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Saturday 9 April 2011

A Southern Frog with Northern Connections

The Wood Frog, Rana daemeli, is the only representative of its genus in Australia. Rana is a large genus primarily off the Northern Hemisphere. Common examples are the Leopard Frogs, primarily R. fisheri, the Northern Red-legged Frog, R. draytoni, and the American Bullfrog, R. catesbeiana, a species originally from the Eastern US but which has been spread to other parts of the country and, because of its large size, has been exported to places like India where it is grown for "frogs legs", a popular food item. (I must admit, they are very nice should you ever have the chance to try them. I had them once at a Sydney restaurant!)

But back the the Wood Frog. This species occurs in the rainforest where it is abroad at night seeking insects. It has been seen around lights and smaller individuals must be eaten by large opportunistic Cane Toads, Bufo marinus. You can listen to the call of this frog on the website in the link.

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