The screaming tree frog (Litoria quiritatus) is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to southeastern Australia, east of the Great Dividing Range. It ranges from northeastern Victoria to the mid-coast of New South Wales, from Mallacoota north to Taree. This species is the "bleating tree frog" that occurs around Sydney, and is well known for its very loud call.[1][2][3]
| Screaming tree frog | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hylidae |
| Genus: | Litoria |
| Species: | L. quiritatus
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| Binomial name | |
| Litoria quiritatus | |
This species was long confused with the robust bleating tree frog (Litoria dentata), and was thus only described in 2021 despite being a relatively common species found near major population centers. Rowley et al (2021) distinguished three distinct clades in what was formerly considered a single species (Litoria dentata), based on genetic divergence, slight morphological differences, and notable differences in vocalizations; the latter were collected via the FrogID Australia citizen science project. One of these was the robust bleating tree frog (L. dentata sensu stricto), another was the slender bleating tree frog (L. balatus), and last was the screaming tree frog (L. quiritatus). The screaming tree frog has the longest call out of the three species, lacks a white line along its side, and the male turns yellow during breeding season.[4][5][6] The vocal sac of male screaming tree frogs is always yellow, while the rest of the frog is only yellow during breeding season. The three species have different geographical ranges, and the screaming tree frog has the southernmost range.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Litoria quiritatus Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea, and Donnellan, 2021". Amphibian Species of the World.
- ^ Rowley, J. J. L.; Mahony, M. J.; Hines, H. B.; Myers, S.; Price, L. C.; Shea, G. M.; Donnellan, S. C. (2021-11-22). "Two new frog species from the Litoria rubella species group from eastern Australia". Zootaxa. 5071 (1): 1–41. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5071.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 34810683.
- ^ a b Rowley, Jodi (22 November 2021). "Bleating or screaming? Two new, very loud, frog species described in eastern Australia". The Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
- ^ z3440238 (2021-11-23). "Surprise discovery of two new 'very loud' frog species". UNSW Newsroom. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Two new 'loud' frog species have been found along the east coast of Australia". Australian Geographic. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
- ^ "Two New Species of Tree Frogs Discovered in Australia | Sci.News". Sci.News: Breaking Science News. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
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