The Great Barred Frog is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n ground-dwelling frog of the genus Mixophyes.

Physical description

The Great Barred Frog reaches a size of 8 centimeters, and has large, powerful legs. It has a dark brown dorsal surface, and a white ventral surface. The thighs are yellow blotched with black, and it has parallel black bars along the legs. A dark line begins at the snout, passes through the eye, over the tympanum, and bends down behind the tympanum. Its feet are fully webbed, and hands completely un-webbed. Its eyes are on top of the head, and the tympanum is visible.

Ecology and behaviour

The Great Barred Frog is a ground-dwelling frog, which inhabits rainforests, Antarctic beech forests or wet sclerophyll forests. This frog breeds in both streams and ponds and calls from the surrounding land. All the other frogs of the genus Mixophyes breed only in streams. The mating call is a very loud "wark-wark-wark" which is occasionally followed by a softer "bwak-bwak".

The male and female Great Barred Frog will enter the water for amplexus

Amplexus

Amplexus is a form of pseudocopulation in which a male amphibian grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process...

. After laying the eggs, the female will flick them onto the bank for development. The eggs will then be washed into the stream or pond after the first rain, and hatch into tadpoles.

The Great Barred Frog is almost always found near running water. Its powerful legs, and webbed feet allow it to escape predation by hopping large distances into water, and quickly swimming away.

As a pet

It is kept as a pet, in Australia this animal may be kept in captivity with the appropriate permit.