Northern Laughing Tree Frog (male and female)

Description:

These beautiful little frogs "fingers have widely expanded discs with lateral fringes and webbing, and the toes are fully webbed. The colour ranges from quite pale to dark mottled brown. A distinctive characteristic is the contrasting black and yellow markings on the thighs and groin." (MuseumWA) One particularly distinguishing feature is the upper half of the iris is a deep red.

Habitat:

This pair were courting on an old fishing rod handle that the end was down in the water. The water is a permanent source in that it is always being refilled by the people that live there. This is a Goombaragin, Pender Bay on the Dampier Peninsula.

Notes:

These little frogs breed during the wet season, laying their eggs in permanent swamps. The tadpoles stay as tadpoles for quite long, only metamorphosing when they are quite large. Thank you to Western Australian Museum Curator for the identification and some information.