Chelydobatrachus by Albert Günther . The combination Myobatrachus gouldii valid today comes from John Edward Gray from the year 1850. The closest relatives of the genus Myobatrachus are the two species of the genus Arenophryne .

Distribution area

The distribution area extends between Geraldton and the Fitzgerald River in the region of Perth in Western Australia .

habitat

The turtle frog lives in open woodland and dense scrubland, where it can be found in sand hills or in depleted soil where a layer of gray sand has formed. The habitat of the turtle frog is dominated by termite mounds. The species also finds shelter in soft, sandy soils under tree trunks or rocks. Hard substrates and drainage channels are avoided.

Way of life

The turtle frog digs upside down with its muscular legs about 1.15 m deep holes in the ground, where up to 38 large eggs with a diameter of 7.4 mm are laid. The eggs are laid when there is heavy rainfall. The tadpole stage does not swim freely in the water, but takes place terrestrially in the egg shell. The advertising profession sounds like a slow arr… arr… arr… . The males call while they are in their holes in the ground with only their heads sticking out. The diet consists of termites.

literature

J. Dale Roberts: Terrestrial Breeding in the Australian Leptodactylid Frog Myobatrachus gouldii (Gray) Australian Wildlife Research, 8 (2), 1981. 451-462
Linda R. Maxson and J. Dale Roberts (1985): An immunological analysis of the phylogenetic relationships between two enigmatic frogs, Myobatrachus and Arenophryne Journal of Zoology, London (A). Vol. 207 (2), pp. 289-300 doi : 10.1111 / j.1469-7998.1985.tb04930.x
Michael J. Tyler, Frank Knight: Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia , CSIRO Publishing, 2011, p. 122. ISBN 978-064-310-398-6
Harold G. Cogger : Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia. 7th edition. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood 2014, ISBN 978-0-64310035-0 , p. 99.

Web links

Commons : Turtle Frog ( Myobatrachus gouldii ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Myobatrachus gouldii inthe IUCN 2016 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Jean-Marc Hero, Dale Roberts, 2004. Retrieved November 25, 2016.

Amphibial web: Myobatrachus gouldii

Western Australian Museum: Turtle Frog (with audio recording of the advertising profession)

Individual evidence

^ John Edward Gray, 1841: Descriptions of some new species and four new genera of reptiles from Western Australia, discovered by John Gould, Esq. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series. 1, vol. S, pp. 86-91
^ Hermann Schlegel: Description of a new genus of batrachians from Swan River. (Extracted from a letter to JE Gray, Esq.) . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 18, 1850, pp. 9-10.
^ Albert Günther: Family Engystomatidae In: Catalog of the Batrachia Salientia in the Collection of the British Museum , 1858, pp. 53-54
^ John Edward Gray: Description of a new genus of batrachians from Swan River. (Extracted from a letter to JE Gray, Esq.) . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 18, 1850, p. 10.
↑ Michael J. Tyler: Australian Frogs. A Natural History Cornell University Press, 1998. p. 133. ISBN 978-0801484995

[1] John Edward Gray, 1841: Descriptions of some new species and four new genera of reptiles from Western Australia, discovered by John Gould, Esq. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series. 1, vol. S, pp. 86-91

[2] Hermann Schlegel: Description of a new genus of batrachians from Swan River. (Extracted from a letter to JE Gray, Esq.) . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 18, 1850, pp. 9-10.

[3] Albert Günther: Family Engystomatidae In: Catalog of the Batrachia Salientia in the Collection of the British Museum , 1858, pp. 53-54

[4] John Edward Gray: Description of a new genus of batrachians from Swan River. (Extracted from a letter to JE Gray, Esq.) . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 18, 1850, p. 10.

[5] Michael J. Tyler: Australian Frogs. A Natural History Cornell University Press, 1998. p. 133. ISBN 978-0801484995