Southern corroboree frog

The southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) is a species of Australian ground frog native to southeastern Australia.^[2][3]

Southern corroboree frog
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Myobatrachidae
Genus:	Pseudophryne
Species:	P. corroboree
Binomial name
Pseudophryne corroboree Moore, 1953

The species was described in 1953 by Fulbright research scholar John A. Moore from a specimen collected at Towong Hill Station at Corryong, Victoria, and sent to the Australian Museum. The curator, Roy Kinghorn, recognised it as a new species and allowed Moore to describe it.^[4]

Description

Adult female southern corroboree frogs are 26–31 mm (1.0–1.2 in) long, while males measure 22–29 mm (0.87–1.14 in);^[5] both bear vivid yellow and black stripes across the head, back, and limbs. The body and head are short and wide, the snout has a slight point, and the fingers and toes lack webbing. The iris is black.^[6] The northern corroboree frog has narrower and more greenish-yellow striping.^[5]

Habitat and conservation

The southern corroboree frog is native to Kosciuszko National Park in the northern Snowy Mountains, where it found at locales between the Maragle Range and Smiggin Holes.^[7] Reported as abundant during the 1970s,^[6] it declined drastically during the 1980s from chytridiomycosis.^[8] The species are critically endangered,^[1] with the wild population thought to number around 30 individuals.^[9] The natural habitat is sphagnum bog at elevations greater than 1,200 m (3,900 ft).^[6]

Efforts to conserve the species have included establishing captive breeding programs across four institutions: the Amphibian Research Centre in 1997, Melbourne Zoo in 2001, Taronga Zoo in 2006, and Healesville Sanctuary in 2007.^[8] By 2018, there were over 400 southern corroboree frogs in zoos.^[10]

Five breeding enclosures have established in Kosciuszko National Park. Two-thirds of the frogs in these perished in the 2019–20 Australian bushfires. In 2022, a further 100 frogs were released from captive breeding programs.^[9]