The Australian wood frog (Hylarana daemeli), locally simply known as "the" wood frog, is the only species from the family Ranidae that occurs in Australia. The species is restricted to the rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 of northern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, the eastern border of Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land

The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...

, in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 and much of New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. Long placed in the "wastebin genus

Wastebin taxon

Wastebasket taxon is a term used in some taxonomic circles to refer to a taxon that has the sole purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by their lack of one or more distinct character states or by their not belonging to one or more other taxa...

" Rana

Rana (genus)

Rana is a genus of frogs. Species include such archetypal pond frogs as the common frog of Europe, brown frogs, and the New and Old World true frogs, including the various species of leopard frogs and the American bullfrog. Members of this genus are found through much of Eurasia, North America,...

, it is now in Hylarana

Hylarana

Hylarana is a widespread genus of true frogs found in tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia. It includes around 86 species.-Taxonomy:Hylarana was previously considered to be a subgenus of the genus Rana. It was recognized as a distinct genus in 2005...

together with such species as the Common Green Frog

Common Green Frog

The common green frog is a frog species of in the true frog family Ranidae of superfamily Ranoidea; some sources still use the old name Rana erythraea...

 of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

.

Physical description

The Australian wood frog is an elegant frog, with an elongated head and body, with the head forming a narrow triangle at the snout. Common to the true frog

True frog

The true frogs, family Ranidae, have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on most continents except Antarctica...

s, it has large, protruding eyes, and large, distinct tympanum

Tympanum (zoology)

The tympanum is an external hearing structure in animals such as frogs, toads, insects, and mammals, to name a few.-Anurans:In frogs and toads, it is located just behind the eye. It does not actually process sound waves; it simply transmits them to the amphibian's inner ear, which is protected...

. The dorsal surface is bronze in colour, with skin fold

Skin fold

Skin folds are areas of skin where it folds. Many skin folds are distinct, heritable anatomical features, and may be used for identification of animal species, while others are non-specific and may be produced either by individual development of an organism or by arbitrary application of force to...

s running from the eye to the base of the leg. A dark strip begins at the nostril, runs through the eye and over the tympanum, and a white line is present on the top lip. Males are 43–58 millimetres in length, and the females 58–81 millimetres in length.

Ecology and behaviour

The Australian wood frog is a terrestrial frog, spending much of its time amongst dense vegetation close to a water source, usually in or near rainforests. The Australian wood frog is unique among the Australian frogs, for its vocal sac is not under the jaw, but on either side of the head. Its call is a series of low "quacks".

External links

• James Cook University: Rana daemeli (PDF
  Portable Document Format
  Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
  
  file)
• Recording of the call of H. daemeli by David Stewart