The Howard Springs toadlet (''Uperoleia daviesae''), also known as the Howard River toadlet, Davies's toadlet or the Darwin sandsheet frog, is a species of small frog that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''daviesae'' honours Australian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

Margaret M. Davies.

Description

The species grows to about 25 mm in length ( SVL). The upper body is grey to grey-brown. The belly is pale pink, speckled white. The throat of the male is dark grey. The fingers are unwebbed; the toes only slightly webbed. The backs of the thighs and groin are red to orange. The call of species is short and raspy.

Behaviour

Breeding takes place during the wet season. Eggs are attached singly to submerged vegetation in shallow pools and flooded grassland.

Distribution and habitat

The species' known range is limited to the vicinity of Howard Springs, some 30 km south-east of the city of Darwin in the tropical

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...

of Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. There the frogs inhabit

sandplain A sandplain is an area where the soil is sand deposited from elsewhere by processes such as wind or ocean, rather than direct weathering of bedrock. Sandplains are quite flat. There may be dune systems, and given time and the right conditions the ...

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

land, within the Howard and Elizabeth River catchments, that is inundated during the wet season.

References

Uperoleia Amphibians of the Northern Territory Amphibians described in 2005 Frogs of Australia {{Myobatrachidae-stub