Spicospina flammocaerulea

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Spicospina flammocaerulea
Systematics
Order : Frog (anura)
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Superfamily : Myobatrachoid
Family : Australian southern frogs (Myobatrachidae)
Genre : Spicospina
Type : Spicospina flammocaerulea
Scientific name of the  genus
Spicospina
Roberts , Horwitz , Wardell-Johnson , Maxson & Mahony , 1997
Scientific name of the  species
Spicospina flammocaerulea
Roberts, Horwitz, Wardell-Johnson, Maxson & Mahony, 1997

Spicospina flammocaerulea is aspecies from the family of the Australian southern frogs (Myobatrachidae)foundin the southwest of the state of Western Australia . The species was first discovered in 1994 and Australian frog experts Sunset Frog (German: sunset frog ) called. It was only described and scientifically named in 1997. The ground-dwelling frog is the only species in the monotypic genus Spicospina .

description

Spicospina flammocaerulea is a small species of frog, in which the male animals reach a head-trunk length of only 31 mm to 36 mm when fully grown . The females have so far measured dimensions of 29.5 mm to 34.8 mm. The appearance and coloration are very different from all other Australian southern frog species. The back color varies from dark purple to black or very dark gray. The animals have orange markings below the gland openings on the side around the body and on the hands and feet. The throat and the underside of the chest are also colored orange. The ventral side is smooth and has numerous light blue spots surrounded by a dark base color. The transition from the black of the back coloring to the bright orange of the throat has led to the common name of sunset frog.

The back is covered with many granular, raised glands. There are two large glands behind the eyes, the parotids . These glands are up to three times as long as the eyes. The fingers and toes are long, narrow, and free from webbed feet or flaps of skin.

distribution

Distribution area

The species is so far only known from an area of ​​about 300 square kilometers in the east and northeast of the city of Walpole on the south coast of Western Australia. Between 1997 and 2000, 27 small, scattered populations were discovered there. As of 2009, 29 populations were known. The habitat populated by the frogs is only 1.35 square kilometers in total.

Some of these populations live in Mount Frankland North National Park and in parts of the adjacent Mount Lindesay National Park and Mount Roe National Park , others on private property. The latter are partially endangered by road and dam construction as well as grazing.

Ecology and behavior

So far, Spicospina has only been observed in some permanently moist peat swamps, in areas with high rainfall. The swamps are relics of a formerly subtropical and humid climatic area, which now seasonally dries out completely. The swamps, which are fed by seepage water, protect the animals from the sun even in the dry season. Like most frog species, they lose water through their skin and would therefore dry out if they weren't always moist. During the Australian summer between October and December, the males attract the females with calls from shallow waters. Your croak sounds like a "daduk-daduk" in quick succession. When mating, the females lay fewer than 200 eggs on algae mats just below the surface of the water. The males then fertilize the eggs.

Danger

Because of its extremely small and scattered distribution area and its specialization, this frog species is classified by the IUCN as "vulnerable" (vulnerable) . The populations are endangered by bushfires , which do not stop at the peat moss either. However, studies have given rise to the assumption that the sunset frog populations recover after a while and that the fires can lead to increased breeding activity. However, further investigations into the influence of the fire on the vegetation and thus on the climate of the wetlands in this region are still pending.

Another threat comes from the Eipilzen belonging protist Phytophthora cinnamomi out by it to a plant dying may occur within the marsh vegetation. The drying out of the plants leads to an impairment of the water balance in the wetlands.

Feral domestic pigs like to dig in the moist soil of the biotopes in which the frogs live. However, no direct hazard could be demonstrated by these activities, the damage to the breeding sites can be kept back by wildlife management and fencing.

In the Red List of 2013 after the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act the way is called "at risk" (endangered) classified.

Conservation efforts

On December 19, 2011, the Perth Zoo published that 31 offspring of the endangered frogs and 251 tadpoles were released and settled in a swamp on private property near the city of Walpole. The animals were released there in cooperation with the owner of the water in order to expand the range of this species. The breeding program was discontinued after this success because of the relatively stable population of the sunset frog.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John Dale Roberts, Pierre Horwitz, Grant Wardell-Johnson, Linda Resnick Maxson & Michael Joseph Mahony: Taxonomy, relationships and conservation of a new genus and species of myobatrachid frog from the high rainfall region of southwestern Australia. Copeia, 1997, 2, pp. 373-381, 1997
  2. ↑ Spicospina flammocaerulea detailed profile in the Species Profile and Threats Database , Australian Government, Department of Environment, Canberra 2013, accessed on June 26, 2014
  3. ↑ Harold G. Cogger: Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia. 7th edition. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood 2014, ISBN 978-0-64310035-0 , p. 112.
  4. ↑ a b Spicospina flammocaerulea ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Arkive, accessed June 26, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arkive.org
  5. ↑ Spicospina flammocaerulea from Amphibiaweb, accessed on June 26, 2014
  6. ↑ a b c Approved Conservation Advice for Spicospina flammocaerulea (Sunset Frog) , this Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister on April 29, 2014 (PDF, English), accessed on June 26, 2014
  7. ↑ a b Spicospina flammocaerulea in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.1. Posted by: Dale Roberts, Jean-Marc Hero, 2004. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  8. ^ MJ Bamford & John Dale Roberts: The impact of fire on frogs and reptiles in south-western Australia. In: I. Abbott & Neil Burrows (Eds.): Fire in ecosystems of south-west Western Australia: impacts and management. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden 2003
  9. ↑ Neil Burrows: Burning for biodiversity - Walpole fine grain mosaic burning trial  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Government of Western Australia, former Department of Environment and Conservation, 2012, accessed June 26, 2014@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.dec.wa.gov.au  
  10. ^ John Dale Roberts, S. Conroy & K. Williams: Conservation status of frogs in Western Australia. In: A. Campbell (Ed.): Declines and Disappearances of Australian Frogs. Pp. 177-184, Environment Australia, Canberra 1999
  11. ↑ Sunset Frog at Amphibian Ark, accessed June 26, 2014
  12. ↑ Yolanda Zaw: Hope for sunset frog population ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Western Australian on December 19, 2011 on Yahoo! 7 News, accessed June 26, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / au.news.yahoo.com
  13. ↑ Perth Zoo's offspring programs ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / perthzoo.wa.gov.au
  14. ↑ Aussie Sunset Frogs Released From Perth Zoo In Hopes Of Establishing A Population Outside Their Range in Reptiles Magazine

literature

  • John Dale Roberts, Pierre Horwitz, Grant Wardell-Johnson, Linda Resnick Maxson & Michael Joseph Mahony: Taxonomy, relationships and conservation of a new genus and species of myobatrachid frog from the high rainfall region of southwestern Australia. Copeia, 1997, 2, pp. 373–381, 1997 (first description)
  • MA Dziminski & M. Anstis: Embryonic and larval development of the sunset frog Spicospina flammocaerulea (Anura: Myobatrachidae), from southwestern Australia. Copeia, 2004, 4, pp. 896-902, 2004

Web links