Blue Mountains tree frog

The Blue Mountains tree frog (Ranoidea citropa) is a species of tree frog in the family Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to southeastern Australia and is found in eastern Victoria and in southeastern New South Wales. The Jenolan Caves tree frog, a population formerly separated as Litoria jenolanensis, is nowadays included in this species.[1][2]

Blue Mountains tree frog
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Pelodryadidae
Genus: Ranoidea
Species:
R. citropa
Binomial name
Ranoidea citropa
(Péron, 1807)
Distribution of the Blue Mountains tree frog
Synonyms[2]
  • Hyla citripoda Péron, 1807
  • Dendrohyas citropa — Tschudi, 1838
  • Hyla citropa — Tschudi, 1838; Duméril and Bibron, 1841
  • Hyla jenolanensis Copland, 1957
  • Litoria citropa — Tyler, 1971
  • Litoria jenolanensis — Tyler, 1971
  • Dryopsophus citropa — Wells and Wellington, 1985
  • Dryopsophus jenolanesis — Wells and Wellington, 1985
  • Dryopsophus citropus — Duellman, Marion, and Hedges, 2016

Description
A green morph of Ranoidea citropa

This is a moderate sized frog, up to about 60 mm in length. Its dorsal surface is brown with a few darker flecks. There is a dark stripe that runs from the nostril, above the tympanum, to the groin. There is a lighter golden stripe above and adjacent to the dark stripe. The frog is normally green on the side of the head (under the eye), side and arms and legs. The amount of green on an individual frog can range from almost none at all to an all green colour morph (see images, both frogs from the same site). The green colour can occasionally be aqua-green. The armpit, thigh, groin, and inner section of the foot are bright red-orange in colour. The belly is white.

Ecology and behaviour
Blue Mountains tree frogs in amplexus

This species is associated with flowing rocky streams in woodland and wet or dry sclerophyll forest. This species has a two-part call, the first is a strong "warrrrrk" followed by a number a shorter notes, that sound like a golf ball going in a hole. Males call from streamside vegetation and rocks in the stream from spring to summer, normally after heavy rain.

This species is often found in highland areas, especially the Blue Mountains, hence its name. The species Litoria jenolanensis is suspected to be genetically the same as this species.

As a pet

It can be kept as a pet[3] in Australia, in captivity with the appropriate permit.

Diet

Tree frogs generally eat a variety of insects; in captivity, they eat gut-loaded crickets, their own tadpoles, guppies, spiders and worms.

Sources

References
  1. Jean-Marc Hero; Frank Lemckert & Peter Robertson (2004). "Litoria citropa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T41084A10385701. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. Frost, Darrel R. (2020). "Ranoidea citropa (Péron, 1807)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.1. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. Mark Davidson. 2005. Australian Reptile Keeper Publications. ISBN 0-9758200-0-1
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