Slender bleating tree frog

Slender bleating tree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Litoria
Species:
L. balatus
Binomial name
Litoria balatus
Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea, & Donnellan, 2021

The slender bleating tree frog (Litoria balatus), is a frog in the family Hylidae. It is endemic to Australia, where it is found in Queensland and the Bunya Mountains.[1][2][3] This is the "bleating tree frog" that occurs around Brisbane.[4]

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 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 (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.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Frost, Darrel R. "Litoria balatus Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea, and Donnellan, 2021". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  2. ^ "Litoria balatus:Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea & Donnellan, 2021: Slender Bleating Tree Frog". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  3. ^ Rowley JJL; Mahony MJ; Hines HB; Myers S; Price LC; Shea GM; Donnellan SC (2021). "Two new frog species from the Litoria rubella species group from eastern Australia". Zootaxa. 5071 (1): 1–41. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5071.1.1. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  4. ^ Rowley, Jodi (22 November 2021). "Bleating or screaming? Two new, very loud, frog species described in eastern Australia". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  5. ^ z3440238 (2021-11-23). "Surprise discovery of two new 'very loud' frog species". UNSW Newsroom. Retrieved 2023-08-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Two new 'loud' frog species have been found along the east coast of Australia". Australian Geographic. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  7. ^ "Two New Species of Tree Frogs Discovered in Australia | Sci.News". Sci.News: Breaking Science News. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2023-08-07.