The Common Eastern Froglet

The Common Eastern Froglet is tiny frog species that is found in Eastern areas of Australia as well as Tasmania. It is found in areas such as South-East Queensland south throughout the New South Wales coast and into Victoria and the south-east corner of South Australia. The extent of occurrence of the species is approximately 784000km2.

"This tiny frog species is often heard but rarely seen due to its small size and colour. Reaching up to 3 cm in body length, it is extremely variable in appearance, with a brown, grey, cream, beige, reddish or mustard yellow back, with or without longitudinal stripes, spots or patches. There are small dark triangular patches along the upper lip. The belly is grey, with white and black speckling or mottling. The pupil is nearly round and the iris is gold. Fingers and toes are unwebbed, both without discs" (Crinia signifera, 2021).

There are no current threats to this current frog population however expanding urban development along the east-coast may be a threat in the near future, however possible threats are urbanisation and tourism, loss of temporary pools, and habitat fragmentation. Studies have shown that after habitat fragmentation the species disappears for up to four years and then reappears.

As you can see in Map 1 above, the Common Eastern Froglet can be found mainly around the coastlines, trees and shrublands of the east of Australia and in Tasmania. These areas are mainly open canopy broad leaved evergreen tree cover which is where Common Eastern Froglets can be found most.

Broadleaved forests are often called temperate rainforests and are dominated by evergreen trees as seen in figure 3. They are most often found in areas with plenty of cover and that are damp or flooded after rains such as temperate forrests (Broad-leaved forest ecosystem, 2021). Hence why the majority of the distribution of these frogs are located in temperate forrests.

Common Eastern Froglets can also be found in, mountains, coasts, covering floodplains, forests, grasslands, open and disturbed areas. Possible sites include temporary flooded ditches, streams, ponds and dams which allow breeding to occur all year round (Eastern (Common) Froglet Crinia signifera DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS, 2021). There are high distributions in the Australian Alps region which reaches an altitude of 2,000 meters. In map 2 below, it shows the terrain on Australia and the lighter parts indicate high terrain and the green indicates low lying terrain. 

These frog species population could potentially decrease in years to come though as with more urban development occuring around coastlines and deforestation, these frogs could soon decrease rapidly if we are not careful enough.

To further see the Common Eastern Froglets locations and distribution, the FrogID website shows the number of Frogs in Australia and the distribution of them!

Bibliography

2021. Eastern (Common) Froglet Crinia signifera DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS. [ebook] Victoria: North Centeral, p.2. Available at: <http://www.nccma.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/nccma-10425-eastern_common_froglet_fact_sheet_.pdf> [Accessed 13 June 2021].

Backyard Buddies. 2021. Common Eastern Froglets. [online] Available at: <https://backyardbuddies.org.au/backyard-buddies/common-eastern-froglets/> [Accessed 14 June 2021].

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Broad-leaved forest ecosystem. [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/science/broad-leaved-forest> [Accessed 14 June 2021].

En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Eastern Australian temperate forests - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Australian_temperate_forests> [Accessed 14 June 2021].

Frogid.net.au. 2021. Crinia signifera. [online] Available at: <https://www.frogid.net.au/frogs/crinia-signifera> [Accessed 14 June 2021].

Frogs of Australia. 2021. Eastern Common Froglet. [online] Available at: <https://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Crinia/signifera/> [Accessed 14 June 2021].