Mistaken for Cane Toads

Males 40 mm, females to 50 mm. Colour variable, olive to slate grey to blackish brown on the back. Warty skin with darker mottling and often a lighter butterfly-shaped mark on the top of the head. Abdomen is smooth and marbled black and white, with bright red patches in the groin and on the back of the legs. Arms and legs have dark bands, with unwebbed fingers and slightly webbed toes. Males have a large head and a pair of tusks – projections from the lower jaw. They are frequently mistaken for young cane toads. Listed as vulnerable-endangered and in decline in the Brisbane area. The red inner thighs and tusks help to distinguish Tusked Frogs from Cane Toads. Coastal central Queensland to New South Wales, in rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests and open grasslands. Some remnant suburban populations. Prefers creeks and ponds with logs, stones and leaf litter. Soft single gluck, with a sharp cluck-cluck-cluck territorial call. Eggs white to pale grey, laid in a floating white foam nest. Breed in summer, in still water, frequently under creek sides and debris heaps.

Photo: Queensland Frog Society

Photo: Queensland Frog Society

Photo: Queensland Frog Society

Photo: Queensland Frog Society

Spawn. Photo: Queensland Frog Society[/one_half_last