Haswell's frog (''Paracrinia haswelli'') is a small ground

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

found around

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

al swamps in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from around

Port Macquarie, New South Wales Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

to the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...

in Victoria. It is the only member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Paracrinia''.

Description

This species of frog reaches in length. This frog varies from light grey-brown, pale brown to red-brown above with some darker flecks. There is normally a faint mid-dorsal stripe running down the back. There is also a dark band running from the back of the eye to the shoulder. The top half of the iris is silver. The thighs are red, which gives it another name, the red-groined froglet. The ventral surface of this species is light brown with white patches.

Ecology and behaviour

This species is associated with coastal

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, particularly in wallum swampland and heathland. This species also inhabits

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s, and ditches in

sclerophyll forest Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

. Males make an "annk" call from water or on land during most of the year, but most often after rain in autumn and winter. Eggs are laid in water attached to sticks and leaves. The

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

of this species has very deeply arched tail fins.

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

occurs during spring and autumn after a tadpole life span of about 100 days. Metamorph frogs measure and resemble the adult, however, the thigh red colouration is not yet fully developed.

References

Frogs Australia Network
frog call available here.
Frogs of Australia
*Anstis, M. 2002. Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia. Reed New Holland: Sydney. *Robinson, M. 2002. A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia. Australian Museum/Reed New Holland: Sydney.

External links

* {{Taxonbar , from=Q2217463 Amphibians of New South Wales Amphibians of Victoria (Australia) Myobatrachidae Monotypic amphibian genera Amphibians described in 1894 Frogs of Australia Taxa named by Joseph James Fletcher