Litoria nasuta

SUBFAMILY

Pelodryadinae

TAXONOMY

Pelodytes nasutus Gray, 1842, Port Essington, Northern Territory, Australia.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Males are 1.3–1.8 in (33–45 mm) long; females are 1.5–2.3 in (36–55 mm) long. A streamlined frog with extremely long legs and a pointed snout. The dorsum is colored in shades of brown, with darker longitudinal skin folds or rows of pustules; the venter is white.

DISTRIBUTION

Found in coastal and adjacent areas of northern and eastern Australia, from northern Western Australia to central New South Wales; they also live in southern New Guinea.

HABITAT

Dry and humid forests.

BEHAVIOR

Nocturnal and terrestrial and capable of making a series of long leaps.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feeds on a variety of arthropods.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Males call from the edges of ponds in November through February; the call is a series of notes, "wick-wick-wick-wick." Batches of 50–100 eggs are laid as a surface film on water; free-swimming tadpoles metamorphose in about one month.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.