Great-barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) Click to enlarge image
Mixophyes fasciolatus Image: Mark Semeniuk
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Mixophyes
    Species
    fasciolatus
    Family
    Myobatrachidae
    Order
    Anura
    Subclass
    Lissamphibia
    Subphylum
    Vertebrata
    Phylum
    Chordata
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    11.5 cm

Description

A large species of frog reaching up to 10 cm in body length. It has a copper-brown, yellow-brown, or brown back, with several darker patches along the middle that sometimes form a continuous stripe that starts as a Y-shape between the eyes. There is a black stripe from the nostril to past the eye, and a black triangular patch on the tip of the snout. The sides are light brown or cream coloured, with black spots. The belly is white. The pupil is vertical and the iris is dark brown. The legs and arms have dark horizontal bars. Fingers are unwebbed and toes are three-quarters webbed, both without discs.

Breeding Biology

Eggs are kicked out of the water by the female and stick onto muddy banks and rock faces next to stream pools. The tadpoles then drop into the water after hatching. Tadpoles can reach a total length of up to 8.5 cm, and are gold-brown or grey-brown in colour. They often remain on the bottom of water bodies and take around 12 months to develop into frogs. Breeds during spring to autumn after rain.

Similar Species

Looks similar to Mixophyes balbus, Mixophyes fleayi and Mixophyes iteratus in its distribution, but has a different eye colour to all of these species.

Distribution

Found from near Jervis Bay in NSW, north to Eungella National Park in QLD along the coast and ranges


Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia

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