The slender bleating tree frog (''Litoria balatus''), is a

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 ...

in the family Hylidae. It is endemic to

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 ...

, where it is found in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and the Bunya Mountains. This is the " bleating tree frog" that occurs around

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. It was long confused with the robust bleating tree frog (''L. dentata'') and was thus only described as a distinct species in 2021. Rowley ''et al'' (2021) distinguished three distinct clades in what was formerly considered a single species (''Litoria dentata''), based on genetic divergence, slight morphological differences, and notable differences in vocalizations; the latter were collected via the FrogID Australia

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

project. One of these was the robust bleating tree frog (''L. dentata sensu stricto''), another was the slender bleating tree frog (''L. balatus''), and last was the

screaming tree frog The screaming tree frog (''Litoria quiritatus'') is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to southeastern Australia, east of the Great Dividing Range. It ranges from northeastern Victoria to the mid-coast of New South ...

(''L. quiritatus''). The slender bleating tree frog has the shortest call out of the three species, has a more slender build than the other two, a white line extending down its side, and males have a distinctly black vocal sac during breeding season.

References

Frogs of Australia Amphibians described in 2021 balatus Amphibians of Queensland {{Hylidae-stub