Peppered tree frog

The peppered tree frog (Ranoidea piperata), also known as the Black Creek tree frog, speckled leaf tree frog, or speckled tree frog, is a frog species native to Australia. It has been observed on the New England Tableland in New South Wales, typically at altitudes between 800 and 1120 meters above sea level.^[2][3][4]

Peppered tree frog
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Clade:	Ranoidea
Species:	R. piperata
Binomial name
Ranoidea piperata (Tyler and Davies, 1985)
This is where this frog used to live.
Synonyms[2]
Litoria piperata (Tyler and Davies, 1985) Dryopsophus piperata (Duellman, Marion, and Hedges, 2016) Ranoidea piperata (Dubois and Frétey, 2016)

This species is critically endangered and may already be extinct. The last confirmed sighting occurred in 1973. Some unconfirmed reports from the 1990s describe a frog resembling the peppered tree frog, but its vocalizations were different. In the 1990s, scientists concluded that further genetic and DNA studies of this frog and its relatives were needed to determine which populations represented distinct species. Its closest relatives include Ranoidea barringtonensis, Ranoidea pearsoniana, and Ranoidea phyllochroa.^[3]

The reasons behind the frog’s decline remain unclear. Many of the streams it once inhabited have been altered by human activity, such as grazing, and now support invasive species like the mosquitofish, which preys on tadpoles.^[3]